14 DAY TRIAL // In 2011, the Highworth Grammar School, and all-girls school in Ashford, Kent, changed the domain name for its website from highworthgrammar(dot)co(dot)uk to highworth.kent.sch.uk. Now, the old domain name has been acquired by an unknown entity and it’s being used to advertise a variety of adult services and websites.
Highworth Grammar School representatives told the Daily Mail that for a while after the switch was made, they still owned the old domain name. It was set up to redirect visitors to the new domain. However, later, the subscription for the old name was dropped and someone else registered it.
The school has done all it could to make sure the domain name was updated. For instance, on Wikipedia, the domain name for the Highworth Grammar School is the correct one. However, since some parents accessed the website via bookmarks, they ended up on the website containing raunchy content.
“Highworth Grammar School is obviously concerned about the use of the old internet address for such purposes and apologises for any offence to anyone who has inadvertently accessed to old site,” a school spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
So far, there’s not much the school can do, except wait for the domain name to become available again and repurchase it. The address’ availability is being monitored.
However, the school’s representatives admit that, “Clearly an address advertised and therefore receiving hits is less likely to be released for purchase by the current licence holder.”
Currently, the domain is registered by an entity in Australia. According to Whois records, it was registered in April 2012 and it’s set to expire on April 16, 2014.