Ditto

Recent jobs I have been looking at in Edu have been about 50/50 T/T plus something versus 52 weeks. If you are T/T only, hang on to it and hopefully the strong pension.

I hesitate to ask, but is there any update on SIMS Nextgen - it seems to have been quiet for quite some time now.

I decide to dig in to this a little and did some AI based digging. A summary: Pay & Salary Comparison Role Type England (Education) United States (K-12/Higher Ed) Nordic Countries (SE/DK/FI) Western/Central Europe (DE/FR/NL) IT Technician (1st/2nd Line) £24,000 – £32,000 $45,000 – $65,000 (~£35k-£50k) kr 320,000 – 420,000 (~£30k-£40k) €32,000 – €45,000 (~£27k-£38k) Data Manager (MIS/Exams) £30,000 – £45,000 $60,000 – $85,000 (~£46k-£65k) kr 450,000 – 580,000 (~£42k-£55k) €42,000 – €55,000 (~£35k-£46k) IT Manager (Network/Infrastructure) £40,000 – £60,000 $85,000 – $120,000+ (~£65k-£92k) kr 550,000 – 720,000 (~£52k-£68k) €55,000 – €75,000 (~£46k-£63k) The biggest factor in favour for England was LGPS pension. So, if in England and you are not on LGPS or something as strong, you are missing out the biggest benefits. Term time only was seen as depressing a salary, but then you ge tthe holidays! It was normal for more senior roles to be 52 weeks. England was reported as extremely high work load.

@JamesWeatherill, it's the communincations that sets Arbor apart - well done and thank you - not that I'm an Arbor user, but I have an interview soon for a organisation that wants someone to lead a migration... so who knows what the future may hold!

I see there was a major incident reported on May 22nd. Anyone know if it is related. It does look as though Arbor are being clear about the issue, and have fixes it quickly. The challenge now is to avoid a repeat in the future.

Would a 42" work too, different manufacturer though. 4 show up at https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=smart+kapp+42

I think talking to myself, but heyhoe! Decided against the post above. Came second or third on an Arbor role they advertised full or part time but settle on F/T and I wanted P/T. Now another local role (max 30 minute commute) has come up. It's advertised as part time but requires 36 hours a week for 42 weeks. For me that's TT +3 - could you imagine a teacher role like this advertised as P/T. Anyway, it reflects the dire situation at work that I'm even considering - maybe they could come down to 0.8 FTE. But..... the are SIMS - same trust as my sons school and I challenged them about using SIMS but I think they will remain behind the curve

Yep. We looked at some software that was from a US based company. It fell throught because we have an SLT that can not separate investment from expenditure. The company was on the register so in some ways it made life easier and they even said they would consider setting up a UK AWS implementation to really make life better. In the end we went for a different product which SLT picked and after a 9 month attempt of getting it up and running, it was as weak as I predicted. $otherthings then interverned so it remains on hold as a project!

Ask your DPO to explain the UK-US data bridge works - or you can read yourself or geyt an AI summary - see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-us-data-bridge-supporting-documents/uk-us-data-bridge-explainer for starters. There's also a searchable database at https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/list It is a movable feast and I believe the recent Supreme Court ruling in Trump's favour puts a potential spanner in the works, however EU is currently standing by it's 'adequacy' decision, but it is a complicated mess which is why I leave these things with the DPO, but push them to be up to date!

This is a thread is to note madnesses in the world that come to cross your path. I just received a Samsung email advertising a new TV. They headline says it come with a free bezel worth £99 when you but a 'The Frame TV'. I haven't even caught up with the super thin bezel version that I thought was vogue, as I'm still on a Panasonic Plasma model - could be 10 or more years old. On digging, it's now a thing where you can spend a bucket load money on frames, magnetic, detachable with different finishes. Maybe that's marketing genius for the 'arty' types; for me it's madness!

Ermmm... OK!

Are you aware legislation updates brought some clarity on processing SARs last year. The fundamnetal haven't changed, but the element of 'reasonable and propottionate searchs'. The goal IMHO, is to be able to push back on the 'tell me everything' and to deal with vexatious approaches.

I'm glad that helped and I'm sure it made even more sense to you than me! I'd like to create a AI champion role at work, and be that person, because used appropriately there is a lot of value to be garnered - equally, used badly, you can waste quite a bit of time. When I researched I used Gemini and ChatGPT. ChatGPT built and image for me when I asked to visualise the components in question. Attached just because I can! Caveat! AI and I can be wrong 🤯

It's been a while. There's a DM job going reasonably locally and I am pondering. I'm expecting for those of you who have commented, and maybe others, things have moved on and maybe you have changed MIS. So, what's life like today for a DM, what's your 'system's stack? This school is secondary with no year 12/13. I have a few concerns about the role advertised: i) it's SIMS ii) it pays the same as what I am on now as a Data Analyst (0.5 FTE) but I would need to be at least 0.8 if not FT, although the job is T/T plus 2 iii) I would have 3 staff reporting to me iv) they want the role to include being DPO. v) their written dress code is specifically shift and tie The first point could be lived with but I would want quickly migrate to a modern MIS. The second, the FTE is about 10% more than my charity Data Analyst role, but due to T/T + 2 weeks and pro-rata ends up about the same. Given the number of reports, do you it's fair? The third, no issue here, I have managed a lot more, but see line above. The fourth, that's a worrying insight to the SLT's understanding of data protection governance (conflict of interest etc.), but if they can be persuaded to outsource to a proper fractional DPO, then fine. The fifth, they would need to be flexible. Shirt or business smart I can do, tie is a not going work - yes I would decline if offered. To add to my comments on the second point. 0.5 FTE is relatively tax efficient. Doubling my salary would not double my income, and play havoc with work/life balance. Also, we are now 18 months away to both kids being at uni, so chance of cheaper holidays goes away. LGPS would be a big plus. And do teachers have their headline FTE pro-rata'd? In some ways I am mad to consider it, but ...

Have you tried using an AI Tool to see what you can find. I tried ChatGPT and Gemini and it got in to quite a bit of detail. I think I can see what component it is but nor an exact specification. It had a degree of confidence what it might be, but also raised concerns about the integrrity of the board given the explosive issue! Might be worth a try.

Note sure how to type in a Yorkshire accent... "Yeah, but we were happy back then".

Just 11 and enjoyed it thoroughly - that means you are even nearer retirement than me, if you choose too!

From where I view things, the latest short spell of hot weather has been fascinating to see the reactions. I'm in a charity, have links with schools, including one which is my sons. The charity has a newly appointed fund raising manager telling me how to keep cool! Telling staff, where school based activties have been cancelled, they have the right to take holiday or unpaid leave. I really couldn't understand why I was getting patronising advise about drinking and wearing a hat or seeking shade from a fund raising manager - then realised the person had just gone from interim to permanent and that meant she was SLT and suddenly she has to preach to me how to behave in hot weather as if I was a primary school child! My sons school - fully open and expects kids in - following DfE guidance! Work site school, gone to short days, following DfE guidance. Staff who are parents of kids at the school, told they can manage things through their line manager to make up time, take holiday or unpaid leave. Generous or what! These are staff that spend all year going the extra mile for children's wellbeing! And to cap it all the head of tennis at our club sent round a vast mutli-coloured grid of green/amber/red zoned guidance on whether to play or not. Lord onlyknow how I got to be on this planet as my parents fot none of this advice! FFS, I'm an adult and don't need all this trite. Nanny-state is well and truly still alive!

We had a few drops of rain and were obviously just outside the more lively weather - sort of a shame as I want to see my Tesla PW3 auto-power backup kick in for real one day!

Another school suffering the stress of a cyber attack. https://www.computing.co.uk/news/2026/security/cyberattack-forces-buckinghamshire-school-to-close-for-most-pupils

My advice is refuse. It is not an IT job. If you do, what part of your role gives? See devaluing IT thread! If you do take it on, it won't be temporary!

Would be fun to ask an AI tool to tidy it up. Perhaps give it clean examples of your work. I can remember app/code generators being used so many years ago, it was COBOL - mid to late 90's I reckon. Some of what was generated was laughable. Perhaps a third of a century hasn't seen much progress other than the speed of which rubbish can be produced 😂

Picture taken by Mrs Ditto on a trip to Malta. We speculated Mont Bland. Google image search with Ai, said "Based on its distinct pyramidal shape and its isolated prominence above the clouds, this is almost certainly Monviso (also known as Monte Viso) in the Cottian Alps.". Then said definitely Mont Blanc, then flipped back 😄! A lot of Ai tools would do well to learn to say " I don't know, could be .....".

...and on box.co.uk/882a3eaabu-hp-pro-400-g9-intel-i5-14500-16gb-sff-pc £709.99. That is including VAT, although I need chat support to confirm. TrustPilot of 3.9 isn't inspirational though. Buying is a PITA!

Our MSP don't manage our Windows estate to the level I would like to see, the idea of them managing Macs too isn't something I'd advocate. Besides, about two thirds of staff are shortly being forced to use a NHS targeted legacy application, that I know makes use of Java, and is not compatible with MacOS as far as I know. But on the point of price, I agree it's way too high, and I have already found a 25% lower cost point for the same kit, both on Amazon and other providers! It's odd, but I just don't think the HP sales contact wants this business, unless it's at a premium price.