9 replies to this topic

[NeilM]

Evening,

Could anyone help me out of a bit of pickle please? On Monday's training day I foolishly told the truth about my place's shoddy online shop window....guess what now....

I really need several innovative and informative examples of school sites to woo my SLT.

Anyone who could mention any names I'd be grateful then perhaps I can showcase and we can learn!

Thanks,

NeilM

[NeilM]

http://www.cheltenha...org/senior-home Cheltenham College

http://www.chartersschool.org.uk/ Charters School

http://www.woodlands...or.kent.sch.uk/ Woodlands Junior School

http://www.tiffingir...ingston.sch.uk/ Tiffin Girls' School

http://www.rgshw.com/index.aspx?id=385 Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe


These are all excellent examples - they're all however from Private Schools as far as I can tell, quite a few are boarding schools.

Anyone know of Comps with impressive examples?

[DaveStacey]

Our old home page has recently been replaced by a new one to bring it line with county. It's powered by Sharepoint and allows staff and students to log in and access various online tools. The previous version had been powered by Moodle (our school VLE) - http://olchfa.org.uk

Whenever I sat down to redesign our homepage, I'd always stop and have a look at what Andrew was doing with his schools! - http://www.neale-wade.cambs.sch.uk/

I was recently at Whitchurch high school and had to use their website. I haven't dug around, but it's another approach you might want to look at. http://www.whitchurc...om/homepage.htm

I'd also have a think about how you want to keep your site updated. Rather than using a traditional HTML site, I'd think about installing something like Wordpress, Drupal or Joomla to power the site, and then you can take and adapt an existing theme for the design. All three are open source and can be installed and edited fairly easily. I have used Wordpress loads, although I've never used either of the others (although I have heard good things about them)

[Andrew Field]

I'd be happy to help in any way I can - bit busy tonight but suffice to say we've created what is a basic static site on our homepage (the one Dave mentions above) and this in turn links to three different sections that are easily updated - our blog at http://www.neale-wade.net/blog, our 'student homepage' which is what students have when they login to the internet at school - http://www.neale-wade.net and a parental page at http://www.neale-wade.info.

The blog feeds into the main College website - the moving comments at the top. I'm also keen to add our calendar and other similar data - Twitter feed - onto that page too.

The trick with all this, as Dave has explained so well, is to use tools that are easily updated. If I was designing at site from nothing I'd suggest using Wordpress as well. Get some help and assistance to setup the sections that are needed and then establish who needs to update it. Get admin support to upload copies of letters etc., get Senior Leader support to help encourage colleagues to keep things updated.

I see a school website as very much function over form. You can indeed pay lots of money to get something that looks great - but I'd prefer a site that is continually updated with the great stuff that goes on within a school. I keep pushing and encouraging others to update and share their latest school news and events. Our blog is updated quite regularly but I want even more. This has to be the essence of a good school web presence - showcasing and sharing what goes on at the school.

[Dan Moorhouse]

Not sure if it's of any use Neil but there's one aimed at all Keighley schools going live in the next week or so...

[Jim Belben]

It's MFL not History but for a very good Wordpress based website that is also a very good example of sharing practice with other schools see Languages at Northgate

http://languagesatno...3/welcome-back/

[Nichola Boughey]

Ours is not too bad!

http://www.weatherhe...home/index.html

[Dafydd Humphreys]

Have a gawp at our VLE and PM for a log in http://www.hamptonlearning.com

[Russel Tarr]

Our website also doubles up as the school Moodle - so parents, teachers and staff all come into the school "website" through the same portal. From past experience, the "website" otherwise becomes a shop window which no-one within the school community really looks at.

International School of Toulouse