Websites for Schools
We build and run sites for schools. Killer, kicking sites. Sites you'll love.
September 2008
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30  
Aug   Oct

Site structure
 Home
 Create
 About
 How much?
 What users say
 Legal
 Legals 4 kids
 More Stats
 Educational uses of blogs
 Bloom's taxonomy & blogs
 Case Studies
 Supporting the curriculum
 Lesson Plans
 Schools' banner ads
 Curriculum Online
 FAQs
 Thumbnail interface
 Group brains
 Don't do this on your website



News Departments


Members



About us
We want to and will make it easy for schools to keep their staff, pupils, parents, partners, other stake-holders and wider community informed, updated and engaged.

Now, by merely typing in the text you can do it too!

It's so easy even 7 year old children can do it. If you are able to move a mouse, click a few buttons and string a few sentences together you can maintain a cutting edge site.

We'll give you all the training you'll need, support you on the phone or with email, all to make sure you get the best out of your investment.

Our killer features are:
Superb content management and blog software. Excellent Google optimisation.
An email to weblog interface, making updating your school blog a doddle. 
Top draw support and feedback.

Try a demo or build your

30 day free trial

school website yourself. What will you write today's school news to be?

Archive page for Monday, 09 October 2006

 Mo, Oct 9, 2006
London to see the queen
We get there late, as we missed a train, and there's track works at the weekend... And get home at nearly 1am! It's a tiring old day, but we see a lot, though not the State Rooms at Buck Palace, which is important for Esme. But we do get onto the London Eye, which makes us late to the return train. A Big Bus tour of the capital is also good, though both Es and Brad are more interested in the various and multi-coloured stretch limos they spy on route than the architecture and sights.

Another Bradley moment happens on the Embankment. They push through to the front of a large crowd gathered around an Australian juggler. He's telling jokes as he builds up the suspense for his coming stunt. Four stout geezers are drawn from the crowd to hold ropes, then he spied Brad and asks him to come forward.

Brad steps into the ring, surrounded by the clapping audience. After a few jokes at Brad's unknowing expense. He offers him a five pound note if he helps him... Or, a girlfriend, and points to a young girl who must have been in on a joke a while back. "Bradley, which one do you want, the £5 or the girl?" Brad immediately and authoritatively points to the £5, everybody laughs.

Now... I know that Brad has too many girlfriends. He's always getting girlfriends. He can't even remember all their names. His natural, indifferent honesty makes it easy for him to continually ask nearly every girl he meets, if they'd like to be his girlfriend.

OTH Brad knows that a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards are £5. And if he eats his cabbage, he'd need to eat it 10 times before he could afford to by a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards at 50p a sitting. A whole five pound note is exactly what he needs.

A few more jokes, several rounds of applause and Brad's sent back to the crowd, with £5 and the biggest widest, most content grin.

All the rest of the day he pulls his five pounds out unfolds it, and tells those that are close enough the story. His first, earned, not given, not won, five pounds. His very first.

 

Embankment Bridge, we've just arrived
Embankment Bridge, we've just arrived

They really can't believe it
They really can't believe it!


Mr Invisible, but they suss it out after a few minutes
Mr Invisible, but they suss it out after a few minutes. We still laugh about it all day.

The Embankment is crowded with street theatre
The Embankment is crowded with street theatre. It's very odd to them (and me).


Even Esme gets in on the fun
Even Esme gets in on the fun

The Bradley moment
The Bradley moment (see above).


Nope they can't believe this one either
Nope they can't believe this one either

I didn't notice him doing this. Don't worry, he knows not what he does
I didn't notice him doing this. Don't worry, he knows not what he does :-)


Can't get Bradley to turn around
Can't get Bradley to turn around. He's fixated and nags to go on all day. We queue for ages and are one of the last to get on, in the dark.

Dunno why he's saluting. I couldn't see what he was doing as I'm only inches off a busy, busy pavement
Dunno why he's saluting. I couldn't see what he was doing as I'm only inches off a busy, busy pavement. IN danger of being squashed.


Esme's a lot more sensible
Esme's a lot more sensible

Very attentive kids
"Very attentive kids," says the guided tour of the Royal Mews, "you should be proud." I am :-)


The big carridge
The big carriage

The lady at the metal detector said no photography, I hide my camera and take some
The lady at the metal detector said no photography, I hide my camera and take some. The kids are fascinated by all the birthday cards for the queen's 80th. But es is not too happy aboout me breaking the rules.


It's a bit of a let down, truthfully, for little kids
It's a bit of a let down, truthfully, for little kids. You'd have thought they'd have some suits of armour, or other bloodthirsty relics.

At the gates of Buck Palace
At the gates of Buck Palace. No pink turrets, Disney would have done better.


Over there is a guard
Over there is a guard. He doesn't do much.

Lots of other tourists
Lots of other tourists. Lots.


The pretty things of Knightsbridge
The pretty things of Knightsbridge (Elvis Costello is in my mind).

More pretty things of Knightsbridge
More pretty things of Knightsbridge


Regent Street
Regent Street, I think that's where Hamley's is. The biggest toy shop in the world. A large queue, crowded inside... "Daddy can we go there?" Maybe next time...

Picadilly Circus
Picadilly Circus


Nelson
Nelson

St Pauls
St Pauls


Tower Bride and gappy teeth
Tower Bridge and gappy teeth. We go over it too.

Excited as we set out
Excited as we set out on our upwards climb.


Wow for Westminister
Wow for Westminister

More amazing Westminister
More amazing Westminister


# Posted by Steve Hooker at 9/10/06; 12:52:37 PM to the Blogging news dept.
Comment [0] Trackback [0]
London to see the queen



The Rascally Cake
We've had this book out several times. I must buy it! £4.99 at Amazon and 50p cheaper at Tescos book shop. I like reading it loud out in my full Shakespearian thespian over dramatic play acting, projecting to the back of the auditorium voice.

Rufus Skumskins O'Parsley wouldn't eat supper unless it was ghastly.
Wormcast butties, tubes of glue, pans of slugs in slimy stew.
Bogey burgers, brown rat roast,
Fat black tadpoles squashed on toast.
Washed down with a cup of string.
Can you imagine such a thing?

Friday takes us to Telford Town Library. We've not been for ages. Lots of good books to read, I hoped. Sadly, I think that only The Rascally Cake is worth reading more than once. In fact we must have read it 10 or fifteen times over the course of this weekend.
The Rascally Cake
The Rascally Cake

Horse riding at the library
Horse riding at the library


# Posted by Steve Hooker at 9/10/06; 12:11:16 PM to the Blogging news dept.
Comment [0] Trackback [0]
The Rascally Cake



Moodle training
I received this in the mail from an ICT ion the West Mids. She asked if it was a good idea. A brilliant idea I replied. Moodle is going to be the winner in the VLE space. Every user I've heard from thus far says good things. There's plenty of modules already available, as opposed to SERCOs Teknical, which has AFAIK very, very few and a likelihood of remaining very very few.

If you're interested, I'd hassle the geezer and I'm sure he'll think of running more if he's already over subscribed.
I would like to confirm the dates of the first "Mini Moodle" online course as being 6th November to the 8th December.

The theme is "Developments in e-learning" this will look specifically at the use of blogging, podcasting, MP3 and audio learning. This will take place over 5 weeks and will require between one and two hours commitment per week.

Delegates will be involved in using some of the collaborative and interactive tools in Moodle including chat, forums, quizzes and wikis.

The aims of this course are:
  • for delegates to gain experience of learning via a VLE (Moodle)
  • to develop an understanding of a range of contemporary e-learning tools
  • to share experiences and good practice in the use of e-learning to support teaching & learning
Further details and booking information can be found at the RSC WM website under events and training or by following using this link: http://www.rsc-westmidlands.ac.uk/?4220

Please share this information with any staff who might be interested in taking part.
# Posted by Steve Hooker at 9/10/06; 12:11:07 PM to the Edu blogging dept.
Comment [0] Trackback [0]
The pretty things of Knightsbridge



Debating at Craig y Don
A report of a debating session held at Llandudno's Craig y Don. This struck me as an extraordinary window into the world of a classroom. It was posted by a teacher. Great reading.

Must have been wonderful to have been there too.
# Posted by Steve Hooker at 9/10/06; 10:44:10 AM to the Community dept.
Comment [0] Trackback [0]
Debating at Craig y Don



PS and car seats
Salisbury had their blog club on Friday and two good posts have come out of it. Naturally there's the kiddie centric post about the new PS3 with a neatly uploaded and added picture. Well done, for a good post.

And then there's the details on the new rules for car seats. Useful.
# Posted by Steve Hooker at 9/10/06; 10:40:18 AM to the Community dept.
Comment [0] Trackback [0]
PS and car seats



Acronyms that I use
Just like most geeks, I continually use acronyms in my emails, thinking that the recipient will know that they mean. This happens in txts too. I expect people who don't know what they mean to either ask someone else, me or to look it up.

I too find acronyms that I've no idea about. Then I go here http://www.acronymfinder.com/

AFAIC As far as I'm concerned
AFAIK As far as I know
AFK Away from keyboard
BRB Be right back
AKA Also Known As
BTW By the way
AFAIR As Far As I Remember
FAQ Frequently Asked Question. When people say "the FAQ", they are generally referring to a list of answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
FUBAR Fxxxed Up Beyond All Recognition
FWIW For what it's worth
FYI For your information
HTH Hope this helps
IANAL I am not a lawyer
IIRC If I recall correctly
IMHO In my humble opinion
IMNSHO In my not so humble opinion
IMO In my opinion
IOW In other words
LOL Laughing out loud
WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get
WRT With Respect To
TTYL Talk To You Later
SNAFU Situation Normal All Fxxxed Up
POV Point Of View
n00b From "newbie", meaning a newcomer not yet familiar with the rules
OTOH On the other hand
PITA Pain In The Axxx
RL Real Life, as opposed to the Internet
ROFL Rolling on the floor laughing
ROFLMAO Rolling on the floor laughing my butt off
RTFM Read The Fine/Fxxxing Manual. This may be interpreted as: "You have asked a question which would best be answered by consulting the manual (or FAQ, or other help files), a copy of which should be in your possession. The question you have asked is clearly answered in the manual and you are wasting time asking people to read it to you." It's good netiquette to mail this type of answer to another user rather than post it in public messages
SO Significant other, used to refer to someone's romantic partner without making any assumptions about gender or legal status
TTFN Ta ta for now
TTYL Talk to you later
w00t An expression of joy
TBH To Be Honest
WTF What the heck/fxxx
YMMH You might mean here
YMMV Your mileage may vary
# Posted by Steve Hooker at 9/10/06; 10:05:15 AM to the How tos dept.
Comment [0] Trackback [0]
Acronyms that I use



Attack of the moronic trackbacks
Over the weekend, we've been attacked.

 

Moronic trackbacks
Moronic trackbacks

I rather think of myself as a soldier in a bunker, on the Maginot Line. Or The Somme. With barbed wire fences and no man's land. Mines and booby traps protect me as I slumber. Constantly, I'm being tested and probed. Bullets whistle harmlessly over my head. Shells explode in my sandbags.

Now and then, they find a chink in my armour, a gap in my defences. And unless I can put my finger in the dam, we'll be over run soon.

This one. I've had before. An attack of the crazies. They come in, squawking in tongues. Can't understand a word. Totally harmless except that they're the enemy.

I've blocked them before. I'll have to figure the pattern and block them again. But the utter pointlessness, the lack of a real domain just makes me weep for the idiocy of spam warfare, the lost time.
# Posted by Steve Hooker at 9/10/06; 9:18:17 AM to the Blogging news dept.
Comment [0] Trackback [0]
Attack of the moronic trackbacks



[ Print Friendly ]