Help me choose domain for new Academy!

[kujina]

Hi

The secondary and sixth form school I work at will be turning into an academy (11- 19) eventually and I've been asked to register a few domains for it.

Now what I want to do is establish which Top Level Domain (and maybe Second Level Domain) to use as the main domain extension.

At present I dont think sch.uk is wanted.

I was thinking ac.uk would be good as the ac.uk suggests academy (I know it represents academic) but I don’t think we will be eligible for a ac.uk, but I'm going to apply anyway.

Anybody have any insights into the ac.uk?

Failing that, what do you guys think would be best for an academy?

For example:

nameac.org
nameac.org.uk
nameac.co.uk?

I appreciate any advice on domain extensions in this context.

[Netman]

We own .org .org.uk .net and .info here... all used for different jobs.
E.g .org is main website and email, .net is external access to Sharepoint etc.

[Ryan]

<whatever>academy.com / .co.uk probably wouldn't hurt.

It IS a good idea to get a few variants though, either as separate entities, or just put a forward on them to the main one.

[kujina]

Already got a couple such as .co.uk.

[Dos_Box]

Be aware that if you don't have .sch.uk or .ac.uk and are connected via JANet then you may face problems access free resources such as Pathe news and offers from Microsoft and RM et al as they use these domains as verifiers for your school identity.
Besides, the domain tag siginfes who you are. Net, CO.UK and .ORG are not IMHO suitable tags for academic institutions. If you are an academy surely someone has already sorted out a domain for you at RBC level?

[kujina]

Be aware that if you don't have .sch.uk or .ac.uk and are connected via JANet then you may face problems access free resources such as Pathe news and offers from Microsoft and RM et al as they use these domains as verifiers for your school identity.
Besides, the domain tag siginfes who you are. Net, CO.UK and .ORG are not IMHO suitable tags for academic institutions. If you are an academy surely someone has already sorted out a domain for you at RBC level?

I was given a list with .co.uk, .org, and .org.uk combinations to register.
The same as I was thinking, thats why I'm getting opinions and advice from you guys.

We are not an academy yet. What is RBC?

Ideally I think ac.uk would look best but I dont think we will be seen as eligible by ja.net.

[plexer]

Regional Broadband Consortium

Ben

[Dos_Box]

Regional Broadband Consortium - If your internet connection is provided by one of these then you should be on a Janet connection. It is the govt funded internet connection provied to schools.
If you have been asked to look at .co.uk or .net it may just be that it is a member of the SLT\SMT who doesn't knwo what they are talkign about. It wouldn't be the first time. You are an academic inststiution. Your domain should reflect this.

[kujina]

Regional Broadband Consortium - If your internet connection is provided by one of these then you should be on a Janet connection. It is the govt funded internet connection provied to schools.
If you have been asked to look at .co.uk or .net it may just be that it is a member of the SLT\SMT who doesn't knwo what they are talkign about. It wouldn't be the first time. You are an academic inststiution. Your domain should reflect this.

I can confirm we are part of the RBC, we use a .com for our current website. I've only been involved with the website etc since Jan, so excuse my ignorance on specific terms.

What is the best way to proceed?

We meet eligibility for ac.uk in:

that we have a sixthform college (which will grow larger in the academy).
tertiary education 16+ (GCE A levels & vocational qualif).

But it also states - Not eligible for an ac.uk domain name

• Schools
  

[Joanne]

ours is a sch.uk one.... normally [schoolname].[county].sch.uk

eg/ ours is stwilfs.lancs.sch.uk

you WILL have a .sch.uk..... you just needs to find out what it is!

[Netman]

You are an academic inststiution. Your domain should reflect this.

Yes, but I don't find ***********.bournemouth.sch.uk or ***********.*******.dorset.sch.uk very user-friendly. Hardly memorable are they?
I have dealt with companies that supposedly *like* you to have a sch.uk domain to verify who you are, but they have never complained when we've used our other domians. :-)

[Joanne]

we have .net and .co.uk too... all stwilfs, or stwilfrids.

They all forward to the .lancs.sch.uk one though....

[torledo]

Be aware that if you don't have .sch.uk or .ac.uk and are connected via JANet then you may face problems access free resources such as Pathe news and offers from Microsoft and RM et al as they use these domains as verifiers for your school identity.
Besides, the domain tag siginfes who you are. Net, CO.UK and .ORG are not IMHO suitable tags for academic institutions. If you are an academy surely someone has already sorted out a domain for you at RBC level?

There's a difference between purchasing a .co.uk or .org domain for use with an external facing school website or portal, and the .sch.uk domains that are normally administered by an authority or RBC.

Using these TLD's for a school or academic website may not immediately signify the institution being academic, but it's not an issue for us.

After all, having schoolname.cityname.sch.uk is slightly more longwinded than having schoolname.co.uk
particularly when you look at email addressing for staff and students which makes the address extremely long in a lot of instances.

[torledo]

I can confirm we are part of the RBC, we use a .com for our current website. I've only been involved with the website etc since Jan, so excuse my ignorance on specific terms.

What is the best way to proceed?

We meet eligibility for ac.uk in:

that we have a sixthform college (which will grow larger in the academy).
tertiary education 16+ (GCE A levels & vocational qualif).

But it also states - Not eligible for an ac.uk domain name

• Schools
  

I think you'd have to contact Janet/Ukerna for information on acquiring or being eligible for .ac.uk domain name.

My understanding is that unless you have a primary janet connection, or are eligible for a janet primary connection you're not an .ac.uk institution.

Schools and acadmies aren't eligibile for janet primary links, so the only way they can connect to the NEN via the RBC's Janet interconnnect.

[GrumbleDook]

A quick run down on domains, RBCs, JANET and where a school / academy / specialist college fits in.

All schools (including academies and specialist colleges) are entitled to school.region.sch.uk as a domain. This is the recommendation from Govt, Becta and Nominet. They do meet together a few times a year to discuss things and the above is still regarded as best practice and, as such, is what is pushed by RBCs.

RBCs may choose only to deal with you if you agree to use school.region.sch.uk, but most will accept other domains.

Remember that you should use the domain appropriate for you and your institute. .com, .co.uk, .net, .eu ... these really do not apply to a school. A school may chose to use them as part of branding or to prevent others hijacking them, but they should not be the primary domain. It is very easy to use these for marketing and many of us do.

.org or .org.uk is more acceptable ... especially if you have charitable links or links with the local community.

In general you should try to us .uk where possible to allow better control by your RBC provider (all of which have links with Nominet and this can help get things set up or sorted quickly).

.ac.uk is indeed for those with primary JANET connections or historical connections via universities. Many schools with .ac.uk domains have them due to connections being provided by Universities in previous years and so that the retain it due to branding or that it is just simpler than trying to change.

Many academies are going for .org.uk, and then just have the main section of their name or an element of branding ... eg the Harris City Academy group, Brooke Weston, Northampton Academy, etc ...

If you request a .ac.uk domain it is likely to be referred to your RBC. It is unlikely they will say yes.