Components of a School Web Site

Teachers can often post individual classroom content on school websites.

Having a web page on the Internet is an effective way of maintaining communication with a specific audience. Schools can effective communicate with faculty, students, staff and community members with their own websites. Many school districts design and host web pages for individual schools and accept input from individual campuses on school-specific content.

Home Page

Every school website must have a home page. Although the specific elements of the website's home page, or its front page, differ depending on preferences, common elements include a photo of the school, the school's mascot and motto, links to other pages on the website and the school's contact information. In addition, you can include a slideshow of photos depicting the school's grounds and recent extracurricular events, such as parades, athletic events and academic competitions.

Calendar

A school calendar is a crucial element for students, faculty, parents and community members. Having a calendar on the website gives everyone affiliated with the school a central place to see what events are happening during the month, or whatever time period chosen by the website designer.

History of the School

A common element to school websites are pages that cover the school's history. They help current students understand the school's culture and exposes them to notable people that graduated from the school in the past. The history page should also cover when the school was built and significant milestones, such as the student body expansion or a campus move.

Class List and Faculty Pages

A highly useful element to school websites are lists of classes offered each academic year. The list should be broken down by department, such as English, Art, Music, Mathematics and Social Studies. Teacher names should be listed, along with room numbers. Additionally, the page should link to teachers' individual class web pages. Individual class pages can update students on upcoming assignments and remind them of various impending deadlines.

References

• Kate Sullivan Elementary School: Elements of Effective School Web Sites