A FORMER Ryedale school pupil-turned-teacher who created a website to inspire young writers has taken the business worldwide.

Tom Garbutt, 33, who was also a pupil at Malton School, used his talents in the classroom to set up the website LendMeYourLiteracy with three colleagues to give young writers a global platform.

The teacher, who is a parent support advisor at Grove Road Primary School, Harrogate, said he wanted to find a platform for more people to see the good work his students were doing.

“A piece of work would usually be written and then go up on the wall or in to a tray and would only be seen by a few people. I wanted to get it online so that more people could see,” he said.

“That was 18 months ago now and it has been growing and growing since then.”

Thornton-le-Dale Primary School, Malton School, Sinnington and Helmsley Primary School have all signed up to the website, which lets the pupils submit written work to allow others to view and comment on.

Tom said: “We are developing it to include countries across the world. I hope it will raise standards and improvement, giving kids lots of encouragement really. It’s also really useful for teachers.”

Visit lendmeyourliteracy.com