Hi Spidy,

It can be done but one thing to consider is your ISPs AUP (Acceptable use policy).
A few ISPs here that I know of do not allow their users to run webservers etc.
Have you considered getting an account on something like freeshell.org.
I know they charge a one off fee to upgrade your account to use gcc, Perl etc.. but you may find it useful to connect from school (or anywhere else) via ssh or telnet to edit your source code, rather than upload it.

Hope this helps

Martin