Francis Howlett

My background is in Education. I taught in secondary schools for many years, and then I worked at NCET - Becta - on a variety of projects to do with the use of ICT in teaching and learning. Since leaving Becta I have undertaken a number of projects including web site support. I have edited existing sites, tinkered with them to improve the way that they display, re-written them, and then more recently I have begun to develop web sites from scratch. For the technically minded, these sites include flat HTML sites, sites with PHP routines, sites which are largely running out of MySQL databases using Perl routines. There are sites which run on Apache servers, sites on a First Class server and on an IIS server with ASP, and there are several examples which exploit Digital Brain's London Grid for Learning routines.

The links below are to some of the sites that I have been involved in and which are still visible on the web. If you are interested in the kind of work that I do and would like to discuss your web site needs, or alternatively use the contact form.

Current Projects:

Sites running off Apache servers, with a mixture of PHP, Perl and MySQL thrown in

• Achievement for All 3As Project (a project to raise the level of achievement of pupils in schools in England)
• Allegri Singers
• Kender Community Primary School
• Sage Educational Trust (formerly known as 'DBEAZ')
• Downham and Bellingham EAZ eDemocracy Project (now part of Sage Educational Trust)
• MirandaNet Main Site
• MirandaNet eJournals (Link to the Teachers as Researchers eJournal, one of a variety of eMentoring Journals)
• MirandaNet Graphics Discussion Site (example of a combined images and discussion forum)
• World eCitizens
• World eCitizens Peace Room (experimental site currently used by a school in Bromley and in Free State, South Africa)
• Elapa Virtual Learning Environment for Free State, South Africa

Sites formerly running off IIS servers

• Hillsyde 14 - 19 Federation (please note, this is an archive site now and has been moved to an Apache server)
• Brindishe Community School, Lewisham (please note, this is an archive site now and has been moved to an Apache server)

The next section illustrates one of the problems of the digital age: if a site is taken down, it no longer exists, all traces are lost. In the print era, you could have gone to a library, somewhere, and would have a chance of finding an old copy of the materials. You might still find some of the excellent Lewisham materials in print form, but the site and all it held just disappeared, overnight. The ICT Learning Diaries were stored on the ITTE site, and if anyone asks me nicely I can republish Talent and the Lewisham Literacy Strategy and, at a pinch if asked nicely, the Lewisham ICT Advice sites. You can view surprisingly large chunks of these sites on the Internet Archive WayBackMachine site. I've 'exposed' the URLs so you can copy them into the WayBackMachine if you are so inclined.

Sites running off the London Grid for Learning (with apologies for the poor accessibility of the LGfL platform)

• Virtual Science Department (LGfL)
• Lewisham ICT Portal (LGfL)
• Lewisham Subject Communities Portal
• LGfL Research Portal
• What I am Proud of in my School (Lewisham Experimental Database: a sortable dynamic list served by a static HTML page, a minor miracle)

Sites running off a First Class server

• Lewisham ICT Advice (http://ecs.lewisham.gov.uk/ictadvice/)
• Lewisham Connectivity (http://ecs.lewisham.gov.uk/ictadvice/technical/)
• Talent (no longer maintained - written in the days when we used tables for layout) (http://ecs.lewisham.gov.uk/talent/)
• Lewisham Literacy Strategy (no longer maintained - written in the days when we used tables for layout) (http://ecs.lewisham.gov.uk/talent/pricor/litstrat/index.htm)

Personal site with WordPress blogging software

• Jessie Gilbert (a memorial site to the chess prodigy, maintained by her sister and family)

Commercial sites

• Gloria Toplis (Music Teaching and coaching in the Bromley and South London Area
• F. Searle Builders
• KS Kohlensäure Service (Berlin/Neukölln)
• First Class Web Design (development version)

I design new websites or maintain existing websites. While I specialise in educational sites, you can see from the list that I have done some work for small family businesses as well. I strive to write all my sites using valid HTML taking account of Web Accessibility Initiative guidelines. If you are interested in the kind of work I do and would like to discuss your needs, please or alternatively use the contact form.

I share, with three other brothers and one sister, the immense privilege of being a child of Dr Jack Howlett. There's an item I wrote about him on MirandaNet.