So I have chosen Two schools to compare their websites first being Sacred Heart Catholic Primary in Roehampton and the second being my primary school, Hereward Primary School this is where I live in Essex. Its important to understand what a good and a bad VLE or website before evaluating these websites, therefore I have read .
So Sacred Heart Catholic Primary is close by to University and as a computing group we have the school in Year 1 this allowed us to see ICT implement in school. Their website provides an adequate amount of information for example an interactive calendar and even a blogging facility for the school, children and parents. Despite the parents not using the blog as of yet this option. This website also provides links to the children’s homework so that parents can be involved in their learning. Although this is website has a few issues as several links didn’t work correctly or came back with a common error “404 error pages”, but this didn’t seem to be a major issue. The website is formal and has a range of images of the school and children. I found that this website is adequate for its propose but has a few faults this could be improved as every website can be. In my opinion this website could be improved as it lacks a sense of engagement and school character.
Hereward Primary School is a primary school outside of London and the website is visually very different to Sacred Heart. Hereward has used bold writing, colours, images to make the website eye catching but also slightly busy, I feel that this site could be adapted to look formal but this is overridden by the positives of the website. Navigation aspect of the website is up to date and works correctly, there is a vast range of information provided that can be used for parents and children. Options to help with school inquires and even E-safety support are available on the site. This website allows parents, teacher and children to login and access further information, which I feel is a brilliant aspect as images and information my be private.
I overall feel that Hereward Primary School‘s website is well resourced and better organised than Sacred Heart Catholic Primary, the visuals could be adapted but this doesn’t affect the navigation of the site or the information displayed upon it. When in practice as an ICT specialist and programmer I would like to be involved in the website design, navigation and information.