When your school is closed for an extended period of time, the demands placed on those managing a school website suddenly come to the fore. Make sure these members of your team are supported at this time.

To make sure that you do, and that your school website works well during an extended closure, you must cover a few critical things.

Firstly, you must have the right person in place and they are trained fully.

You also need to make sure you understand how important your website is to supporting home learning. Also, make the best use of your website by making key announcements through your website. Then, bring together the resources you need to make everything run smoothly.

The main reason for this is that, during a school closure, your website immediately becomes THE go-to place for all your information.

Former primary school teacher and edtech advisor, Jodie Lopez says schools should make sure they do not overlook the school website as a core information point for parents and pupils, including access to teaching resources.

"The school website will be the best aggregator of information and links if you previously had no online learning capability,” she says. (Read more : https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-your-complete-planning-guide-closures)

Make sure the right person is in place

It's vital to have the right person in post, managing your school website. They need to be pro-active and have been trained in how to use your school website software, whoever your provider is.

Give this person the time to keep on top of things day-to-day. But, if your school is closed for an extended period, understand that it is likely this person will be asked to suddenly step up and do more. They may be asked to 'throw' content on at a moment's notice. Listen to their advice. Give them the time and space to make sure things are done properly. If you don't, you will likely have to field queries about where things are on your website.

Good school website managers, backed up by a great system, will keep your website tidy and easy to navigate.

Supporting Home Learning through Your School Website

Your website is THE best place to bring together resources for home learning.

You can use other products, such as Learning Wall to display your links beautifully. But, because your website is the go-to place for parents looking for info, use your school website as a gateway to all your new, additional resources.

Announcing Key Notices Through Your School Website

Use your website as THE CENTRAL HUB for all information.

Everything else you send out, whether by SMS, email, social media or any other channel, should point towards your website.

Use links effectively. Make your website the place where the depth of in is always displayed. Then link to your website from every message you send out.

Your school community are expecting all the information they need to be on your website. Make sure that's where they find it.

Free Online Course - "Making the Best Use of your School Website during an extended closure"

The issues raised above are the key engagement areas to consider when your school is closed. To go deeper, we have put together a free course on how your website can be best used during a closure.

It covers all these issues in more depth and offers much more helpful information.

You can enrol for free at SchudioTV.