The emergency closure: it happens to all schools. Boiler failure, a kitchen fire, a water leak. Something which needs to be urgently communicated to parents. Or it might just be an event you want

to publicise, such as a forthcoming open evening. ‘Get something on the website home page’ goes out the anguished cry from the Head’s office. But a line of text on a busy home page is easily lost, and the news is missed.

Step forward one of the ‘unsung hero’ features of our CMS: the ‘Home Page Alert’ tool. This allows the school to put up a page which will appear before the main home page, with the existing site header and footer, and then an empty content area to get that key message across. It looks good, is easy to use and can be turned on and off at will.

Some schools reserve it just for emergencies; others use it more frequently for everyday notices such as reminders about school photos or parent forums. Either way, it’s a great feature, much appreciated by those that use it, and more effective than adding a line of text to an already crowded home page.