sch.uk query

[Mr_Jiminy]

Quick query to find out if there is any legal requirement for a school to use the sch.uk as a primary domain name (managed by the LA), over say using a private procured co.uk domain as the primary.

 

One of my education clients is in development of a new website, it was one of the queries raised by the developers.

[sted]

almost none of my schools do and the ones that do have such long email addresses they wish they diddnt

[CyberNerd]

You can buy one if you want though, we got one via vidahost.

[sonofsanta]

They can be handy, though; some places want emails from an email ending .sch.uk or .ac.uk to prove you're in education. We still use our .sch.uk as our primary address, but have a .org set up identically and set as a proxy address for everyone in Office365. Best of both worlds, the only downside is having to use the long address to log in to Webmail the first time (when you click Remember Me to save yourself the trouble in future).

[fairm010]

As above, not a requirement at all. We chose not to due to the length of the address. Instead we chose schoolname.co.uk.

[ITGURU]

We still use our .lincs.sch.uk domain but I know of other schools that have gone to a .co.uk

 

Even if you move away from the local authority, you can take your .lincs.sch.uk and move it to say 123 reg as it's a domain, not subdomain.

[Blue_Cookeh]

I always think not using the .sch.uk address looks a bit "dirty" to me. People like seeing the .sch.uk because it looks official and you can almost guarantee the recipient is a school worker.

 

We own a .co.uk version of our address, but I use it for IT stuff (VPN etc)

[teejay]

Nominet deal with sch.uk domains directly so you need to request one directly with them if you haven't been issued one already. Don't be conned by a domain registration company into paying fees on this, there are no renewal fees from Nominet, just an initial reg fee.

For full info - http://www.nominet.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Schools_Domain_Name_Rules.pdf

[LincolnE]

We've just got schoolname.co.uk

 

Not encountered an issue so far with doing it like this, not had any one ask about getting an .sch.uk address, either.

[Oaktech]

We use .sch.uk as our email domain because we have had issues with companies who do not automatically extend credit to entities using commercial domain names and we have also had problems with our LA secure email service not accepting email addresses that are not official government domains as valid to access the service.

 

Our school website is primarily hosted as a .co.uk because it's shorter and more memorable.

[plexer]

Also the name belongs to the school and not the LA so if you want to move it from their control you are perfectly entitled to do so.

 

Ben

[mikeprice]

we use .co.uk and I haven't seen any problems

[Mr_Jiminy]

Thanks all

[CAM]

Are you able to ditch the third level? Example, go from school.authority.sch.uk to just school.sch.uk? It's the LEA muscling in on the domain name which tends to be the problem. You still want to get the .co.uk to prevent cyber-squatting anyway mind you.

[rich_tech]

Primarily here we use the .sch.uk domain name, though we have a .org.uk domain as well, my complaint is a personal one in that our domain names and emails are overly long here because of the fact its a double barrelled address, some other schools in the locality have gone down the .net .org even a .com I believe, though they still retain their .sch.uk domains the same as everyone.

[teejay]

Are you able to ditch the third level? Example, go from school.authority.sch.uk to just school.sch.uk? It's the LEA muscling in on the domain name which tends to be the problem. You still want to get the .co.uk to prevent cyber-squatting anyway mind you.

 

That's how it was set up by Nominet with the third level bit, not really to do with the councils. I've spoken to Nominet about it and they won't budge, their argument is that too many schools have the same name. A bit annoying as plenty of businesses have similar names and manage fine.