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primary in the text.
Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES pass this newsletter onto anyone of
a nervous disposition. ICTeachers cannot be held responsible for early OFSTED's
resulting in reading this excellent piece of prose!
Who Are ICTeachers?
Some would say we are professionals with too much free time
on our hands! Others would say that we are masters of time management and manage to
run a business and schools. Others would just say we are breaking the mould and
introducing the values we believe in to the commercial sector whilst learning from the
private sector the importance of customer service, marketing and financial management!
Message
from the Editor
What are governing bodies for?
The Critical Friend. How many times have we heard that
one bandied about? More like the moribund body you have to drag by it's hair to get
anywhere. Or the recalcitrant bull you have to pull by the horns to get it to go
anywhere. How many headteachers have you heard say "Hey! A governors
meeting....this will be worthwhile!" How many businesses do you know that move
as fast as a governing body..eh? Talk about responsive.
From my experience there tends to several sorts of people who
want to become governors.
Politico's who think it will enhance their status.
Warped parents who hate teachers.
Parents with kids called Tarquin.
Megalomaniacs (heads excluded!).
Teachers who want to be managers when they grow up.
Joan Sallis.
My Wife - but only because I encouraged her so there would be at least ONE sane
person on a governing body!
I have to admit though, there are those occasional wonderful
governors who just want the best for the school, who value the work done by ALL staff and
just want to have an input into an organisation which exists to help children.
(Peers over shoulder to see if vice chair of govs and chair of PTA is still there.)
I mean, I love Joan Sallis as much as the next teacher, but I
do blanch and squirm at some of the LUNATICS that seem to be allowed onto governing bodies
judging by the questions she gets asked in her weekly column in the Times Ed. I
mean, what other voluntary office do you know, requires NO qualifications, NO interview
and allows someone to decide the wages, polices and budgets....not to mention the real
serious employment stuff..... of a group of professionals!!! Oh, and by the way, are
they police checked before they are let loose amongst the children?
Scrap what governors have become...let's go back to the real
"critical friend" days. Leave educational issues to the professionals and
lets have a partnership based on trust. Governors have real skills that are of use
to schools, it would be nice if they could be given the time and recognition they deserve
in order to use them instead of having to pour over documents and issues that even the
professionals find it difficult to get a grasp on.
What do you think?
The Editor
md@icteachers.co.uk
Back to Contents
What's
New on the Website
Give a big congratulations to our beloved Vaultman this
month as he's landed a new job. He's looking forward to the challenge of an all
female staff!
Focusing on Numercy this month, lets see what the vaultman
has for us.
| numactionplan |
A sample numeracy
action plan, submitted by Kath Budd. |
rtf |
| mathspolicy |
From Kath Budd at St Michael's
CPS, Reading. Now rewritten to include NNS and with gaps to fill in the name of your
school. |
doc |
Don't forget our photographic library at http://www.icteachers.co.uk/photos/default.htm
if you have any photo's you would like to contribute then go the site for details.
And from the management section...
| reporting |
An easy to use end
of term report format for a primary school, together with a supporting letter to parents,
peripatetic music report form and teachers' guide. (Zip contains MS Word docs). From Neil
Whitmill. |
|
|
zip |
| salarycalc |
This zip archive
contains an Excel spreadsheet for calculating staff salaries and a MS Word document of
instructions. Thanks to Dave Smith. |
|
|
zip |
| timings |
An Excel
spreadsheet, from Neil Whitmill, that calculates the percentage of time spent on each
subject. Very useful for Ofsted! Separate calculations for KS1 & KS2 |
|
|
xls |
Grateful thanks to Neil and Kath who were willing to share
these resources with us all. If you have anything on your hard disk to share then
send it to vaultman@icteachers.co.uk ,
Back to Contents
TTA
Approved Office97 Training Units for Word, Excel and Access
Most schools use Office97 but getting training materials for this is incredibly difficult.
Not any more!!
Drisconsult's Training Units for Office97
are designed to take you from absolute beginner to expert in a range of widely used
computer applications.
Our Prices are as follows:
| |
Individual (1 user) |
Site licence (up to
10 users) |
| All Units |
ONLY
£49.99 |
£99.99 |
Click here to get your evaluation copy NOW!
To make our launch more exciting we are having a PRIZE
DRAW open to the members of staff from the first 500 schools to
purchase one or more modules:
A weekend break for SIX at CENTREPARCS to be taken in March, June or
September 2001.
Accommodation is in a three bedroom villa.
Entry forms must be returned to ICTeachers Ltd PO Box 76 Manchester M8
0JY
Back to Contents
Helpers needed to work
on ICTeachers Children's Links
Do you have web-building skills? No?
Can you word-process? Yes - then you can also build web pages! We can show you how!
ICTeachers is looking for helpers to keep our Children's links pages updated. We are also
keen to expand them and to make them more "Child friendly". So if you're willing
to learn (or already have) some basic web-building skills and are keen to help with this
project, contact us on webmasters@icteachers.co.uk
and we can discuss your involvement.
We also need to spread the word about the new photo vault, which is building nicely. I
don't know whether Mike has sent you any copy, but if not here's some!:
NEW! ICTEACHERS PHOTO RESOURCES
Have you ever struggled to find the right photographic resources? Started to teach that
module on Rivers, for example, and had difficulty trying to find a photograph that
adequately illustrates a "meander"? Well, look no further! ICTeachers is
now developing photographic resources available to all free of charge on the net.
Just click on the links, download the pictures and print them out. We hope to
develop this in the future into one of the best collection of free visual resources for
teachers and pupils on the net. In order to do this we need your help. Do you have any
resources suitable for our pages? Have you taken a school trip recently to a
place of interest? If so, then maybe the photographs you took would be of interest to
other teachers. Send them to us and we will add them to our pages.
You can find the index to our current collection (which is small at the moment, but
growing every day!) at http://ww.icteachers.co.uk/photos
. Go and take a look and let us know what you think. Send us your photographs or
suggest new categories for Photographs that you would find useful. We look forward to
hearing from you!
Back to Contents
School
Websites - Why Do We Need One?
It seems to be all the rage nowadays - a presence on the web. Web pages are growing at an
phenomenal rate and schools are being bombarded from all sides with exhortations to
"get out there and join the electronic revolution!" But is a school website
really necessary? What benefits can it bring you? How do you go about creating one, or
getting someone to build and maintain one for you at a reasonable cost?
Benefits
A website allows you to tell the world about your school at a fraction of the cost of
sending out leaflets! Your site can be accessed from anywhere in the world, enabling past
staff and pupils to keep in touch with what's happening in a way hitherto unthought of.
Present pupils and parents can also use a web site to access information and support with
homework - this can be a very powerful tool if used well. It is also a useful first port
of call for prospective parents - the ones you need to attract to maintain your numbers.
Your website is definitely your "shop window" where you can set out your stall
and show everyone what you can do. Events pages, children's work, all the legal documents
that you have to publish, school policies, a virtual tour of the school - all of these
things are basic to a good school website and can be displayed in interesting and novel
ways. A visitor's book or bulletin board are also useful additions to help keep in touch
with those who visit your site.
Ok, so you've convinced me! How do I go about getting one?
There are thousands of web-building companies out there, so just contact one and that's
it! Well, that's fine if you have unlimited funds and....
Of course, this is not the real world for schools with limited budgets and tight controls.
So where can you find a reliable web-builder who understands the needs of schools and the
limitations of their budgets?
ICTeachers offers a web design and building service tailor made to the needs of the
individual school, which is being taken up by an increasing number of schools,
particularly primaries. In the first instance our award winning web masters will contact
you to discuss YOUR needs as a school and will be able to make a judgement as to what
level of support you will need in providing information about your site. Following this
initial discussion, a mock-up home page will be created which will be used as the basis
for the development of your site. Once an agreement about the look and structure has been
reached, a price will be agreed for the cost of the building of the site - and half of
this fee will be payable immediately, with the remaining half being due on completion.
The real work of building the site then continues - done to your specifications at all
times. We will offer advice as to the best way to proceed, but if you have definite ideas
of your own we are happy to incorporate them into the design. You will need to send
documents, photographs, information, etc (either via e-mail as attachments or by snail
mail) and we will incorporate these into your web pages.
Most schools have received web site addresses (known as "domain names") through
NGfL funding. We can build your site on these servers so that they can be accessed
straight away as they are being built. However, if you would like a different name, then
we can register this for you at a small extra cost and build your site on our own reliable
servers.
When your site is complete, we will maintain it for you - i.e. make any changes you want,
additions to your pages, etc - for the first three months totally free of charge. During
this time we can train you to maintain the site yourself, if you wish. If you would like
us to continue to maintain your site after this period, then we are happy to do so at a
small quarterly cost.
Great! So what does it cost?
We feel that our prices are highly competitive and that our service is second to none.
For building we charge between £200.00 and £500.00, depending on the size and complexity
of your site.
If you wish us to register and host your site, then an annual charge of £120.00 will be
made.
Maintenance of a site costs just £50.00 per quarter (£200.00 per year)
Some schools use their own funds to pay these fees, while others see it as an excellent
way to use their NGfL or Standards Fund Money.
Take a look at some of the sites we have built:
http://www.bispham.org.uk
http://outerquest.co.uk/barmby
http://www.exeter-the-topsham.devon.sch.uk
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/hopcraft
http://www.st-marys-pri..doncaster.sch.uk
http://www.highcliffe.leics.sch.uk
Interested? Then please contact webmasters@icteachers.co.uk or telephone
Bob on 01462 630768.
It will help if you give us a contact telephone number in the e-mail so that we can
discuss your initial requirements.
Special Easter Introductory Offer!
£250 pa for 30 page hosted and maintained website!
(usual price £350 building + £200pa maintenance + £120pa hosting) |
Back to Contents
Web Nose Day Award and Website Awards
2001
(This first bits a bit late..but you still have time! - Ed)
Becta have teamed up with Comic Relief to challenge schools and colleges to take Red Nose
Day activity on line. The award will be given for the best set of Web pages (a maximum of
six) which reflect the work of Comic Relief and Red Nose Day. The Guardian http://education.guardian.co.uk/webnoseday/
are providing advice on how to make your Web Nose Day irresistible, and BBC Webwise http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/comicrelief/index.shtml
are offering templates and designs that can be downloaded and used on your Web Nose Day
web site. Web sites entering the Web Nose Day Award should be 'live' the week
before Red Nose Day (16th March 2001) and the week after.
For further information about the award and an entry form:
http://www.becta.org.uk/schools/websiteawards/categories.html.
Comic Relief: http://www.comicrelief.com/education
Becta/Guardian UK School and College Web Site Awards 2001 Schools and colleges have been
offered the chance to demonstrate their imagination, creativity and use of the latest
technology by entering the prestigious Becta/Guardian UK School and College Web Site
Awards 2001. The awards showcase the best of school and college Web publishing and
encourage schools and colleges to contribute to the National Grid for Learning.
Details of the award categories and criteria are available on the web
site.
The closing date is Friday 13th April 2001. For further information about the awards
and an entry form:
http://www.becta.org.uk/schools/websiteawards/index.html
Sarah Thomason
Information Officer
Evidence and Practice Directorate - Partnerships and Practice Team
British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta)
Back to Contents
Remember the good old days with
printed books?
By Lewis Bronze, CEO of Espresso Broadband plc
Unless you've spent the last five years teaching on a different planet, it would have been
impossible not to notice that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is
increasingly influencing the world of education. While trade shows like BETT aim to
present the best in ICT, the average teacher can be left feeling more than a little
overwhelmed and wishing for the day when pupils were satisfied with a textbook. Over
the next 2 months icteachers will team up with Lewis Bronze, an internet pioneer and
expert in ICT, to present a step by step guide to new technologies and how they impact the
classroom and teaching in the new digital age.
Every two weeks Lewis aims to unravel some of the key issues affecting education and
promises no techno-speak. Subjects to be discussed include the Internet, ADSL, Cable
and Broadband.
Back to
Contents
This Newsletter is
produced by ICTeachers Ltd
Contact: info@icteachers.co.uk
Copyright ICTeachers 2001 |