Activities at the touch of a button

An innovative project being created by the town's Felpham and Bognor family of schools is using technology to help mums and dads.

A website is being set up by the FAB members '“ all 17 schools in the area '“ which will contain an unprecedented amount of information about what is available for parents and their children.

There is a potentially large audience with about 8,000 youngsters in schools in the Bognor area whose families could benefit from up to date information about after-school childcare, holiday schemes, dancing schools and Scouts and similar groups.

The website will be reached through touchscreen computer monitors being installed in each school's reception as well as the internet.

It is expected that the service will be launched at the start of this summer term to become the first of its kind in the county.

The FAB group has chosen former Michael Ayres Junior School head Pam Brett as an information officer to research all the facts needed to make the service indispensable.

"The information is out there but it is scattered around," she said. "The idea of this initiative is to pull it all together." Activity providers can contact her on 07846 767904.

The service stems from the government's idea of extended schools open between 8am and 6pm. This will see them host activities outside of traditional school hours. But different clubs and groups meet at various schools in the Bognor area to make it hard to know the full range. The website will also cover all the holiday fun to provide a one-stop service to fill those days away from the classroom.

Each school has received about 1,000 to install the computer equipment. The running costs of FAB are met from the schools' pooling part of their dedicated funding.