Blogging from Windows Live!

So, for no money at all, Microsoft have got this nifty little program as part of Windows Live that lets you publish to a blog without even having to login to your website!

Not bad for free (albeit yeah, we pay the OS licence fee…)

Some may know that recently the Government have given more powers to Police Officers allowing them to stop and fine anyone driving a car with an aftermarket exhaust system fitted if the Officer(s) judges the system to be louder than that fitted to the car when new.

Obviously, some drivers do choose exhausts to increase the noise, but many don’t.  Many also have aftermarket exhausts which are still significantly quieter than other OEM car exhausts – yet those with quiet aftermarket systems can be fined but those with louder OEM ones can’t.  Not exactly fair really!  I’d much rather see a sensible and testable upper decibel limit imposed instead of being judged by someone who is unlikely to know how loud my car was when new.

To this end I have initially created an online petition to No.10 which can be found at the following URL:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/maxexhaustnoise/

It needs 500 signatures before it completes in order for it to be considered by the Prime Minister so please, get signing, and pass the URL on to others who you feel are interested parties!

I was recently accepted onto the Diploma of School Business Management, a year long course run by the National College for School Leadership.  As an external candidate this is quite an achievement as competition for places is highly competitive so I am really happy to have gained the place!

The induction was held this week – two days in the NCSL with an overnight stay, all I can say is that the College building/hotel is outstanding, it and the people working within really show how important the Business Manager role is now viewed within many educational establishments and the Government.

The course requires three projects to be submitted, with a pre-requisite two-day residential course covering some of the material expected to form the background for the work.  The three projects cover the following areas:

1. Strategic Management
2. Managing School Improvement
3. Managing Change

The projects are produced working with a link school.

Further information can be found on the NCSL website:

http://www.ncsl.org.uk/programmes-index/dsbm-index.htm

A bit of an eBay bargain got me these new wheels, some 17″ Kahn RSR’s - a refurb later in powder coated white:

10 years experience as network manager within education (specifically use of RM Connect 3 and peer-peer networks across a partnership of 15 schools), accurate large-scale budget management (£75,000+ per annum) and growing experience within the business management field.

Carlisle/Cumbria location preferrable, expected salary £25,000+

E-mail not_rich_yet at hotmail.com

Tomorrow (March 5th) is World Book Day.  Lucy’s nursery have invited all the children to dress up as a character from a story book, and to bring along their favourite toy and book.  Lucy has decided (with a little encouragement from me) to dress up as the witch from Sleeping Beauty which is quite handy as we have a witch costume from Halloween!  She’s really excited and is planning to “die people, but just pretend, not real” that along with being allowed to take her teddy to nursery for the first time should make tomorrow a really nice day for her!

Okies, we’re here and officially on a new host with a new look!

Enjoy