Couple aim to make parents’ lives easier with website

A WORTHING couple has set up an online business to help parents with their daily lives.

Alan and Fiona McKinney, of Browning Road, Worthing, launched sharemyschool.com, a website which has information relating to every primary school in the country, last week.

Each school will have its own set of notice boards where messages can be posted on topics such as school runs, buying and selling school uniform, school events and activities.

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There will also be a section for childminders and babysitters.

Mr McKinney said: “We have four children, Caitlyn, six, Harry, four, Colby, two, and Ellis, five months, and had been looking for online resources that would help us manage our school day and find ways to network with other parents and share tips and ideas.

“We found time and again that there was not really the sort of thing we were looking for so we decided to create our own site.

“It has taken a year to build and a lot of money but we are really pleased with the end result.

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“On the first day we launched we had 60 people sign up to become members which is a really positive start and very encouraging.”

Mr McKinney admitted that a nationwide project was ambitious, adding: “It was never going to be that large but when we were looking at incorporating a database on the site it was natural to include every primary school in the country.

People can also set up circles with certain discussion threads and invite others to join.

“There are so many things that go alongside schools and most primary websites are pretty basic. Many teachers also still hand out newsletters on paper so there is a market there.

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“Because I work in IT it is nice to find an area that no-one else is working in and also to be creating something that parents want to use.

“Fiona would like to go back to her teaching job after her maternity leave but if it gets to the stage where it can provide an income for us then that would be great, as well as very satisfying.

“It is certainly hard work and keeping us busy but the feedback has been really good so far.

“This is completely independent from schools but we hope to link up with the PTAs in the future to allow them to communicate directly to parents.”

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