Is Your Website Working for Your School?

tts story

When used effectively, a school website can support:

Unfortunately, it can be quite difficult to step back and see what’s not working when you’ve been looking at your own site for years. You may not realise what information is hard for visitors to find, and how users are really interacting with your site.

Assessing your site

When trying to determine the efficiency of your own site, here are a few questions you may want to ask yourself:

Design with your communities in mind

When it comes to meeting the needs of your website’s audience, most schools have two distinct key stakeholders to plan for: 

New parents and community members who want to know about the local school. They could be looking for general information, or considering enrolling their child in the future;

For this audience, the primary reason of your school’s website is to serve as an online brochure. Your website needs to show visitors from outside your current school community who you are and what you are about.

For this reason, it would be a good idea to introduce your school by sharing your mission, vision, motto, key staff members, and/or curriculum framework. The Ministry of Education requires a school to design their curriculum considering their community context. This introduction is a great platform to outline how your curriculum design specifically responds to ākonga and whānau needs and aspirations, facilitates learning connections, and strengthens partnerships with your whānau, hapū, Iwi, and community. Visit the MoE website to learn more about these priorities.

Once you have successfully introduced yourself to your visitors, make sure to then provide the necessary information and contact details so they have the chance to introduce themselves to you. By providing clear steps for visitors to take to get in touch, you can ease the process of turning this ‘visitor’ into a prospective new community member. With this in mind, can you think of any ways that your current site can assist in the enrolment process or help facilitate career opportunities at your school? 

 

For this audience, the primary reason of your school’s website is to supply useful information such as schedules, announcements, etc. and provide a point of connection for your current school community.

For this reason, it is a good idea to have an entire section dedicated to sharing upcoming events, highlighting important dates, sharing interesting and relevant news, and providing direct links to class blogs, apps, and social media. Overall, you want to include anything that might help foster, encourage and strengthen ties to your school community. Again, an MoE imperative.

With a little creativity, you can make your school website truly engaging and help encourage parents and staff to revisit, share, and connect, not only with the school, but with each other. 

Not sure if your school, kura, or cluster website is performing at its peak? 

Our team can help. Get in touch to chat about our website support options, or check out our customisable and budget-friendly School Website Solution now to see how it works.

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Hi, I'm Janet

janet badley

I have been working for TTS for the past 7 years assisting schools with their technology infrastructure and digital alignment with the MoE.

Before that I was completing a Batchelors of Business with a major in Management and a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration, I worked in Massey University tutoring, relief lecturing, and marking in the business college while also being a director of a small software company. I also previously held roles as sales manager in the corporate world.

Within the professional learning environment, I specialise in assisting schools with strategic management, change management and leadership. These are all challenging areas that often require specific planning and implementation. Change is not only synonymous with technology but is part of the daily environment in education and embracing change can be a daunting. My goal is to assist schools to feel comfortable and accepting of necessary change.

Hi, I'm Caroline

caroline-leader
I have worked in Education for over 25 years in early childhood, primary, intermediate, secondary and currently at a tertiary level. During that time, I led many diverse roles including being a teacher aide, a teacher, a co-counsellor and an adult educator. I have a post-graduate diploma in Teaching as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Education. In 2022, I completed a Master in Contemporary Teaching through The Mindlab.
 
Currently a lecturer in Unitec, Te Pūkenga on a foundation course for ākonga with disability and/ or neurodiversity, I had spent the last four years working in a specialist residential school for ākonga with extreme behaviours. Throughout this time, I researched, trialled and implemented trauma-informed practices to help support ākonga who had previously disengaged from education to re-engage.
 
My passion for trying to grow resilience and self-efficacy in ākonga runs alongside a passion for using digital applications/ techniques, personalised learning and gamerfication for encouraging and increasing engagement.

Hi, I'm Nicole

tts pld team nicole middleton

I am a graphic and digital designer with nearly 20 years experience designing for the digital realm. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication, a Certificate in Computer Engineering and am a certified Adobe Creative Educator.

I am passionate about using technology to bring ideas to life and love encouraging learners to look for new ways to answer old questions. As a life-long learner myself, I always enjoy trying out new creative tools and exploring the impact they can have on students’ learning outcomes.

I am excited to be part of the TTS team and continue to help schools make the most of their websites and support teachers and students in creating engaging graphics, presentations, videos, websites, and more.

Hi, I'm Dr. Wendy

Dr. Wendy Slatter

I’m a teacher with 20 years of classroom experience in a range of schools, locations, deciles and age groupings. I have background in technology education with a specialisation in Food and Material Technology.

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I am a primary trained teacher with over 20 years’ experience finding new ways to effectively implement digital technologies into the classroom. I have always been passionate about finding and utilising digital tools within my class, and I enjoy exploring the internet to find new tools and learn about new ways in which other educators use digital technologies to best support their students.

I believe that is it important to find the right tools for you and your students as every class and school is different. Digital tools and technologies change rapidly and what may not have been suitable in the past could be just what you need now. I look forward to working with and supporting you to find and implement the best digital technologies for your specific learning environment.

Hi, I'm Dr. Phill

I am a specialist teacher and PLD provider of creative writing, drawing on 20 years’ hands-on experience in the primary classroom teaching years 0-6, and as literacy leader, ALL teacher and CoL teacher.

In addition to my classroom experience, I bring my own experiences as a creative writer to my PLD sessions. I have published over 100-chapter books and 9 novels. Much of my published content is for the education market in NZ, Australia, the U.S, U.K and China. Publishers include Macmillan, Pearson, Oxford University Press, Capstone, Lift education, Sunshine books and Cengage. In addition, I have written several assessment and comprehension guides as well as books on how to teach creative writing (Essential resources). I hold a Doctorate in Education (EdD), where I investigated how primary school teachers teach creative writing, often focusing on the use of digital technology. As well as education and teaching qualifications, I also hold a Masters in Creative Writing.

I can provide individual hands-on modelling and feedback, as well as whole staff PLD. In addition, I examine the potential of new media (technology) in creative writing pedagogy.

http://www.phillipwsimpson.com/

Hi, I'm Heather

I am a primary teacher of 30+ years experience covering all year levels from 1-8. I believe in “lifelong learning” and am passionate about encouraging teachers to be facilitators of their learning, and that of their students. I believe knowing when, what, why and how to implement digital tools to fit the purpose of “the teaching and learning” is essential today. I believe relationships are intrinsic in education, connecting people with tools/resources for teaching and learning, and how they support creativity, collaboration and innovation.

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Michael is a teacher with 8 years classroom experience, and has taught students from years 1 through to 8. He has a bachelor of teaching and continues to learn through post-graduate studies. Michael is passionate about literacy education, and how reading and writing can – and should – be made accessible and interesting for all learners in schools. As a teacher, he recognises the need for resources that engage, enable, and empower students so they can achieve a meaningful, successful, and sustainable education.

Hi, I'm Nick

I am an MoE Accredited PLD facilitator with a BEd (Hons) Degree in Education. I have over 20 years of experience in teaching 11 to 18-year-olds, with the last fourteen years being in New Zealand. I believe in empowering teachers to be confident in a modern learning environment and to discover new ways of inspiring students. I am a firm believer of continuous improvement in the skills of a teacher to deliver a more interactive, productive and engaging experience. I am extremely skilled with Google Suite/Apps and Microsoft.

Hi, I'm Steve