We’ve got another great website of the week that has been created by the Staghills Nursery School and Children’s Centre based in Rawtenstall, Lancashire. This school offers the highest standards of early education as it has been rated as outstanding in its last 4 Ofsted inspections.

The overall school web design is great, featuring a clear layout that is easy to navigate. The menu bar includes links to finding all school related information and resources.  The website provides a lot of useful information regarding curriculum, school values and school life in general. This is great for engaging with parents and the wider community visiting the school website.

There is calendar on the homepage to help everyone stay up to date with school events and other dates to remember. The homepage also features a slideshow with some nice images of students. Warm colours dominate the website and it makes the website feel very welcoming.

Well done to the Staghills Nursery for creating this great website!

This week’s website of the week comes to us from the Seabridge Primary School based in Newcastle, Staffordshire. The website features a lot of useful content and the overall website design looks good.

I really like the school video that can be found on the homepage. It looks really professional and it features some nice moments of daily school life. This is a great way to engage with everyone visiting the school website.

Red colour dominates the website and it goes well together with the colour of school uniforms. The website has a navigation bar for finding information and a language bar which is useful for anyone who wants to view the content in a different language. There is a live Twitter feed on the homepage and it’s good see that the school is being quite active on their Twitter account. The menu is located at the top right corner of the website and it includes links to all learning resources and other useful information regarding school.

Overall, a well-designed and informative primary school website. Congratulations to Seabridge Primary School!

This week we are looking at this very colourful website created by the Elm Hall Primary School based in Witham, Essex. The school has been rated ‘outstanding’ in 2009-2010. We hope this school is still meeting the highest standards of teaching!

The school website is very bright and colourful. There are some lovely illustrations of children at the top of the homepage. The layout of the homepage is clear and the overall website is easy to navigate. You can find information regarding latest news and events on the homepage and this is very useful for staying up to date with the school life. Another good aspect of this website is that it features a number of different learning resources for students regarding different subjects.

The menu bar has all important links to other pages that contain information and resources for students, parents, teachers and community. It’s great that the school has a blog for students and staff which is good for encouraging creative writing and for engaging with students. The homepage also features live Twitter feed which seems to be quite active.

A well-designed and informative website created by Elm Hall Primary School. Well done!

Another great website of the week. This week we are looking at the website created by the Colebrook Junior School based in Swindon, Wiltshire.

The website design looks professional and the colourful logos make it look child-friendly. The homepage features a slideshow with nice pictures of students. What makes this website unique is that there is very little information on the homepage. I guess we are used to seeing schools trying to add all the information related to school on the homepage. It’s nice to see that this school is trying something different.

I like how the school made their website really easy to navigate and easy to find all the relevant information. There are five links to the main pages, including ‘School Information’, ‘Curriculum’, ‘Gallery’, ‘Parents’ and ‘Class Information’. I believe that’s all the information that students, school staff and parents need. Main contact details can be found at the top right corner. Again, very easy to find for anyone who requires more information about the school.

Overall, a unique and great looking website created by the Colebrook Junior School. Well done!

As discussed previously, integrating technology in the classroom helps to improve engagement, it encourages individual and collaborative learning, provides students with useful life skills as well as it benefits teachers in many ways.

Social media

Most students are already using social media outside the classroom. Embracing social media in the classroom can instantly engage with students and to make learning more fun. For instance, Twitter or Facebook can be used to start a discussion on a particular topic. You can also use social media for making school related announcements, posting reminders about deadlines, uploading pictures or videos.

Blogging

Blogging is a great way to  promote collaborative learning and to encourage open reflection by letting students share their work with others. What is more, blogging helps to develop reading and writing skills. Blog can be used for homework, assignments or for discussing topics of interest.

Podcasts

Podcasts can be very useful for recording lessons or for providing students with additional learning materials. There are many ways that podcasts could be used in the classroom. For example, recording a class discussion, reviewing a book, conducting interviews or broadcasting classroom news.

Video conferencing

Using video conferencing in the classroom creates exciting opportunities. Students can make friends by interacting with other students in different countries or they can learn by participating in virtual seminars with guest lecturers.

Online resources for learning and assignments

Teachers can test students by using online resources or they can make studying more fun by letting students undertake online quizzes to practice different subjects online.

Use videos

Videos can be used for demonstrating practical examples related to subjects taught in the classroom as well as for providing different approaches to subjects. Videos are useful for making learning more fun and engaging and these are the factors that lead to increased knowledge retention.

Games

Consider elements of gamification to improve the way you deliver the teaching content. The main idea behind gamification in the classroom is to increase motivation through engagement by using elements of video games. Some of the ways to gamify your classroom include: gamification of grading, awarding students with badges, using educational games, implementing a rewards system or gamifying homework.

If you want to learn more about different ways of incorporating technology in the classroom, contact the Webanywhere team.

What a great looking website! Bright colours, beautiful images and the overall theme that definitely goes well with the school name “Guardian Angels”. That’s why this school website has been selected as the website of the week. Guardian Angels Catholic Primary School is based in Birmingham, West Midlands and it seems to be really focused on striving for educational excellence through high expectations, quality teaching and stimulating environment.

Yellow colour seems to be dominating throughout the website which makes sense because this colour represents the school uniforms. The layout of the website is clear and it is easy to navigate. The homepage features some nice pictures of children alongside the links to the main pages. The menu bar includes links to other pages where you can find all the information regarding students, learning materials and the school life in general.

I really like how the school website includes links to useful websites and other online learning materials for pupils. They can be found under ‘Pupil Page’. It’s great to see that the school is using our Spellings app! ‘School events’ page  features pictures from previous school events and trips. This is a great way for engaging with pupils, parents and the wider community.

I’m very impressed with this website of the week that has been created by Guardian Angels Catholic Primary School. Well done!

This week’s website of the week comes to us from the North Featherstone Junior and Infant School based in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. This school believes in “excellence through enjoyment” and it seems to be really focused on making sure that all children feel safe, valued and included in the school life.

I really like the slideshow with some nice pictures of students on the homepage. These pictures go very well with the overall style and the colours of the website. I wish the school added more pictures as it is a great way to learn more about school life without having to search for image gallery. What is more, having images of students on the homepage can help to create the feeling that the website is personalised for children which is a great way of encouraging them to use the website more.

The website layout makes finding everything you need very easy. The main contact details can be found at the top right corner. One of the things that the school did really well was highlighting some of the main pages and putting them in the middle of the homepage with some nice icons. ‘Calendar’ page is very useful in terms of helping students, parents and teachers to stay up to date with school events and other important dates. What is more, the ‘Classes’ page is useful for finding all information relevant for each class.

I think this school website is an example of keeping a website very simple but still making it look good. Well done to North Featherstone Junior and Infant School!

We’ve got another great website of the week that has been created by Pinehurst Primary School based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Great design, a lot of good content and relevant information are some of the main features that a good school website needs, and this school did a really good job!

I think this school website has a very unique design. It seems that the homepage includes quite a lot of different features while still looking organised and easy to navigate. You can notice the school values as soon as you open the website. They are followed by the photo gallery with some nice pictures of students and the information about school.

There is a useful navigation bar for finding information and a language bar which translates website into any language you need. I really like how the school included ‘latest news’ and ‘upcoming events’ on the homepage. It’s nice to see that the school is regularly updating these two sections with latest news and events. This information can help engage with students, parents and the wider community. What is more, the school has included a link to their Twitter page and a live Twitter feed which is another great way for engaging with everyone.

Overall, a really well-designed primary school website with great content. Well done to Pinehurst Primary!

Another great website of the week! This week we are looking at the website created by Brockholes C of E Junior and Infant School based in the village of Brockholes, West Yorkshire. It is a Church School that has been recognised by Ofsted as being an outstanding school in terms of the quality of teaching and the exemplary attitudes that children have towards their learning.
The site is designed with colourful illustrations of trees, play areas and children. A great way to add some colours to the website and to make it appealing to children! The homepage also features some images of the school life with links to other pages.
School website is very easy to navigate and there is a navigation bar which makes finding the information you need even easier. The main contact details can be easily found at the top of the homepage and more contact details can be found in the ‘About Us’ page.

I always say that it’s great when schools add their social media links on the website because it helps to engage with students and parents more. Brockholes School has included links to their Twitter and Facebook accounts on the homepage; you can also see the Twitter feed on the homepage which is great for gaining more followers. Another nice feature on the school website, is the school vision video that can be found on the homepage.
Well done to the Brockholes School for demonstrating the flexibility of School Jotter’s school web designs and for creating this good-looking and informative website.