Barassie Beech yesterday. Bright & Breezy. Butterflies, common blue, grayling, ringlets, meadow browns & small heath.

Marvellous bright flora, harebells galore. Ringed Plover and chicks, it is amazing that these can hatch given the number of dogs, crows & gulls around.

Walking round Ardinning Wildlife reserve for a picnic lunch today. The large keep your dogs on a lead signs seem generally ignored. Today a guy’s spaniel took off & quartered a section of moor, 2 curlew going crazy over it. Bloke could not catch or call his dog. Mood: grumpy.

Today is the day. North Lanarkshire is retiring our communication application FirstClass. Uses in schools for e-mail, file storage and discussion forums.
 
I remember starting in North Lanarkshire in October 2008. I saw FirstClass for the first time. Even then it’s UI looked a little outdated. Over the years I can to appreciate some of it qualities. Excellent usability on a very poor mobile signal. Compared to other email solutions it feels very lightweight, in a good way.
 
I learnt a little of its other features, some of which were good, some a bit clunky (the web publishing).
 
At the end of my time at the computer centre, FirstClass developed a web frontend. This was a more modern UI, but I only saw that briefly. NLC continued to use the desktop application.
 
While I was an ICT dev officer I spent a lot of time in firstClass. After returning to the classroom I continued to use it every day. It will be strange not to open it up anymore.

And so ends the strangest year in my teaching career. Felt like a long one. It is had to recall August now. I think I might have learnt more this year than any other. Pandemics bring a unusual perspective. It was somehow easier to see the best of pupils this year.