We'd like you to take a quick tour around your new trial site. This will show you the key components (you can add whatever you like later!) and, importantly, show you how the public will see your site. Once you're competed this Quick Tour, email your KiwiSchools Account Manager who will get back to you with login details so you can start make changes to your site - note, that this changes the way your site looks considerably - which is why we want you to see it in the Quick Tour view first!
How to use this Quick Tour
We could have sent you a hard copy to print and use as a guide, but let's see how we can make this all happen right here and now! When we ask you to visit other pages on the site, obviously, you'll lose this page :-) So, you have these options:
Click on the page you want to go to, take a look there, then click on Quick Tour* on the main menu and you're back here!
Open this page in a two Tabs in your browser, so you can switch back and forth between the Quick Tour* and whatever page you're viewing in the other Tab!
Click on the page you want to go to, take a look there, then click on the "back" button on your browser to bring you back here!
A first look around
Click on the Home link on the main menu above, and you’ll see the home page of your site. Remember: at this stage we’re JUST LOOKING, not making changes.
The home page is the first thing everyone sees when they visit your school site. Remember that old saying, “You don't get a second chance to make a first impression!”
We’ve put sample text and photos here which will be replaced by your OWN content, but imagine what messages and what images you’d like to use. (You're welcome to start getting these organised at any stage!)
Photo banner
Most KiwiSchools websites feature a large banner of “rotating” photographs at the top. Right now, these are just samples to illustrate how the banner works. Obviously photos of life and learning at your school will go in their place soon!
Scroll up to the top of this page to see the banner. Photos change after around 3 seconds using a variety of effects.
Main Menu
Run your mouse along the top menu bar - you’ll see submenu items drop down. Click on a few submenus to get a feel for how the menu works. Most school sites have very similar website menus - this is because the vast majority of schools have similar messages about:
News, via the latest newsletter
Events, on a community Calendar
Staff, on a page displaying a list of senior managers, teachers and support staff (with or without photos)
Life at school - best illustrated with pages such as Our Photos or Our Videos. You may be interested to know that photo and video pages are always the most popular pages on a school website.
Note: Not all pages have the photo banner.
Community Calendar
Look for the Community Calendar* under What's On? on the main menu. Note that since this page has an asterisk* you can't edit it. In fact, this page never (or very rarely) changes - it's actually linked to a Google Calendar. Whoever you nominate at school can add events to their Google Calendar and these "magically!" appear here on the school website. This saves the tedious job of re-creating events on the website calendar, separately from some other school calendar.
Our Learning
Note: We have supplied just three pages with sample text and pics to get you started. Extra pages can be added later if you wish.
You'll see we've used three different layouts for these pages. In fact, you can use any of these layouts on any page (but not so easily once they're full of text and photos!!) This section lets you tell people about your parent community and other interested readers about how you deliver learning and the NZ curriculum. We recommend brief, to-the-point text and great photos of real children at your school.
People!
Visitors to your website expect to see a list of staff, their positions and teaching rooms.
It's also usual to show email addresses these days.
Photos are recommended, but optional, so discuss this with your Account Manager - we understand that some teachers can be sensitive about personal photos online.
The layout you see now is for our standard "mini" customisation, but you can have a more sophisticated list if you wish. We've included pages for BOT and PTA (or whatever you call these invaluable people!) You can use these or not... your call.
Media - Photos & Video
These are destined to become the most popular pages on your site!
Children love seeing themselves and their schoolmates online. Parents like seeing photos of class trips as well as just day-to-day classroom activities.
You may be lucky enough to have a gifted photographer on your team - if this is the case, get them onto selecting the BEST photos they have for your new site.
What happens next?
You are already in contact with your Account Manager at KiwiSchools. Please email them immediately saying you've completed the Quick Tour -- they will reply with login details so you can "have a play" actually updating your site!
NOTE: These "Quick Tour*" pages are just for while we build your new site - they will disappear when your site goes LIVE!
