West Norfolk creator of children's website set to visit schools
A former Tilney St Lawrence man who co-founded a digital platform for children encouraging creativity is set to visit schools in West Norfolk next week.
Simon ‘Buzz’ Burman, who started Night Zookeeper in 2011 along with Joshua Davidson and Paul Hutson, will be working with primary school pupils from Monday to Wednesday.
Mr Burman, co-founder and creative director, will spend half a day at the schools, giving an assembly on Night Zookeeper and working with a class of children to explain to them how to use the website and encourage them to get creative.
It comes as an animated series of Night Zookeeper, which aims to encourages literacy and writing amongst children aged seven and above, has started airing on Sky Kids after the channel commissioned 10 episodes.
In a world first, children across the UK will be invited to participated in the show’s development by creating characters, background designs and story plots.
A design of a magical gong created by a pupil from Tilney All Saints Primary School while Mr Burman was visiting last year is set to feature in the third episode of the series, due to be aired next month, after it was selected for the show.
Mr Burman, who went to primary school in Tilney All Saints, St Clements High School and sixth form at King Edward VII (KES) School, said, for those whose ideas are chosen, they may see them redrawn or rewritten for the show a few months later.
“We’re looking for young writers and artists to help create stories, characters and scenes, and some of the lucky ones will have their work featured in the real show on TV,” Mr Burman added.
Created by social enterprise Wonky Star a number of years ago, the Night Zookeeper website is now used by thousands of schools not only in the UK, but across the world and inspires children to invent their own magical animals and then write stories about them.
A series of accompanying books was also launched last year.
Mr Burman said: “We started Night Zookeeper as a way to help kids evolve their writing and drawing skills.
“We wanted to make something fun and engaging that would speak to them on their level.”
Night Zookeeper will be the first animated children’s show in the world to collaborate with thousands of children on the creation of each episode.
Co-creator Joshua Davidson said: “It’s incredibly exciting to know that, working with Sky Kids, the animated series of Night Zookeeper will nurture the next generation of storytellers, whilst supporting classroom creativity.”
A free microsite and teacher/parent guide accompanies the show.
To find out more, visit https://show.nightzookeeper.com.
