School websites
I work for a school in the UK and developed their website as a voluntary exercise after being made redundant. They now employ me for a few hours a month to keep things current on the website. I would like to take on more school website work and if your school website needs an upgrade then please get the person at your school with the appropriate authority to give me a call or email me and I will respond as soon as I can. Please include the address of your existing website at the same time.
Type of website
Generally, school websites are becoming a more important part of the school process for recording achievements and disseminating information to parents and pupils. It is also the public face for the school and needs careful consideration to give the right image. Another consideration to take into account is the integration with other school learning facilities and systems which are likely to develop in the future.
There are many aspects to take into consideration when designing a school website to allow for efficient and accessible delivery of information and ongoing development of the website.
To that end new school websites are best constructed using Content Management System (CMS) technology. One useful feature of a CMS is that it makes it easier for registered users to update the parts of the site which are their subject area. So, for example, the French teacher can upload details of the recent school trip including photos, etc.
One feature of our website is document downloads where all the school forms, pamphlets and new job descriptions can be made available. Teachers looking for school posts have been impressed with the ability to access information like this especially as it is available 24/7, holidays or not.
Accessibility
An important consideration for modern websites is the ability for visitors who have reduced skills to be able to access them. Such factors as sight (e.g. colour) deficiencies, motor skills (e.g. using the mouse) are important. Such accessibility issues are important in making websites available to those with disabilities. Various guidelines and laws are in place which must be taken into consideration.
The previous generation of websites very often took little consideration for accessibility issues in their design. It is important to consider accessibility in all stages of the site development and ongoing maintenance.
Funding and time
Yes, always tight, isn't it! I can offer an economic, no frills package with hosting which is almost certainly going to be less costly than any other offer. Many school sites are based on a free hosting package but you may find that this will not allow for a fully featured website as most additional server features are not enabled.
Ongoing maintenance can be part of the package (as there will always be technical stuff staff will not be immediately familiar with and will require help).
Essentially though, it's time that is always the issue as school websites can take a back seat when it comes to keeping them up to date. If a website has out of date information then very simply your visitors will not even ring the front door bell!
Note this website is the very basic type (not using CMS techniques).
Our school here. It is under constant change and improvement.
I am also contactable (usually from 8:00am - 5:00pm) on:
01929 409070