School website service training and support

Joining SWS

The following information is for new schools joining the School Website Service (SWS).

Things to consider

Before we build your website, your school needs to consider things such as:

  • who is going to be on your web team?
  • who will create and approve content?
  • who will keep the site updated?
  • who will be back-up when people are on leave?
  • how often will you update your website?
  • what local content (unique information about your school) do you to want to add?
  • what images will you use, and where will you source them from?
  • who will make sure you have permission to publish any information that identifies a student?
  • how will you promote your new website?

Website build requirements

The following list outlines what we require in order to rollout a new website, expand each item to read the important details.

* If the mandatory requirements are not met, we cannot commence building your website.

Domain name

In the figure below, we provide an example of a school email address, showing how the prefix schoolname-[school type] becomes the main part of the subdomain of schools.nsw.gov.au.

The school type, c, indicates a Central school.

Training

It's vital staff gain the latest website skills to make the most of using Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), and to strengthen engagement with your school community.

Read more about training and the e-learning resources available via MyPL.

Content creation resources

Content style guide - use the content style guide for all department websites and publications.

Accessibility basics - access the department's guidelines for creating accessible content for web, video and other formats.

School communication - access a range of communication templates and resources designed to help principals and school leaders communicate with their school community.

Website handover

Once the website build is complete, the process of working on your site and going live is as follows:

  1. We'll let you know when your site is complete and ready for your school to work on and provide the edit URL to access your website in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM).
  2. We'll also let you know what the live URL will be once published live to the public (this is the website address to promote to your school community).
  3. We will ensure:
    - your location details display on the Contact us and Location and transport pages
    - the School planning and reporting page has the two required components.
  4. Your authors and/or approvers can begin adding local content.
  5. You may like to consider:
    - adding your school motto
    - adding your social media accounts
    - creating a new page with a message from the principal, under About our school
    - adding a component with more content about uniforms, under What we offer
    - customising the Acknowledgement of Country text in the footer
    - if you have temporary site access or similar, detailing this on your Contact us page.
  6. Once complete and approved by the principal, an approver can publish the site live to the public.
  7. After a week, check if your school website address is displayed on the NSW Public School Finder, if it isn't please email schoolfinder@detcorpcomms.zendesk.com.
  8. If you wish to enable Make a payment on your website, visit the Administration Marketplace Panel for Schools (AMPS) to learn more about Student Finance.
  9. Refer to Your site on Google for information on getting your site appearing in Google.
  10. Learn about Schools Video and gaining access to your school's Brightcove account.

 

Questions or concerns

Reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.
Contact the SWS product team

Get started

If you have everything ready to begin, reach out to us.
Contact the SWS support team

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