Snow Days

Its getting up to that time of year where the weather turns into this white stuff that kids adore, this is mainly because of them getting a day off school. my question however is what does your school do to their website to notify visitors about the closure, as im currently new to doing the website i didnt know what the best route to go down is, im running wordpress and could do with some ideas on the best notifcation system for the web alone as we also use schoolcomms to text the childrens parents about the snow.

Hi there,
We use a combination of a notice box on the front page of the site and text using Clarion Call.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jamesrobinson

Its getting up to that time of year where the weather turns into this white stuff that kids adore, this is mainly because of them getting a day off school. my question however is what does your school do to their website to notify visitors about the closure, as im currently new to doing the website i didnt know what the best route to go down is, im running wordpress and could do with some ideas on the best notifcation system for the web alone as we also use schoolcomms to text the childrens parents about the snow.

---

In the past I've used one of the advertising windows like you get on annoying websites which contain links to other sites - the ones with a full screen ad with "Click to continue" in the top right. That way your visitors WILL notice the message, but should they want to continue to your site they can.

In a school I did the site for I had a PHP include() to a text file and a password secure page for the head to edit that text file. The include was on the homepage and set to h1. Obviously is the text file was blank it displayed nothing. It started out as a snow day warning but the head was soon using it as a high notice area. Mainly for school closures and parents eves etc.

The head (or designated person) could edit this page/text file from anywhere with a web connection.

Because parents will deny receiving the message even if you tattooed it on their foreheads we use as many avenues as possible!

We have 3 local radio stations, all of whom have snow lines
A special page is kept which is parachuted to the front line of our website
We have a public twitter feed
A ParentMail is sent to all parents

Year round we have a page on the website telling parents how we close the school in an emergency.. every source has a clickable link. Straight after half term, the notices will be going back up on the notice boards... and someone will still say they didn't know! :rolleyes:

Emergency Closure Procedure is linked to from the front page. This includes details of the three local radio stations that will advertise our closure.
A message is placed on the front page as soon as the weather starts to turn bad stating whether the school is open or closed on that particular day. This is amended by the Head's PA who lives in the village but can login from home if required.
If the school is closed, a text message is sent to all parents and staff using Keep Kids Safe's text messaging system.

We put the news on the front page of our website and let parents staff know via parent mail. Staff are notified via their E-Mail and using a telephone tree.

Lets just hope our website doesnt crash this year... no point worrying about it though

We TXT all parents and staff

Staff are sent an e-mail

Annoucement via Local Radio Station

Annoucement via LA website

Put a news update on our website at the top of the main page

Updates on our school facebook / twitter accounts

Someone local to the school arrives to answer any telephone queries from parents.

Bus company drive around the normal stops if routes allow informing the students that the school is closed if anybody is waiting at the stop.

We do as much as we can, and hopefully the majority if not all get the message.