Impressions of the Russell Street School

Hi all
First off, I am writing this post without having looked at any of the other responses so far, so as not to influence what I might say :-)

The http://russellst.school.nz/ site is indeed the school's homepage and they are using a blog site as the template. Usually you would see a much more 'professional' approach with a content management system like Joomla or the like. However it is an increasing trend to use blog sites in this way. Indeed, Wordpress has evolved to become much more than a blog site, in the traditional sense, and it can be used for static sites as Russell School is doing here. Powerful widgets help drive this site. Static pages can be combined along with blog posts on the front page to keep stakeholders up to date with the news.

The school obviously has policies in the way that they use blogging in their curriculum, and this is something I am looking to implement next year too. Indeed our entire Primary school already uses Weebly and each class has a blog. Using blogs in the classroom has a multitude of uses. Our Primary students mainly use them as portfolios and for their important PYP exhibitions in Year 6. I am hoping to roll out student blogs for secondary this coming year too. The class blogs at Russell Street are the perfect example of what a good blog should be. They are a centralisation of the class and all that it does. They have links lists for easy access to class favourites. They have video of class activities for reflection and for parents to see. They have homework assignments integrated into them. They have links to the students individual blogs which in turn give students a voice, and teachers a number of alternatives when designing their units.

Overall, Russell Street School is one which has obviously adopted the blogging philosophy, done its research and given its staff training on how to properly utilise this resource. And the results are there for all to see.