Bromley ICT Forum Blog

There have been a number of scam attempts infiltrating the system. The best one has pretended to be from Internal Revenue promising to credit your account with £200 if you provide your bank details. Needless to say it is a con (As if Internal revenue would give you anything!!)

 Schools have also been receiving invitations from the Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide requesting  account information . Once more, this is a con.

If you get an unsolicited email from a bank or government department inducing you through a bribe ( tax credit) or a threat ( compromised security if you don’t respond- how ironic), copy the mail header and visit Millersmiles.co.uk to see if it is on record.

Remember if the offer is too good to be true…it generally is!!

(Message from Ian Lehman - Technical Manager LGFL) 

Starting 6 November 2007, over a two week period, Sophos will be rolling out an automatic upgrade from SAV version 6 to version 7.

 During this time the LGfL Central Servers will be upgraded and in turn schools and LAs using the LGfL Sophos Service will automatically download the upgrade. This upgrade will not require end-user or administrative intervention, and will work just like our regular incremental updates.

A reboot will be requested but is only required in order to use the new capabilities in Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows, version 7. The protection provided by version 6 will be maintained until a reboot is performed. Knowledge Base Articles to help customers upgrade to the latest release are currently being updated and will be available ahead of the 6 November, linked to from the upgrading tabs on the enterprise and endpoint product web pages.

For any queries please do contact the support desk on 08700 636465 option 3 or email sophos@lgfl.org.uk .

(reprinted from NAACE Newsletter)

Please note that these publications are only available to NAACE Members

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Every Thursday, throughout October, November and most of December, Teachers TV is dedicating two two-hour slots to ICT. Programmes will highlight the wide variety of ICT options that are available for the classroom, demonstrate the different ways that it is being used effectively across a wide range of subjects, and show the benefits that school-wide ICT initiatives can bring.

Next week there will be (Thurs 2nd Nov repeated from 17:00):

09:00 Resource Review - ICT Special: Primary Maths 2
09:15 DIY Whiteboard - Beats and Rhythm
09:30 School Matters - Hi Tech Transition
10:00 Secondary ICT - Money for ICT: Find It
10:15 Secondary ICT - Money for ICT: Spend It
10:30 School Matters - The Games Children Play

Strangely, if you browse for “ICT” in the subjects menu, most of these programmes do not show up.

Teachers TV’s schedule
http://teacherstv.createsend.com/t/1/l/hrtyy/l/www.teachers.tv/schedule

(Reprinted from NAACE News)

Leading change in ICT in support of pupil learning - a NCSL Research Associate Summary Report by Ann Gill. (6 pages, although only 3 contain the main text!)

The guide offers advice on what headteachers need to do to secure funding to support the time and money needed to develop ICT in schools.

• Stay in touch with how children learn to see the value of what is available.
• Understand the demands on teachers, and work within an appropriate timeframe, properly resourced and with suitable training.
• Be adaptable. If something does not live up to expectations, have a rethink.
• Keep parents and governors involved and informed of new developments.
• Take as many opportunities as possible to look at what is going on in other schools.

The report also talks about leadership characteristics and strategies. See:
www.ncsl.org.uk/media/895/BD/one-step-ahead-of-the-game-gill.pdf

Ahh! Three words specifically designed to bring a smile to any Head Teacher’s face! 

iEARN UK works very closely with the British Council and they have advised us that they have funding available to award grants to schools involved in partnerships with other international schools.

Grants are available for reciprocal visits (deadline 1st November) or for specific global curriculum projects (deadline 1st March 2008).

This is the perfect opportunity to enhance your own project links or get involved with an iEARN project to apply for funding.

Visit the  British Council web page today for more information.

Health Protection Agency to conduct study into wi-fi exposure
The decision by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to conduct further research into the exposure levels from wi-fi systems as part of a larger study in the area of electromagnetic fields has been welcomed by Becta, the government’s education technology partner.
http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=34362&page=1658&catID=1633

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Naace Annual Strategic Conference: The Future of Learning

The International Riviera Centre, Torquay, Tuesday 4th March - Friday 7th March 2008

The theme of the conference is “The Future of Learning”, where ICT and modern technologies are inherent within the learning process. The conference has three sub themes centred on future learning, leading learning and current learning. These have been designed to explore the challenges and opportunities offered by current educational change and developments for strategic leaders and leaders of learning. We intend that the conference will stimulate debate as we explore potential futures, current opportunities and good practice focused on supporting learners and learning.

For the Strategic Conference 2008 we will be using an online booking system for conference and exhibition registration and the system which is currently in development will go live from 12 noon on Friday the 9th of November. We are giving advance notice of this date to enable those colleagues who will have been on holiday over half term or who need to agree finances in advance with their employer, may not be disadvantaged.

The programme for the conference can now be downloaded from www.naace.org/events and further information on sessions, speakers and hotels along with details of booking options and prices for delegates and sponsors/exhibitors will added shortly. We hope you will find this helpful in your planning before the conference and that the information will help to inform your booking choices for when the site goes live on Friday the 9th of November.

Information and updates about the conference will be posted regularly on the Events pages of the Naace website and we will also keep you up to date through the weekly Naace Newsletter.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to give the Naace office a ring or email the Naace Events Manager, events@naace.org

The following comes from Roger Broadie (which many of you may have seen via the “talklists”):

Thanks to Leon Cych we have video of the full session given at the Naace All Members Conference by Domenic Volpe and Richard Campbell, from Heaton Manor School in Newcastle.
http://blip.tv/file/get/Learn4life-MakingAVLEWorkForYouInABusySchool570.mov

I strongly recommend you to watch this if you can find the time. It will take a minute or so to load. Blip TV can also be a little glitchy and may hang at times for ten seconds or so before it re-starts, so you might have to persevere, or it might run straight through with no pauses.

Why do I think this is so important? In Heaton Manor their learning platform/digital environment has become the place all the teachers, admin staff and pupils are turning to, to make all sorts of work processes more effective. I don’t think there is any way this school can now stop using their digital environment, which means it is just going to become more and more embedded. And because the teachers are seeing personal benefits in time saved and easier working, they are increasingly using the system for teaching and learning as well as admin processes.

A meeting of the Bromley Primary ICT Subject Leaders will take place at the Bromley Education Development Centre on Thursday November the 1st, commencing at 1:30pm

Agenda
1. Sustaining your ICT investment-Developing a School Procurement Strategy
Presented by Richard Allen from BECTA

2. Using Google Sketch up in the classroom (Prac Session)

Google Sketch up  is a great powerful 3D modelling tool that is easy to learn and has great potential for maths and language activities. In this prac session you will see examples of how some teachers have used this freely available tool along with the chance of trying it for yourself

3. ICT Project Adventure Update

School reports

4. ICT Mark News/LGFL News

Assistance with preparing for the ICT Mark. Whats on the LGFL site

Looking forward to seeing you there.

To confirm your place please ring the EDC  quoting ICT201