Links: Software: www.sociology.org.uk

Classroom Online	The concept of a "Virtual Learning Environment" (VLE) is something increasingly encouraged by a desperate government looking for educational panaceas ("Hey! On-line Learning!") and an increasingly avaricious software industry only too willing to take your money in exchange for the "latest educational advance" (sic). If you need a VLE then go the free route with something like Classroom Online (although you'll need a tame IT teacher to help set it up).
Classroom Resources	CLassroom Resources is a publishing company that "...was set up to allow teachers to market their own resources, ideas and innovations to schools nation-wide". The basic idea seems to be that if you've developed resources you want to sell to a wider audience, this company will take care of all the advertising, promotion and selling involved. How it all works, I'm not sure, but their site has various materials for sale so, if you're interested in going down this route (and you have to be careful about copyright issues if you do - your employer may own the copyright of any teaching materials you've produced in the course of your paid work) this is probably as good a place to start as any...
Markin	If you have students who give you word-processed work to mark, this little program makes it very, very, easy to annotate their work. With the press of a button you can indicate spelling / punctuation / grammar errors, add short comments to specific sections, indicate grades, add extended commentaries / assessments and much, much, more. It costs £20 for a single-user and is guaranteed to save you a whole bundle of time (unless, of course, your students still insist on giving you work hand-written on the back of an envelope...).
Microsoft Training	Wherein the Beast of Redmond (prop. Apple Fanatics Everywhere) makes available a whole host (not a "Holy Host", mind you - we are talking "Spawn of the Devil" here) of training videos for their Office products (from "A" for Access to "W" for Word - it should, of course, be "Z" for "Zaton" but MSoft are so very, very, clever that way) for no money whatsoever. So what's that about then? It's about making you all Slaves to the Mighty M, that's what it's all about (or maybe they just want you to buy their products - one or the other, perhaps).
Moodle	If you're looking for a Course Management System (CMS) - a bit like a virtual learning environment but very much fancier - and you're, like, totally averse to splashing out the spondulics (translation: you want it all for free) then Moodle is the absolute business. A wonderful open-source software package that will not only meet your every need, it's stable and reliable to boot (there are loads of schools and colleges in the UK using it already). The only problem is that you really do need a degree in Rocket Science (or a bunch of tame IT bods) to get it up and running...
Report Maker	An easy-to-learn-and-use Student Report program that allows you to quickly and efficiently create a range of reports (standard "end-of-term" type, Record of Achievement (do they still exist?) and the like) from a customisable database of statements. The program's free (you can download a copy from the site), has easy-to-follow documentation and some sample statement files for a range of subjects and grades. If you've been looking to automate your reporting process you could do a lot worse than check-out this very friendly little program...
School Assessment Matters	A UK-based site offering free school assessment software. There seems to be a range of information / software on offer (assessment, tracking, timetabling and so forth, none of which I've actually tried (I'm an Old Skool "planning is for wimps" type of guy) so I've got no opinion either way about how useful / good it is). However, if you're lost in the jungle that is formative assessment at secondary school level, you've got little to lose by checking-out the free stuff...
The Teacher's PRO	It's a "strange-but-true" observation that American teachers (for example) seem to use Lesson Planning, Grading and Organizing software far more than their UK counterparts (if the number of American programs doing the rounds is any guide). This, therefore, is something of an oddity - lesson planning software designed primarily by and for UK teachers. It's shareware, so you can safely try all three elements "before you buy" and if you find you like them then the respective charges are very reasonable.
Teachers Report Assistant	This is a simple little program that sits alongside your word processor and allows you to "cut-and-paste" comments about students into your Reports. In basic terms, it's a handy little database you can constantly update - the more Reports you write, the more comments you can add to the Report Assistant for easy retrieval. It's useful, simple, easy-to-use and, best of all, it's free - and if you're really stuck for comments you can even visit the Report Assistant web site and view a database of submitted comment banks (to which you can add if you so wish).