Kids on the Net ( http://kidsonthenet.com - KOTN) is a free website which encourages children's writing. It features writing by children working at home and at school, providing a safe and supportive environment for them to work in. It was founded in 1997 as part of the trAce Online Writing Community and is currently owned and supported by Reach Further Ltd.

The site attracts around 2 million visitors each year and contains edited contributions from hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, China, Japan, France, Netherlands, South America, India, Nigeria and South Africa.. KOTN currently receives visitors from over 150 countries worldwide.

Although the website has clear educational value it is rooted in an ethos of promoting creativity amongst young people, particularly in respect to the innovative use of the Internet for writing. Over the ten years since Kids on the Net was founded there has been a lot of changes in technologies available – children are now encouraged to use digital video, animation and many other technologies. Yet there is still no other project quite as user-focused or long term as Kids on the Net, and we are planning for a relaunch in early 2009.

We aim to maintain a safe and secure website and promote Net Safety for young people.

We offer educational and enjoyable collaborative writing projects, including Kids' Castle, Monster Motel, The Net Rules! and others.

Contact us for details.

Aims

• To give children an international voice on the internet in a safe and supportive environment
• To encourage the use of the internet to develop young people's writing and reading
• To encourage young people to read and be aware of new media writing and art
• To help young people to create writing specifically for new media including the web
• To provide resources to the education community to support the use of the internet in teaching literacy, reading and writing

Background

Our potential for excellence in supporting the teaching of literacy, reading and writing in schools was recognised in 2003 when, in association with the trAce Online Writing Centre, we were awarded a major education grant by NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) for the project Writers for the Future, part of which was used to fund a teacher in residence creating resources for UK teachers based on the Kids on the Net site - check out Dragonsville and Adventure Island.

We continue to offer opportunities for children to be inspired to read and write, as well as resources for teachers that focus on the National Literacy Strategy and the curriculum for reading and writing.

©2003-2006 Kids on the Net and the authors        Last revised 07-Jul-2008
Kids on the Net

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