A secondary school with a wide reach on the East Rand
Hoërskool John Vorster is a secondary school in Nigel, on the East Rand of Gauteng, drawing learners from a wide area around the town. As with many schools, the website is often the first point of contact for prospective parents, current families, and the wider community, so it needed to work properly and represent the school well.
The Challenge: A website that had stopped working
Before this project, the school's website had been broken for months. It added no value to the school, gave visitors no useful information, and reflected poorly on an institution with a proud tradition. The brief was straightforward: replace it with something that works, that the school can be proud of, and that actually serves parents, learners, and staff.
The Solution: A true bilingual experience
The new website runs full Afrikaans and English versions side by side. Rather than forcing visitors back to a main menu to switch languages, a simple click on the AF or EN option in the menu takes them directly to the equivalent page in the other language. Whatever page a visitor is reading, they can cross over to the other language instantly, without losing their place.
Built for what comes next
The new site was also designed as a foundation for future growth. Much of the content is structured so that it can eventually be driven by a backend system, making day-to-day updates and ongoing maintenance far easier for the school's own staff, without needing a developer for every small change.
The Result: From broken to indispensable
Since launch, the site's popularity has grown tremendously. Content is added daily, and the website now sees a large number of visits every day, with students and parents using it as a genuine source of information about the school – not simply there to say the school has a website.
An ongoing partnership
This has been a great project to work on, with excellent support from the school's staff throughout. Support and updates continue as the school's needs evolve.