Chris Ryall's dashboard

Chris Ryall replied on December 08, 2009 16:48 to the idea "Non-Unirform all the Time" in Great Cornard Upper School:

Really interesting that you should mention that. The student parliament have raised it as an issue they would like to discuss. Perhaps you could ask your tutor rep to present your ideas at the next parliament meeting?

We do also have regular non-uniform days to help raise money for charity.

Chris Ryall replied on August 03, 2009 12:50 to the problem "TASK BAR?" in Great Cornard Upper School:

Excellent. Thank you Mr Bloyce for all your hard work in looking after our computer systems!

Chris Ryall replied on February 22, 2009 18:08 to the praise "Dan Newman - filmmaker extraordinaire!" in Great Cornard Upper School:

There should be a trailer we can put on the website... maybe even on Youtube, then embedded. I'm dreaming of a school Youtube channel - or is Vimeo better?

Chris Ryall set one of Chris Ryall's replies as an official response to "Snow Day? Friday 13th" in Great Cornard Upper School

Chris Ryall replied on February 12, 2009 20:24 to the question "Snow Day? Friday 13th" in Great Cornard Upper School:

Good question Andy.

We don't expect school to be closed tomorrow (Fri 13 Feb, 2009).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/24hr.sht...

The ski trip will hopefully leave as expected, it might just be that their journey takes longer than we'd hope.

Any changes to the plans will be published to the school website as soon as we can.

Chris Ryall replied on February 12, 2009 13:16 to the question "BotB Photos?" in Great Cornard Upper School:

They are available now, at http://celebrate.gcus.net - you'll need an account on the school website to access the photos.

Chris Ryall gave praise in Great Cornard Upper School on February 11, 2009 21:37:

Excellent class to teach

My core year 10 ICT class, 10gIt4, who worked really hard today - it was a pleasure teaching you!

Chris Ryall started following the idea "Computer Game Design Club - Lunchtime / After School? Anyone interested?" in Great Cornard Upper School.

Chris Ryall set one of Sue Crawte's replies as an official response to "ICT is hard to work in!" in Great Cornard Upper School

Chris Ryall marked one of Sue Crawte's replies in Great Cornard Upper School as useful. Sue Crawte replied to the idea "ICT is hard to work in!". Chris Ryall and 2 other people think it's one of the best replies.

Chris Ryall replied on February 10, 2009 21:44 to the question "Pointless Links?" in Great Cornard Upper School:

Thank you Andy. I'll add a link to Get Satisfaction from the school website.

And thank you for pointing out that the subscribe to news box does not work for students in school - as you may have realised the filtering for staff users is different to that for pupils.

I'll see which sites need to be unblocked to get the subscription option to work, and if possible have them unfiltered.

Chris Ryall replied on February 10, 2009 20:14 to the idea "School Forums" in Great Cornard Upper School:

Another great idea, thanks Max.

Do you think this site would work? - If we made a service for each subject for you to post your questions to.

We already have 3 sections about learning; one for year 9, one for years 10 & 11, and one for years 12 & 13. You could try posting a question there.

Chris Ryall replied on February 10, 2009 19:05 to the idea "water coolers" in Great Cornard Upper School:

Thanks for those ideas Dr. I'll make sure those locations are considered when the new coolers are placed.

If I knew who you really were I'd be able to thank you in person, reward you with house points, write you a fantastic reference!

I hope that you're anonymity doesn't discourage other students from being brave enough to put their own names to their thoughts.

Chris Ryall replied on February 10, 2009 18:58 to the idea "This Section is for all off topic chat!" in Great Cornard Upper School:

An interesting idea.

Learning is fun & valuable - I'm not sure what topics could be completely unrelated to learning.

Do you not already have enough places for chat not directly connected to Great Cornard Upper School?

Chris Ryall replied on February 10, 2009 18:56 to the question "Pointless Links?" in Great Cornard Upper School:

The link is useful to people who are viewing the website from outside of the school network.

We've responded to the earlier request to have Twitter unblocked within school. The change should take 24-48 hrs to become effective. It will remained unblocked providing it is not abused or becomes too distracting for students.

Are there other links you would like including on the school website?

Chris Ryall replied on February 10, 2009 14:31 to the idea "More Themes on the Website ?" in Great Cornard Upper School:

We could unblock Twitter. What would you use it for?

Some sites are filtered because a significant number of pupils find it distracting to have them available and spend too much time on them.

Rick, do you have a Twitter feed you'd like to access?

Also, another reminder, it is more helpful to use your real name. You won't get into trouble if your comments are helpful. You don't always need to hide behind a different persona.

Chris Ryall replied on February 10, 2009 14:28 to the idea "More Themes on the Website ?" in Great Cornard Upper School:

We have had themes similar to the one pictured above, but it can make the website look very blocky. Also the additional images used behind each block can make the page load slower and not look as good when viewed on games consoles or mobile devices.

Some themes also make it hard to include the drop down menu system at the top of the page.

Could you suggest some suitable backgrounds, and colour sets for new themes? Or we could organise a couple of lunchtime sessions where you learn to build your own themes.

Chris Ryall replied on February 10, 2009 14:23 to the idea "Laptops For ICT Students?" in Great Cornard Upper School:

You've timed that question well!

We have plans to help parents buy laptops for students. Suffolk is also part of a pilot to provide vouchers to some families so they can receive laptops and broadband.

You'll find more out about this after half term.

Laptops often cost slightly more than desktop PCs, and aren't as robust so we usually invest the school's money into desktops.

What would happen to students who couldn't afford a deposit for a laptop, would they have a disadvantage? What happens if they are accidentally broken? - who would then pay?

Chris Ryall replied on February 10, 2009 10:57 to the idea "ICT is hard to work in!" in Great Cornard Upper School:

Thanks for the idea Ryan.

The machines you are using in D4 are 3 years old. Last term new machines were placed in A11, C7 & C8 (90 in total), also Langauges & Science have just received class sets of laptops.

We have recently invested a lot of money in new equipment.

We are also upgrading switches & cabling which connects parts of the network.

If you are finding the machines in D4 too slow to use effectively then we could look at re-timetabling your lessons to C7 or C8? I will speak to Mr Bramwell, head of ICT, to see if this would be possible.

You should still be able to achieve an excellent grade in your ICT work. Your teacher will be able to support you and let you know to improve.

Chris Ryall replied on February 10, 2009 10:16 to the problem "Fail" in Great Cornard Upper School:

Sorry, just to warn you that this post will be removed shortly becuase of the way you have described your mood.

Please try to find a more appropriate way to descirbe your mood in future.

Also, although the computers will sometimes not work as well as we'd hope, you should take some of the reposnsibility for the quality of your work, and whether or not you are likely to fail.