I run the Woodlands Junior Kent website as a volunteer, and do all the work in my own time as well has holding down a full time job working as an ICT Consultant for Kent. The website is not funded by the school.
I started the Woodlands Junior website eight years ago. Little did I know that Woodlands Junior's website would become the international phenomenon it is today.
Article in the Daily Mail 2007
When I created the website I knew little about computers, let alone designing websites. In fact, I had only bought my first computer two months before I came up with the idea of creating a website for my school. I taught myself web design from scratch and am still learning.
In its infancy, the Woodlands Junior website was very basic, but since its launch in October 1999 it has accumulated an enormous amount of content, from maths and literacy interactive zones to online games, as well as a range of classwork. The site today contains over two and a half thousand pages, the majority of which I created, unpaid, in the evenings and weekends.
The making of the website was filmed for Teachers TV
The Woodlands Junior website reflects all my interests. I am especially keen on promoting British life and culture to the world. This is seen through the huge section on British life and culture crammed full of photographs (another hobby of mine). Due to the popularity of the British Culture section on the website, I have recently created a new entrance page via projectbritain.com.
The Homework Help section was created to support children with their homework. Many websites are crammed full of text that is quite daunting to children. I decided to create pages which were written in easy language and gave children all the basic things they needed to know. My love of photography and of historical reenactments has enabled me to upload hundreds of photographs to illustrate what life was like in the past.
Roman army at the Festival of History 2007
Running a website as popular as Woodlands is like having a second job. It takes up much of my spare time and also often dictates my holiday destinations. This year, I spent an enoyable weekend at the Festival of History and was thrilled to see a Roman army as well as many other periods of history.
I receive much pleasure from reading the many emails and guestbook entries. They encourage me to keep adding and updating the website, as I know that my work is much appreciated. :)
Winnie the Pooh on the Thames
My vision is that Woodlands Junior website will continue to grow and that the school will earn money from the website to fund ICT projects within the school.
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