Area Schools Conference

I was fortunate enough to be at the Area Schools Conference last week held at the James Cook in Wellington - MUSAC being a key sponsor. We offered two free workshops this year: one hosted by Cheryl from Solutions and Services on the topic of MUSAC Accounts (Financial Manager) and the second hosted by Mal (again Solutions and Services) with the focus on student achievement and in particular data management, analysis and reporting to parents.

It is great sometimes to just sit back and enjoy the ride - Cheryl making things easier for administration staff with tips and tricks around the use of the package, backed by sound accounting practice.  And then listen to Mal as he simplified ClassRoom Manager, but again spoke in relation to real information that teachers and managers want to know about students and their progress and achievement. We're in a very fortunate niche situation in that we are the only vendor formally recognised as catering for junior, middle and senior school needs - particularly around achievement. What I'm also saying here is that it wasn't the software features or just the people, it was the two working in combination to provide people in schools with ways to make their jobs easier.

As we do, we also joined in some of the social side of the conference and got to meet an array of great people doing a tough job in often remote areas, on a small scale with all the high expectations of community and Ministry. I take my hat off to them.