04 Nov Welcome to our new website!
It doesn’t seem that long ago when, as a newly qualified teacher, the blackboard was the central feature of my classroom. There wasn’t a day when I didn’t come home from school with chalk on my clothes or in what was left of my hair. Now however, it’s all interactive whiteboards and tablet technology – in fact, the only time our children come into contact with a blackboard these days, is during history lessons about the Victorians!
Last half term, one of our Year 4 children knocked on my door. He’d brought his dad’s old record player into school, along with an LP of Bob Marley’s Exodus album. He was eager to share it with his classmates as part of Black History Month, but had also heard about my passion for vinyl and wanted to come and show me too. Very proficiently, he set it all up on my desk, and we listened together to a couple of his favourite tracks. It was a lovely moment and one I won’t forget in a hurry. What astounded me though, was how fascinating his class had found the experience, since to many of them, the concept of playing music from a round, black, plastic disc was totally alien to them. Music on vinyl was something I grew up with and something I understood, but to now see so many young faces staring at a record player with such bemusement, made me realise just how quickly certain technologies become outdated and obsolete.
Unfortunately, our school website was in danger of slipping into the same bracket as the blackboard and the record player, and so an overhaul was called for. The options and potential for websites these days are overwhelming, and designing it from scratch was therefore a real challenge. Effective communication within our school community was, to my mind, the most important consideration and so the whole site is designed around the simple concept. We hope that the website enables its many different users easy access to the information you need. I also hope that it showcases what a vibrant and exciting school community we have, and what a wonderful place Coleridge Primary school is. We have also now dipped our toe into the world of social media and, at the footer of the home page, we now have a live feed to our own Instagram account.
What we have come up with is something we are very proud of. I’m sure there will be a lot of work still to do to ensure it meets all the necessary requirements and needs of the school and wider community. However this is the start of a brave, new era for Coleridge.
Enjoy!