Radio Microphone frequencies will change at the end of 2012

The UK government announced last year that they were selling off the frequency bands used for radio microphones and moving the frequencies for this use. This was set to happen at the end of September this year, the latest news is that a short reprieve has been given and the switchover will now happen at the end of December 2012.

This is going to effect a great many people, including Schools, Pubs, Clubs, Churches, in fact almost everybody who owns a radio microphone.  You will need to check your equipment operating frequency ranges, which can normally be found printed on the transmitter and receiver, against the legal frequency bands

If your equipment is able to operate in the licence free spectrum (863MHz - 865MHz) you will be able to continue using it, providing you tune your system to one of the legal frequencies.

However if your equipment is not able to operate in this range you may need to replace your equipment.

The best plan is to check with the website of your equipment manufacturer to find out whether your devices can be operated after the changeover.

The good news is if you own Sennheiser G2 evolution equipment, as many of you do.  It can still be used, provided you retune your systems to use one of the legal frequencies.

These are:-

Channel 1 - 863.100MHz

Channel 2 - 863.500MHz

Channel 3 - 864.300MHz

Channel 4 - 864.900MHz

I have made a label you can attach to your equipment to remind users of the frequencies that can be used after December 2012 - see download below.

If your equipment is not compatible it will have to be replaced by the end of the year. The government were operating a compensation scheme for users who have to change their equipment but sadly this has now ended.

There is some really useful guidance on the Shure website here

Attachments:

File	Description	File size	Last modified
Radio Mic Labels.pdf	Labels for Sennheiser equipment	53 Kb	01/27/12 10:54

Animated art club in the heart of glass

Released: Wednesday 11th January 2012 at 15:34

A new art club which will help inspire children aged seven to fifteen launches at Sunderland's National Glass Centre this Saturday (January 14) giving an introduction to animation and puppetry.

Two new art clubs, The Cre:ART Club and the SPECTRUM Digital Art Club will give young people hands-on experience with staff and students from the University of Sunderland in these two exciting crafts.

The Cre:ART Club runs every Saturday from 10.30am-12.30pm at the National Glass Centre. The 12 week project, for ages 7 to 14 years, will give children the chance to design and make their own puppets, while gaining hands-on experience of contemporary art.  The course costs £4 per session or £3.50 per session, for a block booking of 6 or more sessions.  To register, simply come along to the club at 10.15am on the day.

More information here:

RTS awards put North East's young filmmakers in the spotlight

Released: Monday 9th January 2012 at 09:35

Budding young Spielbergs with a passion for TV and filmmaking are being invited to showcase their talents at one of the region’s most prestigious media festivals.

The Royal Television Society (RTS) North East and Borders Centre is calling on schools, colleges and film clubs throughout the North East, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and the Borders for entries to its annual Young Peoples’ Media Festival (YPMF), which is being staged next spring in Sunderland.

This showcase event for young filmmakers has been running in the region for more than two decades and has proved an important stepping stone for would-be producers and directors in the 14 to 19 age group.

The awards are split into three festivals: the Junior Festival (five to 13), which is a showcase for the youngest entrants; the Senior Festival; and the Senior Professionally Supported Festival, which is for young people who have been supported by media organisations to develop media skills. The Senior Festivals are competitive events for those aged 14 to 19 and will be judged across categories in drama, documentary and entertainment. The most outstanding work from the entries will be recognised and may be awarded a Royal Television Society Certificate.

All entries are judged by media professionals who will be looking for originality, scripting, creativity, visual flair, awareness of the target audience, use of resources and professionalism.

The Young Peoples’ Media Festival 2012 will be held at the University of Sunderland on 16 May and 23 May, in the prestigious David Puttnam Media Centre on the banks of the River Wear.

More informantion here:

The anti bullying strategy in collaboration with Sunderland CLC and No Limits Theatre Company toured schools recently presenting a series of anti-bullying conferences.
The conferences were attended by pupils from a number of schools in the City and feedback from all who attended was really positive.
Students watched a drama presentation called 'Why Me?' and talked about how the victim of bullying in the drama could bring an end to his problems.
Mark Lloyd from Sunderland CLC delivered a session on Cyber bullying and students were given the chance to have their say on bullying in the Vox Box.

At the end of the conference students were invited to take part in a competition to win an iPod touch. Your students were invited to enter too. All they had to do is design an anti-bullying app for a mobile phone.

NEWS UPDATE

The competition has been won by a student from Southmoor School and a student from Newbottle Primary - check out our coverage of the competition on Tyne Tees news above.

Attachments:

File	Description	File size	Last modified
Win an ipod.pdf		260 Kb	10/24/11 10:51

The Council has purchased a licence for Microsoft Office that extends to home use by employees. If you work for Sunderland council and have a sunderland schools email address you are entitled to a copy at a reduced rate of £10
The copy of office you buy can only be installed on your home computer.
To sign up for the scheme you need to send an email from your work account to Phoenix software (the address is in the attached document) expressing your interest They will send you a special code and a link to purchase and download the software.

Further information about the scheme can be viewed here

Attachments:

File	Description	File size	Last modified
CHttpHandler.pdf		565 Kb	12/13/11 09:34

Don't miss out on the chance to celebrate your school's use of ICT and win a prize. Go to www.northerngrid.org/awards for details of the categories, entry forms, and to view entries by previous winners. Closing date 10th Feb 2012

If you REALLY don’t have time to read this – you can keep up to date with the Microsoft Schools team on the BLOG or via TWITTER

I hope that you all had a good summer, and are feeling refreshed and ready for the new Academic year – or am I 4 weeks late for that wave of enthusiasm?

I’m writing with an update from the Microsoft Education team, to invite you to some upcoming events, and to ask for your feedback about all things Microsoft in schools. Please feel free to forward this email to your colleagues and contacts.

Oh, no – not CLIPPY!

If you’re one of the thousands of schools who rolled out Office 2010 this summer, here is a great little game to help students and staff learn their way around. We understand that upgrading versions of Office causes a mix of excitement, discovery, stress and support calls - so the Microsoft labs team have come up with Ribbon Hero. It’s an interactive game which challenges you to earn points by performing tasks in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. It also features the “welcome” return of CLIPPY - you know, that annoying guy who we fired after Office 2003. Turns out he is a resilient little chap, and as you move through the game your students can help him get his job back J

Do you know an Innovative Teacher?

We are currently looking for nominations for the Microsoft Partners in Learning Teacher Awards. Every year, teachers submit projects that demonstrate an innovative use of technology in the classroom. We then hold a national event to choose our winners, who go on to compete in the Worldwide finals. In addition to it being great for career development, last year the winners were all flown to Moscow and won an xBox for their school! You can read more and sign up here – please do encourage teachers in your school, your Local Authority, or among your customers, to get involved.

Upcoming events

Fancy a day out of the office? Here are some free events from Microsoft and our partners, to help you stay connected and learn new things:

• Free Schools Forum, hosted by Microsoft Partner European Electronique – October 4^th at the Microsoft London Office. CLICK HERE
• IT Academy Summit – 19^th October at Microsoft HQ in Reading. CLICK HERE
• Microsoft Partners in Learning Forum – November 24^th at Mircosoft HQ in Reading. CLICK HERE

20 Years of Microsoft Research

Whether you have no idea what Microsoft Research is, or are a devoted computer science expert interested in where the world of computing is going, read this interview with Peter Lee – MD of Microsoft Research at our HQ in Redmond. Was 1991 really 20 years ago? Help!

Low cost computers, for families who need them most

As part of the Race Online initiative, Microsoft is running a project called GetOnline@Home which is aimed at the 9 million UK citizens who still do not have regular access to a PC. Families who receive government benefits can buy a fully working PC with flat screen monitor for just £95. This blog post explains more and the website is up and running - but if you want help promoting this campaign in your school or your area, please get in touch with our new intern Jack Gaylor on t-jackg@microsoft.com

Animation12 - The UK Schools Computer Animation Competition - is now open!

Animation12 is a free-to-enter, not-for-profit competition run by The University of Manchester, designed to enthuse young people about Computer Science and ICT.

For full details, and to register to enter (and receive a free poster!), please visit:

   www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/Animation

The competition is open to all UK schoolchildren aged between 7 and 19.

Entrants can create their animations (maximum duration: 1 minute) using any of the following programs: Alice, Scratch, Adobe Flash, Serif DrawPlus, Blender, KoolMoves and SWiSH Max.

There are great prizes, and the Animation Festival and Inspirational Computer Science Day will be held at The University of Manchester in July 2012.