Where you can find the materials to help you plan and execute a web site ?

There is so much help on the Internet providing information about web development. Any Google search will bring up resources you can learn from. 

Beware though - an enthusiast developed site means your school is committed to that person's expertise remaining with you ! and a number of school web sites have drifted into obscurity as the staff member, a parent and other contacts have changed.

What are some of the dangers you need to consider before publishing details of the school and its pupils on the World Wide Web ? Please bear in mind:

All Our A-Z guides 
but in particular, E-safety
Copyright  , Accessibility  as well as Plain English
Policy & Guidance for Kent Schools, Settings and KCC Services on the use of Photographic Images of Children (updated March 2009)  by the Kent Safeguarding Service
You will also need various Policies in place such as Linking to other sites, Acceptable Use and Terms & Conditions

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 or staff at Education Information Systems. 

You can use this link to view school websites already online at Kent ICT to get ideas.

Using a commercial web development company is an option providing the school will maintain a similar level of investment into the site over each budgetary year / planning period.

Risks here include:

Entering into a financial commitment over time, which ceases to suit the school,
Making an arrangement which leaves editing the site in the hands of your web developer instead of school staff
The lack of skills development in school
Maybe generating less commitment to refresh the site while others are managing the site for you externally ?

Ideally any web development should be done in a content management system (CMS) which allows school staff editing rights to the site content at all times from any PC.

This is what the FREE Online Tool from EISITE offers you.

EIS are currently working with MS Sharepoint 2007 to develop a learning platform & suite of products called the Kent Learning Zone which will support a collaborative and easy to edit school web site alongside other tools.

OR you can look at the alternative methods of CMS publishing.  If you have the skills available to advise you, try looking at Moodle, Joomla, Mambo and Postnuke and the Webblog softwares like Wordpress but as with any open source software you will need substantial technical assistance.

You will need to carefully consider the "total cost of ownership"  as free software does not mean a free website ! These products take staff time & resources to run. Often open source products work with forums to post questions which are then answered by other users.

They will also require web hosting ( and they are not necessarily suitable for the KCN web servers ).

see our other pages:

 AUDIENCE    Who is it aimed at ? 

The CFE Communication Team can give initial advice to schools and refer you to other assistance too.
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