IT Facilities

IT Facilities in School
 
The School is proud of its extensive network and ICT resources. We have around 400 PCs across the campus linked by a high quality Cat6 gigabit cable network. We have 3 dedicated IT rooms each equipped with 31 workstations, a Smart interactive white board, both colour and mono printing, and an A4 scanner. 
 
We have worked hard over the last few years to fit out every classroom with a pc, Smartboard, and sound.
 
We can also boast one of the biggest number of networked Apple macs in the Herefordshire.  Art, Drama and Music have all been kitted out with 20" imacs. 
 
 
We also run a very successful wireless network using HP Colubris access points. We currently have 8 laptop trolleys in school, with a total of 128 Dell laptops.
Since putting these in, nearly every department has used them at some point and allows teachers to bring ICT to their lessons, rather than waiting for an ICT room to be free.
 
We have a state of the art projection and sound system in our main school hall with two projectors and two large electric screens, these are used regularly for assemblies.   
 
Software Used in School
 
Our PCs run Windows XP Professional and all have Microsoft Office 2003 as the main software. We have a large number of specialist programmes that are subject specific.
 
In our Music department we successfully run Sibelius 6 as our main composition package.
 
For subject specific software we run titles such as Macromedia Studio 8, Photo Shop Elements, Serif Draw X2, Solid Works 2011, 2D design and many more.
 
 
Software Compatibility
 
If you are planning to let your child use your home computer to complete school, please be aware of compatabilty issues. You may find that your computer comes with a bundled product called Microsoft Works, this has a different file type to full blown Microsoft Office and does often cause issues. 
 
We have Microsoft Office 2003 installed, which is no longer available. With the latest versions of Office (2007 and later) a new file format was introduced. All Office files saved in the default format are no longer backward compatible.  We do have the translation patch installed on the network to allow the files to be read, but some features may not work in our version of Office. To get round this it is recommended that any file created in Office 2007 or higher is saved as Office 2003  if you wish to use it in School.
 
 
School Supplied Software
 
The school some times buys licening that allows your child to have a copy for the computer at home.  The software is available through their relevant subject teacher.  
A small charge may be issued to cover costs of media.
The programmes that are currently available are:
 
2D Design V 2.09
 
 
Recommended Hardware at Home
 
The school won't tell you where to go and buy your computer, but can give you a few suggestions about specification needed for software etc.
Most modern computers are good enough for school work. For running office products, please see the Microsoft website for requirements.
 
In order to use the online resources like the VLE and remote access, a broadband connection is recommended.
 
 
School Website
 
This website is designed to be a principle means of contact between School, current and prospective parents, as well as a window for the wider community. We hope you find it useful and informative. Should you have any comments and suggestions about how we can improve our website, please get in touch with the Webmaster via our Contact page.
 
 
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
 
The VLE is based on the IT's Learning platform, it is a tool for allowing teachers to provide rich and interactive content to support their lessons. This includes setting and managing homework, revision information, research material, links to websites, quizzes and more.
 
To use the VLE from home go to the School website and click the button on the left, labelled VLE, they will need to enter their own username and password issued to them by their ICT teacher.
 
Email
 
All pupils are given a school email address when joining the school. This stays with them until they leave in year 11.  The school email system uses Microsoft Exchnage 2010 to deliver enterprise class email to the school.  Many pupils tend to have hotmail, yahoo accounts which they may use at home.  With school filtering policys these sites may not be available.
 
The school currently is not allowing email access from home for students.
 
We do not publish any staff email addreses on our website due to spam. If you wish to contact a particular member of staff, please use the contact form on the website. We will foward your email on to the staff member.
 
 
Other Suggestions
 
The school takes security very seriously and uses Sophos anti virus to keep the network free from viruses.  Most viruses brought onto the school network are from memory sticks. If your child is using the home computer and then sending work in on CD, DVD or memory stick please do you part by ensuring your computer is fully up to date with security fixes and anti virus definitions. 
 
With so many students using memory sticks lots are getting left about, we recommend that you put your childs name on the stick, this can be a either a sticky label or a text file on their stick with their contact details. You can purchase memory sticks from the school shop.