We often get asked about using your school web site as a communication tool to reach parents, prospective parents & teaching staff. A web site can save you money on printed prospectuses and allow both parents and job seekers surfing the net for school information to find you easily. It can also act as a place to publish school events, the Governing Body and PTA details as well as provide a showcase for children's work and the things your school is proud about.
The Kent Trust Web team periodically trains school governors about web resources for governors and the section on school web sites is only one section of what we cover in our presentations. The sessions are arranged by the Governor Training Team .
Our training cover an introduction to the Internet , Internet resources for school governors & educationalists, e-safety , some of the risks of web publishing and school web sites as a communication tool. We hope this part of our information will be useful for schools too.
Why have a school web site ?
It is almost expected today that schools will have a web site, if not for just communication purposes, for ICT curriculum use .Many Local Authorities (LAs) do provide their schools with a standard web presence free of charge on their corporate web servers.
The Kent LA does not do this - what Kent schools can access is a standard & reserved kent.sch.uk domain name and get free web space via their Kent Community Network (KCN ) broadband for schools membership. You will need to contact staff at EIS to confirm these details; Read more at KCN
A URL or domain name:e.g. www.yourschoolname.kent.sch.uk is reserved for all Kent LA schools and can be set up by contacting Mandy Barrow part of the Advisory Service, Kent - Hands on Support Team . You can use this link to view school websites already online at Kent NGfL to get ideas.
Then you can create a Website with a FREE Online Tool from EISITE or look at the alternative methods of publishing.
AUDIENCE Who is it aimed at ?
CONTENT What do you want to say on it ?
RESOURCES Where you can find the materials to help you plan and execute a web site ?
Here is our schoolwebsites.pdf to begin a discussion