A mother-of-three is setting up a
social networking site aimed at school children and their
parents.
Esther Guys, from Surrey, wants to help parents who work full
time build a "rapport" with other parents, staff and
children.
The site, which has a database of 33,000 schools, aims to
connect children and parents to their local school, building an
online community.
Users, who can be children aged five or older, or parents,
create a profile linked to their school and share information. Each
school will get 20% of the advertising revenue associated with its
listing.
It is aimed particularly at parents who work full time and are
unable to do the school run, missing out on meeting others at the
school gates.
Guys said the site, called School Together Now, will be closely
vetted to make sure content is suitable for children as young as
five. Sites such as Facebook do not allow the under-16s to
register.
"A generation or two ago the school was the hub of the community
and everyone would gather round the gates and share their news. But
times have changed and more and more parents, both mothers and
fathers, are now in full time work. It means a lot of those old
communities have been lost," said Guys.