is dot SCH dot UK (.sch.uk) still the preferred domain name for a school?

[kennysarmy]

As title.

 

is dot SCH dot UK (.sch.uk) still the preferred domain name for a school?

 

What are the pros and cons of moving away from this 'standard' ?

[Steve21]

Most will still have it but only as a secondary, lots use their own domain now as it’s generally a lot shorter than the sch style ones and easier to remember or search for parents etc

 

Steve

[Chaniel]

I think the large majority of schools moved away from .sch.uk a long time ago, especially now web presence is very key for schools. The majority of schools around me are on .org or .org.uk for their domain.

 

You're not required to use a .sch.uk as a school, and generally speaking, it makes your email addresses so long that you wish you had moved away from it!

Edited May 15, 2020 by Chaniel

[Ditto]

One of my sons school was .org, but now moving to .org.uk. My other son's school is .org, as is the parent trust. My last school of work was ..sch.uk, even though the parent trust was .com. Previous trust was .org and the first school I worked in was .org.uk. I don't recall any issues with any of them, but some became really long which became a pain when being required to login to applications where your school email address. I believe .academy is available now. My single recommendation if to get it as short as possible - when you consider the amount of times the domain is typed across all staff and pupils, the saving in time adds up considerably! I suspect academies have deliberately moved away from .sch.uk (or even just .sch.uk) to help with creating the impression of independence from the LA.

[mavhc]

Depends on your LA name really, if it's short, I'd stick with it, notts.sch.uk, if it's long, move, derbyshire.sch.uk.

 

Advantages: it's free, no one's going to steal it from you, doesn't need renewing so can't forget and lose it, and it's proof you're a school.

Disadvantages: it's long

[Jamman960]

We've always used .co.uk for ours but have also recently brought intials.school which we mainly use for pupil 365 logins

[msi_school]

I have school.lea.sch.uk and school.co.uk I like to use the .lea.sch.uk when I need to give a website or email to prove I am a school but we normally use school.co.uk as it is shorter.

[howartp]

We moved to schoolname.org about 9 years ago, then stopped receiving .n-yorks.sch.uk for none reserved addresses about 18 months ago. (Head@ etc are still live for LEA purposes)

[ITGURU]

Moved away from .sch.uk when we became an academy.

[Meldrew]

There are some nice tld's that are nice for schools to use, eg .school (as mentioned above), .college, and .academy I've come across.

[XiJ]

Our schools have generally moved away first to .org and increasingly to .school these days.

 

Some do keep .sch.uk as a secondary / website name.

[mavhc]

/me buys school.com, steals everyone's emails

[kennysarmy]

Where do you purchase the sch.uk addresses from?

[ultima170387]

Nominet. Just recently registeres a new one for a local primary school who wanted theirs changing.

[Rob_D]

Where do you purchase the sch.uk addresses from?

AFAIK sch.uk domains are resevered for the LA/Government distribution so you can only get .LA-name.sch.uk which should be available through your LA.

[Garacesh]

We're using school.lea.sch.uk here but I'd like to move away from it if preferable. It's far too wordy and there's too many chances to hear things wrong.

School.uk (or even if we could just have school.sch.uk) would be much better.

[supportman]

We use .co.uk and moved away from the longer .sch.uk a long time ago now.

[6Foot2]

We use .co.uk and moved away from the longer .sch.uk a long time ago now.

Same here. However, our Business Manager wants to go back to .sch.uk because that's what 'all other' schools use...

[kennysarmy]

Nominet. Just recently registeres a new one for a local primary school who wanted theirs changing.

 

Thanks - I'll drop them an email.

[mavhc]

you can't have x.school.uk because many schools have the same name, hence la.sch.uk. It does avoid confusion, are we st-marys.org, or stmarys.org or stmarys.org.uk or st-mary-apostrophe-s.com, you're not going to email the other St Marys in the next county over your confidential files by mistake

[kennysarmy]

I've come across this information:

 

But I don't know what "Registrar’s (hosting ISP’s) tag" is?

 

 

Applying for a sch.uk

Schools can apply to register a domain name if they do not already hold one. Applications should be made

in writing (as signed request on the letterhead of the school/appropriate controlling authority) to Nominet

detailing the following:

 School name

 ID number

 Postal address

 Contact name

 Contact email address

 Preferred domain name

 Registrar’s (hosting ISP’s) tag

 

Where groups of schools are forming a consortium for the centralised provision of teaching or IT services,

either led by a Local Authority or a school group, a .sch.uk domain name can be registered. The Local Authority

or lead school in the consortium should apply for the domain name using their name and contact details for

the registration process.

 

Fees

New schools in England, Scotland, Wales, independent schools, school consortia and schools that wish to

change their existing domain name will need to pay the registration fee of £3.90 + VAT. We will invoice the

applicant directly and register the domain name on receipt of payment.

Sch.uk domain names are not currently subject to a renewal fee.

 

Where to apply

Applications for new domains should be made in writing to:

Customer Services

Nominet UK

Minerva House

Edmund Halley Road

Oxford Science Park

Oxford

OX4 4DQ

Fax: 01865 332288

Please send any scanned documentation to [email protected].

[localzuk]

So, you'd need to talk to a registrar for this. I use TSOHost for our .sch.uk domains (not all registrars will handle them), as they don't make any money off them. The registrar you choose will tell you their IPS tag.

[jthompson]

We have school.county.sch.uk and school.com (I'd have preferred .org, but it's what I inherited). The sch.uk proved pretty cumbersome for email as so many people, even staff, couldn't always get it right. We'd see uk.sch, sch.com.uk, county.school.sch, all sorts. We still have it as a domain alias for everyone and for legacy reasons, but the shorter domain is what we put out there.

[mavhc]

Nominet themselves can be the registrar, saves moving if you then switch to someone else for other services.