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8 December 2006
Email received in schools from Company offering Technical Support
 
Purpose:   IMPORTANT INFORMATION 
Audience: All Schools
 
In recent weeks all Cambridgeshire schools have received an email from a company offering technical support and claiming on their website to have links with Cambridgeshire County Council and CCN. This has resulted in numerous calls from schools asking for clarification.  We can advise you that this company do not support and have no links with the Council and are not CCN authorised support providers.  They have been instructed by CCC to remove any such reference from their website and/or other material.
 
Routes to high quality Technical Support for Cambridgeshire Primary Schools
 
Purpose:    IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Audience:  Headteacher, School Leaders, ICT Coordinators
 
We would like to remind Schools of the advice material highlighted in our Newsletter on 27th January 2006, about some of the factors schools should take into account when considering their technical support arrangements.
 

For further detailed advice and guidance about technical support click on:

Routes to high quality Technical Support for Cambridgeshire Primary Schools

 
Some of the important criteria to consider:
1. The company profile i.e. financial records and past history etc.
2. The company accreditation (SIMS, NAACE, IIP etc)
3. Staff qualifications, gradings (MCSE, MCP etc) and CPD programme
4. Sign a declaration that their staff are CRB checked and that they have read, understood and will comply with Schools CCN Information and Guidance and the school's IT, Internet and email use policies.
Effective ICT Support is about obtaining the maximum performance from your networks and all your ICT equipment in classrooms and offices, to ensure that it is fully operational at all times.  To achieve this position schools invest, to varying degrees, in services provided by their in-house support, support staff, the LA ICT support team, local secondary schools and external organisations.  With ICT systems now becoming business critical to schools, it is important that they give informed consideration to how and by whom their support is provided.
 
"Where external support is provided, the staff should be CRB checked. Schools have a responsibility to ensure that in tendering for any support contract this is a standard part of the "invitations to tender" and that they receive suitable assurances that CRB checking has been undertaken once any contract is awarded." Cambridgeshire County Council Internal Audit.
 
For further advice please click on Understanding the risk or visit www.icttid.ccceducation.net
 
Schools are also further reminded to ensure CCC contract and financial regulations are followed when appointing external support  providers.                                                                                                                
    
Traceable computers spell trouble for would-be thieves

Purpose:    IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Audience:  All School Staff

A new tracking system which can trace stolen computers was launched at Kingsfield Primary School in Chatteris. Computrace for laptops is a theft protection service that tracks, locates and recovers stolen laptops. Undetectable and irremovable software installed works behind the scenes to silently and securely contact the Computrace Monitoring Centre, and if stolen, reports its location.

Assessment Manager 7
 
Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  Assessment Coordinators
 

All Schools currently using Assessment Manager 6 will be expected to be using Assessment Manager 7 by the end of the Spring Term 2007 in order to submit their end of key stage results.

 

Schools need to make sure that Office 2003 is running on all machines which will be using Assessment Manager7, and initial training should be booked so all the additional functionalities within this module can be utilised!

 

If you have not done so already, please can you call the Helpline as soon as possible. Tel: 0845 0450973
 
Profile 7
 
Purpose:   For Information 
Audience: All School Staff
 

All schools currently using Profiles 6 or wish to use Profiles 7 (Reporting tool), please phone the Helpline for the activation patch and further details (tel: 0845 0450973).

 

Schools who are already using Profiles 7 need to contact the Helpline and we will release a patch to remove the link to Profiles 6.
 
Office 2003 Warning 
 
Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  All School Staff
 

All schools need to be running Office 2003 but there is a danger with upgrading to this on the machine that runs Dinner Money.  If Office 2003 is going to be installed on the Dinner Money machine please ring the helpline before the installation: tel. 0845 0450973.

 

Areas of Sims .net that will need Office 2003 to run:

 

Reports, Census Reports, Personnel 7, Assessment Manager 7 and Profiles 7.
 
Dinner Money Backups
 
Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  Dinner Money Operators
 

Please check Dinner Money is backed up daily.  Check the backup path in System Menu | Setting Menu | System Defaults | Backups Tab.  Follow the path in Windows Explorer and check you have a copy of DINDATA32.mdb and that it has a recent date.  Always use the 'EXIT' button to close out of Dinner Money and when asked 'do you want to create a backup' click on YES.  If the data has not been backed up and the system fails there will be no data to restore.

 
Important Conversion of SIMS Personnel 5 Data to Personnel 7
 
Purpose:   For Information
Audience: All SIMS Schools
 

Schools will soon be receiving a letter explaining the process needed to do the conversion.  In the November release Capita have brought Personnel into the SIMS .net environment and have implemented changes to incorporate data required for the Workforce Return to be transferred to the DfES.    

 

Could you please inform any member of staff who deals with the input of personnel data within your school so they are aware of the changes ahead. Training has been arranged to help staff deal with the changes to the functionality in Personnel 7.  To book staff on to this course, please contact Admin at ict.courses@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or tel: 01480 376670, or go to the Portal, search for the SIMS Home Page and click on the Training Planet.

 

Personnel 7 also has a new function which links staff contractual information straight into FMS6 this will enable school bursars to review salary expenditure and projection.  If the school bursar wishes to use the facility in FMS6 for the next financial year it would be advisable to convert as soon as possible.

 

Should you require any advice on the conversion please contact the Helpline on 0845 0450973.
 
Starz Subscriber News

 

Purpose:   For Information 
Audience: Starz Subscribers
 

Starz Project Short listed for award

The Battle of the Poets project has been short listed for the European elearning awards.  Congratulations to the schools involved for their hard work and wonderful performance poems!

 

Starz Projects ~ Spring 2007

 

Key Stage 1 ~ Starz Story Circle

Would you and your class like to collaborate electronically with other children in Cambridgeshire schools to create a story? Register by Friday 15th December 2006.

 

This project is aimed at nursery and infant classes. At the start of the spring term 2007 participating classes across the county will be organised into groups of 4. Story frameworks will be provided by the STARZ Team to guide the structure of the stories. Registered classes will start a story and record it in writing, audio or video. They will use web page templates provided to present the story and then send an email to alert the next class in the circle, who will look at the story so far and use the guidance to add a second chapter. This will be repeated until the story is complete. At the end of the project all the stories will be made available for reading/listening/viewing by all the participating schools.

 

If you are interested in taking part in this project, please email your name, class name and school, plus age group of your pupils to: projects@starz.org.uk

 

Key Stage 2 ~ Myths and Legends
Get ready to take part in this project! 

Using the E2bn Story Creator 2 pupils can create their own on-line Myths and Legends, using a bank of images, adding their own images and sound narration. 

Register your school here to be able to manage and administer your pupil's creations.

 

Recent Email problems

 
Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  All schools

 

Digitalbrain have now fixed the email problems affecting Outlook/Outlook Express users. This means you should no longer be receiving blank or duplicate messages. If you are still experiencing this problem, please let us know (tel. 0845 0450973 or email ict.helpline@cambridgeshire.gov.uk).


Digitalbrain's new spam filtering software has now been launched. However, as it is still new, it has not yet refined its blocking criteria. You should notice a definite decrease in the amount of spam messages you are receiving over the coming days and weeks. We apologise for any offensive emails you receive, and hopefully the more obvious spam will be filtered out shortly; but please bear in mind no spam filter is ever 100% effective and levels of spam messages on the internet are constantly on the increase. Never respond to or click on a link in a spam message, as this may expose your address to further junk emails.

 

New Digitalbrain icons

 

Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  All schools

Digitalbrain are about to launch a series of new updated icons across their platform which will replace the existing ones you currently see on the Education Portal. This will include the orange 'My Digitalbrain' icon on the Db toolbar, the existing email icons within webmail, and any objects in the 'Foldering listing' view.

The icons are intended as an evolution from their current style and have been designed to represent a more modern look and feel whilst being more intuitive for users.

The changes will go live on Wednesday 13 December. Full details are available on the ICT Service website.
Curriculum Newsletter for Primary, Special & Nursery Schools
 
Purpose:    For Information
Audience:  Headteacher and ICT Coordinator
 
The December 2006 issue of the Curriculum Team Newsletter has been distributed to ICT coordinators.
If you would like a copy of this newsletter sent directly to your email address, rather than to the office address, please contact alison.studd@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.
 
Please see link to download: December 2006
 

For copies of all current and archived Education ICT Service Newsletters, please access via the Education Portal at www.ict.ccceducation.net 

 

ICT Service Training Courses

 
Please click on the link below for information on all ICT Training Courses. Look out for new courses scheduled for 2006 - 07.
 
Your school should have a copy of the Cambridgeshire Education ICT Service Training Course Programme, which will give you full details of courses available at Godmanchester and other venues. If you require a further copy for your staff room, please contact ict.courses on Tel: 01480 376670

ICT Training Course Information
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 click on 'News' on the ICT Service home page (www.ict.ccceducation.net).
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