Events and Conferences

Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity Event raises £107k for ‘Sick Kids’

On Friday, we were honoured to attend the #GetTogether for Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC) to support all of the amazing and important work that the charity does for seriously ill children and their families. We were blown away by some of the stories that were shared at the event by parents and doctors and could not be prouder of all that the charity achieves. 

The event was bursting with life thanks to some delightful live entertainment from the children, featuring some gorgeous dancing from Sammy and Lucy the enchanting Evan and an emotional story from the mother of baby Hector the Hero, who are all currently doing well. The charity’s CEO, Roslyn Neely, and her team did a fantastic job planning this incredible event, raising an astounding £107,000 for the cause.

The Edinburgh Children’s Hospital
The ECHC helps critically ill babies, children and young people by supporting their medical care, mental health and family’s wellbeing. The hospital team delivers daily arts activities, youth work and family support; their Grants Programme funds child-friendly spaces and play initiatives, life-changing equipment and bereavement support.

This exceptionally vital work the charity carries out means that fundraising events, like the #GetTogether, are crucial for raising sufficient funds to support the families facing the toughest of times. 

Here to Help
Some children spend more time in hospital than they do out of hospital. This means they are unable to attend school and they need to complete their education in hospital. Fonetti are currently working closely on a pilot with the ECHC to adapt our read aloud app so that it can be used by children in hospitals. We want all children, no matter their circumstances, to have the opportunity to delve into books and experience the joy of reading. 

Reading & Children’s Mental Health
Reading has so many benefits for children and supporting their mental health is one that we feel is the most important. Books not only allow children to escape into another world and develop imagination and curiosity, they also support children with understanding tricky emotions and help them to process how they are feeling. 

If a child can relate to a character in a book, who is in a similar position to them, it can help them navigate the challenges they may be facing and feel understood. Books are a great way to get children talking about their feelings without making them feel overwhelmed. 

The Book Trust explains, ‘Books can be a vehicle for the discussion for pertinent topics. Books with emotional stories, for example, can provide explicit opportunities for a child and their carer to discuss painful issues but with the emotional safety of being one step removed. They can talk about the characters and events in a book without having to refer directly to themselves.’

National Read Aloud Challenge
The National Read Aloud Challenge has partnered up with Fonetti over the summer, making hundreds of books on the Fonetti in app library completely free until 31st August. We want all children to have access to books over the summer so that if they feel they need to escape into a story, they can. 

Posted in Events and Conferences, Appearances, National Read Aloud Challenge, Team Fonetti

Fonetti Exhibits at the Tes SEND Show

On Friday and Saturday 7th & 8th October, we’re at the Business Design Centre in London, for the Tes SEND Show.

We can be found on Stand 182, and we’ll be sharing case studies from pupil intervention groups where Fonetti has helped grow pupil reading confidence while increasing reading age.

We have a free prize draw each day, where one lucky school will win access to the Fonetti app for up to 60 pupils, and teachers will have full access to the Fonetti School Portal, where they can get real-time actionable pupil reading data, tracking progress – successes and struggles, so they can have effective, efficient 1:1 interactions.

Schools can also sign up for a free 6 week trial in return for some feedback!

Our Education Manager Vicki Edgar will be at Teach Meet on Friday night… keep your eyes open for her and have a chat!

Posted in Events and Conferences, Appearances

Fonetti Scoops the ERA Award for Best Classroom Resources!

The Education Resource Awards recognise exceptional educational products and resources, outstanding educational establishments, and dedicated members of the teaching profession and supplier industry. Together, they strive to foster excellence in education by harnessing the power of collaboration.

Kim Antoniou, Fonetti’s Founder and CEO, along with Education Manager, Vicki Edgar, attended a prestigious black-tie gala dinner where Fonetti was shortlisted, along with eight other esteemed finalists, for the coveted Classroom Teaching Aids Award.

As the night wore on, the anticipation grew thick in the ballroom, and at around 8 pm, the master of ceremonies announced the winner. An eruption of loud shrieks and cheers of delight immediately followed as it was announced that Fonetti’s School Portal had beaten the competition, clinching entry into an exclusive circle of innovation, and a resounding validation of the game-changing nature of Fonetti’s app.

It was a proud moment for both Kim and Vicki, as well as for the entire Fonetti team, and a clear message to the education community that, with Fonetti, they are in good hands.

Congratulations to our fellow finalists:

  • DoodleLearning – DoodleEnglish
  • Fiction Express Education Ltd – Fiction Express
  • imoves active education ltd – imoves
  • Learning by Questions – Learning by Questions
  • LinkyThinks – LinkyThinks Advanced Word Wheel Book
  • NCFE – NCFE – Our skills assessment tools
  • Time for Phonics – Time for Phonics interactive phonics games
  • ViewSonic Europe Ltd – ViewSonic ViewBoard 52 series
Posted in Awards, Events and Conferences

Fonetti Supports The Selby Children’s Literature Festival 2021

We’re delighted to support The Selby Children’s Literature Festival at Selby Abbey on Saturday 19th June.

Vicki and Kim look forward to meeting young readers and budding authors alike, and talking to children and parents about their favourite books and authors.

Says Vicki, “If you are planning to come along, and we hope you are, please come and see us and try out Fonetti reading platform.”

The Literature Festival is taking place from June 17 – June 19 and was established, in 2016, by well-known author, Christina Gabbitas.  The first two days are dedicated to school use whilst the Saturday is open to everyone.

Guest authors include: Nick Toczeck, Paul Cookson, James Nicol, Tom Palmer, Donavan Christopher (A.K.A. Rappaman), Liz Million, Ursula Hurst who will be joined by Christina.

Both Christina and Donavan are also judges in our Young Authors’ Competition, and Christina’s brilliant books can be found on Fonetti.

As part of the festivities, we’re sponsoring a competition to find the Selby Children’s Literature Festival logo, hidden in one of the Fonetti, free to read, books.

Children simply need to:

  1. Download the Fonetti App (in Google Play or the App Store)
  2. Look for the hidden Selby Children’s Literature Festival logo
  3. Once found, send the name of the book the logo is located in, together with the page number, or a screen shot, to hello@fonetti.com.

Entries should be received no later than 11.59pm on Saturday June 26, when they will be entered into the prize draw, with the winners announced on Wednesday June 30, by Christina Gabbitas, through Fonetti’s social media platforms.  Individual winners will receive an email confirmation.

  1. First prize is an Android tablet together with a twelve-month subscription to Fonetti.
  2. Second prize is a twelve months subscription to Fonetti.
  3. The third prize, is a six-month subscription to Fonetti.

Says Christina Gabbitas, “There are over 350 literature festivals in the UK, with less than 10% solely dedicated to children. At Children’s Literature Festivals, we want to make festivals and books more accessible for all and is why we are so very excited about the continuing success of The Selby Children’s Literature Festival.

“With over 200,000 children predicted to leave school in July, without reaching their expected level for reading, for their age, getting children to read, and finding enjoyment in it, is priceless and we hope that the festival this year in particular, will encourage that.”  

Posted in Events and Conferences, Appearances

Fonetti Named Finalist In The 2021 BESA Education Resources Awards

We are delighted to be finalists in the BESA Education Resources Awards for 2021, in the Primary Resource or Equipment – ICT category. With 22 categories this year, we’re proud to sit amongst some brilliant school suppliers such as Doodle Learning, Harper Collins, Hodder Education, Oxford University Press, and LGfL.

The judges were highly impressed by the creativity and professionalism of the submissions received.

The award winners will be announced at 3pm on Friday 21st May, at an online awards ceremony. We’ll be watching and trying not to bite our nails, and wish every finalist the very best of luck.

Posted in Awards, Events and Conferences

Fonetti CEO Discusses Digital Transformation At Elite Business Live

We were super-proud at Fonetti HQ today, when our Co-founder and CEO, Kim Antoniou joined an esteemed panel at the Elite Business Live event, facilitated and hosted by the fabulous Oli Barrett MBE.

Speaking on the Digital Transformation panel, which kicked off with an enthusiastic keynote from Michelle Ovens CBE, Founder of Small Business Britain. Kim was joined by Pete Oliver, Managing Director, SME at BT, Biplab Rakshi, Managing Director at Atomic Acquisitions and Chair of the IoD East of England; and Melissa Snover, Founder at Get Nourished.

For a replay, visit Elite Business Live.

Posted in Events and Conferences, Team Fonetti

The Leeds Castle Big Story Writing Challenge

Winning Stories of both categories to be published on Fonetti.

Fonetti are proud Sponsors in the Leeds Castle’s Big Story Writing Challenge! Here at Fonetti, we champion independent art and writing from creators of all ages. We want to not only aid children’s literacy skills, but to encourage creativity, too!

That’s we are proud to work alongside our Brand Ambassador Clare Balding to support The Leeds Castle Big Story Writing Challenge.

…This year, the competition’s theme is One Golden Day, inspired by… …an event that took place 500 years ago in 1520 when Henry VIII stayed at Leeds Castle with 5,000 of his courtiers.

He was on his way to meet the King of France for a massive jamboree that has since become known as ‘The Field of Cloth of Gold’. Children aged between 5–13 are invited to send in their most imaginative work to be in with a chance of winning some pretty ace prizes (if we do say so ourselves).

We will be offering the 2 lucky winners the chance to see their book fully illustrated and published on Fonetti. Our Fonetti authors can’t begin to describe the magical feeling of seeing their words come to life.

So we are thrilled to be able to offer your young, budding authors this opportunity! And it’s not just this incredible prize, either! Winners will also receive:

  • A stay at Knight’s Glamping
  • Tickets to the Fireworks Spectacular 2020
  • Collection of Clare Balding’s children’s books
  • Hamper of fun prizes.

Go spread the word to all of the budding young authors around you? To enter your child please go to The Leeds Castle website Spread the word and join in the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag #BigStoryWritingChallenge

Posted in News, Events and Conferences, Team Fonetti