Useful bits and interesting bobs, No. 11

As you start to think about next academic year - and the new diaries get given out - I'm going to introduce the app that rules my life: Family Wall.

If you read my piece on the damage being done to our children by social media (here), and my somewhat embarrassing piece on the positive ways that I actually use technology as a DSL (see here), then you’ve probably rightly already reached the conclusion that I can be a bit old school. My better half mocks me for this constantly, which is slightly unfair now that I’ve swapped all of our VHS cassettes for DVD’s (ask your parents). So it is even more satisfying for me that I discovered this app, introduced her to it and it has now become a central pillar of the way that our family does business.

If you’re already using online calendars in your life then you already know. But if you’re not, and you feel like your life is hectic and hard to stay on top of (at home or at work), then Family Wall (or one of the alternative online calendars), could be a game changer for you.

Family Wall is free to download.

You can run separate work and home calendars on there.

And you can share your calendars with other people (colleagues or relatives), so that you can all view and add events.

You can set repeat events (e.g. Review Training Files every six months) or one off events (e.g. FGM Staff Meeting).

You can set notification reminders for one month, one week or one day before the event.

You can also have ‘To-Do’ lists on there.

It’s simple, easy to use and helps me immensely to keep all of those plates spinning.

I still use a paper diary at work, but we’re in the process of getting aspects of our school and safeguarding calendars across to an electronic system. Like all of these things, it takes a while to make the move. But I genuinely believe that one of the best investments you can make with your time, effort or money, is anything that makes your own life easier in the long-run. So if you’re not already using one, give an online calendar a go. That’s it basically.

As ever, if you’ve got any life or work hacks that other DSL’s might benefit from then get in touch. Only a few weeks left to go now (not that anyone’s counting obviously!).