Primary children in for special tweet

From the burning school issue of the day to news that the year six teacher has a new hairstyle, it is helping provide a colourful snapshot of what goes on at Leamore Primary School. Twitter involves people leaving short typed updates that can be viewed by anyone who follows.

Leamore pupils have even been able to send messages from school trips, giving parents the chance to keep in touch with what their kids are up to and let them know about forthcoming events, such as sports day.

Twitter was thrust into the spotlight last week, when news of Michael Jackson's death began circulating between users. At one stage, there were 5,000 messages being left a minute, with celebrity users among those leaving tributes.

Using Twitter in the classroom was the brainchild of deputy headteacher Michelle Hill.

"I started using it for personal use but this quickly changed into professional use, as my personal network grew and I started talking to like-minded teachers," she said.

"We started to think of ways you could use Twitter in the classroom. It's been growing quickly and we're getting a good following."

The school is not the only one using the service to strengthen communications.

When Pelsall mother-of-two Jayne Howarth heard her children's gymnastics club was being made homeless for 12 weeks, the quick-thinking Twitter devotee immediately issued a "tweet" for help.

Her plea was spotted by Walsall Council, which had signed up to the site just a day before and put her in contact with Bloxwich Leisure Centre, which will now play host to the club for the next few weeks.

Rory Borealis, Walsall Council's executive director of resources, said: "What we've discovered is that people use Twitter to talk about what is going on in Walsall," he said.

Aldridge and Walsall Wood representative Mike Flower is one of a growing list of councillors to add their names to the site.

From what meeting he is about to attend to detailed exchanges with Walsall residents, Councillor Flower views Twitter as another important tool for communicating with his constituents.

The 25-year-old said: "I have 300 people following me. If you were to go and knock on 300 doors that would take you days. "Sometimes people criticise new technologies but if you had the chance to address a room full of 300 people in one go, most of us would snap it up."