Lancaster Royal Grammar School celebrated the launch of its revolutionary new web site this week.

John Fawcett, a former pupil of the school, who is currently a research student at the University of Cambridge, has developed novel website software together with Cambridge graduates Matthew Parkinson and Andrew Rice.

Using the company's software, the school's own staff have created a new informative, exciting and user-friendly website.

Known as the "Good Company System", the new software is a breakthrough in website design and management; it includes online administration and editing.

Website information is stored in a database, from which it is recalled and assembled whenever any user browses the site.

The information is easy to enter after minimal training.

News articles or calendar events - called structured items - can be created and edited via on-line forms accessible by school staff and pupils, provided a user-password is supplied.

The system automatically formats and displays data in a unified style throughout the site.

Calendar data is automatically ordered chronologically and is discarded when out of date.

The new software will be of special benefit to pupils.They can apply their creative instincts to the design of new web pages and they will have easy access to study-related topics, including homework set by teaching staff.

Former pupils will also benefit from the up-to-the-minute "on-line who's who", that has the capability to retrieve information on current Old Lancastrians and on future school events.

This website has been one of the many on-going Development Projects within the school.

Andrew Jarman, Headmaster who, along with his pupils, is thrilled at the prospect of using the newly designed site said "we have come a long way since the school was endowed in 1472, 300 years before Charles Babbage invented his calculating machine, and we continue to be regarded as one of the UK's leading State Schools which prides itself on being at the forefront of technological innovation" .

The newly designed website reveals the future for website management and display - check it out at:www.lrgs.org.uk.

See our Education section for more news, links and interesting information.