Novel School Portal

🚀 Project Overview

This is a multi-page application (MPA) built with Django Templates that provides a complete web presence for schools with:

• Django 5.x - Modern Python web framework with full ORM
• PostgreSQL - Robust relational database with connection pooling
• Cloudflare R2 - Scalable object storage for static & media files
• Redis - Caching and session management for performance
• Gunicorn - Production-grade WSGI server (in Docker)
• Nginx - Reverse proxy (optional, runs on host, outside Docker)
• Docker Compose - Multi-container orchestration for Django, PostgreSQL, Redis
• Tailwind CSS - Responsive design system with utility classes

🗄️ Database Models

Site Configuration (site_config)

• SiteSettings - School name, motto, contact info, social links
• VisionMission - Vision statement, mission, core values
• PageSEO - Per-page meta tags for SEO

Pages (pages)

• HeroSection - Homepage hero banner content
• AboutPage - About page settings & statistics
• StatHighlight - Key statistics display
• ContactPage - Contact page settings & addresses
• ContactSubmission - Contact form submissions

People (people)

• PrincipalMessage - Principal profile & message
• ManagementMember - Leadership team members
• Testimonial - Student/parent testimonials
• TimelineEvent - School history timeline

Facilities (facilities)

• Facility - Individual facilities (library, lab, sports)
• FacilityImage - Facility photo galleries

Academics (academics)

• AcademicsPage - Page configuration
• ClassCategory - Class levels (Primary, Secondary)
• Subject - Subjects per category
• Achievement - Awards & recognitions
• ResultDocument - Board exam results PDF

Admissions (admissions)

• AdmissionInfo - Page settings & guidelines
• AdmissionStep - Step-by-step process
• AdmissionDocument - Forms & downloadable files
• AdmissionEnquiry - Application inquiries

Communication (communication)

• Notice - Official school notices
• Event - School events & activities

Gallery (gallery)

• GalleryCategory - Photo album categories
• GalleryImage - Gallery photos with descriptions

Disclosures (disclosures)

• GeneralInfo - General disclosure items
• InfrastructureInfo - Infrastructure details
• FeeInfo - Fee structure information
• StaffInfo - Staff details
• AcademicInfo - Academic information
• DocumentCertificate - Compliance certificates

🔑 Key Features

✅ Complete CMS - Django admin for all content management
✅ SEO Optimized - Meta tags, sitemaps, robots.txt, structured data
✅ Responsive Design - Mobile-first Tailwind CSS design system
✅ Performance Optimized:

• Redis caching for pages & queries
• Gzip compression for responses
• Static files served via R2 or locally
• Database connection pooling
• Rate limiting on API endpoints

✅ Security Features:

• CSRF protection
• SQL injection prevention (ORM)
• XSS protection (template auto-escaping)
• Rate limiting middleware
• Secure headers (HSTS, CSP, X-Frame-Options)
• HTTPS/SSL support with Let's Encrypt

✅ Media Management:

• Image auto-compression to WebP
• PDF auto-optimization
• CDN-ready with Cloudflare R2
• Local fallback for development

✅ Logging & Monitoring:

• Structured JSON logging
• Error tracking to files
• Request logging
• Django debug toolbar (development)

📊 Cache Configuration

The application uses Redis with the following cache layers:

• Page Cache - Full page caching (5 minutes default)
• Query Cache - Database query caching
• Template Cache - Template fragment caching
• Session Storage - User sessions in Redis

🔒 Security

The application implements enterprise-grade security:

• Middleware Stack: Rate limiting, GZIP compression, caching
• Database: PostgreSQL with prepared statements (SQL injection prevention)
• Templates: Django auto-escaping (XSS prevention)
• HTTPS: SSL/TLS with automatic redirects
• Headers: HSTS, X-Frame-Options, Content-Security-Policy
• CSRF: Token-based CSRF protection on all forms
• Rate Limiting: 30 requests/second per IP (configurable)