A pupil at Harrogate’s Saltergate Junior School has been declared the winner of our national Digi Designer Competition! The competition asked for schools up and down the country to design a website using the child friendly design software found in School Jotter’s ePortfolio for the chance to win an iPad Mini.

The competition received hundreds of entries, but the winner, Charlotte Durosaro, a Year 6 student at Saltergate Junior School, was awarded her prize on October 6th. Her design used a huge array of features, including the built in profile, image gallery and video embedding.

Charlotte was awarded a certificate to commend her great work and an iPad Mini to keep designing her wonderful websites on.
Although Charlotte was the overall winner, there were also two runners up, with Aman Praveenb using his excellent HTML, Java and CSS knowledge to secure a highly commended certificate and goodie bag, and a team of pupils going by the acronym SVER used their teamwork to make a great page about dogs, landing them a goodie bag each.
Webanywhere’s CEO Sean Gilligan says “We’re delighted to help find budding talent such as Charlotte and support young people developing skills for the future. Web design is a skill that children will need to learn as everything heads online – we’re proud to be supporting technology education and its evolution in the classroom. We’re delighted to see coding make it onto the curriculum, and we hope that running competitions like these shows teachers how they can combine the creative with the technical to inspire their students.”
Keep an eye on the blog for more updates about upcoming competitions, and if you’d like to try out ePortfolio yourself check out the free trial available here!

This article originally appeared in email format as part of our Jotter Tips of the Week programme – to sign up for this, click here.
An image gallery can be a great way to show off photos both of your school and events you might hold. It’s a more user-friendly way of showing these than simply displaying them as image files in an endlessly scrolling webpage. Luckily, School Jotter makes it dead-easy to insert image galleries into your website, Learnsite or ePortfolio.
First of all, you’re going to want to make sure you’ve uploaded the images you want the gallery to display. You can do this by going to Manage > My Files > Upload files from the Site editor, or by clicking the Files app in your dashboard. Drag the files into the dialog box that pops up (you might also want to put them in a specific folder, but this is up to you). Once they’re all sitting there, click “Start upload” and they should do just that. Press “OK” to finish.

That’s actually the hardest part of this task done! All you have to do now is go to the page you want the gallery to be on while in Editing mode, then click Insert > Gallery.

You’ll be asked where you want to put it on the page, then you’ll see the following dialog box pop up. Navigate to wherever it was you uploaded your images and click the blue “select” button on each, then click “Choose”.

The default settings are probably fine, but you can adjust the sizes of the thumbnails, captions and more by using the grey bar which appears at the top of the page when you click on the Gallery in edit mode.

You can adjust the order the images appear in, or add more images, by clicking on the three dots in the grey bar at the top, shown here to the left of “Captions”.

And that’s all there is to it! You can add any image you like to galleries, and you can have as many galleries as you want – use them to make your site look even better.

To celebrate Black History month in the UK, we here at Webanywhere thought it would be a great idea to help teachers by providing lesson plans around the theme of black history. So below are two ideas for lessons you can lead to help share knowledge about black history:

1. Mary Seacole – KS3

A brilliant example of why Black History month is so important, Mary Seacole was a Jamaican woman who assisted soldiers during the Crimean War, but was seldom talked about prior to more modern curriculums. A great way to start a lesson about Mary Seacole would be to show this video to the class and then discuss what we learn about Mary Seacole and her role in history. Why might she have been ignored?

Once you’ve had a discussion, split the class up into groups and have each group do some research about Mary Seacole and find out what people think about her and what happened; you can find a useful interactive guide to Mary Seacole here for a start. This exercise should help reinforce ideas of how to do independent research, as well as looking at how people can manipulate history to create a narrative. Ask students about how reliable they think their sources are, why some people might hold certain views and encourage critical thinking.
Due to the subject matter and surrounding controversy with this lesson, be sure to do it with older students who are expected to be able to form their own conclusions and not be easily mislead – Mary Seacole has a lot of controversy surrounding her addition to the History curriculum, so some online resources might need to be checked to make sure they’re appropriate. At the end of the lesson, have students write about what Mary Seacole shows us about how people might manipulate resources for their own agendas.
Also, for a bit of fun, Horrible Histories also did a great song if you have some time at the end of lesson.

2. Great Inventors! – KS1 & KS2

There are plenty of notable black inventors & innovators, and what better way to encourage students to learn about them than with a day showing off some of their inventions! The Black Inventor Online Museum has a vast library of information on black inventors. Here are a few activity ideas:

• George Washington Carver invented over 1,000 uses for the peanut! How many uses can your students think up? Carver’s uses included shampoo, facial cream and even ink! Encourage students to think outside the box when asked to do tasks.
• Match-up!  Get pictures of each of the inventors (along with their name as a caption) and create some matching invention cards. Then get students to guess who made what, and encourage them to remember the names. This is a simple activity, but it’s a great way to help students remember inventors, and that in itself is a way to help make black figures in history become more commonplace.
• Lewis Latimer improved on the lightbulb, and invented a version that lasted longer and was safer to use. What other inventions do your pupils think could be improved, and what would be the benefit? Encourage the idea that things can be improved with careful thought.

These lesson ideas should help you broaden the horizons of your pupils, and encourage positive attitudes to viewing and studying black history.
Lesson plans just like this one can be easily made and shared using our Resources App in School Jotter, which acts as a repository for files, quizzes and lessons. Thanks for reading and enjoy Black History Month!

A sitemap is a list of all the pages on your website, which is often organised into a structured hierarchy. It’s useful to have, not only for when people want to be able to find all of the pages, but it helps Google, Bing and other search engines index your site so when people search for you they can easily find it. Continue reading →

Webanywhere provide school web design in the North East of England, throughout the UK and beyond. Here, we’ll be looking at some examples of great school websites in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham, all made with School Jotter – the site builder and suite of apps for education providers.

Coxhoe Primary School, Durham

Coxhoe Primary in Durham have one of the most-visited school websites in the UK, due to the useful teaching and learning resources section that they have built up over the years. Their school web design incorporates an easy to use drop down menu to signpost pages for each class, essential documents, policies and reports in their ‘Virtual Office’, and much more. Their Curriculum Links’ section organises teaching resources by subject.
Explore the site at: https://www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/

Albany Village Primary School in Washington, Tyne & Wear

A fun, cartoon-style school web design accompanies a warm welcome from the staff and governors. Integration of a calendar and Google Maps helps families to stay aware of upcoming events and find the location.
Ofsted reports and school brochures and policies are well signposted, and there are specific hubs for different age groups.
Browse the site at: https://www.albanyvillageprimary.org.uk/

Berwick Middle School, Northumberland

The Berwick website reflects the existing school branding, with a blue and white colour scheme. Its menus that make it easy to navigate to school policies, clubs, reports and more.
The homepage includes an events calendar, latest news, and a slideshow of photos.
View the Berwick Middle School in Northumberland: https://www.berwickmiddleschool.org.uk/

Can We Help You?

Are you looking for school web design in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear or County Durham, elsewhere in the North East of England, the UK or even further afield? Since 2003, we’ve helped thousands of clients worldwide to create fantastic-looking school websites, packed with useful apps and features, and which are easy for their teachers and support staff to maintain. We provide full training in using School Jotter and of course we’re always here if you need support.

Browse the site for more on school websites and our range of education products and services. You can learn more about our school website builder at www.schooljotter.com or why not contact us for a no-obligations discussion of your needs?

By Becky Cunliffe
There are many posts online about how to make a great website, and many similar posts on what to avoid; these tend to be fairly generic. In this blog I’ll summarise some of the key things that, in my opinion, should be considered, and what should be forgotten about, when it comes to school websites in particular.
My top tips:

1. Remember the Purpose – It’s important to remember what the point of the website is. Is it to encourage parents to use your school? Is it a portal for parents? Is it for students to check for events?
   Remember you may have other systems or sites for these purposes, so link to them rather than try to fit it all on your website.
2. Make it easy to find – Navigation is crucial and can lose visitors; if it is not easy to see where to go, they may give up.
3. Planning – Rushing into the site may result in bulky pages, so always try to plan out what pages you are going to have and what should be on them. Don’t forget to use links to try and keep pages short, if they want more information they can go to the additional pages.
4. Update it – Nothing discourages visitors more than finding an event being advertised that was over 5 years ago, as this creates the impression that the site may no longer be in use. Likewise, try to remove your old website from the web to stop parents ending up in the wrong place.
5. Use colour – Try to not make the website a textbook. Add some relevant images or colour to the page, but do make sure your page is still readable and easy on the eyes.

I would strongly recommend avoiding the following:

1. Sound – This can startle visitors and often they will simply mute their speaker. It also asks the question, why do you need that sound?
2. Animation – Small gifs can be useful but try to avoid anything that changes the whole page, such as leaves falling down the page. This just causes annoyance when trying to view the page and can get in the way.
3. Several-tiered menus – Keep your navigation to 1-2 submenus only. At a certain point the visitor may be lost, or if its a hover-over menu they may lose their place.
4. Large files – Keep images, files, videos etc to a smaller size so visitors are not waiting on downloads.
5. Too much info – Remember, a website is there to show information, but try not to overwhelm it with too many pages. Use the other Jotter Apps and any system or sites you may have, and try to remember what the purpose is of each to avoid duplication.

Webanywhere provide school web design in London, throughout the UK and beyond. In a series of blog posts we’ll be looking at some great examples of websites from most regions nationwide, all made with School Jotter – the site builder and suite of apps for education providers.
Below are just a few of the best school websites in London, created for our clients using Jotter.
Gordon Primary School in Eltham, London

This design uses a fun, cartoon-style illustration of their school, incorporating a mini slideshow of pupil photos. The ticker tape banner on the homepage draws attention to the latest news and announcements.
The sites blends fun with usefulness, signposting visitors quickly to important information, such as opening times, policies and a private staff area that requires logging in.
Browse the site at: https://www.gordonprimary.co.uk/

Adamsrill Primary School South East London

Adamsrill use their website well to promote their school motto:
“Learning and Working Together as a Community for a Brighter Future”
Using School Jotter, they integrate Google Maps, have a slideshow of pupil photos, include a school calendar, and make newsletters readily available from the homepage.
Their website reflects the existing school branding, with a blue and yellow colour scheme.
View their site at: https://www.adamsrill.lewisham.sch.uk/

Harlesdon Primary School, North West London

This primary school in Brent also chose to work with us to create a fun, cartoon design that represents their local surroundings. Each year group has its own web page linked from one of the buses on the homepage, and there are dedicated sections for parents and staff.
There’s multimedia integration, including a welcome video made with the help of the pupils.
Explore the site at: https://www.harlesdenschool.com/

Can We Help You?

Are you looking for school web design in London, elsewhere in the UK, or even further afield? Since 2003, we’ve helped thousands of clients worldwide to create fantastic looking school websites, packed with useful apps and features, and which are easy for their teachers and support staff to maintain. We provide full training in using School Jotter and of course we’re always here if you need support.
Browse the site for more on school websites and our range of education products and services. You can learn more about our school website builder at www.schooljotter.com or why not contact us for a no-obligations discussion of your needs?

As of this month, new Ofsted guidelines on school websites have gone into force, but it’s a bit confusing what these actually are. We’ve written this blog post to help demystify the changes a bit, and it should be helpful whether or not you’re a School Jotter user.
The main focus of the new requirements is governor disclosure. Basically, you now have to put information on who your governors are, what they do etc onto your website on a publicly accessible page – previously, this was recommended but not compulsory information. So here’s what you’ll need:

• Name: You’ll need to have the names of your governors – photos can also help, but aren’t compulsory
• Category: What type of governor are they?
• Which body appoints them: Who appointed them to their position as governor
• Their term of office: When will they be serving until? Is it a time-limited or a more permanent position?
• Committees: The names of any gubernatorial committees they serve on
• Their positions of responsibility: For example, if they’re the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary etc – what position do they hold?
• Voting rights: What things can they vote on and how this will influence the school?

Additionally, in order to make sure that any potential conflicts of interest are laid bare, the following information needs to be disclosed to the public:

• Any relevant business interests: Who they work for – are they part of a company who might benefit from school contracts?
• Details of positions at other schools: Do they govern any other schools? If not, this doesn’t need to be filled in.
• Any relationships at the school: If a governor has a relationship to another governor or member of staff at the school, you’ll need to put it down here. This includes spouses, partners and relatives.

Of course, these are just the new requirements – there’s still plenty of existing ones! Take a look at our Ofsted checklist for more information – you can print it out and tick off the areas you’re compliant in to give you a better idea of how you’re doing. Alternatively, perhaps you’d be interested in a free healthcheck by one of our website consultants – you don’t need to be with School Jotter, we’re here to help you!

One of the most common questions our consultants get asked is “what’s your delivery process like and how long is it going to take?” This is something you should be asking all school website providers really, as it’ll inform how they’re going to be delivering your product. We’ve produced an infographic here to help explain some of what you might expect to experience over the School Jotter delivery cycle.

Click here for a free, no-obligation, no-payment-information-needed trial of School Jotter