Hosting and Domains

Each school can have what is referred to as a Domain name – That is a web address (URL) where there website lives.

Domain names / web addresses generally present as http://www.yourschoolps.vic.edu.au. Established and new schools do have a domain name registered and paid for by DEECD.

Vic.edu.au is the part of the domain name which identifies the website being owned and maintained by a school or education /training organisation within Victoria.

The allocation and registration of Education domains is organised across Australia by Education.au. To locate your schools registered domain name or if you require a new domain for a cluster etc you can go to DomainName.edu.au (http://www.domainname.edu.au).

In order to receive the vic.edu.au you are required to provide proof that you are a recognised Victorian education or training entities.

Hosting your school website

When a school establishes a website, it is usually their Internet Service Provider (ISP) who will 'Host' their Website.

This has generally been included in the price of supplying the schools internet services.

Before you have any website developed it is important to know exactly what your ISP recommends as their standards. You might find that some website creation software is not supported by the ISP your school has chosen. It is always best to check first.

It is also important that you get from your ISP the address/ method by which you upload your webpages. The school may have a web address which looks like http://www.yourschoolps.vic.edu.au which can be used to upload your website.

Alternately there is usually a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) method used to transfer your entire website or just different sections from the school computer to the ISP server which houses your website. It will look like ftp:yourschoolps.vic.edu.au It is important to keep a back up of your school website and also instructions/ password for its update some where safe.

This will help your school to organise regular updates to pages within the website. Eg the office may have the link and password to update the school newsletter page. The Physical Education Teacher may upload the sports results pages. Note: Remember that the website faces the world and the names and images of students and teachers will be subject to privacy and cybersafety considerations.

For information on the provision of school internet, see Internet Services for Schools.