The IPad Forum is a community of members from all walks of life and from all over the world coming together to share our experiences and to help each other learn about this wonderful piece of technology the Ipad. There is a wealth of information already here in the many threads we have so doing some searches will answer most of the questions you have. If then you cannot find the answer you are seeking then by all means post your question. There are many friendly and informed members here only too willing to help you.
If your school has their own website I think that might be the most secure rout to go. You could also check with your IT department and have them set something up for you.
See if your school has a Moodle website. If so, it would be extremely easy to set up a secure forum that you could control with user logins. Moodle is designed as a Content Management System for delivering content to students.