Education ICT Service logo
13 January 2006

CCC Corporate Information Technology Planned Maintenance
 
Purpose:    Important service information
Audience:  Headteacher and ICT Managers
 
Please note the main datacentre in The Octagon, Shire Hall, will be shutdown for power supply maintenance on Sunday 22nd January 2006. This outage will mean there will be no Internet access for schools throughout this day.
 

E2BN Core Separation could cause Internet service outages  
 
Purpose:    Important service information
Audience:  Headteacher and ICT Managers

Please note that the date for the final stage of the transfer of the E2BN core network to the new core hosted by Easynet has now been scheduled for Sunday, 22nd January 2006. It is likely that there will be some service outages during this work, which will affect both general Internet connectivity and the filtering services to schools.


Primary User Groups

Purpose:    For information
Audience:  Primary Schools using SIMS

Now that the SIMS Final Conversion process is complete, this year's seminars will explore the range of capabilities of the new software so that schools can make the most of SIMS at little or no additional cost.

Dates & venues:

- Tuesday 21/03/06 9.30 - 11.30 - Buckden Community Centre
- Thursday 23/03/06 9.30 - 11.30 - Oliver Cromwell Hotel, March
- Monday 27/03/06 9.30 - 11.30 - CPDC, Trumpington                                    

Further details will be published in due course on the portal and in Helplines.


Profiles 7 Field Trial
 
Purpose:    Volunteers required
Audience:  SIMS users

Volunteers are needed to pilot the Sims module Profiles 7. This module allows you to produce pupil reports using Microsoft Word. The reports are generated in Microsoft Word by selecting comments from a Comment Bank and also by the use of free text. Please contact either Matthew Nall on 01480 376657 or Tina Audus on 01480 376672 for further details.


Curriculum Team Newsletter

Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  Headteacher & ICT Coordinators
 
The January 2006 issue of the Curriculum Team has been distributed to all ict coordinators. See link below.

 

January 2006 Curriculum Newsletter


Bromcom issues
 
Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  Secondary Schools using Bromcom

Several schools who use Bromcom have encountered invalid signature error messages when using Sims.net. Capita have advised such schools to contact their Bromcom Helpline to upgrade their version of Bromcom.


Helplines Newsletter

Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  All Schools
 
The January issue of Helplines has now been sent out to schools via the courier bag. See link below.
 
January 2006
 

School Website Listings
 
Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  All Schools

Did you know that links to Cambridgeshire school websites can be found on the County Council's website? This allows the general public to try and find out more about our schools from one place. It is one of the most popular areas in the Education and Learning channel on the site. Is your school site listed here? Is the web address correct? If not, you could be missing out on a bigger audience.

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/education/schools/websites/

If you would like to add your school's site, or make an alteration, then please email: webmaster@cambridgeshire.gov.uk


PLASC 2006 for all Primary, Nursery and Special Schools
 
Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  Primary, Nursery and Special Schools

Please ensure that you are on at least version 7.62 in Sims.net. This is the minimum required to run the 2006 PLASC. Guidance notes for running the PLASC can be found on the Sims.net planet off the Sims Home Page.

Please ring the Helpline on 0845 0450973 if you need further guidance.


Schools CCN Information and Guidance, the CCN bible for schools updated

Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  Headteacher and ICT Managers
 
The following sections in the above document have been added / updated:
 
3.2  CCN Security
3.7  SNTP (Simple Network Time Protocol)
3.8  SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
3.9  DNS (Domain Name System)
4.4  Filtered world wide web

To download the document follow the link www.icttid.ccceducation.net > Broadband/CCN Documents > Schools CCN Information and Guidance (PDF 225Kbs)


Terminal Services or Thin client in the school Environment

Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  Headteacher and ICT Managers
 

Terminal Services/Thin client solutions certainly have their place but thin client is usually implemented in environments where there are a limited and controlled number of applications in use, for example in a corporate (e.g. solicitor's, banking or business) environment where they have a particular database application in use. The school environment is not, and should not be so controlled; you have to be prepared for new and innovative software. Thin client technologies can restrict you in the number and types of applications being run and not recommended by the Education ICT Service. For more information please follow the link www.icttid.ccceducation.net > General Advice and Guidance Documents > Considerations regarding Thin-Client solutions for Cambridgeshire Schools (PDF 79 Kbs)

 


Purchasing ICT Equipment for your school
 
Purpose:    Important Information
Audience:  All Cambridgeshire Schools
 

Education ICT Service "IT, Procurement and Efficiency Strategies" aim to deliver the best value and quality services to all school users. Through the buying power of the County's EU Tender Framework Agreement with Dell and ESPO, Education ICT Service Procurement team at Waterbeach assure you the lowest prices for any ICT kit and will always beat any like for like quote - guaranteed!  For details about the Procurement team: www.ictprocurement.ccceducation.net

 

Recent examples have highlighted the need to remind schools if they are not purchasing through the Education ICT Service Procurement Team based at Waterbeach, Schools Contract Regulations will apply if you decide to seek quotations from other suppliers.

 

All suppliers invited to quote must be issued with exactly the same information at the same time and subject to the same conditions. All quotations must be received by a specific date. The details of this quotation must not be shared with any other suppliers. Any attempt to pass this information to other suppliers will be in breach of Contract Regulations.

 

Click here for more: http://camweb.ccc.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/resources/dit/helpdesk/todays_service/index.cfm

 


Cambridgeshire schools win Making the News 2005 awards
 
Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  All schools

Congratulations to St Mary's Primary School in St Neots for winning not one, not two, not three but FOUR awards in the national Making the News Competition 2005. The school won in the 10 and under age group (Primary) in the following categories:

  • best local news story
  • best personal story (Joint winner)
  • best food report (Joint winner)
  • best ict story

Click here to read more


ICT Service Training Courses

Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  All School Staff

Please click on this link for information on all ICT Training Courses

http://c9s.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/c9s/web/public/ict%20service%20courses/home/training/


More ICT News on the Portal...
 
Do you regularly check the ICT News page on the Portal? It features all the latest ICT-related news of importance to Cambridgeshire's schools.
To take a look, simply search for resource ID: 584 from the Portal front page, or select 'ICT News' on the ICT Service home page (www.ict.ccceducation.net).