The Eleven Plus (otherwise known as the Kent Test) has started to change. As of this year the test took place in September with the results due towards the end of October. For the first time ever parents could well have two clear weeks to make their schools applications knowing the results of the test.

This decision which was rubber stamped by the Secretary of State and welcomed by KCC Cabinet Member for Education Operations, Resources and Skills (Mark Dance), finally addresses a long standing criticism of the test. That parents had to guess what the outcome might be causing both chaos and frustration if things did not go as expected.

Even so the proposal which was very popular with parents found significant reservations from some admissions authorities. So much so that proposal was referred to the Secretary of State for the a formal rubber stamping.

(You can read more from Kent.gov.uk for the full timetable of events for this year's school selection process.)

If you are feeling brainy you can try your hand at a Verbal Reasoning paper from the Eleven Plus. The BBC have an online version you can try your hand at. I managed to be correct on just 37 out of 50 (apparently this is "good" which is above "average") which means I got 13 of the questions wrong. I confess I feel "totally wiped out" now and need to stop and put the kettle on.

The eleven plus (aka the Kent Test) is a heavy duty test. What are your feelings about it?

Generally I try to keep this blog focuses directly on issues that relate to Thanet and it's bloggers. Sometimes I do well at this and sometimes what I think might be a great story goes down in a manor not unakin to that of a lead balloon. Still other times something I write is much more interesting to people outside of Thanet.

The fact of the mater is that we live in the world and although our part of that is called Thanet it might be as well to remember the wider context. As such this offering is my way of sharing content from other locations that I have written. I hope some of it is interesting for you.

10 tips for "Battening Down the Hatches" - it will not have escaped your notice that we are facing rising costs and reduced means. This article looks at some of the things I have been doing to reduce my costs.

No More Poverty (Part One) - one of the things that matters to me a great deal is addressing and breaking the cycle of poverty. In this article I explore the history and nature of the current social and economic structure and look at those of the past. My conclusions while seeming obvious came as a surprise to even me but it was the direction that this series is going in that was the biggest joy - a possible cure for poverty.

Be Free to Eat Cake - keeping fit is something I try to do along with shedding some extra pounds. I'm not the best at it but I keep going and slowly I see the results. This article marked a significant moment in my thinking regarding such issues.

Lord Matt's Geeky Notes on Spreadsheets - in this article I look at the ins and outs of making a spread sheet to keep track of my personal financial status.

Effective Positive Personal Environmental Impact - this time I look at how we can make a difference that matters. One of the things I have come to realise is that even if the local councils arround the UK manage to force us to recycle everything the result will still be a negligable impact. So how can we make a change?

With money getting tight nationally we have been feeling it first here in Thanet. To try and off set this a little Thanet Star has been looking at things that can potentially make things easier on us. For example recently we wrote about how you could Win a Car, cash and several other big ticket items.

One tool working for you should be a "digital reward card". Much like a store card for your favourite supermarket the digital reward scheme allows you to collect points and these points can be converted into goodies. The leading scheme is called iPoints.

Currently they have a number of offers going on including a free Twice the Spice Voucher just for signing up (which is free). Once you have your free membership you will, of course, be able to get more from your online shopping but you will also be able to get iPoints in other (free) ways too.

For example you can currently get iPoints for using certain search engines, grabbing free accounts, applying for quotes and taking advantage of other offers. This should soon add up to a whole host of free stuff for you cutting the cost of living.

You can scoop 200 points just for joining - which is what I did...

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» Continue Reading: Getting a few things for free

The yummy car pictured to the left is the Toyota Yaris and for the small price of nothing at all you can enter a prize draw to win it.

Given the current credit squeeze I am sure more than one or two of us could do with a "small" win of this nature. The company is British run and so under the rules of the land is open to anyone. You will need a free account from which you can also win £500 in cash.

I'm already a member which is why I feel happy to promote such a tasty offer to other people. I have not expirenced any spam nor have I been flooded with "system messages" aside from when I have indicated I want more information about something.

I also understand that there is still time to Win a break to Las Vegas. So what are you waiting for?

A UK subsidiary of Unisys Corporation has won an outsourcing contract worth approximately £32 million to manage KCC's MAN.

No this is not some odd minder a MAN (or metropolitan area network) is a WAN that... For example JaNET is a MAN... Hmmm. let's just say that with Kent Public Service Network (KPSN) KCC locations, schools and the Internet are all being taken care of in this bundle. By taken care of we mean upgraded and made much much faster.

Formally Unisys will be tasked to "create and manage a public information network and security service" this was last until 2012.

So if KCC has 32 million quid available to upgrade it's Internet connection perhaps it also has some cash to subsidize some free parking with KCC? We'll never know unless we can motivate a councilor to go ask for the cash but I understand many are too busy getting their own way...

I've talked before about how great stumble upon is as a service but here is a chance to use it to improve the world a little bit. Click here to plant a tree.

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) recently spent £14,000 of tax payers money on a new logo. Which as you can see looks "very nice" (even if you would not catch me playing with the idea of paying so much money for it).



The problem is that the Governemnt department "needs to get a grip on itself" for if you turn it sideays it looks like this.



You can also read the story here

Saint George - a man that might not have existed but the patron of Aragon, Canada, Catalonia, China, England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Montenegro, Palestine, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Amersfoort, Beirut, Ferrara, Freiburg, Genoa, Ljubljana, Moscow and a goodly number of institutions. Today is "his day"...

Now from a British point of view today is a British day. So what is your take on the British National Lack of Holiday (BNLoH) and the general celibration of "saints"?

Let's talk.

I have been looking around facebook and discovering that there is quite a Thanet presence there albeit a little decentralised (which is no bad thing as such). There is a very slim showing from the Thanet bloggers (which surprised me) as I have only so far found one or two of you on the site.

There is no rule that says we have to sign up to anything so don't think that you have to (after all we have our own Thanet Social Network). However, if you do it might be worth it just to get your blog listed on the Facebook Thanet blog listing where I seem to be the only one...

Just an idea.

The you tube video I wanted to show you was removed from you tube. I found this slide show which covers the basics and should work for the foreseeable...