> For all the 17 year old's reading this thread; There is a big difference between programming for yourself and programming for someone else.
I learnt this the hard way when I was 16! Clients can be plain idiotic sometimes!
Or you can look at it another way; at 16 you simply didn't have the maturity to handle a client.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mean that in a nasty way. What I'm trying to explain is that there is a difference between being "technically" capable of something (building a website) and doing this as an assignment where someone pays you for it. This is known as "experience".
And yeah, sometimes clients are idiots..
I don't think there's anything wrong with making a website for your school. As you are not a "commercial programmer", your client is NOT a "commercial client", therefore you are (as per today) a hobby programmer and your client will like whatever you will make them (for free).
He offered his school to help create the school website because it would be fun and good practice. However, it turned out that creating a website for someone else isn't just doing the fun bits you're interested in or tinkering with the tech you'd like to know more about. Suddenly there is a client and this client has requirements and expectations. If you not used to this you might be in for a surprise.
For all the 17 year old's reading this thread; There is a big difference between programming for yourself and programming for someone else.