The no-show team dance
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Jeremy Morse
May 26, 2015, 9:46:26 PM5/26/15
to sr...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
This year there were several teams who didn't turn up to the
competition. This happens every year, alas. Happily most of them
contacted us in advance regarding their attendance, which is great. The
only requirement for them past that point is sending the kit back to us.
A few teams don't communicate about their attendance though, and they
tend to be the most difficult to extract the kit from. Almost all of the
time this is because the teacher is overworked and winds up dropping emails.
The resolution to this is to badger them on the phone, something that
I'm less able to do right now due to frequently being out of the
country. It would be fantastic if some people would volunteer to chase
schools about returning kit, one per volunteer is suitable, and there
are no scaling issues. The procedure is broadly:
1 Mail teacher with:
* Thanks for taking part
* Sympathy for not being able to make it
* Kit return instructions + deadline
2 Phone them at the school if they don't reply, weekly or more often
3 Repeat step 2
No technical skills are necessary, and I can provide all information
regarding returning kit. If you feel you can do this, please email me
off list.
--
Thanks,
JEremy
This year there were several teams who didn't turn up to the
competition. This happens every year, alas. Happily most of them
contacted us in advance regarding their attendance, which is great. The
only requirement for them past that point is sending the kit back to us.
A few teams don't communicate about their attendance though, and they
tend to be the most difficult to extract the kit from. Almost all of the
time this is because the teacher is overworked and winds up dropping emails.
The resolution to this is to badger them on the phone, something that
I'm less able to do right now due to frequently being out of the
country. It would be fantastic if some people would volunteer to chase
schools about returning kit, one per volunteer is suitable, and there
are no scaling issues. The procedure is broadly:
1 Mail teacher with:
* Thanks for taking part
* Sympathy for not being able to make it
* Kit return instructions + deadline
2 Phone them at the school if they don't reply, weekly or more often
3 Repeat step 2
No technical skills are necessary, and I can provide all information
regarding returning kit. If you feel you can do this, please email me
off list.
--
Thanks,
JEremy
Jeremy Morse
Jun 19, 2015, 9:39:57 AM6/19/15
to sr...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
So I wound up doing this anyway. The current no-show status:
* CCR: Returned their kit at the competition, apparently one of the
teachers turned up with it
* WHS: Jon is in the process of returning it
* TBG: Are in contact, say they're returning it in this week
* MRG: Are in contact, will drop it off at Uni. Bristol, I'll courier
it.
* SPC: Also returned at comeptition, I actually set eyes on it there
* CHR: In contact, teacher is arranging return in the next two weeks
That leaves three no-contacts:
* TTN: phoned this week, got answerphone. Not worried as one of the
teachers there very much likes the competition, plus it's in
soton
* BMS: Notified us they were dropping out before the competition, no
recent email replies, got answerphone yesterday
* KHS: A real problem, as the teacher there has left, and I can't
contact him even by a personal email address. After speaking to
the school reception, I've mailed the school a summary of the
situation (and a list of students involved), apparently they'll
look into it. Only further escalation would be contacting the
headteacher.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
So I wound up doing this anyway. The current no-show status:
* CCR: Returned their kit at the competition, apparently one of the
teachers turned up with it
* WHS: Jon is in the process of returning it
* TBG: Are in contact, say they're returning it in this week
* MRG: Are in contact, will drop it off at Uni. Bristol, I'll courier
it.
* SPC: Also returned at comeptition, I actually set eyes on it there
* CHR: In contact, teacher is arranging return in the next two weeks
That leaves three no-contacts:
* TTN: phoned this week, got answerphone. Not worried as one of the
teachers there very much likes the competition, plus it's in
soton
* BMS: Notified us they were dropping out before the competition, no
recent email replies, got answerphone yesterday
* KHS: A real problem, as the teacher there has left, and I can't
contact him even by a personal email address. After speaking to
the school reception, I've mailed the school a summary of the
situation (and a list of students involved), apparently they'll
look into it. Only further escalation would be contacting the
headteacher.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
Jeremy Morse
Jun 29, 2015, 7:11:04 AM6/29/15
to sr...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
On 19/06/15 14:39, Jeremy Morse wrote:
> * CCR: Returned their kit at the competition, apparently one of the
> teachers turned up with it
No confirmation yet,
> * WHS: Jon is in the process of returning it
In progress,
> * TBG: Are in contact, say they're returning it in this week
Has been returned,
> * MRT: Are in contact, will drop it off at Uni. Bristol, I'll courier
> it.
Haven't yet returned, I'll contact them about it again. Worst case
scenario, we can turn up.
> * CHR: In contact, teacher is arranging return in the next two weeks
Have returned (thanks Tyler),
> That leaves three no-contacts:
> * TTN: phoned this week, got answerphone. Not worried as one of the
> teachers there very much likes the competition, plus it's in
> soton
Continuing to get answerphone
> * BMS: Notified us they were dropping out before the competition, no
> recent email replies, got answerphone yesterday
Continuing to get answerphone, will interact with reception about when I
can actually talk to the teacher there.
> * KHS: A real problem, as the teacher there has left, and I can't
> contact him even by a personal email address. After speaking to
> the school reception, I've mailed the school a summary of the
> situation (and a list of students involved), apparently they'll
> look into it. Only further escalation would be contacting the
> headteacher.
The school haven't come back with anything yet. There is no named person
who's actually got a stake in handling this right now, which is bad. I
mailed the competitors who were registered in the competition with no
effect. I think the only way forward is to contact the headteacher and
make it his problem -- there's no email address on their website, so
recorded delivery post it is. (I find this tends to provoke a response).
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
On 19/06/15 14:39, Jeremy Morse wrote:
> * CCR: Returned their kit at the competition, apparently one of the
> teachers turned up with it
> * WHS: Jon is in the process of returning it
> * TBG: Are in contact, say they're returning it in this week
> * MRT: Are in contact, will drop it off at Uni. Bristol, I'll courier
> it.
Haven't yet returned, I'll contact them about it again. Worst case
scenario, we can turn up.
> * CHR: In contact, teacher is arranging return in the next two weeks
> That leaves three no-contacts:
> * TTN: phoned this week, got answerphone. Not worried as one of the
> teachers there very much likes the competition, plus it's in
> soton
> * BMS: Notified us they were dropping out before the competition, no
> recent email replies, got answerphone yesterday
can actually talk to the teacher there.
> * KHS: A real problem, as the teacher there has left, and I can't
> contact him even by a personal email address. After speaking to
> the school reception, I've mailed the school a summary of the
> situation (and a list of students involved), apparently they'll
> look into it. Only further escalation would be contacting the
> headteacher.
who's actually got a stake in handling this right now, which is bad. I
mailed the competitors who were registered in the competition with no
effect. I think the only way forward is to contact the headteacher and
make it his problem -- there's no email address on their website, so
recorded delivery post it is. (I find this tends to provoke a response).
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
Jeremy Morse
Jul 2, 2015, 11:11:22 AM7/2/15
to sr...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
TTN: after some beating, including Lilafisch turning up, Tauntons have
agreed they'll drop the kit off next week, at soton uni.
KHS: After receiving a stern letter from Dr Morse, they've found the kit
and the headteacher's PA is arranging it's return.
This makes BMS the only team who I haven't managed to make contact with.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
TTN: after some beating, including Lilafisch turning up, Tauntons have
agreed they'll drop the kit off next week, at soton uni.
KHS: After receiving a stern letter from Dr Morse, they've found the kit
and the headteacher's PA is arranging it's return.
This makes BMS the only team who I haven't managed to make contact with.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
Jeremy Morse
Jul 3, 2015, 10:06:06 AM7/3/15
to sr...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
On 02/07/15 16:11, Jeremy Morse wrote:
> This makes BMS the only team who I haven't managed to make contact with.
Contact established, they're posting it back on Monday. This means we're
out of the woods.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
On 02/07/15 16:11, Jeremy Morse wrote:
> This makes BMS the only team who I haven't managed to make contact with.
out of the woods.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
Peter Law
Jul 3, 2015, 3:41:08 PM7/3/15
to Student Robotics
Jeremy wrote:
>> This makes BMS the only team who I haven't managed to make contact with.
>
> Contact established, they're posting it back on Monday. This means we're
> out of the woods.
Hurrah, thanks for handling all of this.
>> This makes BMS the only team who I haven't managed to make contact with.
>
> Contact established, they're posting it back on Monday. This means we're
> out of the woods.
Peter
Jeremy Morse
Jul 16, 2015, 9:22:41 AM7/16/15
to sr...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
The recent returned-kit sorting (see srobo-devel) revealed some
interesting facts -- more significant of which is that UPP haven't
returned their kit. My interpretation of the sr compstate repo is that
they didn't turn up either. I'd expected them to, as the teacher there
tended to be on the ball and they had some IDE activity in March.
Clearly in the future we need some real procedure for registering that
they've actually turned up, so that these things get caught earlier.
I phoned the school; turns out they've been on holiday for three weeks
already (independent school, etc). I'll try to raise the teacher over
email, but it seems very likely we won't see this kit for at least six
weeks.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
The recent returned-kit sorting (see srobo-devel) revealed some
interesting facts -- more significant of which is that UPP haven't
returned their kit. My interpretation of the sr compstate repo is that
they didn't turn up either. I'd expected them to, as the teacher there
tended to be on the ball and they had some IDE activity in March.
Clearly in the future we need some real procedure for registering that
they've actually turned up, so that these things get caught earlier.
I phoned the school; turns out they've been on holiday for three weeks
already (independent school, etc). I'll try to raise the teacher over
email, but it seems very likely we won't see this kit for at least six
weeks.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
Jeremy Morse
Aug 9, 2015, 9:27:26 PM8/9/15
to sr...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
On 16/07/15 14:22, Jeremy Morse wrote:
> I phoned the school; turns out they've been on holiday for three weeks
> already (independent school, etc). I'll try to raise the teacher over
> email, but it seems very likely we won't see this kit for at least six
> weeks.
Sitrep: it's still the holidays. Nothing has happened.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
On 16/07/15 14:22, Jeremy Morse wrote:
> I phoned the school; turns out they've been on holiday for three weeks
> already (independent school, etc). I'll try to raise the teacher over
> email, but it seems very likely we won't see this kit for at least six
> weeks.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
Jeremy Morse
Sep 16, 2015, 5:36:28 PM9/16/15
to sr...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
Bad news: today I got through to some teacher liason officer at UPP, who
divulged that both the teacher who registered last year for UPP, and
their direct boss, had both left the school. Apparently she'll make
inquiries with the staff to see if they're aware of the kit. It's
slightly complicated in that the registering teacher was in Maths, not
Physics / D+T / Compsci.
We could do the same trick as last time and send a letter to the
headteacher about the situation, however our hand is diminished by the
fact that the kit-handout record for UPP was signed by a blueshirt
rather than by the actual teacher, meaning we can't prove they took the
kit. I'll wait a couple of days to hear back from the liason person.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
Bad news: today I got through to some teacher liason officer at UPP, who
divulged that both the teacher who registered last year for UPP, and
their direct boss, had both left the school. Apparently she'll make
inquiries with the staff to see if they're aware of the kit. It's
slightly complicated in that the registering teacher was in Maths, not
Physics / D+T / Compsci.
We could do the same trick as last time and send a letter to the
headteacher about the situation, however our hand is diminished by the
fact that the kit-handout record for UPP was signed by a blueshirt
rather than by the actual teacher, meaning we can't prove they took the
kit. I'll wait a couple of days to hear back from the liason person.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy
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