So, your daughter wants to play football, but you don't know where to look? Want to find out if there is a nearby French class for your son on Saturday mornings? Think no more because a new internet service aimed at giving you all the information you need to know about local children’s activities, from Scouts and Brownies to music and dance and holiday playschemes launched earlier this year and already has 7,000 visitors a month.
The whatson4schoolkids.co.uk site evolved out of parent site Whatson4littleones.co.uk. This was started by Sam Willoughby in 2006. She needed to find activities and classes for her four-year-old daughter Alice, then two. Sam, who had worked in the financial services industry before having Alice, discovered a gap in the market for making things easier for parents to find activities for 0-5 year olds all in one place. Since then the site has mushroomed and now gives out its own awards which win publicity around the country. Award categories include everything from best music session to best antenatal class.
For parents and children
Zena Scott was the sales representative for the site. She had been looking for a job where she didn’t have to rely on childcare or her parents when her two children were sick or off school. The role allowed her to work around her children. She says: “The role really was what I needed and gave me a great deal of confidence and satisfaction.”
Sam chose her to take charge of the new site aimed at school-aged children which launched this April. The site is aimed at parents and children. Parents can enter their address or postcode and select an activity they want for their child from a long list. The site will then come up with a list of options and details.
There is also a Kids Only page, which is updated weekly by a Junior Editor and allows children to swap information on their favourite activities and recommend the ones they think are best. At the moment the best covered areas are in the southern counties, but Zena says her sales staff are “marching northwards and covering each county as comprehensively as possible”. It aims eventually to cover the whole of the UK.
Working from home
The site is sponsored by Whole Earth Food - Organix sponsors the little ones site - and it has a partnership with Kids Week in the West End, an organisation which promotes children’s involvement in theatre activities.
Sam, who was named Practical Parenting magazine's Business Parent of the Year 2007, is also planning another launch in the autumn. Her team is made up of mothers from across the UK who work flexibly at home in a variety of roles. “We're very proud that we can offer employment and careers to these intelligent women in a way where they can still spend all the time they need with their families,” says Sam.
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