Hampshire IT Schools Autumn 2010

DISTRIBUTION LIST: Headteacher | Senior Leaders | Teaching Sta f f S IMS Manager | Admin Off icer | ICT Co-ordinator | IT Sta f f | Chair of Governors

Hampshire IT Schoolsformerly EdICT NEWS Autumn 2010

But hello to our new podcast on page 3Read about the new SLA on page 6

See the new projects to benefit schools, on page 8Learn what’s new in SIMS on page 10

A time for changeIt’s goodbye to EdICT on page 2

www.hants.gov.uk

On 7 July, IT staff from Hampshire schools converged on Everest Community College in Basingstoke for our annual ICT Conference (see page 19). This was a great opportunity for us to catch up with schools.

Visitors to our stand were invited to enter a prize draw to win a Samsung NB30 netbook, kindly provided by Stone Computers.

The lucky winner was Ann Squires from Shamblehurst Primary School, Hedge End (shown here receiving the netbook from Senior IT Consultant Ross Turnbull).

Ann’s school was considering investing in some netbooks so this has provided her with the perfect opportunity to see how this type of device can be used to support classroom activities.

In the Spring 2010 issue of EdICT News we mentioned that Hampshire County Council was undertaking a Corporate Services Review of its IT services. That review is now complete and the result is the formation of Hampshire IT, which will replace EdICT.

Hampshire IT is a single IT department within Hampshire County Council which will be responsible for the planning, procurement and delivery of all IT services, bringing together and strengthening departmental and corporate responsibilities.

Over the next five months you will see the name EdICT replaced by Hampshire IT. The EdICT brand will finally be retired at the end of March. Then in April the new Service Level Agreement between schools and Hampshire IT will come into force (see page 6).

A farewell to EdICT

This publication is available in large print, in Braille, on audio tape or disk. Please contact the IT Help Desk on 01962 847007 if required.

Contents2 A farewell to EdICT2 Netbook winner3 The IT Engine4 Hampshire Wizkid6 The new SLA 2011-146 IT handover in Andover7 Smartphones8 Project update9 SIMS Matters14 HPSN215 Pilots in the cloud16 Keeping your data safe17 Stories from long ago18 Training for all19 Mounting a conference19 Meet us at these events20 The training calendar

Read previous issues online at www.issuu.com/HampshireIT

Credits(1) flickr.com/marilynjane* (3) Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division LC-F8-18331 (4) Drawings from www.bartley.hants.sch.uk (6) Courtesy of Ann Turnbull(7) Ed Budd (8) Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine (16) flickr.com/laszlo-photo* (17) El Bibliomata: flickr.com/fdctsevilla** Used under a Creative Commons licence.

Contact

For queries specifically about this newsletter, please contactSue Allen01329 [email protected]

© Hampshire County Council

http : / / intranet .hants .gov.uk/ ict inschools | IT Help Desk 01962 847007 | edicthelp@hants .gov.uk

2 Hampshire IT Schools Autumn 2010

Follow us at twitter.com/hantsitschools

Winning at the ICT Conference

Read about the ICT Conference and find out about upcoming events on page 19

Autumn 2010 Hampshire IT Schools 3


EngineI.T.The

A podcast for schools from Hampshire County Council

Hampshire IT has launched a podcast about IT in schools; it’s free and easy to listen.

What is a podcast?A podcast is a series of audio or video files that are released regularly and can be downloaded onto your computer or mobile device. In our case, it’s an audio file, like a radio show, discussing IT issues relevant to schools. In the first show presenter Ian White discusses the past, present and future of SIMS with Renate Tracy, our MIS Consultant.

How can I get it?The easiest way is to visit education.hants.gov.uk/podcast - click ‘What is a podcast?’ for instructions on how to listen. Or, if you have iTunes installed, visit the iTunes Store and search for ‘Hampshire County Council’ - you’ll soon find us.

4 Hampshire IT Schools Autumn 2010 HAMPSHIRE WIZKID


Our school has a very strict code of conduct for the use of Wizkid, and all computer use. This area was graded outstanding by Ofsted because Wizkid provides a safer alternative to Facebook, MSN and other social networking sites.

At the beginning of Year 3, the parents sign a consent form and pledge that they will support their child in the use of a computer at home and encourage safe use of the internet when not in school. The children learn the rules for keeping their data and identity private at a school level and how this applies to social networking sites and internet use outside of our safe VLE.

We are able to effectively monitor the use of Wizkid through the teacher and admin controls in a way that is not always possible in other situations. The children and parents can be confident that they are completely safe and secure. Our parents were appreciative of the meeting we held at the launch of Wizkid in our school, where they could ask questions and discuss the implications of its use, as well as make suggestions for the things they would like to see.

Wizkid provides a medium for all individuals, regardless of ability, location (as long as the internet is present!) or age, to learn independently and interact with other learners and teachers. Using the individual

access rights function, we were able to set up folders for individuals with specific needs.

In particular, traveller children have benefited through being able to access the curriculum even when not in school, completing activities set up specifically for them. They have been able to communicate with their teacher and get feedback about their work.

Additionally, children with long-term absence due to sickness or travel have been able to keep in touch with teachers and classmates through messaging, chat rooms and discussions. For pupils who do not have access to a computer with internet at home, additional access is allowed in school.

Finally, the involvement of Wizkid with vulnerable children has been very useful. This has been particularly apparent through the contributions that quieter children have made to discussions on Wizkid.

Wizkid has been a fantastic tool for bringing the different groups of our school community together. Recently our kitchen sought the views of the children regarding a menu change. Children and staff from all year groups took part in a whole school discussion to present the kitchen with a balanced view of the new menu.

Discussions and the messaging tool were used for children in the lower classes to seek advice from older

In April we were visited by Ofsted. One of the areas that particularly impressed the Ofsted team was Hampshire Wizkid and its impact on many of their judgements. Ofsted included this comment in their final report:

The school has developed strong and well-used provision for ICT, for example in conjunction with the local authority the school has successfully introduced a virtual learning platform called ‘Wizkid’. This effectively enables pupils and parents to access work and information online, both at school and at home.

In this article we have highlighted how our use of Hampshire Wizkid at Bartley has contributed to each of the judgements.

How Wizkid affects Ofsted outcomes

By Wendy Smith and Karen Blencowe from Bartley CE Junior School

Feeling safe and safeguarding procedures

Equality of opportunity

Contributing to the school and wider community

“

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HAMPSHIRE WIZKID Autumn 2010 Hampshire IT Schools 5


pupils. Likewise, older pupils have been able to present information to younger children. For example, Year 6 made radio adverts to inform the Year 5 pupils about their upcoming residential.

This year, we will be conducting a survey through Wizkid to gauge the children’s understanding of different communities; this links to our main School Improvement target.

Wizkid has been inspirational in enhancing our curriculum in so many different areas. We have used the file activity countless times to create links to video, audio and website clips that we use as a stimulus for learning. Our school server has benefited as a result from not having to store large amounts of files and data (although we do have backups elsewhere).

When sharing work and ideas in Art, the gallery activity is invaluable in providing children with the opportunity to see what other children have created, and show their parents at home.

Teachers can access work from previous years as an exemplar of the standard of work expected. In the past, we have recorded film and sound clips of drama, dance and gym and uploaded these to the gallery. Their peers are easily able to comment on and rate each entry and children can evaluate their work too.

The discussion tool has been used in a variety of ways for homework tasks, to generate a debate and for drama activities and character writing.

Children are far more inspired by the use of Wizkid and a computer than they are by a piece of paper, and are learning important and relevant skills alongside.

As we mentioned before, the Ofsted team were especially interested in the provision for travelling children and other vulnerable groups. As well as the individual work folders, each traveller child is asked to complete a timetable to demonstrate that they are working for two hours each day and this can be recorded on our attendance records as educated off-site rather than absent.

During the school’s ‘snow days’, work was provided via Wizkid so that the parents, children and teachers could keep in touch with their learning.

As our world (and therefore the children’s futures) is becoming more technologically advanced, the skills needed to prepare the children are directly

promoted through the use of Wizkid. Through the assignment activity, our children regularly upload and share documents, using other computer programs as a result.

Pupils at our school enjoy many theme days, trips and residential visits. It is not always convenient for pupils to take photos, nor for all parents to accompany their children. Following a special day, we upload photos to the gallery so that children can share the experience with people at home.

This has also been a useful way of sharing work. Unless a member of a gym club, parents rarely get to see their child perform a gymnastic routine. We have uploaded video clips of gymnastics to Wizkid, which enables parents to celebrate that aspect of their child’s school life.

Feedback from pupils and parents has shown that homework on Wizkid is much more popular than written homework, and parents have far fewer battles over its completion! Furthermore, we have many activities on Wizkid, which children access at home to support and enhance their learning.

We feel strongly that Wizkid has contributed in so many different ways to our school and our pleasing Ofsted report, and some of these cannot be demonstrated in a written account. There are also many other Ofsted judgements that are supported through Wizkid indirectly such as assessment, attainment/progress, embedding ambition, care guidance and support, and behaviour.

We are continually developing ideas and uses and the children are excited about getting started on it again! We are more than happy to share our experiences and ideas if anyone should wish to get in contact with us. We hope you get as much enjoyment from it as we do.

A big thank you to Karen and Wendy for this most interesting and useful article. Visit the school’s website at: http://www.bartley.hants.sch.ukAnd as always you can read more about Wizkid at http://intranet.hants.gov.uk/ictinschools/wizkid

Curriculum

Economic wellbeing and attendance

In conclusion ...

Engaging with parents and carers



You should already have received a printed copy of the new Hampshire IT Service Level Agreement.

It covers 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2014, but you will still be able to adjust your options each year.

This is the successor to the EdICT SLA. It includes key IT developments from the last 12 months and also has the flexibility to include new services as and when they are implemented.

There is one significant difference between the current and the new SLA: the support that we will offer will now be unlimited (subject to a fair use policy). There will be no more deciding how many hours you need to purchase, you just have to decide whether you want support or not. You can still opt for just the licence or choose to add the support as well. The SLA is designed to give schools maximum choice and flexibility.

You have until 17 December to complete your options on the online calculator and there is an option for you to print off different scenarios to take to your governing body. Once you have agreed on the options you wish to subscribe to, enter them onto the online calculator and press the ‘send’ button.

We will take each school’s number on roll from the January PLASC to arrive at the final charge and schools will not be debited until the new financial year.

The new SLA for 2011-2014

Visit the SLA page on the ICT in Schools intranet: http://intranet.hants.gov.uk/support_sla

If your school hasn’t yet received its printed copy, or if you have any queries, please contact the IT Help Desk on 01962 847007 or email [email protected].

The official opening of Abbott’s Ann CE Primary School in Andover took place on

9 July 2010. In attendance were the late Cllr David Kirk, TV presenter and wildlife expert Chris Packham, and the Right Reverend Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester, as well as many parents and governors.

From an IT perspective, this was the culmination of work which had been going on since 2008.

Hampshire IT’s Consultancy team worked with the school and with third party suppliers to deliver the schools’ IT: from discussing what the school needed, deciding the location and number of networks ports and wireless access points, through to the final specification of the hardware and its installation.

The school now benefits from a range of IT to support its teaching and learning, including a number of iPods, Apple Macs, netbooks and even Nintendo DSis, as well as the usual mixture of workstations and laptops.

In general, the project went smoothly, apart from one or two last minute snags. It was fantastic to see the children using some of the technology on opening day, and we’re sure they will benefit from this investment for years to come.

IT handover for school in Andover

Chris Packham was the guest speaker and also worked with the children during the day

SMARTERSMARTPHONES just got



Hampshire IT has extended the Hantsnet Mobile Service to schools. This will let school staff use their own smartphones to

connect to their work email, contacts and calendar, bringing flexible and mobile working options to many more staff.

You will need:an individual OWL account• a modern smartphone which is compatible with Microsoft • Exchange to synchronise to Outlook a personal phone contract for call and data charges.•

There is no additional service charge to connect to the service for you or your school. However, we will not reimburse you for any data charges incurred, so if you are in doubt about the amount of data you can download please contact your network operator.

Using the service, you will be able to: keep an eye on your calendar when you’re on the move • write new email, or read and reply to email • access contact details in the corporate Outlook Directory• receive helpful calendar reminders anywhere•

How do I apply?Before you can join this service, you will need to complete an

application form and sign up to Hampshire County Council’s mobile phone user policy. This has to be endorsed by your Headteacher. Your device must also autolock and require a PIN code to gain access.

Read more about the service on this page: www3.hants.gov.uk/personal-smartphonesTo order, follow the instructions at: http://intranet.hants.gov.uk/hantsnet-mobileIf you have any problems, contact the IT Help Desk on 01962 847007 or email [email protected].

Many different smartphones can synchronize with Microsoft Exchange. These mobile phones can run operating systems such as Apple iOS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm, or Nokia. Look for phrases such as ‘Exchange compatible’ or ‘Microsoft ActiveSync compliant’ etc.

Given the huge range of smartphone handsets, we are only able to supply a list of manufacturers who have compatible smartphones:

Apple iPhoneNokia (Eseries)Sony Ericsson (some newer models)Palm (Windows Mobile or Palm OS)Motorola (newer models)Symbian (open standard operating system for mobile telephones)

Which phones are compatible?

If you have an individual OWL email account, your personal smartphone can

now access your work emails and calendar



Hampshire WizkidThe new contract with Studywiz UK was signed

in August and from this term Hampshire IT is also supporting Southampton schools in their use of the software, increasing opportunities for collaboration.

The upgrade to version 9.4.4 will have happened over half term. Bundled with the release are two major new features aimed particularly at Hampshire infant and special schools’ requirements, though probably useful to all age ranges. These are an online sound recorder and integration of Widgit symbols.

The online sound recorder gives users the ability to record and insert MP3 files into any location where they can use the full rich text editor.

We are trialling Widgit symbols, which increase the accessibility of written text, giving readers of all literacy levels greater access to information. For more details see: http://www3.hants.gov.uk/wizkid-944

Centrally Hosted SIMS and SQL 2008A fantastic effort from schools and IT teams means

that we are on target to ensure that all schools are upgraded to SQL 2008 by November, when support will be withdrawn for SQL 2005. Many primary schools are now enjoying the benefits of SIMS being backed up centrally and a reduction in the amount of time spent managing upgrades from Capita.

Cloud email and web applicationsWe’ve been doing work over the summer and

autumn to prepare the IT infrastructure for the cloud project, and the pilot schools will soon go live. See page 15 for full details.

Hosted School ServiceThe Hosted School Service will enable schools to

spread the cost of IT, whilst supplying and maintaining hardware and software as technologies change.

Features of the service include automatic updates to core software, secure data backup and remote access for staff and pupils.

As with many of our new services, the Hosted School Service will ultimately enable creative, collaborative and personalised learning opportunities for Hampshire’s children.

The summer holiday was a busy time for our team working on the pilot at The Westgate School.

They converted an ICT suite into a temporary computer build factory and began installing Windows 7 and Office onto all the school’s computers. At the same time the network configuration was optimised, printers connected and new servers installed and configured.

Our first key deadline was to be ready for exam results day, 23 August, and in conjunction with school staff we were able to achieve this.

When the new term started the system was accessed by all staff and pupils. The initial response was enthusiastic, and the combination of the new equipment and Windows 7 has proved very popular.

In September we rolled out remote access to staff and students, enabling them to access programs and files from outside the school as necessary.

In the period leading up to half term we supported the onsite IT team in completing the remaining parts of the project.

Projectupdate

As in schools, the autumn term brings new beginnings at Hampshire IT. A number of key projects will conclude this term, the cloud email and web applications project will enter the pilot stage and a programme of work will be developed to change the shape of school networks as we know them.

SIMS MATTERS Autumn 2010 Hampshire IT Schools 9


Hampshire County Council needs accurate and regular pupil information from schools

to track and profile its vulnerable children in real time. Last term the Children’s Services Department Management Team approved procurement for an automated Schools Data Feed system.

The new solution, using extractor software, was successfully rolled out to all schools with Looked After Children on their roll. It has replaced the previous third party service, Welfare Call, for collecting attendance data on Looked After Children.

We are pleased to report that the process is now working very well and the data is arriving in our central system within 30 minutes of being input and automatically collected from your school’s management information system.

Poor attendance is one of the reasons some Looked After Children underachieve, so it was crucial this implementation was successful. To maintain these improvements all schools with Looked After Children will need to continue to make sure that:

all Looked After Children have been set up • correctly on SIMSthe attendance mark for those Looked After • Children is recorded on SIMS twice a day: before 10.00am for morning registration and before 2.30pm for afternoon registration.

We were also conscious that the process needed to be faster, more accurate and lead to an overall improvement of processes.

Jo Baldwin from Fawley Infant School said “I thought sending attendance information about our Looked After Children to the County was going to cause lots of work, so I was really surprised and pleased when I realised that all I had to do was input the attendance mark into SIMS by a certain time each day”.

If we continue to work together we are one step closer to realising the vision of making Hampshire a better place for children and young people, where all of them, including those who are vulnerable or disadvantaged, have the best possible start in life.

Updates will be posted on the main project page: http://intranet.hants.gov.uk/ictinschools/sdf

Schools Data Feed

It is essential that, as a minimum, basic details of employees (specifically teachers and any other

members of staff who take classes) are entered into the Personnel module.

This is important because a number of schools have introduced registration in the classroom with teachers or teaching assistants marking the register directly into SIMS. To do this, details of those staff must be entered into Personnel so that a user ID and password and relevant access rights can be created. Teachers can be allocated to their correct registration group and, where appropriate, timetabled accordingly.

The same principle applies where teachers enter assessment data directly into their marksheets.

User IDs and passwords are also created for Hampshire Wizkid, Centrally Hosted SIMS and SIMS

Learning Gateway from the information held within the Personnel module.

The information will also be used for future services, such as the cloud computing and web apps project (see page 15), so it’s critical that it is accurate and up-to-date.

Although the School Workforce Census is completed on behalf of schools with information from SAP each year, curriculum data just for secondary schools is also required for all teachers and some teaching assistants. This data is collected from SIMS.

Although this may appear to be duplication of effort as you also need to update SAP, it’s essential for the correct use of SIMS and for other central services. We are working closely with HR to explore ways to reduce the burden for schools where possible.

This time it’s Personnel

10 Hampshire IT Schools Autumn 2010 SIMS MATTERS


What’s new in SIMS?In the last few months there have been many improvements and new features added to SIMS to enhance the experience for teachers in the classroom, for senior leaders, students and school administrators.Just in case you have missed the information supplied in our upgrade release notes, here is a brief introduction to some of the enhancements...

SIMS Learning Gateway: new pupil page for parents

In the latest upgrade to the SIMS Learning Gateway site, the ‘My Children’ link for secondary schools has been redesigned and is now called the ‘My Children Dashboard’.

This new look contains active elements including news items from the home page and parent front page, rolling information on the child’s attendance and behaviour and any recorded incidents from the previous seven days. Early feedback is that the new features are much more suitable and user friendly for parents.

SIMS Learning Gateway: Displaying Cover

SIMS Attendance: Meal List Report

Secondary schools can choose to display the classes that a member of staff has been assigned to cover as well as show a member of staff who is covering a lesson for them.

This is not switched on by default so the display will need to be set in a teacher’s My Planner web part, a teacher’s Teacher Timetable web part, or both.

The Spring 2010 upgrade includes a Meal List report, enabling all schools to provide the school kitchen with the number of pupil/students who require school meals and a useful register. It’s possible to include other meal types in the report, such as Packed Lunches or Home.

This report is accessed from Reports | Attendance | Selected Pupil/Student Reports | Meal List ReportTwo versions are available: Summary and Detailed,

which lists names, Year and Registration Group, Meal Code, Attendance Mark and eligibility for Free School Meals. The Managing Diplomas functionality in

Examinations Organiser was provided with the SIMS Summer 2010 Release. It’s designed to support schools to implement diplomas for 14-19 year olds. We are investigating the value of this new functionality and also the government’s intentions for diploma delivery, and will report the outcomes to secondary schools in the near future.

Managing Diplomas in SIMS Exam Organiser

For more information, please refer to Section 7 of ‘Usage notes - HPSN SWAN Schools’ at http://intranet.hants.gov.uk/sims-spring2010 Detailed information is provided in Producing Selected Pupil/Student Reports chapter in the Producing Attendance Reports in SIMS handbook.



The SIMS Spring Upgrade 2010 brought a new academic reporting area with useful features for primary school pupil and registration lists and secondary school Nova replacements:

Go to • Reports | Student/Pupil ListSelect from one of the following options:•

› General Student List › Class List [Secondary Schools only] › Registration Group List

For secondary schools, this replicates and enhances some of the Nova T4 routines. Also, the Student Analysis routines have been reproduced by selecting Reports | Student Analysis Report.

The Autumn 2010 release includes functionality to view and print a wide variety of timetables from within SIMS. Advanced formatting options are also available. Timetables can now be produced for staff, student, rooms and non-class codes, plus a range of timetables including Free Staff and Subjects.

Those familiar with Nova T4 will no doubt be pleased with the many similarities between the old and the new versions and will see a considerable number of additions. The ability for individual users to view the data in particular fields is determined by

their user permissions as defined in System Manager. Nova T4 is due to be switched off shortly, so you should consider moving to SIMS Reporting as soon as possible.

The SIMS Documentation Centre is a really useful resource to find information about new and existing features in SIMS.

It can be accessed by clicking the Documentation button on the SIMS home page; once launched it provides access to handbooks, mini guides, help sheets and quick reference sheets, together with the reporting catalogue and yearbook.

Online help can be accessed by pressing F1 or clicking the relevant Help button.

New academic reporting and timetable printing

12 Hampshire IT Schools Autumn 2010 SIMS MATTERS


Online reporting to parents for primary and special schools

We are all aware that the educational landscape is likely to change significantly as the

government continues with its plans to change schools and the way they are organised and supported. At the time of writing, it’s too early to say if the Online Reporting expectation will be made optional, particularly in primary schools. That said, there was never a statutory requirement to report to parents online anyway - Becta could only ever recommend that schools follow this route.

However, this doesn’t alter our belief that positive partnerships with parents make an important difference to children’s education and well-being, and that technology has an import role to play in communicating information and reporting to parents. There is also government research to support this belief and the Association of School and College Leaders continue to strongly support the concept.

OfstedIt may also be worth mentioning here that the

Revised Ofsted Framework includes a measure of the effectiveness of the school’s engagement with parents and carers. So inspectors will be looking for evidence that there is a regular exchange of information and a dialogue with parents before a school can achieve an ‘outstanding’ grading for that area. Again, information is emerging to say that changes to the inspection process are imminent so this could also change.

Data managementWhile we continue to plan for online reporting,

primary and special schools (and Hampshire County Council) will need to look at how existing data and systems can be used. Schools already collect and manage a range of information about pupils using SIMS, and primary schools use Hampshire Wizkid for curriculum aspects and learning resources.

By streamlining data management into an integrated information system, schools can enter data once and use it many times; this makes best use of their

investment and supports the concept of a fully Managed Learning Environment. Any online reporting solution would therefore sensibly integrate with and complement current strategic systems and technologies including Wizkid, Centrally Hosted SIMS and the cloud computing project (see page 15).

As with any move to new ways of working, schools will need to consider their own capacity and individual setting to implement online reporting. Changes and investment will be needed, but research shows that schools which are already using technologies in this way have experienced long-term time-saving benefits for staff, efficiency savings, and improved engagement with parents. Overall, this can only contribute to whole school improvement.

SIMS Learning GatewayTo meet the secondary school deadline of

September 2010, Hampshire IT successfully implemented the hosted SIMS Learning Gateway. This solution has the benefit of providing remote and classroom access to SIMS for an unlimited number of users. There has been plenty of positive feedback, with students and parents gaining live access to information about assessment results, learning targets, attendance, behaviour and rewards. Participating schools are now eagerly awaiting the next upgrade which has the facility to upload student reports online and make significant savings on their printing costs.

Into the futurePrimary and special schools can choose their own

software solutions, but of course they will need to consider security aspects, the total cost of ownership, and interoperability with existing services. We are currently reviewing the business case for procurement of a Hampshire primary and special school solution with the existing target date of September 2012 in mind; we’ll provide more details as the project proceeds and the government’s intentions are clarified.



We’d like to invite school staff to this year’s SIMS Update Seminars, being held at The Wessex

Conference Centre, Sparsholt College, Winchester.

Tuesday 23 November 2010 Morning and afternoonPrimary and primary phase special

Wednesday 24 November 2010 Morning and afternoonPrimary and primary phase special

Thursday 25 November 2010 Morning onlySecondary and secondary phase special

Sessions are available for two delegates per school on a first-come, first-served basis. Following feedback from last year’s seminars, we decided to hold them later in the autumn term to minimise the impact on your key business processes.

The seminars are free of charge to schools which subscribe to the SIMS element of the EdICT SLA. (There is a charge of £50 per delegate for schools which don’t subscribe to this part of the SLA.)

Topics covered include:Improved attainment data for Looked After Children• The Spring Census 2011• SIMS Discover• The SIMS Development Roadmap•

We look forward to seeing you on the day.

SIMS Update Seminars 2010

To book your place, please fill in the online booking form on the ICT in Schools intranet: http://intranet.hants.gov.uk/sims-update-seminars-2010

You will find driving directions and a parking map on this page, along with the agendas for each seminar.

Many schools use third party software which connects in various ways to SIMS. Historically,

schools have made independent purchasing decisions and usually receive their upgrades and software support directly from these suppliers. So most of these applications are not supported by Hampshire IT.

By the end of the year, SIMS will be hosted centrally for nearly all Hampshire primary schools. This poses a real challenge because there are a wide range of systems that may not function as expected in the central environment or could introduce data security or data protection risks.

Some of these products don’t have a direct link to SIMS and can remain on the school’s local server and continue to be maintained by the school. Nevertheless, as schools retain responsibility for using third party products irrespective of where the SIMS data is hosted, Hampshire IT takes the security of schools’ data very seriously.

One particular issue seems to be that with some of

these systems the data from SIMS is in effect taken off site electronically to a third party company; this raises questions about how this fits in with County Council protocols. Another concern arises with ensuring software licence agreements are not broken. Inevitably, there will be some software that is incompatible and we can’t support an unlimited number of products.

Now onto the good news: we want to reassure you that we are trying to resolve these issues where possible. We are working with suppliers to provide a list of products that are compatible with - and can be supported within - our centrally hosted services. We are developing a set of standards and criteria that suppliers will need to meet, and are preparing supplier agreements.

This is not a simple process and our legal experts are involved in the development of this work. In the meantime, we’d like to thank those schools and suppliers affected for their patience while this work is progressing.

Third party products and Centrally Hosted SIMS



On the coverRecent cover stories in this newsletter have featured flexible filtering, cloud computing, and data security. These next few pages bring you up-to-date on developments with each of these.

In the summer issue of EdICT News we described the flexible filtering solution, which will be one of many services delivered by HPSN2, the new wide area network coming to schools in 2011.

A network for ALL Hampshire schoolsHPSN2 is a high quality and resilient fibre-optic wide area network which

connects 538 Hampshire schools (primary, secondary, special, nursery) and education centres no matter what their location, urban or rural. It provides a Hampshire education community that allows interaction, peer-to-peer school connection (eg, secondary to feeder primary), high quality videoconferencing, cheaper on-net phone calls and a lot more.

When schools move over from SWAN to HPSN2 they will automatically be upgraded to double their current bandwidth at no extra cost.

A managed serviceHPSN2 is a managed service, from the school-end router (provided as part

of the service) to the internet. It includes managed firewalls, spam filters, VLANs, IT Help Desk support and diagnostics.

Responsibility and liabilityIf schools are considering a do-it-yourself solution, it is important to remember

that Headteachers and governors have a legal responsibility to ensure protection from harmful online content and contact, and the security of personal data. There are risks associated with a school managing these itself.

HPSN2’s inherent security and e-safety features take those concerns away from schools. Our content filters and firewalls are industry standard and meet all legal and regulatory requirements.

Other services provided by HPSN2 for schoolsSAP• School Communications• Access to the Hampshire intranet and associated data• Hampshire IT online support for school local networks• Direct peer-to-peer connections with feeder schools• Transfer of data to the Children’s Services department• Cloud computing• Centralised SIMS• Identity management•

Flexible filteringNext term schools should start to gain access to flexible filtering. Through a

simple front end schools can customise the blocked and allowed lists, to give them real choice of the internet content that their pupils can access.

We are hosting HPSN2 roadshows in November and December, so come along to find out more details and ask questions. See page 19 for dates and venues, and School Communication 6272 to book: http://bit.ly/schcom6272And for news on the rollout of HPSN2 see www.hants.gov.uk/hpsn2

EdICT NEWSS u m m e r 2 0 1 0

Surfers’ paradiseFor some time now internet filtering for schools has

been a cause of much debate. Hampshire County Council has had to err on the side of caution when deciding on filtering for schools and understandably this doesn’t always meet the needs of all schools.

A change is on the horizon. We are currently piloting three different flexible solutions for schools, applications which will provide schools with the ability to set their own filtering policies for their pupils. School-based administrators can block or unblock web content by site or by category. For example within a category blocked by a school, say social networking, a school could unblock a specific site or sites. Alternatively within a school permitted category, say news and current affairs, a school may decide to block a specific newspaper’s website.

We have conducted a mini-tender that has lead to a shortlist of three products for trialling. These school-based trials, including primary and secondary schools, are well under way and should be complete in June. A supplier will be selected in time for the solution to be

available to schools for the next academic year.Schools will not get a ‘raw’ completely unfiltered

internet feed. Following recommendations from Becta and the Internet Watch Foundation certain inappropriate categories and URLs will be blocked: pornographic, adult, tasteless or offensive material; violence; racist, extremist and hate material; illegal drug taking and promotion; criminal skills; proxy avoidance and software piracy.

Flexible filtering will give schools real choices about the internet content that their pupils are exposed to. But with flexibility comes responsibility: if a parent objects to an item of that content their child has been exposed to then this may be the responsibility of the school, rather than Hampshire County Council. To help schools with this we will be publishing a set of guidelines and best practice for those schools that choose the flexible filtering option. Schools can however choose to stay with the current service.

More details will follow once the final product selection has been made.

02 Training team news03 Ash cloud based computing 04 Making a meal with Wizkid

06 Schools beware! 07 SIMS Matters11 Our performance 2009-2010

12 Looking into SWAN bills14 Technical update 16 Hampshire ICT Conference


The freedom to take control of internet access in your school

UPDATE

EdICT NEWSS p r i n g 2 0 1 0

Heads cloud

2 New IT Business Partner

2 Where will EdICT be this term?

3 EdICT project update

4 Wizkid stops snow turning learning into a no-go

6 Reporting to Parents: a school’s perspective

7 Centrally Hosted SIMS and SQL 2008

8 The ICT in Schools intranet

10 School Website Service

11 Using our mailing lists

11 Missed a previous issue?

12 Silver Surfers go to school

13 BETT 2010

14 Mr White goes to Fareham

15 Technical update

15 In brief

16 New training directory

Inside EdICT News

in the(and teachers - in fact all school staff - and governors, and students...)

Cloud computing has been a buzz term for a few years now.In essence it means delivering computing resources over the internet. EdICT’s Cloud Computing project will deliver an email and web application service for all schools. We went to tender in January and intend to start piloting it in schools from the summer term, and aim to go live in the autumn.As the project develops we will give you updates on the ICT in Schools intranet, but if you would like to register your school’s interest please give us your details via this online form: http://bit.ly/edict-cloud-form

FEATURES

Online office applications: to create, edit and share text • documents, presentations, spreadsheetsAnd at least 10GB of storage space for your files• The ability for users to collaborate on documents across • schoolsBigger email inbox: at least 7GB of capacity• Bigger emails: at least 20MB• User accounts for every pupil, governor, and member of staff• Access via the internet at any time• Address book, calendar and distribution lists• All controlled by your school•


UPDATE

EdICT NEWSA u t u m n 2 0 0 9

DISTRIBUTION LIST: Headteacher | Senior Leaders | Teaching Sta f f S IMS Manager | Admin Off icer | IT Technic ian | Chair of Governors

Y our data and its users face many threats, from the careless loss of a USB stick to deliberate attacks on your network and the risks to children from harmful material on the internet.

This issue of EdICT News brings together the latest developments on e-safety and security. Look inside for information on:8 ~ Becta’s data handling security guidelines 12 ~ How EdICT keeps your school’s data safe 14 ~ Our new McAfee automated update service

We’ve also relaunched the ICT in Schools e-safety and security pages:

http://intranet.hants.gov.uk/safetysecurityThese pages offer a comprehensive overview of our latest advice for keeping your data, systems and children safe from plots and schemes of all kinds.

TrojansMislaid memory stickPhishing

Malware

Spam

Virus cyber bullyingSpyware

2 Prize winners

Where will we be this term?3 Your Brainwaves

The Improve service Cloud-based computing

4 Summer of Wizkid5 A personal reflection6 Facts & figures7 SIMS11 Beat the Census blues

Children in Care12 School Workforce Census13 Training and Consultancy14 Technical update16 Training calendar

UPDATE

EdICT NEWSS u m m e r 2 0 1 0

Surfers’ paradiseFor some time now internet filtering for schools has

been a cause of much debate. Hampshire County Council has had to err on the side of caution when deciding on filtering for schools and understandably this doesn’t always meet the needs of all schools.

A change is on the horizon. We are currently piloting three different flexible solutions for schools, applications which will provide schools with the ability to set their own filtering policies for their pupils. School-based administrators can block or unblock web content by site or by category. For example within a category blocked by a school, say social networking, a school could unblock a specific site or sites. Alternatively within a school permitted category, say news and current affairs, a school may decide to block a specific newspaper’s website.

We have conducted a mini-tender that has lead to a shortlist of three products for trialling. These school-based trials, including primary and secondary schools, are well under way and should be complete in June. A supplier will be selected in time for the solution to be

available to schools for the next academic year.Schools will not get a ‘raw’ completely unfiltered

internet feed. Following recommendations from Becta and the Internet Watch Foundation certain inappropriate categories and URLs will be blocked: pornographic, adult, tasteless or offensive material; violence; racist, extremist and hate material; illegal drug taking and promotion; criminal skills; proxy avoidance and software piracy.

Flexible filtering will give schools real choices about the internet content that their pupils are exposed to. But with flexibility comes responsibility: if a parent objects to an item of that content their child has been exposed to then this may be the responsibility of the school, rather than Hampshire County Council. To help schools with this we will be publishing a set of guidelines and best practice for those schools that choose the flexible filtering option. Schools can however choose to stay with the current service.

More details will follow once the final product selection has been made.

02 Training team news03 Ash cloud based computing 04 Making a meal with Wizkid

06 Schools beware! 07 SIMS Matters11 Our performance 2009-2010

12 Looking into SWAN bills14 Technical update 16 Hampshire ICT Conference


The freedom to take control of internet access in your school

UPDATE



The service will deliver email and web applications for pupils, teachers and governors (and possibly parents at a later date); its aim is to improve communication, collaboration and access for all schools.

Pupils, teachers and governors will have different levels of access to ensure that we protect pupils appropriately.

We’ll create user accounts based on the information held in SIMS, so it is vital you keep such data accurate (see Personnel article on page 9).

Schools will get an improved email system based on Outlook Live, and during the pilot we will determine if this solution can be used to replace OWL and @mail.

The web applications will give users the ability to create, edit and share documents without the need to have software pre-installed on their device. The web apps are basic, ‘lite’ versions of Office 2010, but are backward compatible with Office 2003. For example, with Excel you will be able to format spreadsheets and charts with basic functions, but you won’t be able to create pivot tables.

The pilot will evaluate if schools can reduce their number of Microsoft Office licences, particularly in the primary sector where younger pupils often don’t need full functionality. If your school is thinking of upgrading your Office software, but you are also interested in using the Hampshire cloud solution, we would recommend that you talk to us for more information before renewing your licence.

Some other features that will be assessed include the use of Instant Messenger for video conferencing between small groups of staff and

the use of the IM feature for live chat between teachers. We’ll look at cross-school collaboration and collaboration between schools, using the tools available to edit and share documents in real time.

Users will also have the ability to create their own websites in the system and we will review how this can be used to schools’ advantage.

Fourteen pilot schools have volunteered to be a part of the trial and they represent a good cross-section of schools from every corner of the county. There are six secondary schools, one special school and seven schools from the infant, junior and primary sectors taking part in the trial.

We’ll create a web presence where the pilot schools can blog about their experiences. And of course we’ll update schools on the outcome of the pilot on the ICT in Schools intranet, and via Twitter at twitter.com/hantsitschools.

School level control• Email capacity of 10GB• Shared address book• Dynamic distribution lists• Shared calendars• Web filtering• SkyDrive storage capacity • 25GB (native file types)Web applications (‘apps’) • for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNoteCollaborative working, built on the SharePoint • 2010 platformTraining and support from Hampshire IT•

Our cloud computing project is coming to fruition with the pilot starting in 14 schools in early 2011

EdICT NEWSS p r i n g 2 0 1 0

Heads cloud

2 New IT Business Partner

2 Where will EdICT be this term?

3 EdICT project update

4 Wizkid stops snow turning learning into a no-go

6 Reporting to Parents: a school’s perspective

7 Centrally Hosted SIMS and SQL 2008

8 The ICT in Schools intranet

10 School Website Service

11 Using our mailing lists

11 Missed a previous issue?

12 Silver Surfers go to school

13 BETT 2010

14 Mr White goes to Fareham

15 Technical update

15 In brief

16 New training directory

Inside EdICT News

in the(and teachers - in fact all school staff - and governors, and students...)

Cloud computing has been a buzz term for a few years now.In essence it means delivering computing resources over the internet. EdICT’s Cloud Computing project will deliver an email and web application service for all schools. We went to tender in January and intend to start piloting it in schools from the summer term, and aim to go live in the autumn.As the project develops we will give you updates on the ICT in Schools intranet, but if you would like to register your school’s interest please give us your details via this online form: http://bit.ly/edict-cloud-form

FEATURES

Online office applications: to create, edit and share text • documents, presentations, spreadsheetsAnd at least 10GB of storage space for your files• The ability for users to collaborate on documents across • schoolsBigger email inbox: at least 7GB of capacity• Bigger emails: at least 20MB• User accounts for every pupil, governor, and member of staff• Access via the internet at any time• Address book, calendar and distribution lists• All controlled by your school•


UPDATE



In May 2008 the former IT Services department of Hampshire County Council gained ISO 27001 accreditation. This covered the activities of

staff and the information and systems for which they are custodians. But after we restructured IT within Hampshire County Council this

year (see page 2), the independent auditors confirmed that the scope for our accreditation was no longer appropriate.

So the scope was redrawn to include all staff within the new Hampshire IT department, including the EdICT offices in Fareham, and all the schools’ data we look after. Over the summer the whole of Hampshire IT was fully assessed. This included visiting EdICT’s offices at Parkway and Nashe Way.

Finally, on 18 August we were notified that we had achieved ISO 27001 accreditation. That was probably the easy part. Over the next three years the auditor will return every six months to assess our continual improvement in information security.

These are the benefits from gaining ISO 27001 accreditation:we can make informed and consistent business decisions in line with • the security technologies deployedwe can deliver increased value for money through continued • measurement and improvement of information securitywe can demonstrate that appropriate action has been taken to • comply with legislation (for example, the Computer Misuse Act and the Data Protection Act)it improves credibility with staff, customers and partner organisations, • resulting in increased trustit shows that industry best practices can assist in increasing the value • of council services.

While schools are ultimately responsible for security of their own data (see page 13), we hope knowing that Hampshire IT is ISO 27001 accredited reassures you that we continue to handle school data with the highest security interests in mind.

If you have any IT security questions or concerns please contact the IT Help Desk on 01962 847007 or [email protected].

YOUR dataKeeping

safeEdICT NEWS

A u t u m n 2 0 0 9

DISTRIBUTION LIST: Headteacher | Senior Leaders | Teaching Sta f f S IMS Manager | Admin Off icer | IT Technic ian | Chair of Governors

Y our data and its users face many threats, from the careless loss of a USB stick to deliberate attacks on your network and the risks to children from harmful material on the internet.

This issue of EdICT News brings together the latest developments on e-safety and security. Look inside for information on:8 ~ Becta’s data handling security guidelines 12 ~ How EdICT keeps your school’s data safe 14 ~ Our new McAfee automated update service

We’ve also relaunched the ICT in Schools e-safety and security pages:

http://intranet.hants.gov.uk/safetysecurityThese pages offer a comprehensive overview of our latest advice for keeping your data, systems and children safe from plots and schemes of all kinds.

TrojansMislaid memory stickPhishing

Malware

Spam

Virus cyber bullyingSpyware

2 Prize winners

Where will we be this term?3 Your Brainwaves

The Improve service Cloud-based computing

4 Summer of Wizkid5 A personal reflection6 Facts & figures7 SIMS11 Beat the Census blues

Children in Care12 School Workforce Census13 Training and Consultancy14 Technical update16 Training calendar

UPDATE

What is ISO 27001?ISO 27001 is an internationally recognised standard for information security. Organisations seek independent certification of their management of information security against this standard; those aspiring to gain accreditation must state which of the 133 controls apply to their business.

Key to the standard is a document stating how information security is managed within the organisation. This is known as the Information Security Management System. It includes all aspects of information security management, from how the governing body makes decisions on security matters, to how incidents are recorded and reviewed. The certification is achieved by external auditors assessing how closely the organisation’s actions align with the published processes and procedures.

As with other standards, ISO 27001 is an ever-improving process. It requires a surveillance audit every six months.



A recent tidy-up in our offices has unearthed early issues of this newsletter, originally called

‘EDIT’. The earliest are from 1992. That year saw the introduction of divisional Help Desk numbers, support for SIMS Personnel 3.03, and training courses on DisplayWrite 5, MS-DOS, Lotus 1-2-3, Harvard Graphics and Aldus PageMaker.

Here are two articles from the Spring 1992 issue.

Dialling into HANTSNETForty-five schools are now participating in this pilot and are testing the effectiveness of using ordinary telephone lines for linking into HANTSNET. Already many of the pilot schools are using the links for fast communications. Also some problems are being discovered. In one school, for example, the presence of power lines near the school has meant that only slow speed dial up has been possible. The recommendations from the pilot on the feasability of using dial-up more extensively in primary and special schools are expected after the summer term. It is not intended to link any more schools into HANTSNET until these recommendations are available.

There is a new information screen in HANTSNET about the dial up pilot. It can be reached by using the fastpath command ..dial. As well as instructions on how to use the equipment, and a list of schools in the pilot, there are electronic logging returns. These are electronic versions of paper forms which participating schools have been asked to complete each time they try to access HANTSNET. Increasing use of these electronic forms is being made in the education service to replace or complement paper forms.

Archimedes A5000Two members of EDIT recently attended the launch of the Archimedes A5000 and were impressed with the performance of the software now being offered in the classroom. Although a ‘curriculum’ machine the A5000 incorporates a PC emulator thus enabling it to run many IBM compatible software packages. The A5000 has not been considered for LMS Phase 4 as, in its present form, it does not meet the full specification criteria (eg. it is not an MCA machine) and cannot run Lotus 3.1 (which is required for the LCS/BP financial software).

However, its performance in running administrative software (eg. DW4, SIMS) is to be evaluated by EDIT later in the spring term.

And some stories from long ago...



Training for all the school community

We’re delighted to introduce our brand new Wizkid courses this November. These courses

build upon the training that teachers have received as part of the roll-out, and cover both technical and curriculum skills.

Our scheduled SIMS courses cater for both centrally and locally hosted SIMS users.

Schools will be currently assessing children to see what levels they’re working at, and predicting where they need to be by next July. To help you keep assessment recording up-to-date, we have a range of SIMS Assessment courses planned.

The first is SIMS Assessment - Getting Started, which focuses on monitoring pupils’ performance, creating aspects, templates and marksheets; as well as exploring how SIMS Assessment can be used to manage the assessment process in school.

Secondly, we will be hosting training on Tracking Pupils’ Progress for both primary and secondary children. This will develop delegates’ understanding of Assessment Manager and train them on more advanced features. The Getting Started course is a prerequisite of the Tracking Pupils’ Progress course.

For timetablers, we are running a series of Nova T courses in December, which look at Managing the Timetable and Curriculum Analysis using Nova T. These help when changes need to be made to the timetable during the year, and cover the planning and preparation of the timetable.

Please feel contact us if you need any assistance or if you would prefer to have bespoke, onsite training. Also, take a look at the training calendar on the back page to see the other courses we have planned for this term, and next.

The training directory can be viewed and downloaded atissuu.com/hampshireit

Or see the back page of this newsletter for upcoming courses, and how to book your place.



Meet Hampshire IT at these events

The Hampshire IT team in Fareham and HIAS (the Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service)

hosted the Hampshire ICT Conference on 7 July 2010.We invited IT co-ordinators and teachers from

all phases to attend to update them on the current curriculum IT issues, with presentations and workshops from Hampshire County Council and IT suppliers. This was our first joint conference and it took place in the modern and airy environment of Everest Community College, Basingstoke.

Training Manager Ian White presented the advantages of SIMS Assessment Manager:

“This is a product that most of our schools have, but few use to its full potential,” said Ian. “After some hands-on demonstrations the delegates could see benefits for their schools. Time flew by and there were some valuable and challenging questions which took the presentation to a different level.”

Our Consultancy and Sales Manager James Durrant

found it a good opportunity to catch up with schools and with our approved IT suppliers:

“We manage projects to install networks in schools, but after these projects finish it’s easy to lose contact.

“Equally our main suppliers, Stone Computers and Dell, are always changing their ranges. As well as having formal meetings, it’s useful to keep in touch informally at these conferences.

“Our colleagues at HIAS visit schools and advise them on promoting IT capability. Schools can then contact the Consultancy team to find out how that vision can be translated into practical reality.”

The conference was almost a sell-out, and we appreciate the effort school staff made to attend at that busy time of year. All agree it was very successful in raising awareness about pedagogy and how IT can improve outcomes for students and their families.

Next year’s ICT Conference will be on 6 July 2011, so why not add it to your diary now!

Mounting a conference at Everest

SIMS Update Seminars - Sparsholt College, Winchester - see page 13 for details

23 November SIMS Update Seminar - primary & primary special24 November SIMS Update Seminar - primary & primary special25 November SIMS Update Seminar - secondary & secondary special

HPSN2 Roadshow - see page 14 for details

17 November HPSN2 Roadshow - primary & primary special Hampshire Court Hotel, B’stoke25 November HPSN2 Roadshow - primary & primary special St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton1 December HPSN2 Roadshow - primary & primary special Marwell Hotel, Winchester8 December HPSN2 Roadshow - secondary & secondary special St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton9 December HPSN2 Roadshow - secondary & secondary special Marwell Hotel, Winchester

NOv DEC JAN FEB MAR

ED042 Getting Started with SIMS (three days) 3, 10, 17

ED043 Completing a School Census - primary 11, 14

ED044 Completing a School Census - secondary 10

ED047 Implementing SIMS Special Needs 16

ED048 SIMS Assessment - Getting Started 2

ED049 Tracking your Pupils’ Progress - primary 1

ED050 Tracking your Students’ Progress - secondary 2

ED051 Assessment Manager - Reporting to Parents 16

ED052 SIMS Reporting Workshop 4

ED053 SIMS Reports - Advanced Presentation Skills 23 23

ED054 SIMS Attendance 3

ED055 Managing Pupil Information 18

ED056 Behaviour Management 9 8

ED057 Using Nova T6 - new users (three days) 7,8,14 12,13,19

ED058 Nova T6 Constructing the Timetable Workshop 27

ED059 Maintaining the Timetable using Nova T6 (half day) 1 26

ED060 Nova T6 Refresher for Timetablers 8 17

ED061 Curriculum Analysis using Nova T6 (half day) 2 15

ED062 Implementing SIMS Nova Options 25 1

ED063 Implementing SIMS Nova Cover 7 9

ED064 SIMS Cover 7 Workshop 22

ED087 Exams - Domestic Exams 24

ED065 Exams - Importing and Structuring Basedata (half day) 18

ED066 Exams - Managing Candidate Data and Submissions 21

ED067 Exams - Administering Exam Sittings (half day) 10

ED071 Essential Windows and File Management Skills (half day) 6

ED073 Advanced Doc Formatting and Graphics using Word 9

ED074 Producing Effective Presentations with PowerPoint 25

ED075 Microsoft Publisher 24

ED078 Building and Using an Access Database 9

ED088 Managing Wizkid in your school (half day) 11

ED089 Supporting the use of Wizkid in your school 11 4

ED090 Wizkid as a tool for learning - Primary - Classrm Assists. 11

To book, call the HTLC Course Booking Line on 01962 844288, email [email protected], or use the online booking system at htlc.hants.gov.ukWe can also deliver tailored training sessions to meet your specific needs. These sessions are delivered in our training suite in Fareham or onsite at a location of your choice. This service can be purchased by individual schools, groups of schools or even cluster groups. See intranet.hants.gov.uk/ictinschools/edict-training.

For more details about each course, see our training directory.

Download a copy from issuu.com/hampshireit/docs/directory-20102011

Training calendar November 2010 - March 2011

Documents

Hampshire IT Schools Autumn 2010