School24 - helping school communities

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

2011-10-10T08:12:00.006+11:00

"It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.."

"I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."

"I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

A new theme for the Rugby World Cup

2011-09-14T14:12:00.002+10:00

We have created a new theme to celebrate the Rugby World Cup. To select this theme or any other theme, please go to the administrators portal, click on settings, scroll down the the end of the page then select your theme.

Dads can do canteen duty, too :)

2011-09-14T14:08:00.001+10:00

Dads who get involved in their kids' school life can give them a greater chance of doing well in the classroom and socially

Well done Sammy.

2011-09-14T13:52:00.001+10:00

Our biggest congratulations to the US open winner Samantha Stosur, Australia’s first female grand slam singles champion in 31 years.

Well done Sammy:)

A new version released!

2011-08-16T21:32:00.002+10:00

We are very excited to announce the release of a new version of the parents portal and more powerful tools for the administrators.

We built School24 around FREE and FREEDOM of use. Not only the cost factor, but also giving the administrators and the users the freedom of using a software the way they choose to. We created powerful admin tools to give the administrators the freedom to turn everything ON or OFF as they please and whenever they are ready.

Administrators can turn the online ordering ON or OFF.
Administrators can select a theme they like.
Administrators can turn any product ON or OFF.
Administrator can choose parents top up methods: Credit Cards, Direct Deposit, cash or all at once.
Administrators can provide their own CC accounts so the funds are directly transferred into the school account without going through a third party bank account.
Turn new feature and version ON or OFF at a user basis or the whole school basis.
And a lot more..

The power of a nice feedback

2011-08-16T21:28:00.003+10:00

Sometimes just a nice word makes you feel good!

Nice comments make us feel good and wanting to do more for the community :)

Just wanted to give you some feedback from the Killara PS profit results of our canteen in 2010. Usually we make around $xxx but last year it was $yyy with no price increase! The calculations done by School24 have saved us that money as we don't waste as much product. Well done to School24 and thank you!

A happy school :)

2011-08-16T21:22:00.003+10:00

Doing the right thing from the bottom of your heart, can only bring good results and make people happy. We received this from a school today.

"Over the last 12 months we have seen online ordering grow from strength to strength at Drummoyne Public School P&C operated canteen - our parents have embraced online ordering with vigour; our students think its great that they can order lunch and recess on a laptop and not in a canteen queue; and our canteen management, volunteers and P&C are finding the reporting system, online roster and the simplification of our day to day bag system invaluable.

School24 have worked very closely with us to provide a fast, simple and secure online ordering and roster system. The team at School24 always listen and act promptly to our feedback and our system is now customised to operate specifically within the parameters of our canteen. In fact, the service we have had since implementing online ordering is 'remarkable' given that School24 are themselves a volunteer organisation and do not charge for their services.- our canteen is a changed place for the better as a result of School24's Online Ordering system and importantly all profit from our canteen has remained at our school."

Drummoyne Public School P&C Association Executive

And we received this not long ago:

About School24 Web App

2011-08-02T19:17:00.002+10:00

We have created a vererion of School24 specially for the iPhone users. (Web App, not to be confused with a native App. )

To access the School24 web app, all you have to do is:

On your iPhone, tap Safari to open it.
Enter this URL: http://www.scamps.com.au/mobile
Tap the plus sign, and then tap “Add to Home screen.”
A School24 Icon will appear on the home screen

Next time you like to access the School24 web app, all you have to do is tap on that icon.

A new optimised version is about to be launched!

2011-08-02T18:54:00.002+10:00

We are about to launch a new optimised parent version of the School24 canteen online ordering system. This version will have all the features you have requested.

Stay tuned!

What we do is very important!

2011-07-31T11:16:00.003+10:00

The concept of School24 is very important and we like people to understand why we are here and doing what we do with love and passion!

It's not about the product we built and we offer free of charge to help volunteers, but it's about a concept that we like to see flourish and continue!

We started School24 (SCaMPS) to answer some challenges faced by canteen volunteers.

We saw fresh food thrown in the bin because of miscounting.
We saw human energy wasted in in tallying the orders and counting the money. What was was supposed to be a couple of fun hours helping in the tucksop, become less fun because of the work involved.

I didn't sit there thinking of a business plan or how much money I will start making by exploiting this opportunity! The same way none of us will ever think of exploiting the opportunity of coaching her daughter netball team to make a financial benefit from it.

We raise our hands to help and most of the time we don't think that there will be rainy and cold days where we still have to be there because we promised to take the responsibility of coaching that under 7 team, to stand behind a BBQ cooking bacon and eggs or to stand behind a counter in a school canteen serving our school kids. All of us help because of the satisfaction we get out of it or the moral obligation to help.

If we all start analysing the profit and losses before every activity we do to help others, thousands of projects or rescue operations will not see the light and millions of people will get affected by it.

30 second Speech by Bryan Dyson (CEO of Coca Cola)

2011-07-28T09:28:00.000+10:00

"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you ' re keeping all of these in the Air.
You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four Balls - Family, Health, Friends and Spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it."

WORK EFFICIENTLY DURING OFFICE HOURS AND LEAVE ON TIME. GIVE THE REQUIRED TIME TO YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS & TAKE PROPER REST

School24 blog is back :)

2011-07-28T09:24:00.002+10:00

This blog was put aside for a bit, but now we are back with more blogs. I hope that you will find what I blog about interesting.

How do we see the future of this project.

2010-12-28T12:56:00.007+11:00

The other day someone asked me "How do you see School24 in 3 or 4 years from now?"
My answer was quick. I want to see it as a FREE open source project where some parents get together and combine skills and resources to bring more innovative ideas and tools to help other school parents, volunteers and students.

There are a lot of parents who donate their time to help in different schools, sporting clubs and charities. To build a business around profiting from the profit those volunteers work hard to raise for their causes does not sound right to me.

Profitable canteens Vs Healthy canteens

2010-12-28T12:17:00.005+11:00

Things are changing in school canteens. A positive change is always good, but what worries me is that, now, we are starting to see some canteen getting a little bit more obsessed with profitability and making more money.

Again, nothing is wrong with making money, but usually when the focus is on profitability and money making then we will start loosing the original purpose behind a humble, healthy community run canteen.

The purpose behind having a school canteen is to provide a healthy food for our kids and still keep a community feel to it.

If the canteens loose that focus and start focusing their efforts on being profitable and making more and more money, I'm worried that we will start sacrificing quality and more looking for bargains and deals to reduce cost so to keep the canteen profitable.

Once more, I have nothing against a profitable tuckshop. I just don't want these canteens to turn into little supermarket profitability comes first and the rest is second.

Over-eating not lack of exercise to blame for childhood obesity: research

2010-12-28T12:14:00.002+11:00

Lack of exercise is not to blame for the childhood obesity crisis, researchers have found, as overweight children become less physically active, not the other way around.

Read full Article online..

Too much TV psyches out kids

2010-12-28T12:08:00.001+11:00

More than two hours a day spent watching television or playing computer games could put a child at greater risk for psychological problems regardless of their activity levels, according to a British study.

Read the full article online...

Full time working mums still cook well

2010-12-28T11:59:00.003+11:00

An Australian study has found that women experiencing low, medium or high amounts of time pressure were no more or less likely to provide healthy meals.

However women who lacked confidence in their ability to cook healthy meals, were less likely to provide such meals.

Read the full article online...

Kid-friendly video games for the entire family

2010-12-22T11:38:00.003+11:00

A list of some kid-friendly games that the entire family can play.

Click here to view the list.

Which battery lasts long?

2010-12-08T12:58:00.005+11:00

Which battery lasts the longest out of four different brands, Duracell, Energizer, Eveready and Rayovac?

Some people will think it's Duracell because their advertising claims that no other battery "beats the copper top." :)

Let's find out

Our blog is back!

2010-12-08T09:57:00.002+11:00

We apologize for the short interruption, but our blog is now back.

Thanks for reading our thoughts. We hope you enjoy it.

Should we trust volunteers?

2010-11-10T07:48:00.020+11:00

Sales people can say all sorts of things to make other systems look bad and their system look better. Depending who they are dealing with they may succeed convincing a school or two, but the reality is that the majority of people know how solid and important the work of volunteers is. The Internet was developed and advanced because of the work of volunteers and if we start counting how many free good things out there we will find that the list is endless. Some of the providers who are trying hard to convince schools to stay away from a free school online ordering system are themselves using free stuff and what they call state of the arts online system is nothing but a work based on FREE available software that a 15 years old can download and setup for a community project. DotNuke, Joomla, Drupal, PrestaShops and many other packages are the work of volunteers who made it free and available to all.

When I came up with the idea of online ordering for school canteens about 4 years ago, all I had in mind was a project to help school volunteers and make ordering easy to process so volunteers don't waste their energy and time doing tasks that can be automated. It never crossed my mind that there is a commercial use for it or that in a year or two I will be competing with ex-bankers and business minded people who consider schools and parents as numbers for their business plans. As a canteen volunteer and the person who cares, I choose to provide my work free of charge to help others.

What started as a one man idea is now a project run by few parents who share the same philosophy and ethics. We've been doing this for 4 years and we still have the same energy and enthusiasm we had at the beginning. We haven't stopped innovating and making our product as versatile and as easy to use as possible. If in doubt, ask any of the schools who are using our service.

What motivate us is knowing that we are giving something back to the community, keeping volunteerism alive in schools and bringing a smile on school kids when they see their parents or friends parents behind the counter smiling and serving them instead of the employees of a company X

Maybe the business minded providers don't care about volunteerism or it doesn't suit them to see our free solution getting more attention from schools, but whether they like it or not, there are many examples of what the volunteers have achieved here or abroad that is unquestionably amazing! Australia has set an example in the Sydney 2000 Olympics games that impressed the world. The Sydney 2000 Olympics volunteers demonstrated to the whole world that volunteers can do an amazing job with enthusiasm, great motivation and a smile. The end result is amazing!

Whether we called them professionals or not it didn't matter, but what mattered is that they did a great job that got the president of FIFA at the time, the whole country and the whole world to admire them.
The bush fire fighters volunteers is another example of to what extent unpaid volunteers can go to serve and protect others!

We are doing this to help and to continue the tradition the volunteers of the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the bush firefighters volunteers, the school volunteers, the sports clubs volunteers and all the people who care and who we got our inspiration from.

We provide the software and the support free of charge to schools not because our product is useless but because we have strong principals: We want to help school volunteers and see that all the profit raised for the canteen, the tuckshop, the uniform shop is invested back into the school and there is no third party profiting from it.

If the schools listen to the marketing and sales pitches of the competition not to trust the free model and a work of a bunch of volunteers, then the question is:

Should we trust the volunteers fire fighters to protect our homes.
Should we trust parents volunteers to make our kids lunches in the canteen.
Should we trust the volunteers to run our sporting clubs and keep them going
Should we trust the volunteers rescuers who risk their lives to save others.

School24 Online Uniform Ordering Service

2010-10-12T10:13:00.002+11:00

We’ve been working hard and are excited to announce that School24 Online Uniform Service is being introduced.
As most of the uniform shops are run by volunteers, we feel so excited that we will be able to help in this area as well.
The Uniform Ordering service is 100% free from any hidden cost and is offered as a service to help the struggling uniform shops and make the ordering of uniform simple and easy!

With more to come :)

School volunteers are amazing!

2010-10-12T09:35:00.005+11:00

We were invited to do a demo of School24 canteen online ordering for a school. The meeting was held in a house of one of the school canteen volunteers around a dinning table. (No white board, no projection and no sales or marketing hype). It was a casual meeting, we were offered tea and we had a casual and normal chat free from any sales pitch. The aim was to demonstrate the free service we offer and to answer any question or concern the volunteers might have. Being volunteers ourselves, it was easy to connect with and understand the people we met. It was nice to see that the volunteers appreciated what we do and even offered to help us.
It feels good to see that we are offering our solution FREE of charge to help those volunteers who do all they can (inside and outside of the school zone and time) to help their school and the parents.
School24 (SCaMPS) started inside a school canteen to help the volunteers of a local school and it's a pleasure to offer it free of charge to interested schools.

When Your Child Refuses to Go to School

2010-10-01T11:05:00.002+10:00

Everyday some children refuse to go to school. But while the reasons can range from a looming test to an ill-placed pimple, “school refusal,” formerly known as school phobia, is an actual anxiety-based disorder. Surprisingly, school refusal is more prevalent than some better known child disorders like ADHD, but, because many children are vague in their complaints and unable to verbalize what's making them anxious, it's sometimes dismissed as typical childhood willfulness. However, the effects of recurring school refusal can be far-reaching for your child's education.

So, where's the line between what's normal and what's not? "You need to look at whether it's affecting the child or family's daily functioning," explains Christopher Kearney, Ph.D., director of the UNLV Child School Refusal and Anxiety Disorders Clinic. In other words, if a child's grades are suffering or a parent's job is in jeopardy from frequent absences, it's time to look closely at the issue. Kearney adds that parents should be listening carefully to children who say they can't go to school because of "vague, untestable kinds of things like stomaches or headaches." While these somatic complaints alone don't necessarily indicate school refusal, there may be deeper problems if combined with general complaints about school, talks of threats at school and chronic absenteeism.

According to Kearney, "there is a subtle difference between school refusal and school refusal behavior." The kid who ditches school to hang out with her friends is exhibiting school refusal behavior, which can be nothing more than a phase brought on by peer attitudes or a sense of rebellion. But the child who clings to her mother's leg, screaming at the thought of having to enter the school building, is showing signs of school refusal, or "anxiety-based absenteeism."

However, the label doesn't matter nearly as much as getting a child back into the classroom. According to Maryann Roth, CAS, a school psychologist and guidance counselor, it's about "making sure the kid gets to school no matter how hard it is." Working closely with school officials and possibly a therapist to create a plan is a necessary step. Here are some key components to creating a successful plan:

Investigate what's going on at school. As Roth says, if "it's an issue of bullying you need to find out what's really going on." Once you know whether your child's complaint is a valid one, it's easier to work with your child around the issue, both in and outside of school.

Coordinate with the school. You can't do it alone. Whether it's arranging to have someone meet you on the playground to escort your child into school or trying, as Kearney suggests, "to ease the amount of makeup work," it's crucial that the school plays a role in integrating your child into the classroom.

Set a baseline expectation. Roth and Kearney agree that having a child in school for any amount of time is better than having him at home. Though a child may only come to school for only an hour, or sit in the lobby all day, "it's a lot easier to get them back into the regular classroom from that point," says Kearney.

Make it less fun to be at home. If your child knows he can sit at home and play video games during the school day, the incentive to stay home is greater than the incentive to be at school. Create a contract, set some boundaries and make it more worth his while to go to school.

Your bottom line? Identify the issue, make a plan and stick to your guns. Once your child has overcome her fear of school, she'll probably thank you.

By Amanda Morin - Education.com

The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

2010-10-01T10:56:00.002+10:00

For teens, life is not a playground, it's a jungle. And, being the parent of a teenager isn't any walk in the park, either. In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, author Sean Covey attempts to provide "a compass to help teens and their parents navigate the problems they encounter daily."

How will they deal with peer pressure? Motivation? Success or lack thereof? The life of a teenager is full of tough issues and life-changing decisions. As a parent, you are responsible to help them learn the principles and ethics that will help them to reach their goals and live a successful life.

While it's all well and good to tell kids how to live their lives, "teens watch what you do more than they listen to what you say," Covey says. So practice what you preach. Your example can be very influential.

Covey himself has done well by following a parent's example. His dad, Stephen Covey, wrote the book The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, which sold over 15 million copies. Sean's a chip off the old block, and no slacker. His own book has rung in a more than respectable 2 million copies sold. Here are his seven habits, and some ideas for helping your teen understand and apply them:

Be Proactive

Being proactive is the key to unlocking the other habits. Help your teen take control and responsibility for her life. Proactive people understand that they are responsible for their own happiness or unhappiness. They don't blame others for their own actions or feelings.

Begin With the End in Mind

If teens aren't clear about where they want to end up in life, about their values, goals, and what they stand for, they will wander, waste time, and be tossed to and fro by the opinions of others. Help your teen create a personal mission statement which will act as a road map and direct and guide his decision-making process.

Put First Things First

This habit helps teens prioritize and manage their time so that they focus on and complete the most important things in their lives. Putting first things first also means learning to overcome fears and being strong during difficult times. It's living life according to what matters most.

Think Win-Win

Teens can learn to foster the belief that it is possible to create an atmosphere of win-win in every relationship. This habit encourages the idea that in any given discussion or situation both parties can arrive at a mutually beneficial solution. Your teen will learn to celebrate the accomplishments of others instead of being threatened by them.

Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Because most people don't listen very well, one of the great frustrations in life is that many don't feel understood. This habit will ensure your teen learns the most important communication skill there is: active listening.

Synergize

Synergy is achieved when two or more people work together to create something better than either could alone. Through this habit, teens learn it doesn't have to be "your way" or "my way" but rather a better way, a higher way. Synergy allows teens to value differences and better appreciate others.

Sharpen the Saw

Teens should never get too busy living to take time to renew themselves. When a teen "sharpens the saw" she is keeping her personal self sharp so that she can better deal with life. It means regularly renewing and strengthening the four key dimensions of life – body, brain, heart, and soul.

By Education.com

Thanks for the feedback!

2010-08-23T00:17:00.002+10:00

We’ve been receiving a lot of nice feedback and testimonials from parents and users. It's always nice to hear a good feedback, but it's also important to read, understand and act quickly when the feedback is not that good.

Thanks to all the parents who took the time to write these comments.

Here is some of the feedback we received and we would like to share with you:

Great work with the new set-up of the online ordering. It is the first time I have got on to order for a couple of weeks and love the new layout and tick boxes. Keep up the good work.

The new site is a much easier and faster way to order lunch. Thanks

Simply beautiful!!! The suggest I made a few weeks ago is in place for ordering more than one item at a time. Far quicker & easier. Love it

Hi - love the updated version where you can select everything then put it in the basket - much quicker which is always a help! Thanks

This site is very helpful and easy to use !It makes life easy for everyone at home , without the hassle of writing lunch orders in the morning !!

happy with this service

All Good, Pretty Easy to Use.

Thanks to all the parents who took the time to leave their comments. We appreciate it.

Blastic Bag Story

2010-08-06T13:51:00.001+10:00

What happens to a disposable plastic bag? Ever think about it? An 18-minute film, now popular on the Internet, traces the lonely life of such a bag, giving it an existential voice.

"The Plastic Bag," directed by Ramin Bahrani (Goodbye Solo) and narrated by German filmmaker Werner Herzog, raises questions about the environmental impact of throwaway consumerism."

Enjoy

5 reasons not to drink bottled water

2010-08-04T16:13:00.002+10:00

Bottled water is getting more and more expensive. The question is why some people still believe the marketing hype of big companies..

I found this article interesting and I would like to share it some the readers of this blog:

Eating together

2010-07-30T14:55:00.002+10:00

Clean your plate. You MUST eat your broccoli. No dessert unless dinner. No TV on. Did you grow up with a defined set of meal rules, guidelines or unwritten expectations? Did they help or hinder you becoming a healthy, balanced adult eater? Are you passing these “rules” on or have you changed your parenting style?

Accredited Practising Dietitian, Nabeelah Khan shares some latest research and raises the important issue of family meals.

Read on

The family that plays together stays together

2010-07-29T10:50:00.004+10:00

The family that plays together stays together

Read On

Animation Vs. Animator

2010-07-27T21:59:00.000+10:00

This is cool!

Watch :)

I better be a slow driver

2010-07-27T14:41:00.003+10:00

Again this morning while driving my daughter to school I was "harassed" by the car behind because I was driving 40 km/h in a school zone. Some people still don't get it.

Give something back

2010-07-26T09:10:00.003+10:00

Wouldn't it be nice to give something back to your old school. The school you went to when you were a kid. I'm not talking about the school your kids go to, but the school YOU went to. How about giving them a FREE online ordering system to help parents order their kids lunches online and to help the volunteers at the other end tally the orders, print the preparation list and print the labels in few clicks. No manual money counting. No manual orders tallying.

The system you will be offering them is 100% free from any hidden cost. We don't take anything from schools or force parent to pay anything. We want to see all the profit raised by the hard work of parents volunteers to be re-invested back into the school.

As a parent and volunteer who cares, I raised my hand to improve the orders processing in the canteen of the school my kids go to. I did it because I saw food wastage as a result of double counting. I saw how volunteers wasted a lot of their time counting the money and sticking the change onto the brown bags. I saw frustration on some faces trying to read kids hand writing and how time consuming it was to tally the orders. I did it for one reason = to help the school and give something back to the community. That was before any of the commercial systems we see today all suddenly appeared.. I did all the work and I'm sharing it with you so you don't have to sit there and come up with a canteen/tuckshop solution for your school. The work is already done for one school. We now have many other schools using it and it has been in operation for more than 3 years.. So you don't have to re-invent the wheel :)

If you like what we do and you think it deserves some help and support, why not join us.

By combining skills and working together, we can continue improving what's already there and add other services and solutions that can help schools and volunteers more. You don't have to be a programmer or a web designer, but if you have sales skills, marketing skills, PR skills, accounting skills or any other skills that you see can add value, please talk to me today.

Also if you are a company who cares and like to support these sort of projects, we need you help.

If you like to talk, my number is 04484 04485. Waiting to hear from you of what we can do together to help schools and communities.

Thank you in advance.

Jamie's food revolution

2010-07-25T17:19:00.003+10:00

I found this talk very interesting and I'd like to share it with you..

Sharing powerful stories from his anti-obesity project in Huntington, W. Va., TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver makes the case for an all-out assault on our ignorance of food.

Listen to what he has to say:

the coming revolution in the way kids eat at school

2010-07-25T17:13:00.002+10:00

I thought of sharing this video with you. I found it very interesting. It's mainly about obesity in US schools, but I'm sure we can learn few things and get inspired to apply few things in our schools

In this video, Ann Cooper talks about the coming revolution in the way kids eat at school

We need more speakers like her in Australia to help fight obesity..

We need a food revolution to fight obesity

2010-07-25T11:17:00.003+10:00

Obesity among school children and children in general is a big issue that we all should join to fight it. A lot of school canteens/tuckshops are doing the best they can, but it's not enough to stop the epidemic.

As parents we care about our kids and we do what we can to educate them about good habits and protect them from anything bad, but there are other factors that we cannot control. One of them is the TV ads that invade our homes and tell our kids what to eat or what's good for them. I fight as hard as I can so my kids don't go and eat at some big fast food chains "restaurants", but the fast food chains are invading my home and using powerful techniques, that are more powerful and more convincing than my techniques, to convince my kids that their fast food is better for them and that there is nothing wrong about it. If one of the Australian swimming stars, who my kids and I respect, advertises for one of theses chains, how do I stand a chance to convince my kids that that food is not healthy for them.

If one of the soccer stars advertises for the PlayStation or the Wii, how can I convince my kids that playing outside is more healthier that playing virtual games.

We all know that there are some type of bread, drinks, and other food that are full of additives, preservatives and chemicals and by ethical standards they should be banned form the shelves of the supermarket, but why are they still on the shelves..

What we are doing in schools and at home are good steps, but if we don't get the support of the big guys who are in the business of satisfying the shareholders and nothing else matters to them as much then our fight is not enough.

I think we need a food revolution that says enough is enough. It's time to start a food awarness revolution against all those who don't care, or who pretend to care. It's our kids and our health that's in danger. I don't want to read the small prints any more.. I want to see all food with bad things in it removed from the shelves.. I want to see all these ads that advertise for food or things that they know and we know are not good for our kids to be banned.

What a night!

2010-07-25T09:55:00.004+10:00

Tonight is the night where two oppositions leaders will face each other in front of the cameras and being watched by thousands of Australians, but that's politics..

Tonight, the main focus will be on who is going to be the next master chef :)

Tonight is very special to millions of people in Australia who will be watching the grade finale of the reality TV show MasterChef. I will be one of them as I like watching the show..

As the cook of the family, I like watching every cooking show I can find interesting.

In absence of other similar competing shows, I find Masterchef the best Australian reality TV show. What I like most about it is that it gives a chance to ordinary people to realize a hidden dream and help them be what they really want to be. Among the final six master chefs you find lawyers, a scientist an other who would rather be cooks :)

New enhancements coming soon.

2010-07-16T13:51:00.004+10:00

We’re always working to make School24 even easier to use, and we’re happy to announce that we will be rolling out some improvements to make ordering lunches even easier. In few days you will see some changes to the way you place you orders. The process will be simplified further to make ordering quicker and easier.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all the people who took the time to send us their feedback. It's great to see the community working together to make this free software stronger and for spreading the word about it.

The power of a good cause.

2010-07-16T12:15:00.007+10:00

We live in an exciting time where more and more people are trying to do the right thing for the environment and helping each other. The days of greediness and selfishness are numbered.
It's becoming more like it's each of us duty to do something to change things for the better rather than waiting for someone else to do it for us.

Starting a project to help a good cause can be hard work and challenging, but it's always rewarding.

You will always find someone who will connect with what you do and want to help.
You will receive at least one good feedback that will make your day
You will feel good knowing that what you did is helping some people out there.

Even the most disappointing situations such as some might copy your idea, use your contacts and try to make money out of it, can make you feel strong knowing that what you started was so good and powerful that some people couldn't help themselves from copying the idea and make it sound like if it's their own creation.

Starting a good cause to help others is rewarding from what ever angle you look it.

Take back your lunch.

2010-07-01T11:52:00.003+10:00

There is a movement these days to encourage the hard working mums and dads to take the lunch break they deserve. The movement is called: Take Back Your Lunch

We don't need anyone to tell us more as it's clear that: It's not healthy to eat while working..

"The goal of Take Back Your Lunch is to rally people get away from their desks and stop eating in front of their computers. Doing this will make you feel more focused and energized and allow you to take the rest of the day head on. The benefits are universal and almost immediate."

If you like to spread the message or learn more on how to get involved in this go to this web site:
http://www.theenergyproject.com/tbyl/organize

School Zones are a 40 km/h speed limit zone

2010-07-01T10:47:00.006+10:00

If you are driving near a school, please, please,please make sure that you watch the speed limit. Please drive no more 40 or whatever the speed limit sign tells us. Please remember that we are not doing this to please the police or avoid a fine, we are doing this for the kids.

Some people are still not getting this message and they try to put pressure on the drivers in front of them to go faster. Please don't get pressured and don't pay attention the vehicle behind you if its driver is trying whatever to get you go faster than the speed limit. It's our responsibility as responsible drivers to make sure the people who are driving behind us also respect the speed limit in school zones.

This article from the RTA web site has more details

Future world cup stars

2010-06-27T08:02:00.002+10:00

The future of soccer belong to some emerging soccer countries such as South Corea, the USA, Australia, Ghana, Japan, New Zealand, etc.. These are some of the countries which will shine in the future no doubt about it. The era of world cup belonging to classic big teams will come to and end as I believe that one of these emerging teams will bring the cup home one day in the future and Australia is one of the favourites (in my opinion)

Go fo it!

2010-06-26T10:08:00.003+10:00

Since we started we made it our goal to make online ordering FREE for schools and help volunteers as much as we can without taking anything from the profit they work hard to generate. Some people laughed at the idea and sarcastically wished us good luck. It was hard to explain what we do and the way we do it to friends and relatives. Many are from the school which believes in "nothing is for free". I find it very very hard to convince some close friends that volunteers are parents who donate their time to help their school and that I find it UNETHICAL to take money from them. I wanted to do something to help those people who help their schools.
What started as a simple idea to help a local school canteen turned out to be bigger that what I thought. Many entrepreneurs who look for ideas to copy didn't miss this one. After the couple of articles in the paper, bankers and entrepreneurs saw that this is a golden opportunity to make money so they didn't waste time. Just after the article I received an email from one of them telling me that they are thinking of starting a similar concept and that they are coming to compete..

Of course having competition make things a little harder and especially if you offer the same thing for free while they cashing in and using a big sales force and a marketing campaign. In comparaison we had no sales force (and no money to waste on marketing compaigns) as I believe that I have nothing to sell and i don't want to be or sound like a salesman. What we are offering is a solution to help schools that was created for that purpose and from inside a school canteen. We don't have a business plan and we don't want to have one.

Many friends (including those competitors) thought that we will collapse within few months, but to their surprise we grew stronger.

The answer is in the belief, the spirit and the determination. We believe in what we do and we do it not to prosper from it but to help others.

While the others are measuring and counting the number of schools they acquired, we measure the progress and we are happy that we are helping many schools who think the same as us and believe in what we do. We did all that without any sales force or marketing, but being who we are and believing in it.

We worked hard during the last few years. We listened and we kept improving because we believed that volunteers deserve the best. We did our best to provide them with the support they need and this is just the beginning to what I believe will be the next level of this project.

We do not spend our time (like others) discussing business plans and how they can make more money out of it, but as a non for profit project all our effort and energy is spent on making sure that the product meet the expectation of the users and the support is there when needed. . AND we won't rest till we see that our system is the best out there and is still 100% FREE for schools and for parents.

Now with some good people out there wanting to give us a hand and make us succeed, I feel proud and happy that the hard work we put in is about to be taken to the next level.

To anyone out there with any good idea, DON'T BE AFRAID. GO FOR IT! You will have few sleepless nights and lot of bumps on the road, but if you believe in what you do and why you do it there is nothing that can stand in front of you. Success will come if you don't give up early. One best advice to you is to choose your partners very very carefully. Your partners must be the people who thinks like you and share the same ethics as you and don't be greedy. There is a lot of satisfaction in the work itself and the principles you fight for and whatever comes after that is a bonus.
Good luck to anyone out there who is doing something for the community and the environment

The new Australia

2010-06-24T14:10:00.002+10:00

I woke up early this morning to watch the game Australia Vs. Serbia. I was so pleased with the way the Socceroos played and happy to see them win.

To be able to win the game against Serbia and score the same points in the group as Ghana (who qualified to the next round because of goals difference) is already a big achievement. the future looks good for the soccer game in Australia. It's good to see.

But then, while having my breakfast I heard the breaking news that Australia is about to have the first female prime minister. Things can happen fast :). Politics is not my strongest and favourite subject, but while I was so excited and happy to see the socceroos played well and that the future of football in Australia is looking bright I couldn't help it but to celebrate that things are changing at a leadership level and that a female prime minister is about to lead the country of change and new ideas.

Thanks for the nice feedback

2010-06-23T10:28:00.002+10:00

We worked hard behind the scenes to finish and release our new School24 interface for users and administrators. The new interface is much faster, much prettier, and does a lot more for you. BUT, we are just scratching the surface as we will never rest till we make sure that our system is the best out there. While the others may spend their time discussing their business plans and how to make more bucks out of this, our main aim is to produce a very good system that is 100% FREE. We believe that web should be free and that volunteers and schools should not be charged for the services they use to help parents and students.
I thanks all the parents who sent us their feedback and suggestions. Please keep them coming :)
Thank you and it's a pleasure serving you.

Go the Socceroos!

2010-06-23T10:14:00.002+10:00

Whatever happens. Whatever the outcome of the match against Serbia, soccer (football) in Australia is developing fast and the standard is getting higher and prettier. It's a matter of time, but I'm sure that one day a team of Australian boys (or ladies) will bring the world cup home.

We should celebrate the fact that Australia qualified to the world cup twice in a row with great performance during the last cup in Germany. This is a big step forward and the rest will follow.

With patience and support for the game and the teams who play it, there is no doubt that better results will be achieved in the future..

Go the Socceroos! We're with you :)

The Red Shield Appeal 2010 is ON.

2010-05-30T09:46:00.003+10:00

I'm always amazed by the work of volunteers and the people who donate their time and efforts to help others. Their joy is to see the less fortunate people in this country feel as warm and as comfortable as the others.

The Salvation Army also encourages students to take part in the Red Shield Appeal through Salvos’ School Challenge

The Salvos’ School Challenge empowers students to support the vital work of The Salvation Army through fundraising for The Red Shield Appeal.

Students can take part in the annual Red Shield Neighbourhood Appeal by doorknocking for three hours in their local area. This is an excellent opportunity for students to interact with members of the local community and it's heaps of fun!

Students can also choose to plan, organise and stage their own unique fundraising event. Students are encouraged to be as creative as possible which has resulted in schools running a red and white doughnut drive, an op-shop day and many other fantastic activities. The gives students the opportunity to discuss fundraising ideas with other school groups.

More details can be found here

The Salvation Army helps more than 1 million Australians every year – that’s one person every 30 seconds!

In a typical week, across Australia, we provide*:

100,000 meals for the hungry
2,000 beds for the homeless
5,000 to 8,000 food vouchers
1,000 people with assistance in finding employment
Refuge to 500 victims of abuse
Assistance to 500 people addicted to drugs, alcohol or gambling
Several thousand people with counselling
3,000 elderly people with aged care services
40 people in the court system with chaplaincy services
Family tracing services which locate 40 missing family members

Sustainable Growth. A free good book

2010-05-21T18:47:00.002+10:00

Jon Dee, NSW Australian of the year has just released a new book ‘Sustainable Growth' which provides small and medium sized businesses with practical information and tips on how to improve their bottom line while reducing their impact on the environment.
The book can be obtained for free, If you like to get a free copy of this book, please follow this link

A new version of School24 students/parents portlas is coming soon

2010-05-21T18:42:00.002+10:00

We are almost finished with testing the new students/parents portals. The new portals will be released very soon. Stay tuned

Good luck with NAPLAN

2010-05-10T17:06:00.002+10:00

We wish all the kids good luck with NAPLAN tests. We hope that all the practice and learning the did will help them tomorrow and in the next few days :)

Please don't take this away from the children

2010-05-02T12:02:00.006+10:00

I worked in the local school canteen last week and like usual I enjoyed every single moment of it.

First I got to meet 3 new parents in the school. We usually see faces, but we never have chance to talk, but the canteen gave us an opportunity to know each other and talk about kids and other things.

The other part that I enjoyed was talking to the kids while serving them. It's always the same stories:

"What can I buy with this please?" said this little girl who showed me 4 coins of 5 cent each. First I made her count them as little counting exercise and she didn't have any problem with that: 5, 10, 15.. then we looked together on the menu and found something that cost only 20cent. She was a happy customer.

Then came another girl with a little pink purse. This customer wants something for her friend and for herself. She put the content of the purse on the counter and we started counting. I served them and they both smiled and said thank you.

Another boy brought a pile of silver coins (mostly 5 and 10 cent). He knew what he wanted and he brought the right amount except that I made him count them. It was a maths challenge, but no problem to report.

My fourth customer was a boy with his little wallet containing 15 dollars notes and some coins. He asked me "what can I buy with this?" and as a joke I gave him the whole tray full of snacks. We all laughed.
I helped him put the notes back in the wallet and we counted the coins. That was enough to get him a drink and little snack.

Then came trouble: my son and 3 of his friends. He ordered something for himself then ask the rest of the gang to order what they want. He was confident that his dad will pay the bill. They all say thanks and that they will be back at lunch time. :(

Then came the usual challenge (a girl with 10cent)

It will be a shame to take this experience away from the kids. I agree that Online ordering for school canteens and tuckshops help a good deal, but we should do our best to keep at least the recess free from online ordering or to keep part of the canteen open to take over the counter drinks and snacks orders for the kids. The kids need that interaction with parents volunteers and to they need to learn about how to count, care for and spend their money.

For me it was nice to see the kids ordering things. This is their best chance to experience counting money, buying a drink for themselves and "shouting" a snack or an ice pole for a mate. It was a pleasure to see the little girl with her pink purse.. For us to see how important our presence in the canteen for the kids, and how ordering over the counter is educational and pleasing, please volunteer to help your school tuckshop (if you can) and see for your self.

Walk Safely To School Day

2010-05-02T09:33:00.002+10:00

Walk Safely to School Day is an annual, national event when all Primary School children will be encouraged to walk and commute safely to school. It is a Community Event seeking to promote Road Safety, Health, Public Transport and the Environment.

For more details, check the official web site

More people joining our team

2010-03-29T09:28:00.005+11:00

I had an email from a parent who expressed that she likes what we do and she wants to be part of it. This parent was suspecious and against the system when it started, but after using the system for few months now and she saw herself

the support and the energy we give it
that our motivation are not money and wealth related
and that we do what we do to give something back to the community,

she wants to join us.

Like all the other members of the team, she is a professional who worked with big firms and has a wealth of experience that she can help this project with. Now she is a mum working from home and she has a bit of time that she can use to help the school communities.

I was so pleased to meet with her and have a chat. It's good and refreshing to see the hard work we put in is recognised and that more and more people are wanting to help us. It's amazing how people are wanting to give something back to the community and that's what differenciate this project and makes it powerful. We have been operating for few years now, and we are getting more and more stronger. It's great and pleasing to see that after all the bad doing of some and their propaganda, the system is getting more stronger and the team of professional volunteers supporting it is getting larger.

This project has always been open for any parent who sees that she/ he can bring something in to help the school communities so that all the profit generated by the hard work of volunteers stay within the school and benifit the school and its community. We all were students at some stage in life and now it's time to give something back to schools and to the people who help to keep its volunteer run services going.

It's great to see the community getting together to produce something and provide it free from any hidden cost or agenda to school communities. Everything offered to help schools and volunteers should be FREE.

Waste Free Day at schools

2010-03-29T09:13:00.003+11:00

It's great and refreshing to see that more and more schools are doing more to teach and make students more aware about sustainability and helping the environment.

Some schools are now implementing the One Day a week "Waste Free Lunch".

The way it works:

The school makes one day a week as a Waste Free Lunch Day. Student are encouraged to bring their lunches without any wrapping in a container that can be brought back home (re-usable).

I realy think this a great idea and the schools who are pushing for it deserve to be mentioned. I know of two, but I'm sure there are others.

Killarney Height Public School and a school in Mosman.

Another nice comment

2010-03-25T09:47:00.004+11:00

All the testimonials we put on the web site are from people who sent them to us without asking anything from them. It's the best thing that can happen to any organization in the business of helping people. For me these sort of comments are worth more than a million.
If this system that we are offering for FREE to schools and parents makes people's life easier and they like it, this is all we ask for. It's the best reward for us. Thanks to all the people who took the time to write to us.
Thanks Heather for your nice words.

TESTIMONIAL:

Hi, my name is Heather Smith, and when our school first decided to put in scamps on-line ordering system I was dubious. But we have now been using it for over 6 months, and I love everything about it. Our family orders thru the system, so it is a time saver for us. My children now know how to log on, and happily place their orders for the week. They can also pre-order for a whole week. Their orders are emailed directly to my work email, so I can review what they are ordering, and speak to them about it if necessary. Our school tuckshop won the QLD health tuckshop award, so most of the things we have on offer are great for the kids, but it is good to review what they are ordering, to ensure they are getting some variety. I pay the money directly into the school tuckshop account, for simplicities sake, I pay $100 in at the start of the term, and the online system tops up, this is done by our lovely tuckshop convenor. This saves me time, and reduces money handling within the tuckshop. My understanding is that the tuckshop convenor prints out the orders on labels, sticks them on the tuckshop bags, and is ready to fill them in the morning. Scamps Online Ordering System is easy to use and saves both the families and the tuckshop convenor time and efforts. Scamp improves cash flow, as money is directly deposited into the bank account, and as it is so simple to use, parents are more inclined to let their children use the tuckshop. Scamps avoids unnecessary handling and possible pilferage, it is an unpleasant thought 'stealing' but it is very real and this systems puts in strong controls to eliminate that possibility. Volunteers are still required at the tuckshop to prepare lunches, and distribute, and interact with the children, but the system has taken our tuckshop into the 21st century. I sound like an advertorial, but I am in no way connected with the Scamps organisation, other than as a user. I however am an accountant who advises companies on cashflow measures, and I think this is a great system for assisting your school tuckshop.
So what are you waiting for? Why have you not yet implemented the Scamps Online Ordering System?
Heather Smith
Norman Park Tuckshop Committee - 3 years

Green food only day

2010-03-11T11:28:00.002+11:00

Chatswood Pulic school canteen are about to move from opening 4 days a week to 5 and are considering having the 5th day as a totally green food day. The Green day will coincide with Friday sports program so healthy food will be in keeping with the theme of the day which is healthy excercise!

Well Done Kathy and the canteen team at Chatswood Public School and keep it healthy.

Outsourced Vs. School run canteen

2010-03-11T10:31:00.002+11:00

If you contact one of the commercial online ordering providers about outsourcing they will be very happy and quick to sign you in. For them all that counts is the sale or how much they are getting out of it.

Personally as a volunteer and a dad who worked in the canteen, I see how important for kids to be served by parents. It's about this human touch and contact. People who have not experienced the joy of serving kids should give it a try and see for themselves. The innocent smile, the politness and the little chikyness sometimes are the best reward, we as parents and volunteers, can get out of this little time we spend behind the counter. For kids to see us there is like bringing a family atmosphere into the school.

It' ll be very sad to see this family atmosphere in schools vanishing and being replaced with outsourced solutions.

All the things we want them to learn and do

2010-03-02T08:05:00.002+11:00

Our children are busier than ever before, with more homework, more after-school activities, more rushing from here to there. Most parents spend a lot of their time driving kids to different places. It's good when kids are active, but just sometimes, I think, my kids are doing a little bit too much. There are things that we push our kids to do even if they don't want to do it and there are things that our kids want to do but we are not that keen.

Volunteers roster for Willoughby Combined Schools

2010-02-23T14:50:00.002+11:00

As part of School24 we offer an online volunteers roster. Some schools work differently than others so we are always happy to customise our work to fit some schools unique requirements. In the case of Willoughby they have more that 120 volunteers. The roster for 2010 had to be available before the end of 2009. Previously it was all manual work based on a static Excel file. (I think most schools are still using the manual process for volunteers rostering). We explained to the school the benefits of moving to a dynamic databased roster. After we all agreed, we worked closely with Shirley and other volunteers to get the requirements right. We had only few days to do it and we did. It was a bit of work, but the feeling to be able to meet the deadline was great.
On the D day, they clicked on a Submit button and every volunteer received their shifts via emails. They were also able to print the shifts for the volunteers who don't want to receive email notifications.
Volunteers could login and view their shifts, but the roster administrator is also able to email the shifts to any volunteer by a simple click of a mouse.

Now they have a roster ready for them all year. They can access it from anywhere. They can view, add and delete.. they can also communicate with volunteers.

We are happy to share this work with any other school who think this solution could make their life easier. The School does not have to use our ordering system to be able to have access to the volunteer roster. The volunteer roster is a FREE tool and it doesn't require school registration.

Enjoy!

Sun CEO quits . . . over Twitter

2010-02-15T07:55:00.002+11:00

Twitter has so many uses. People use it to communicate with their family and friends, people use it to take polls/surveys, President Obama used it for his presidential campaign, etc.

Now, former CEO of Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz, used Twitter to resign. On his tweet, he wrote:

“Today’s my last day at Sun. I’ll miss it. Seems only fitting to end on a #haiku. Financial crisis/Stalled too many customers/CEO no more”

Schwartz was known as one of the few Fortune 500 CEO bloggers, and is recognized for his efforts to bring greater transparency into the corporate world.

The new canteen manager

2010-02-12T18:06:00.002+11:00

In the last 3 years or more doing this job, I have seen canteen managers come and go. The truth it's not the easiest job out there, but It's a rewarding job. At least you know that you are dealing with children, you are doing something for future generation and for the future society. I admire what you are doing and everyone should. Keep up the good work.

Why aren't we charging the parents?

2010-02-12T09:21:00.023+11:00

Why aren't we charging for the use of the system?

This question was asked many times, but for me to answer it correctly let's look at who is behind this system and how it started.

Why aren't we charging the schools?

Some of the providers of similar systems charge up to nearly $700 just to sign a school in. They also take a percent of what school canteen make and they charge parents a fee for each order that goes through their system. No wonder that some of them are already listed on the BRW magazine as fast growing companies.

If you look at the web sites of some providers you will see that the people behind these companies are bank directors and corporate like business oriented people. They saw a niche and an opportunity to make money in schools so they jumped in.

Not that there is a problem with making a profit from a business or I have anything against businesses. For me i
t's all fine till we understand that School canteens, uniform shops etc are run by volunteers. Surplus funds made by the canteen, the tuckshop or the uniform shop at the end of the school year are generally donated back to the school to finance projects such as shade cloths over play grounds, new play ground equipment or other such projects.

The volunteers are parents like you and me. We do it to make our kids happy to see us helping and to help the school raise fund. We
feel good about it.

But if we see that some of that money we work hard to generate for the school is going to some BRW listed company or others bank accounts the fun will stop here. We will feel that things are not the same anymore.

That how I feel too as a parent and a system provider. I feel it's not fair to take anything from that money the volunteers work hard to generate for the school. Not 5%, not 3%, not 1% and not even 1cent out of it. It's not about money, it's about principles. Volunteers do something to help and we should support them and help them without taking anything from the profit they make for whatever cause they work for.

Why aren't we charging the parents?

I started this system before many of the major players we see today. It was something unique at the time. We had a couple of articles on the papers including the department of education SidebySide magazine (and on their web site) and the Sun Herald. I was contacted by many business people after the articles and I was offered business advice of how to profit from this idea. I ended up rejecting all the advice offered to me. I even rejected the 10cent per order we had at some stage thought about. It's not about how much but it's about the principles and what motivated me to start this system in the first place. I did it for one purpose only: to help my kids school canteen. I had no business plan or business idea behind it. Just like any parent out there, I felt something could be improved to make volunteers and parents life easier and I did it.

We all volunteer to help in coaching/managing our kids teams, take on the responsibility to manage a local sport club, or raise our hands to do something innovative for a local community project, etc.. If we all start charging for the services we provide to help the community and think of how much money we will make out of it as our only motivation then things won't be the same anymore..

That's what the people who offered me bsuiness advice didn't understand and couldn't believe. I'm sure that some of them thought of my approach as weird, but one has to be a parent and a volunteer and feel the way I feel about it to understand. IT'S NOT ABOUT MONEY! (and try to milk any dollar you can from hard working parents and volunteers)

As parents we donate a lot of our time, money and help to the schools, the clubs our kids go to. (I speak for myself of course, but I'm sure some parents will share these feelings). I'm constantly paying fees for different things: excursions, band, sport, registration, donations, this and that.. I thought why not give something for FREE to the parents (regardless of their financial status). Give them something for free for a change. I just want to see this happening for a change and prove that it's possible. I wanted to make a difference and go against the standards. By offering this system free of charge and not taxing parents for using it (be it 20 cent per order or $2) I also wanted to send a message to many corporate greedy people out there who are charging schools hundreds of dollars and trying to milk every cent they can from parents.

Going in this direction, I agree there are challenges, but I'm commited to make it work. So far, things are going well. The number of schools is growing and the best news of all is that the number of parents who are behind this project is also growing.

our project is open to every parent out there who shares our vision and who would like to help. Every service we will add, it will help keep the funds raised by volunteers stay within the community instead of giving it away to some money hungry companies. The technology is available and there are many use of it that we can do together to help our local schools and sport clubs and keep the money raised by volunteers within the community.

I hope I explained why we are giving this for free and why we are not charging the parents and the schools. The question that will remain is how we will continue financing this project. We are committed to do all we can to continue, but you too, if you think what we are doing is right, you could help us:

Spread the word
Talk to your company. They might feel that projects like this one should be supported
If you can help us financially without feeling the burden on your family
If you have some spare hours in your day and you have some skills that you think could add value
Or something we haven't thought of :)

As parents who care and working together we will make a great difference and help many schools and sports clubs our kids go to. We've made it this far and with your help we can can advance further with this project.

Driving 40 in a school zone

2010-02-10T09:58:00.005+11:00

Have you noticed that every time we try to do the right thing and drive 40 or less within the school zone we get hassled by the drivers behind us. I know 40Km/h is slow, but it's the law and the safety of our kids that's dictating it. Some of the drivers driving behind get so frustrated and start showing their anger. It's a frustrating thing to be pointed out as a slow driver and all you're trying to do is drive safely. It's not about slow or fast, but it's about the safety of the kids. How big the sign should be before it get respected. Do we always need a speed camera or a police car monitoring our speed. Just thinking loud.. I'm not trying to give lessons, I just want that the person driving behind understands that I'm not going slow to annoy her, but I saw a sign and I'm trying to respect it.

Is being a nerd something bad?

2010-01-28T17:01:00.002+11:00

If one of us is worried that her daughter or son is a nerd :), but she doesn't know what nerds look like or would like to hear some stories about nerds then this video is for you.

Some kids excel in swimming, others in cricket but there are the kids who like dancing and others who like to fiddle with things..

One of our friends was so stressed that her son is not like the other kids. He doesn't play any of the sports that most kids play, but he likes his music, dance and computer. This is what make life and people interesting. Different personalities, different hobbies and interests. Let the kids be the way they want to be. (I think)

About My School Web Site

2010-01-28T09:50:00.002+11:00

The federal government has launched a national school ranking web site to provide parents with information about their child's school, using data from national student testing. I tried to login into the site this morning, but it was out of reach. I'm sure thousands of people were trying at the same time. The press was quick to put a big title on their papers/web sites "My School sites crashes on launch day ", but technical problems can happen at early stages and I'm sure they will fix it.

I personally welcome this move and I think that the My School web site http://www.myschool.edu.au is a great initiative which will help parents to find out how thier kids schools rank and push schools to perform better. Well done!

Why the ingredients list is always written in small print

2010-01-27T09:47:00.005+11:00

As we all becoming more aware of health issues caused by preservatives and additives, we spend more time in the super market than we used to do. These days there is not one item that we put in the trolly that doesn't go through a health check. The only problem is that the ingredients list is always very small and hard to read. The ingedients are the most important part of any product we eat or we use, but the manufacturers try their best to hide the things that they know are not very good for our health. Some of the marketers of these products are parents who care about their kids like we do, but why do they keep the prints so small when it comes to listing the products ingedients. The marketing catch phrases are made so big so nobody is out of the loop, but the main things are kept so small that one need a magnifier to read.

Fighting obesity

2010-01-26T09:50:00.002+11:00

I went to the movies the other day to watch Avatar. The smell of popcorn was inviting so I decided to buy some popcorn and a drink. I ordered a small pack, but the guy at the counter was quick to point out that for an extra 1 dollar I can upgrade to a large popcorn and coke deal. We are talking a mega pack of popcorn and huge drink. I denied the upgrade as a small deal is enough, but I wasn't happy that these sort of upsize/upgrade or whatever is called is still allowed. I think every business should join the fight against obesity and discourage any kind of advertising for things that can harm our kids and the society. I think the owners of Hoyts or any other cinema, Mcdonalds, KFC, Dominos and many similar businesses out there should help fight obesity if they are responsible citizens who care about others. Even if there are no laws that forbid them from the meal upgrade tactics to increase their sale, they should stop tempting the buyers to upgrade or sell them big portions of junk food.

The people behind School24

2010-01-18T13:23:00.004+11:00

The list of the people who are involved in the School24 project is now published on our web site under About Us. The pictures of some of us are included.

What started as a community project initiated and run by one person has now grwon to involve many parents and volunteers and it's still growing.

We are always looking for helping hands. If you believe in what we do and you think it's helping the community, please join us in developing, maintaining and supporting this project. By working together as a community, sharing skills and supporting each other we can achieve a lot for our society.

Haiti is crying for help.

2010-01-18T09:56:00.004+11:00

I couldn't help it but get tears in my eyes when I saw the news about the earthquake in Haiti. My kids were watching as well and I could feel this deep silence and sadness in the room. It's one of these moments when you feel powerless. I wish I could physically help and I'm sure many people felt the same, but this is one of these disasters which break your heart but you feel so far and powerless. The only thing which I could do, to help, is donate something to UNICEF and I'm hoping that this little donation of mine combined with the donations of many million people around the world will make a difference.

Right now, as I'm writing these lines, there are some ordinary people like you and me who left the comfort of their homes and families and they are doing the best they can to help. Many of us can't be there to lend them a hand, but there might be other ways we could help them and I'm sure they will appreciate the fact that we are behind them, supporting them, appreciating what they do do and applauding their courage. If you can donate something, this is a short list of organisations helping the people of Haiti:

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) :

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

The Red Cross:

http://www.redcross.org/

Oxfam International

http://www.oxfam.org

Unicef:

http://www.unicef.org/

Also,

The International Rescue Committee, Care, Meds & Food For Kids, Feed the Children, Habitat for Humanity

Thank you for reading this blog and helping the people of Haiti.

Why we don't lock schools in short/long term contracts

2010-01-08T14:21:00.004+11:00

By using School24, schools are not locked in any contract. Not a long term contract. Not a short term contract. We believe that schools should be kept free from any hidden small prints. We are here to help schools not to lock them up. Schools are free to switch providers if they are not happy with one of them without having to wait till the end of their contract.

As parents, I'm sure there is one of us out there who is not happy with a service provider but she feels trapped and she has to stay till the end of the contract. they all do it: Internet providers, Cable/Satellite TV providers, Telecommunication companies..etc. I heard so many stories about unhappy customers trapped in these contracts and who cannot get out of service even if they are not happy with it.

I'm not happy with the mobile phone provider I'm with at the moment. The mobile they gave me stopped working, but their policy (As I was told in the shop and may be written in very small prints somewhere in the contract that I didn't have a magnifier to read it when I signed) is that the mobile has to be fixed 3 times before they can give a replacement. The problem is that I still have about 6 months in the contract and there is no way out, but to pay the full amount left. If this company thinks that they are ethical then something is wrong. There are a lot of companies like this mobile phone company who do not care about the freedom of customers, but to keep you as long as they can.

School24 refuses to be like any of these companies. We believe in freedom and that the user should be free to stay or leave at any time (no strings attached). We also believe that the users of our service should be treated the same way we like to be treated ourselves. (No small prints no tricks. )

Our new year's resolution

2010-01-08T10:23:00.006+11:00

No planet, no life!

I hope I can stick to this task and remind myself and my kids to do our part in saving the energy, the water and look after the environment as we can.

I hope we parents, teachers, canteen/tuckshop volunteers, business owners and every good citizen of this planet make "saving our planet" a high task in our to do list for 2010 and beyond.

Here are some tools that can help:

In Schools

TREES is a user friendly software tool that can help teachers and students measure and reduce school energy consumption. This a good starting learning and action tool that can help in reducing energy usage and greenhouse gas emission.

The tool can be downloaded HERE

Canteens/Tuckshops

Canteen/Tuckshop volunteers, please have a look at this check list document, print it, add to it and stick it on the wall .

Other supporting documents that might help us all understand, educate and contribute to saving the energy

Resources for School Energy Managers - School heating (PDF - 540Kb)

Resources for School Energy Managers - School cooling (PDF - 387Kb)

Resources for School Energy Managers - Hot water in schools (PDF -
258Kb)

Canteen energy shutdown procedure (Word - 144Kb)

Resources for School Energy Managers: Case Study 2 - Cooling a primary
school (PDF - 57Kb)

Central systems (Word - 674Kb)

Central systems versus space heaters (Word - 674Kb)

Push-button (count-down) timers on all large air conditioners and evaporative
coolers (Word - 639Kb)

Push button timers on reverse cycle air conditioners (Word - 751Kb)

Resources for School Energy Managers: Case Study 1 - Delamping classrooms
(PDF - 80Kb)

Resources for School Energy Managers: Case Study 3 - Retirement of
centralised domestic hot water (PDF - 162Kb)

Delamp and relamp (Word - 156Kb)

Install timer on hot water ring main pump (Word - 144Kb)

Eliminate ring main system, install individual Domestic Hot Water (DHW)
heaters (Word - 169Kb)

The difference between evaporative coolers and air conditioners (Word -
248Kb)

Liquid crystal display (LCD) and cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors (Word
- 393Kb)

Improve winter sealing of rooms (Word - 1.2Mb)

IT energy management strategies (PDF - 167Kb)

Learn how to quantify energy use (Word - 136Kb)

What is Legionella? (Word - 136Kb)

Reduce hours of operation of lights (Word - 144Kb)

Optimum start and stop controls on central gas systems (Word - 146Kb)

Program all PCs to go into standby mode (Word - 182Kb)

Sustainable energy info - Reverse cycle air conditioning (PDF - 203Kb)

School energy shutdown guide (PDF - 455Kb)

School holiday energy shutdown procedure (Word)

Smart photoelectric (PE) cells to control security lights (Word - 142Kb)

Install timers on drink fridges (Word - 145Kb)

Turn off pilot lights on wall-mounted heaters over summer (Word - 140Kb)

Resources for School Energy Managers - Understanding energy bills (PDF
- 335Kb)

All the tools and the documents in this post are taken from the Environmental Sustainability - Tools and resources web pagevironmental Sustainability - Tools and Resources

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/deptpolicies/environment/resources.htm

Merry Christmas and happy new year

2009-12-19T13:45:00.009+11:00

Here we come to an end of the school year and the beginning of the festive season.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the canteen/tuckshop managers, the parents, the staff and the students of the schools who used our system. Also, I like to thank all the people who joined me in this project and who share the same vision and ethics.

On behalf of the team I'd like to say It's a pleasure serving you all. It's also a reward to see the number of our schools and the parents using the system grow. The project we started to help a local school (with no business plan or business motivation) is now serving many schools Australia wide and getting interest from abroad. It's a joy working in this project. Lot of hard work, some sleepless nights, a bit of stress now and then, but a lot of fun and joy to see our system being adopted by many schools.

We'll be back in 2010 stronger than ever and we will continue providing our online canteen/tuckshop/uniform ordering services to schools and the community FREE form any catches, hidden costs, small prints or any short term/long term contracts. Our meaning of FREE is Free as in water and air. (please browse our blog and read how this project was started)

As a Socially Responsible Company we believe that services run by volunteers should be given all the help we can. We should not take any percent (not even 1 cent) from the profit the volunteers work hard to generate for schools or any cause they work for. We want to see all the profit generated from selling things in the canteen or in the uniform shop stays within the school and help fund internal projects.

We also believe, being parents ourselves, that parents already contribute a lot to helping their schools in different areas and we shouldn't keep asking them to pay for more or forcing them to pay for every service they use be it online or off-line. Just by accepting to use the online ordering system the parents are already helping their canteens, tuckshops and uniform shops by making volunteers jobs easier.

2010 may be just another year number, but let make it a starting point to remind ouselves that everyday is as important as the next in looking after our planet, reducing the waste and helping others as we can.

Lets all keep volunteerism alive and strong in the country which sent a strong message to the rest of the world in 2000 during the Olympics Games and keeps sending nice and heroic messages to the world every time the firefighters volunteers risk their lives to rescue a house, a koala or a kangaroo..

Merry Christmas, happy new year and thank you all for your support in 2009.

The secret gardner

2009-12-15T10:33:00.005+11:00

If you happen to browse through some or all the posts of this blog, you will notice that I talk a lot about the power of volunteers and the way they are making a big change in our daily life.

Few days a week, on a regular basis, I see this lady with a hose and some basic gardening tools watering and maintaining a piece of bush land in front of the Forestville memorial hall.

I couldn't help it, but I approached her to have a chat, find out more about what she is doing and thank her for it.

She told me that once she went for a little walk and she saw some small trees that needed attention so she went home and brought a bucket of water and started watering the little trees. Since then she fell in love with that piece of land and took a responsibility to look after it. Nine month later she is still maintaining the bush and her satisfaction and pride was to see the little trees grew into big trees and are well looked after.

To me this is another example of people who keep motivating me and whom I admire and is a pleasure to learn from and copy from their courage, persistence and motivation.

It's another example of the power of volunteers and the changes they make to society. What she is doing is purely a personal satisfaction. She is not asking to be on a cover of a magazine, that the media writes about her, or being seeing by others. All she wants is to turn a piece of neglected bushland to something that others can enjoy .

I forgot to ask for her name, but what matters is that there is someone out there who is doing something for the land and the community.

From me, thank you and keep up the good work..

Looking for human solutions to the lack of volunteers crisis.

2009-12-15T10:12:00.002+11:00

Lack of volunteers in school is a problem! While I admit this, I also think that if we work hard and we are all willing, we might find a solution to this crisis. Many articles have been written about this lately, but none of them talk about human solutions. The media don't understand what it means for kids to see a perent behind the counter. If you don't believe me, just make yourself available one day and work in a canteen to see for yourself the satisfaction in kids eyes. It's sad to start giving up on this and let this important human touch get lost. Outsourcing tuckshops is an easy solution, but let's try everything before we give up. I feel for the kids who will miss completely on this. If things continue this way, the future school kids will never have a chance to experience being served in their schools by school parents instead of the staff of company X.

It's sad to see the situation of lack of volunteers being exploited by some providers and the media. Providers are very happy to talk about it on their web sites and brochures as it suits their purpose, but nobody is interested in finding real human solutions to this crisis. Australia is the country who sent a strong message to the world in 2000 during the Olympic games. Countries around the world start to adopt this volunteering system. Why are we giving up? I hope one or some start to look at the crisis in schools canteens without the hype or commercial alternatives, but to find human solutions to it. Outsourcing, automation and machinery are all easy solutions and there plenty of providers who can do this at any time, but before we go that path, please think of our kids and how important for them to see their parents and their friends parents serving in their school canteen or tuckshop. Please help keep and support the spirit of volunteerism alive in this country.

Buy two get the third one for $1

2009-11-26T12:39:00.002+11:00

How could someone resist this offer!
I went to get a couple of bags of ice from a petrol station and the guy serving behind the counter ask if I want a third bag for an extra dollar. That's 2 bags for $8 or 3 bags for $9

The truth is I couldn't resist the offer, but when I got home I realized that I don't need 3 bags. And the wife also shouted from the other end "why do we need 3 bags of ice for!". My esky can barely take 2 bags.

This is similar to the fast food story when they ask if you like to upgrade to large meal for an extra dollar or so.

And the question is: Who to blame? the consumer or the company who offers?

With limited water resources, I really think that they should not promote for this type of offers, but also as consumers we should refuse and ask for these type of offers to be stopped.

What motivates us!

2009-11-26T10:40:00.007+11:00

In every school you will find few dedicated parents who always put their hands up to help. Without the dedication and the hard work of motivated parents, a lot of school activities and events, we take for granted, wouldn't be possible. They work hard behind the scenes to keep the school P&C, the canteen, the tuckshop, the uniform shop, music events, fund rising events all running and happening.

To all the dedicated volunteers, you are the reason why we started this project in the first place. You inspired us to come up with this software and continue improving and supporting it. As your only motivation is to keep your school activities going, our strongest motivation is to help you. We want to provide you with all the tools we can to make your job a little easier and keep every single cent of the profit you raise for your school in the school.

Welcome to PumpTV!

2009-11-26T09:33:00.005+11:00

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a TV on the top of each petrol pump in our Shell petrol station in Forestville. Why on earth do we need to watch another TV and get bombarded with advertising. If you happen to visit Shell stations have a look around you and see how many printed ads are already on display. Not also this, but at the counter before they take your payment they give you an update on their specials: Buy 2 cokes and get the 3rd free, or if you buy two Mars bars they will give us more sugar and junk food for free. How nice of them!

The day before I noticed the PumpTV, I watched the movie "Hardwired". It's an OK movie to watch as it reflects our current economy and a twist on how things could be in the future. Even if they don't physically implant a advertisement transmission microchip in our body, they are already doing a great job by mentally torturing us with all the ads we see and hear every minute: while driving, while sitting to watch the news and now even while filling our petrol tank.

Happy to help

2009-11-17T08:20:00.003+11:00

School24 provided online rostering for the Brazilian National Children’s Day event which was held in Mosman (NSW) on Sunday, November the 15th. Our online roster was of great help to the volunteers and the organisers of this big event. Read more

The good oil

2009-11-16T15:55:00.002+11:00

Research findings by Associate Professor Barbara Meyer, from University of Wollongong's School of Health Sciences, have found that an overwhelming majority of children do not eat enough fish. This places these children in a higher risk category for heart disease, asthma, attention deficient hyperactivity and even retarded brain development.

In her paper, Long Chain Omega-3 Intakes of Australian Children, Associate Professor Meyer claims that the intake of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids - found mostly in fish - were ''desperately low'' among Australian children. In fact, three-year-olds consumed an average of only 47 milligrams of long-chain omega-3s, while four-to-eight year-olds had just 55 milligrams.

Both figures are less than one-tenth of the National Heart Foundation's recommended guidelines of 500 milligrams. ''Only about 6 per cent of our children are meeting those suggested dietary targeted intakes,'' she said. Oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines are the richest sources of long-chain omega-3s, while organ meats such as brains and bone marrow, lean red meat and eggs were other sources.

Google Doodle

2009-11-16T15:15:00.003+11:00

Rydalmere East Public School student, Jessie Du, has won the Doodle 4 Google competition. Her 'doodle', which depicts a series of native animals shaped to form the Google logo, will be seen by millions of users on Australia day when it's placed on the search engine's home page. Well done Jessie – congratulations.

To much reliance on volunteer support...

2009-11-16T10:30:00.001+11:00

A survey of over 1,000 Victorian teachers, recently conducted by Galaxy Research, has revealed that teachers believe that schools rely too heavily on fundraising and voluntary fees to provide essential resources and fund vital projects.

A common theme among the responses, analysed by Galaxy Research, was that teachers were overburdened with non-teaching tasks. "My job as a teacher is made difficult because of too much administration," one said. "For example, standardised tests, data collection, useless reports - but I just want to teach kids."

Community-based volunteer support is essential for most schools and welcome by the school faculties. What do you think? Is the Government doing enough for your school?

"Everyone else wants 3 - 5% of takings"

2009-11-04T13:04:00.010+11:00

I received this email from a tuckshop :

I must admit I stumbled upon your website and am fascinated by the FREE idea. Everyone else wants 3 - 5% of takings (or more).

Many canteens are run by volunteers and are not making huge profits. Those volunteers work hard to make that little or big profit and to keep the cnateen, tuckshop and other activities running in the school.

Because of the hype, some canteens may think, let's try the online solution that the next door schools are using. Presented with some fancy brochures with pictures of apples and convinced by the nice sweet talk of sales people, you find yourself signing in for this solution. Some providers charge you an upfront cost of $600 or more just for the setup. Then they start not only charging families a 2o cents per order but also taking 3% from your canteen. (Or 5% if you want them not to charge the parents). Not many parents know about the 3% or the 5% that the providers are also taking from the canteen.

Run their solutions for few years and you will start realizing that this is a good sum of money that could be invested back in the school and help build projects for the kids.

Never too late .. and you never know..

2009-11-04T13:04:00.007+11:00

A friend's son is not into sport. He is talented and gifted in music, dance, academic stuff, but just not interested in sport. My friend was worried about her son not being interested in sports especially when living in an environment where almost every other kid does some sort of sport.. She started to stress out about it, but there is only so much you can do.. My advice was to let him be himself..

Following is an inspiring story which I'd like to share with my friend and others who are interested

"Pudgy and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. "Football, hockey, tennis, cricket -- anything with a round ball, I was useless," he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the object of jokes and ridicule in school gym classes in England's rural Devon County.

It was a mountain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first the teen went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to pedal along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set his mind on building up his body, increasing his speed, strength and endurance. At age 18, he ran his first marathon.

The following year, he met John Ridgway, who became famous in the 1960s for rowing an open boat across the Atlantic Ocean. Saunders was hired as an instructor at Ridgway's School of Adventure in Scotland, where he learned about the older man's cold water exploits. Intrigued, Saunders read all he could about Arctic explorers and North Pole expeditions, then decided that this would be his future.

Treks to the Pole aren't the usual holidays for British country boys, and those who didn't dismiss his dream as fantasy probably doubted he had what it takes. "John Ridgway was one of the few people who didn't say, 'You're completely nuts,' " Saunders says.

In 2001, after becoming a proficient skier, Saunders embarked on his first long-distance expedition toward the North Pole. It took incredible stamina. He suffered frostbite, had a close encounter with a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit, hauling his supply-laden sledge up and over jagged ice ridges.

Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski solo to the North Pole, and he's skied more of the Arctic by himself than any other Briton. His old playmates would not believe the transformation.

This October, Saunders, 27, heads south to trek from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, an 1,800-mile journey that has never been completed on skis."

About the new home page

2009-10-20T11:04:00.004+11:00

As you might have noticed, we now have a new home page for School24. It was a bit of work to get it done on time, but we did as we promised ourselves.

The reason for the update is to create a user friendly and pleasant interface for our users and visitors. My kids told me that they liked this new interface better so I hope our visitors like it as well. What we do is mainly for our users and guests and we hope that you find what we do useful and helpful. If not please let us know.

About us

2009-10-18T09:00:00.003+11:00

The about us section of the home page is now updated. We included the people who are involved and donating many hours of their time to this project.

The school24 concept is different and unique. As I mentioned before, the project started to help a local school. Before I even thought about it many other schools were already using the system for their everyday ordering and processing of orders.

It was a challenging start for School24. At the beginning there was a couple of people. One left to join the competition and I stayed. I believed in this concept and that schools should not pay for basic services. The same way a volunteer is helping her school, I felt I should support this volunteer by offering some tools that will make her job easier. Some competitors are trying to push the message that the concept of volunteerism is dying so they can get in and cash in, I'm pushing for the message that volunteering is one of the best thing that this country is known for and we should all fight to keep it alive and support it. The best example is the 2000 Olympics. The strong message of Australian volunteers amazed the whole world and many countries adopted the concept after.

The power of volunteers cannot be underestimated and one example is the team behind School24. I'm amazed that within a very short time we grew the team from 1 person to 7 mums and dads who strongly support the concept and want to do everything to see it succeed. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the team for the great job they are doing..

As I said before, what inspired me to do the hard work and keep working on this system are the volunteers who surround me. My daughter's Netball team couch, my son's Soccer and Rugby couches, The canteen tuckhop volunteers, the people who keep our soccer, volley ball, rugby clubs running, the rescue volunteers, the fire fighting volunteers, the life saving volunteers and all the many good people out there who are doing what they are doing not because they were asked to do it but because they saw a need for doing it and they love what they do.

"Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless. ~Sherry Anderson

Welcome to our new schools

2009-10-18T08:51:00.004+11:00

Welcome to all the parents and staff of Killara, Drummoyne and Neutral Bay public schools. Please enjoy the free use of the system. It was created to help parents and volunteers of schools like yours. If there is anything that you think should be improved or added, please do not hesitate to contact the developers of School24. we are here to listen, learn and help. If you think you could contribute to the system or join our team, we will be happy to hear from you. Please use the enquiry link to send us your feedback, suggestions or if you feel that you like to contribute. You can also help us and help other schools by spreading the word

Tsunami victims

2009-10-04T13:26:00.002+11:00

It was sad to hear the news of the terrible natural disasters that have struck in Indonesia and Samoa.

It's tragic and sad to hear the loss of lives and among them children

Why our canteen is not making a profit?

2009-09-27T16:49:00.005+10:00

Western Australian Canteen Association published a check list of the most likely reasons for "why Canteens are not making a profit". If your Tuckshop is not making a profit, please read it. It has some interesting points to consider. BUT, PLEASE DON'T FORGET THAT OUR CANTEENS (TUCKSHOPS) ARE HERE TO PRODUCE HEALTHY FOOD FOR OUR KIDS. Being profitable is good, but we still have to focus on quality and health and not just the profit. If we can do both it's great!

The article can be downloaded here

Friends don't let friends use IE6

2009-09-23T17:03:00.003+10:00

I think Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 should take a rest. It's a nightmare for web designers and developers.
IE6 has some known problems and Microsoft admit it. It has some security issues which this article explains in details. Also, IE6 does not have full support for the well known graphics format: PNG. Microsoft themselves admit that the browser has an issue with PNG files: " If you browse to a Web page that contains an image that has a transparent background in Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format, the image background may appear to be gray rather than transparent."

The "Die IE6, Die" campaign to ditch IE6 is getting a lot of support and even Microsoft sympathizes with people pushing for this compaign

Here comes Chrome!

2009-09-23T16:38:00.003+10:00

Microsoft had it easy for a while with IE being the dominant Internet browser for sometime. These golden days for Microsoft are gone with new browsers hitting the desktop and old browsers improving!
We never thought that Mozilla could catchup with IE but it did. Mozilla is spreading fast and it now has a lot of supporters and fans.
Google on the other hands are the guys to watch. Their latest release of Chrome (3.0) is proving to be the fastest browser of all of them. According to Computerworld, "Chrome 3.0, which Google launched last week, is the fastest production version of the top five Windows browsers".

End of year sports presentations

2009-09-20T14:14:00.004+10:00

I went to my son's Rugby club presentation today. It's always nice to reward the kids for their achievements and hard work. At some point of the presentation, one of the speakers went emotional. The reason was that the only girl player in the club in Under 13 will be leaving the club as she cannot compete anymore (Rugby age regulation for girls!!). Because there is no girls team, this girl won't be part of the club anymore. I know that to some this might not sound important, but to someone who has been couching this girl or watching her growing with the game and enjoying playing it can be touching and can bring tears and emotion to see her leaving!

It was nice to see the attachment and the emotions this guy has for the players and the club. It was also nice to see all the volunteers (dads and mums) who run the event doing a great job like usual. It was a simple presentation. The sound system and the setup were simple, but good enough and that all what we need. Imagine if in few years (like in school canteens situation) we do not have the number of volunteers to run these events. Imaging we have to outsource the these events to private companies. Imagine corporate companies who are always looking for niche and money making opportunities start smelling some dollars making in these community events and start organizing and running these events for us for a fee . Things won't be the same anymore!

Yes, they may bring a better sound system. May be, they will bring a music band and distribute some free marketing gadgets, but the event will loose its purpose and soul.

Now, although in its simplicity we still enjoy the community touch in these events. We still see the dads and mums of the club are 100% involved in organizing and running the events. We are also happy to know that every dollar we spend in this event and all the money raised on the day will go to the club and none of it will be sucked by a third party vacuum...

I hope things will stay this way: simple but beautiful and touching!

Something better can come along

2009-09-20T13:49:00.002+10:00

A friend of mine lost his job recently! This is not something someone wishes to happen to her in this current economic climate. But if it happens it does not mean it's the end. We never know what will come next! Anything can happen. If the negative side of things is possibility then there is also the positive side of things. I rather concentrate on the positive side and believe in what my mother always told us "If one door closes, seven other doors open :) "

I came across this article and thought of sharing it with my friend, but also with anyone who might be in a similar situation. Here is the link to the article.

Good luck!

The numbers are not very important to us!

2009-09-17T10:51:00.003+10:00

I received an email from a school in WA. They told me about the mob competitor who were on the paper everywhere and enjoying a bit of monopoly, free marketing and publicity. They found out about School24 through a search engine. I have no problem with System X making it to the paper and I wish everyone well. My only concern is that some schools might not know about the different alternatives and options out there and might think that company X is the only available option or it's the one who introduced this concept to schools in Australia. There are others who are offering the same or better and it doesn't hurt to do bit of research before signing in with company X. Also, this could be the responsibility of the local canteens association to inform the schools of the different available options and suppliers. I liked the way it was done in NSW where Healthy kids and NSW canteens association invited all the online ordering providers and listened to what all have to offer then published a neutral article on their magazine about the different options available. When I read the article which appeared on the WA canteens association publication, the only company they mentioned is Company X and their system. They wrote: "The system is called XXX and it's.. " like if this is the only system out there. What about the little schools or any school who can't afford to pay for a commercial system, they want a cheaper option or they have other reasons. I think it's the responsibility of school canteens associations to give the schools all the available options and let them choose one that suit their needs and/or budget.
Many times when a school ask me the question, I list to them all the systems I know about including this company X and it's really up to them to choose if they want to go with us or the others. This is not like in Facebook or twitter where the number of fans and followers is important. For us what's important is that schools know about online ordering and take advantage of the available technology if they can.
My fear is if the corporate monopoly reaches the schools and starts sucking the profit raised by the hard work of volunteers from school canteens/Tuckshops. I have no problem with commercial systems, but the message should go to schools so they know about all the alternatives available to them and it's up to them to choose what suit them best. But if we start writing about one system only and not mentioning the other systems then this could mislead schools.

Don't forget about the little vegetable shop!

2009-09-17T09:19:00.003+10:00

Few years ago there was a little sleepy shopping centre. The butcher, the vegetables shop were doing OK and happy with the way things were. Then one day, a brand new and big Coles store opened its door. Oops! The little sleepy shopping mall became busier, the car parking fuller. A busy shopping mall is good for businesses and create a different atmosphere, but for the little vegetables shop owner it's a completely different story. How unlucky!
Even if you try to help a local business, sometimes the convenience makes it harder. Here you are shopping for milk and bread, but the nicely displayed vegetables and fruits with a lower price tags challenges you.
What will happen to this vegetable shop in few years is guessable! I wonder if Coles, Woolies and the big chains ever think of the little shop owners and their families. I can imagine the stress they go through every day trying to survive while the big ones are celebrating big profits years after years..

A new feel, look and little fun.

2009-09-15T10:47:00.003+10:00

As a developer, sometimes you get carried away in your creativity and you try to do things the way you see it fit and best for the users, but the truth and that's what we learn by experience is that the users dictate what's best for them. They know it better than the developer. Sooner or later you will hear a comment from a user if you tried to make things complicated. After all these years of experience listening to users, I find every comment, I receive, positive and helpful in a way or another.
The challenge in developing an online ordering for schools is that your user can be a 7 years old kid who want to make the order herself, a granny who was left with the responsibility to not only babysit the kids but also to order their lunch online . My job is to make it easier for all. If I fail this time I will try again till my users are completely happy.

So, please let us know what you think of the new layout and if there is anything else we could do to improve, we will be happy to listen.

Amazing people!

2009-09-15T00:59:00.004+10:00

I'm sure there are thousands inspirational stories out there, but the story of this man is amazing! A friend of mine emailed me the YouTube link few months back and since then whenever I feel that I'm having a bad day I watch it. The story of Nick Vujicic, a man born with no legs or arms is touching and very inspiring. What seems impossible to achieve sometimes, by looking at this video, it may give you the same courage to keep trying, fighting and looking at the bright side of things. I showed it to my kids once and they watched it in silence and with few tears.

To learn more about this marvelous gentleman, please visit his website Life Without Limbs.

Bravo, Nick...and thanks!

National Literacy and Numeracy Week

2009-09-01T13:53:00.002+10:00

This week is the National Literacy and Numeracy Week.

More information can be found here

Healthy eating should be encouraged not just in schools

2009-08-27T12:25:00.002+10:00

A few weeks ago I volunteered to help in my daughter's Netball Association Canteen. I was surprised to see the type of food and the junk food they serve to the kids. Meat pies, Sausage rolls, Coke and name it. The consumers are the same kids the schools, the government are trying to push the healthy eating habit message to.

Why doesn't the message go to sport associations canteens as well and get them to stick to the healthy eating guidlines for kids? Just a thought.

The new school

2009-08-07T10:44:00.002+10:00

Forget the old school we went to few years ago. The new schools, the new teachers, the new canteens - tuckshops and the new admin staff are more fun :)

I visited Rozelle PS canteen and my reaction was WOW! It felt like I was in a real restaurant kitchen or a cafe. It's not the traditional canteen with a traditional menu any more. It's a canteen with a new age menu and an espresso machine (the same you find in Coffee shops). Staff can order their espresso or a cafe late with normal or soy milk. Kids can choose from a healthy menu with different options including a Greek salad. Well done Dina. Keep it up.

I visited another school and near the canteen they have a hot spot where studenst can use a FREE wireless connection to connect their laptops or Ipods to the Internet.

Another school we serve use an Ipod brodcasting (podcasting) service..

Also, the old black/white board some of us were used to is now to be replaced with SmartBoards

What's next?

I think I like the new school better.

Google for work and fun

2009-08-06T11:42:00.005+10:00

Google just bought on2.

We all know that Apple has QuickTime, Microsoft has Windows Media Player. What's google missing? A codec technology. Now they have one: on2's codec bundle.

Google started as a search engine. I still remember the first time I saw their web site. A colleague of mine at IBM came to me and showed me their site. That was in their early days. Web search engines were still not mature to the point we see them today. At the time Alta Vista, Lycos and Yahoo were the dominant search engines. When I saw Google, my reaction was "Just another one!" , but when I tried it I could see the difference straight away. It felt like something we were waiting for just arrived!

Since then they haven't stopped innovating and coming up with new ways to amaze the mass. Google technology is touching almost everything people do.

You find them in entertainment and video broadcasting: Youtube. They released Google Earth, Google maps. They invaded a bit of privacy by releasing the helpful Google Streets. They digitized one of the biggest libraries. They developed operating systems for the Mobile phone (Android). They are working on an Linux like Operating System for the PC. They came up with their own Office package: Google Docs. They have their own Web browser, email reader... ( I think just name name it and they have it or they will :)

One thing I like more about google is their sense of humor. They don't worship their company logo the same way the traditional big companies do. If you look at their web site often you would see that the logo changes depending on the yearly events happening around the world. they have a bit of fun with that also entertains others.

Google in other languages :)

Google is translated in some languages we haven't heard of (or may be you have)

Bork Bork Bork language!: Try it

Elmer Fudd language: Try it

Hacker Language: Try it (You can use this to generate hard to guess user names and password if you like :)

Finally, Pig Latin: Try it

Google in Education:

Google has an Knowledge sharing section called Knol with many interesting features. One the features is the equation editor

Google YouTube in 3D

If you don't like youtube in 2D and you like to see things in 3D: Have a look here

Have I missed something? Of course. As we speak they are working on new things that we will hear about in the future.