Friday 6th November 2009

New Phone System at Education ICT Service, Godmanchester

Purpose: For Information

Audience: All Schools accessing the Helpline

The ICT Service, Godmanchester has been updated to a new phone system (VOIP) during the half term holidays. The Helpline are therefore having to deal with a new process as well as a new system, but hopefully this will not impact on the response time of calls. We apologise in advance if you have any problems logging calls during the next few weeks of this new system, but can assure you of our best attention at all times.

The Helpline telephone number remains 0845 0450973

Central Hosting major upgrade - date change

Purpose: Advance warning for centrally hosted schools

Audience: All schools using central hosting

Due to the later release of the SIMS upgrade, we have had to move the planned downtime for the Centrally Hosted service into December. This will now be the weekends of 12/13th (already a scheduled downtime day) and the 19/20th. We apologise for this change to the dates.

The Autumn SIMS Upgrade will take place during the scheduled downtime on 28th November .

Protex Filtering/Caching Update

Purpose: Alert all Secondary Schools of brief outage of Protex Systems

Audience: ICT Teams in Secondary Schools

PLEASE ENSURE THIS ITEM IS PASSED TO ICT TEAMS

This note is to inform you that E2BN will be rolling out a minor fix to Protex Local Authority systems at approximately 03:00 hours 19^th November 2009. The fix resolves a bug that may on very rare occasions cause the Protex service to not restart after a nightly update.

There will be no downtime and no effect on the normal operation of Protex. However this may interrupt any pre-fetching of websites you have configured.

ToPP Framework / Training Opportunity

Purpose: Training available

Audience: Headteacher / Assessment Coordinators of ToPP Schools

We have recently sent out folders with the new version of the county ToPP framework via the Courier Service this week, which is also available via the following link: www.mis.ccceducation.net Current ToPP schools will find everything they need to download but should you require a refresher course or consultancy, or if you are new to ToPP, then please contact the Helpline on 0845 0450973 or email schools.mis@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

As a ToPP school you may also be interested in the ' ToPP Assessment & SIMS Home Page' course as there are a few places still available

Content includes: New ToPP features and getting the most of the SIMS homepage
Venue: ICT Service, Godmanchester
Date: Thursday 12 November - 9.30 - 12.30
Cost: only £67

To check availability or for further information please contact ict.courses@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or telephone 01480 376670

Leading ICT - Accredited Course for ICT Subject Leaders in Primary Schools

Purpose: ICT Accredited Course availability

Audience: Head teachers and ICT Coordinators

This successful course is running once again in the spring and summer terms 2010 and is accredited through Cambridge University Faculty of Education.The course aims to identify the roles and responsibilities of an ICT Subject Leader in a primary school today alongside the strategic leadership and distributed responsibilities of other key stakeholders. It will offer training and support to current and aspiring ICT subject leaders in Primary schools with the intention of increasing, maintaining and improving the quality of applicants for ICT related posts in this sector.

For more information click here: Leading ICT

To check availability please contact ict.courses@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or telephone 01480 376670

Training Opportunities for December

Purpose: Training Opportunity

Audience: Primary teachers, SENCO, TA's

Clicker 5 for Beginners - Tuesday 1^st December 2009

09:30 – 12:00 at Education ICT Service, Godmanchester

Clicker 5 is a great tool for scaffolding and supporting children's writing. Do you have this software in your school? Do you know how to use it? This half day course is designed to help teachers, TAs and SENCOs learn the basics of using Clicker 5 to create and personalise learning grids and talking books using text, sound and images.

Creating Multimedia Resources - Wednesday 2^nd December 2009

09:30 – 16:00 at the Education ICT Service, Godmanchester

Multimedia texts combine the written and spoken word with still or moving images. If you would like to create these texts with or for the children in your class and in doing so, link literacy with ICT then this course is for you. The day is aimed at anyone who would like to learn more about creating multimedia texts.

Please note we are unable to accept bookings over the phone. You may call to check course detail and space availability on telephone 01480 376670 or email: ict.courses@cambridgeshire.gov.uk , unfortunately no places can be provisionally booked.

Strategic Implementation of ICT in Schools Events

Purpose: Dates for your diaries

Audience: Headteachers, Principals, Wardens and Senior Leaders with the responsibility for ICT in Primary and Secondary schools.

Secondary Schools Event:

The event on the 11^th November has had to be postponed due to low numbers. The re-arranged date will be Wednesday 16^th December 2009: 4-6pm.

Cromwell Community College, Chatteris has kindly agreed to host the event.

The outline agenda is as follows:

· Personalisation by Pieces: Tim Daines & colleagues/pupils from Cromwell Community College

· E-safety – Gareth Davies

· Framework for ICT Technical Support (FITS) – John Chapman

· Home Access Scheme – Paul Springford

· Improving communications through the Portal refresh – Gareth Davies

· BSF update – Keith Grimwade

· CCN Replacement - Keith Grimwade

During the meeting there will also be the opportunity to discuss any issues you might have.

Please can you ensure that you register your attendance by contacting ICT Courses:

Email: ict.courses@cambridgeshire.gov.uk Tel: 01480 376670

Primary Schools Events:

Two schools have kindly agreed to host an event each so that we can give colleagues more opportunities to attend.

30^th November 2009: 4-6pm – Thomas Eaton Primary School, Wimblington, March

2^nd December 2009: 4-6pm – Bar Hill Primary School, Cambridge

The outline agenda is as follows:

· Response to Leadership Support Suggestions – Gareth Davies

· Online Reporting/Parental Engagement – Matthew Nall

· CCN Replacement - Keith Grimwade

· Home Access Scheme – Paul Springford

· Improving communications through the Portal refresh – Gareth Davies

· Report on key issues

During the meeting there will also be the opportunity to discuss any issues you might have.

Please can you ensure that you register your attendance by contacting ICT Courses:

Email: ict.courses@cambridgeshire.gov.uk Tel: 01480 376670

Cambridgeshire Online Training Search

Cambridgeshire Online Training Search (COTS) is a database of training opportunities provided by the Local Authority. It can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet without the need for a password; its powerful search engine will help you to find suitable courses. Eventually, all providers will be using this database, please check the Providers list for the services currently represented. You will already find the complete listing of courses offered by CAS, CREDS, SLS, Education ICT Service, ISSIS, Cambridgeshire Youth Work and Connexions. Go to: COTS to access this service now.

ICT Service Blog and Helpline Blog

The information in this briefing is also available through our blog. This means that you do not have to wait for the fortnightly distribution; news items go online immediately. Other relevant information about ICT is posted there too. It is also possible to use the blog to comment on items and to give us feedback.

There is a link to the blog from our website or you can visit it directly at http://educationictservice.blogspot.com/ If you use a newsreader such as Google Reader, you can subscribe to the blog using the link in the left-hand column; your news reader will automatically highlight new blog items for you. If you would like to learn how to do this, contact the Helpline.

For up to the minute Helpline information, please visit the ICT Service Helplines Blog by searching for Resource id: 3750 from the Education Portal or by using this link: ICT Service Helplines Blog. You can subscribe to this blog in exactly the same way.

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).