you can't speak out against something that doesn't exist

[Sam Hyde]

lol
not much has changed since 2005, well saying that, we did just get a delivery of almost 15 new uber power wireless airports! Oh and 2 dells for exclusive 6th form use, 2 in the ICT room where the many powerbooks exist.

How is it down under jimbo?

Sam xox

[Planet]

Dear Mr Sam Hyde,

I hope you won't take offence at my next comment but providing a nice inventory of IT equipment on a public web site with detailed information including locations is not really a good idea in todays world.

Its nice to know something has changed on the IT front. Unfortunately I started at 6-7 yrs old with a ZX80 with was it 1 K RAM and moved on to a ZX81 with 1K RAM upgradable to 16K and proceeded to write a 1K space invaders game in machine code.

At that time the former headmaster believed pop music and television to be evils in the world to be avoided at all cost never mind computers or the internet.

I think that maybe that the world has forced St James to change rather than St James proactively changing itself.

[james]

Planet
Happy to see your taking a positive look at the modern st james, and i would have agreed with you about the IT untill recently. Wether they changed because the rest of the world forced them to or of there own dosn't really matter. The point is they have and are changing for the better.

[leon]

I remember being taken By Clem Salaman to latin IT classes in the late 70's somewhere in Queensgate. I thought it was very cool, although it was at 7 am in the morning. God knows what the head or Janitor of whatever It department we were using thought upon seeing a troup of 6 or 7 year old boys march in practically at dawn to do Latin on what must have been BBC micros or something. I have a lot of fond memories regarding Salaman despite his contradictions and blind devotion to SES. He obviously cared about teaching to bother to set that up.

[ses-surviver]

This is a reply to a pretty petty jab at the st james IT department.
The senior boys spend a huge amount on money on IT! Im not sure what it is like now but when i left they had over 30 mac ibooks that any pupil could sign out for the day. They had a number of dell desktops, a mac Xserve which powered a 2mbps wireless internet all around the school so pupils could acess the internet wherever they were. The english room had a 30inch plasma TV, the french room had frence sky tv. and the maths room had an interactive white board so the teachers scriblings could be printed off at the end of each lesson (using a wireless laser jet). Thats just the senior boys and belive me the list does go on, if you would like it i will type an up to date one for you just to prove my point.
St James IS DIFFERENT from the one 20odd years ago. Very different. And I enjoyed my time there.

Well given the number of SES folks who actually earned a living working with technology ... I'm sure that there was plenty of cheap labour on hand to supply, install and configure such hardware. Is a career in technology still looked down upon compared to 'proper' professions like the Law etc?

[james]

Its good to see some positive feedback on this forum. Thank you everybody that has something positive to say and is voicing it.

ses-surviver please to just say things you don't actually know about, because the fact is the school did everything (in regard to IT) straight. All the hardware came from, and was installed by apple at great expense to the school, I know it cost about ?200 for just over an hours work when they came to upgrade the wireless network. (and that was just 1 technician)
I?m sure things do occur where the school uses willing parents etc.. to get things done more cheaply. But if the parents are willing to offer there time and its not illegal then why not?

Anyway on a more posative note. Yes the school has embraced the fact that sciences and IT are just as good as LAtin and Ancient Greek. They now offer an A-level in Computer Science. They also teach IT to form 4 I think.

BTW all my info is of the senior boys, i don't know about the senior girls or junior school.

[a different guest]

a different guest,

I have just read the school's comment on the report and I found nothing extreme. What is it that I am being taught that my parents aren't aware of?

How many times have we said it - it is NOT about YOU whitedevil.

Nothing 'extreme"? Well what DID you find there?

Please analyise the text.

As for what you are being tuaght that your parents aren't aware of - seems to me more a case of what you AREN'T being taught. A primarcy school child in Australia would have greater critical thinking skills on a set text than you have so far demonstrated.

[whitedevil]

A different guest.

If its "NOT about ME" then why is my ability to analyse a text being brought into question. Surely it is irrelavent. None the less I will read it again and find something a bit more constructive to say.

and BTW please don't be rude, I cannot abide rude people. let's not descend into idiocy

[Sam Hyde]

So far all of your replies have been aimed at our 'poor literacy skills' may I point out that you spelt primary wrong too! (Sticks tongue out)

But seriously, all these petty arguments seem to be getting you lot nowhere, infact they are from a conversational level you WOULD expect from a 'primarcy' school child.

Come up with something more meaningful to contribute to our board. As this line of attack is rapidly ageing, you are I assume of 'adult' age so lets see you put that 'life?s experience' to work, as I am dying of anticipation to see what I'm missing out on.

Sam xox

[ses-surviver]

So far all of your replies have been aimed at our 'poor literacy skills' may I point out that you spelt primary wrong too! (Sticks tongue out)

But seriously, all these petty arguments seem to be getting you lot nowhere, infact they are from a conversational level you WOULD expect from a 'primarcy' school child.

Come up with something more meaningful to contribute to our board. As this line of attack is rapidly ageing, you are I assume of 'adult' age so lets see you put that 'life?s experience' to work, as I am dying of anticipation to see what I'm missing out on.

Sam xox

ho ho ho! Its 'our' board now is it!

Thanks for being such a great source of amusement.

[Sam Hyde]

pleasure, as you may have guessed, I dont mind what you think of me as long as I am heard!

Sam xox

[james]

I believe sam made a mistake. He meant "our" thread, as in a thread set up by a current pupil or one recently left.
Please don't take mistakes or comments like that personaly or seriously, and then turn them into a base for a petty argument.

[ses-surviver]

I believe sam made a mistake. He meant "our" thread, as in a thread set up by a current pupil or one recently left.
Please don't take mistakes or comments like that personaly or seriously, and then turn them into a base for a petty argument.

just jousting with you You're a prickly lot aren't you? This kind of interplay is actually quite mild for a messageboard.

[whitedevil]

ses-survivor

We are fully aware of the harshness of messageboards. I am a member of a number of band forums and get told to "get dead" a number of times a day.We're only getting "prickly" when you lot get personal.

[Keir]

Whitedevil,

To go back to your initial worries that media attention suurounding your school would negatively affect your university entrance, I fail to see what was patronising about my posted reply?

The media attention is about the inquiry report which restricts its brief to 1975-1985 and the questionable behaviour of the staff and role of the governors during that time. The media are also interested that some members of staff and all of the governors are still teaching and on the governing board after such criticism and findings.

My point was that society at large would see you not as being at fault but would have sympathy for you in view of any disruption to your educational environment and possibly that you were let down by your governors/teachers who prolonged your agony by not acting sooner to resolve these concerns in a less public way. As the object of sympathy not culpability I think even the most hard-hearted dastardly Vice Chancellor would extend preferrential treatment to you rather than mark you down as 'damaged goods' or a trouble maker.

I don't know what you have been told about the world, but it is generally hard on abusers not the abused, and sympathetic to pupils who have had their education disrupted by their schools intransigence.

I really don't understand how you thought I was being patronising or rude in any way?