Day From Hell
What a day... I don't want to tempt fate, but I don't think it could have got much worse.
7:20 - Wake up. It's raining.
7:40 - Leave house (yes, ten minutes late - was up late night before trying to make Moodle faster)
8:40 - Arrive at work (the thirty minute drive took an hour, bloody traffic)
8:45 - Get to office, notice 8 messages on answer phone and suspect something might be wrong.
That was an understatement...
We can probably break our ICT Systems at RMGS down into the following key sections:
- Admin Network
- Curriculum Network
- Internet Access (via Medway Council's WAN)
- E-Mail (via Medway Council's WAN)
- SIMS
- Wireless Network
- Moodle
- Exchange
- Staff Laptops
- Interactive Whiteboards and Projectors
When I got up to the server room and found Sam; the curriculum network, the admin network, Medway's WAN and SIMS were all down. Moodle was knocked out as well because its externally hosted and so requires internet access (not that this mattered, if no-one could log onto the system in the first place).
We set to work trying to fix the two networks, the night before we'd replaced a switch, and despite unplugging things from one switch, and plugging them all back into a new switch - somewhere along the line something wasn't happy. The result was some very odd network glitches that made absolutely no sense. Lots of fiddling (about an hours worth) later, things seemed to be back to normal - not that we're any the wiser why.
Things still aren’t perfect, some random admin machines are getting curriculum IP addresses, but that's a job for tomorrow!
SIMS was a different kettle of fish, and that's not our problem to fix. EIS had tried to install the latest update the night before, and insodoing appeared to have broken it not only on the server, but in such a way that we have to reinstall it on every single client. Manually. Since the internet is down they can't work on SIMS remotely, so we are graced with the presence of an EIS engineer, who spends most of the day trying to get the server back up and running. Its now running, but we still don't have the update that we needed in the first place.
The wide area network issue was also not our problem; we just had to wait patiently whilst Medway blundered around trying to fix it. It did come back, about 11:00. That takes us up to about 80 hours of unplanned internet downtime this term due to Medway Council.
As if all this wasn’t enough, I was supposed to be in the hall all day helping with Christmas Concert rehearsals, as well as dealing with a number of different serious behavioural issues that involved ICT, as well as starting to decorate our new office, as well as install the newly arrived printer, as well as sort out the asset register which appears to lack about 75% of our resources, oh – and today is the Careers Convention where lots of untrained and unprepared speakers want to use our whiteboards and projectors and need our help to set them up. That’s not to mention our normal job!
16:40 – Leave work.
16:50 – Arrive at work (Other work –
18:10 – Leave work
18:40 – Arrive home – Rest.
19:30 – Blog
20:00 – Start work, since stock valuation and the latest CCS update have broken. (yes, another job… another story… another time).
Rant Number One: The Powers That Be
This is the first in what I think is going to turn into a series of angry, confused steam-valve blog-waffle-rant-thingys. I don't expect anyone to listen, but just saying it makes me feel better 
So, to what pleasure in my life do I owe this first rant? Why, none other than "The Powers That Be". This post is already probably not entirely professional, so I won't sink any lower with names, but I'm sure your educated guesses won't be too far amis.
Anyway, yes, ranting. Well I'm a little late in commenting on the ICT College Status ( Sam beat me to it) although I think that still deserves a mention. It was a real kick in the teeth to be told we could not receive the status, despite our ICT system being at least on par with other schools in the LEA, if not miles ahead of certain other schools - even those schools who have ICT status! So why, I hear you ask, if our ICT systems are that spangly and wonderful can we not have status? What possible obstacle could there be? ...Science.
Science? Or, to be completely precise, Science and Maths. It seems a school is not allowed to have more than one science/technical college status at a time, and we already have joint Science and Maths status. "Joint science and maths college???" Yes indeed, they keep the maths bit rather quiet don't they? You don't see that on the school letterhead; they don't place a goldplated electronic singing placard of the multiplication tables in Reception and they certainly don't spend any money on maths!
OK, so bureaucracy won't let us obtain two similar status's, but do we really need ICT status? Well, on the rather minimalist budget we are expected to operate under, yes we do. We're reaching a barrier, and require a lot of investment to break through that barrier. For example, there is simply no more space for ICT to expand into, every possible room that can be spared has been converted to a suite - there are no rooms left, without building more. Every teacher has a laptop, the next step would be to start giving the kids laptops. Ok - not leaping on that band-wagon has let us observe that particular mistake, but giving the kids tablet PCs seems a much better idea - although - unfortunately a rather more expensive idea.
But we're a school right, we have tonnes of money just stashed away for rainy days? Well, yes we do. So much money that someone sees it necessary to budget £50,000 to flood-light the tennis courts. This is not however an anti-PE rant, I've made my amends with that particular department and hold nothing against it anymore **cough**. Stop and think for a moment; who uses the tennis courts? Kids. When do they use it? PE lessons, and lunchtime. Right, glad we've sorted that bit out, so remind me again why it needs lighting? Let alone lighting which planning law is going to prevent us using during certain hours of the night! Lights we can't turn on at night, just what we need!
You're just making a lot of fuss over nothing surely,what's £50,000 to you? Well, £50,000 is the same as the annual budget for Cross-Curricular ICT (the budget which pays for the entire curriculum network, from ink toner to interactive whiteboard pens to ICT suites and servers). Now do you see why we need floodlighting?
Then there's the £90,000 carpark. That's the carpark we only need because someone decided to put up a no entry sign to the section of the school many people used to park in. The same no entry sign marking the "Green Line" barrier, the magical forcefield beyond which any food may spontaneously combust should a student attempt to do anything so unsafe as to eat it.
This is all sounding worrying like an Overmark article, and I fear this might relight that journalistic spark in me. I'm not sure The Powers will appreciate this appearing on that site though, which is why I shall be venting here instead now...So, **hint**, if you are Overmark, and you are reading this, you might want to add some hyperlinks.
Teambuilding @ RMGS
Let’s set the scene; I'm sitting on a coach parked outside school at 8:00. I'm not just tired, I'm completely exhausted. After just two hours of sleep, and perhaps one too many drinks the night before, I'm drained both physically and mentally. I'm on this coach with all of the support staff from school (which, to generalise, consists of 25 middle aged/older ladies, two middle aged men, myself and Sam). Outside the weather is foreboding, it’s not raining yet but it looks like it won't be long.
We set off without our team leader - he can't make it for personal reasons - and are promptly informed that therefore the "teambuilding" aspect of the day is therefore cancelled. When asked whether anyone has any objections on returning later than originally planned, one voice pipes up "Actually yes, some of us have. This isn't a booze cruise you know!” All eyes turn to the back. People start to mutter "well what are you here for then?"
At Dover we find our ferry has been delayed due to an emergency in Calais. It's now throwing it down with rain and warning signs flash "Moderate to strong winds in the channel." I'd anticipated last night that a lack of sleep combined with alcohol and a ferry ride might not have been the best thing, but sensibilities were swiftly forgotten as we moved from pub to pub.
We were now at sea; the Captain described the crossing conditions as "moderate to rough". Four of us bee-lined for breakfast. Grease would settle my stomach and revive my body surely? Revive yes. Settle no. It was too much for Sam, who disappeared to the toilets after one mouthful. The rest of us ate it all, but even cast-iron-stomached Terry seemed to regret it later.
The rest of the day in Boulogne passed fairly eventlessly. We visited Nausicaa, the French National Sea Experience Centre but our scheduled "free-time" in the town was cut short due to the delayed ferry crossing. The rain didn't let off all day, and we weren’t exactly "looking forward" to the ferry crossing home.
Despite the Captain forecasting the return ride as "Rather Rough" it did seem to pass better than the trip over. That might have been because no-one dared eat, and most of us kept to soft drinks. (Although it was noticeable which members of staff, or indeed groups of members of staff had spent their free time in bars, and which had not...)
So overall a pretty good day. I'm not sure the "teambuilding" was fully successful, but that was for a variety of reasons I won't go into here. It did however bring a few of us closer together, and for me helped me to see a different side to a few people.
Decisions!
Why are there so many decisions in life? Which is the right one to take? How do I know it’s the right one?
I feel a bit swamped in decisions at the moment. Some are more important than others - but the most important decision is what to do about my future career. I have a fairly clear idea of where I want to be in the future, but its how to get there that's causing the problems.
- "The Lacey": Finish gap year at RMGS, take up my deferred place at
- "The Martin": Make it two gap years; there’s more money, more experience, more savings, and more lessons in life. But does that mean living at home for yet another year? In theory I could move out and rent; but that seems a waste of those precious savings for uni. On the other hand it gives me more time to focus on the URMANT project, which may prove to be a lucrative venture.
- Stick with RMGS until I find a better job; don't bother with Uni. Trouble with that is that I'm going for a career in Software Development, and my job at RMGS is more general ICT Support/Management. That said, there is URMANT - but I can't base my whole career on that! All the time I'm with RMGS I can be doing courses and things which might put me in a better position to get another job later. I could even do a part time/Open University degree.
- Today I got a tip about two Software Engineering posts going for a firm my cousin's fiancée works for. I don't have many details, but it could be a first step on the ladder. On the other hand, it sounds like a small company, the website is unimpressive and its developments don't sound all that exciting. So, this might end up being more of a limiting environment. On top of this, its in
- "The Keith" : Investigate sponsorship/Apprenticeship further. Either working for a company who will gain me equivalent qualifications to a degree, or one who will sponsor me through university with the promise of a job at the end.
All of these options have their individual merits, uni obviously has huge advantages. There’s the bit of paper, despite all the experience and skills I have its completely worthless without the bit of paper. Indeed a bit of paper from no less than The University of Durham. £6000 a year though? Is the bit of paper worth £20,000? As for RMGS, its a great experience and I love being there - but would I be frittering time taking another gap year?
Any thoughts warmly welcomed!
Then there’s what to do about my car... but that’s a whole different story.
Moodle
Spent 14 hours working on Moodle today (7 at work getting things from our system to the host, not as easy as it should be. Then 7 hours straight on overtime at home, unpacking and restoring each course then sorting all the course categories)
The novelty wears off very quickly
Now its 2:15am and I'm going to bed.