School news team celebrates birthday

9:35am Tuesday 30th September 2008

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A COMPANY started just a year ago by a Wirral couple is about to celebrate its first anniversary by going international.

Copycatcher, an online schools publication launched from a small office in New Brighton, has recently linked up with a school 7,000 miles away in Peru.

Tony Kenwright, an award-winning photographer who has travelled the world with his camera, left his job as a journalist to set up the firm with his wife, Julie Lamin, a former head of English at Mosslands School in Wallasey.

“I’m a news junkie,” said Tony, “I’ve always loved newspapers and Julie is passionate about education. It’s probably very boring of us but we would often discuss aspects of our job at home.

“One day when Julie was talking about the electronic white-boards that were being installed in schools I started asking her about the content that was available for students.

“There was plenty of material for specific subjects but it became apparent there was nothing that worked across the curriculum. Together we put together an online news and features website with a couple of quizzes which Julie tried out during a lesson.

“It was the positive reaction that this early effort received that led us to believe the idea could work. Now there are schools across the country subscribing including about eight Wirral secondary schools.”

“Now that we’ve made our first sale outside of the UK, we’re busy setting up trials with international schools from Brazil to Bahrain. I’ve even been speaking to a school in New Zealand. That would be a good headline wouldn’t it - New Brighton to New Zealand?”.

But why did a couple who have no experience of business leave secure jobs to set up a company that had no guarantee of success, particularly when they have two school-age children to support?

“I think, when you get an idea you believe in, it would be harder not to pursue it,” said Tony. “I couldn’t bear the idea of turning around upon retirement and thinking I had a really good idea once, but I let it go. Even if it failed, it would still have been better than never trying.

“Besides, we didn’t go into it unprepared. While we were developing the site, Julie and I went on a business course with Wirral Biz which was a huge help. We even got a grant which helped pay for some advertising.

“We were lucky too that we gained a couple of big sales straight away. Even better, teachers were telling us how much they liked it and how much it helped them in the classroom.That’s what I’m happiest about, not just that they buy it but the fact that they seem to be so enthusiastic about it.

“Some schools email or phone us with suggestions for things they’d like to see in Copycatcher and it’s great that we can respond to that. They appreciate it too,” he added.

This month marked a big change to Copycatcher, when Julie decided to return to education full time.

“I think people thought we’d fallen out when they learnt I was leaving Copycatcher,” said Julie. “That couldn’t have been further from the truth. It’s been a great first year but a job I’d always wanted in education came up.

“Before I left, we took on a couple more staff and we have a good network of freelancers and advisors. We also work with another Wirral company, Hadlow Systems, who set up the original design and who take care of the IT support.”

“It’s been a very good first year,” says Tony. “Even though we work hard creating a new edition every day, it hardly feels like work when you’re doing something you want to do, more like a hobby.

“The best thing though, just in case it’s ever starting to feel like a job, along come the school holidays and you can have time off. I hope they have the same holidays in Peru!”