The first phase of a high-profile educational website developed by Northcliffe Electronic Publishing has been officially launched at schools across the East Midlands.

The launch of Headline History took place in conjunction with Northcliffe newspapers in the area, including the Derby Evening Telegraph, Nottingham Evening Post, Lincolnshire Echo and Leicester Mercury.

The four-phase project is being funded by Culture Online, part of the Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The website headlinehistory.co.uk, brings to life the Victorian period of history and is for children at Key Stage 2 and 3 - seven to 11-year-olds.

It will soon be available in schools across England and has already been well received by many teachers and youngsters and has been praised for its fun, interactive qualities.

In addition to being able to read gripping, true stories about Victorian life, visitors can interview a series of real Victorian characters before writing their own newspaper stories for the virtual Victorian Times.

Many stories have been gleaned from Northcliffe's own newspaper archives, as well as local studies libraries, before being re-written by journalists in a child-friendly way.

Project manager Julie Bayley said: "Many people here at NEP have put in an immense amount of hard work to make Headline History the exciting and useful resource it is. We're confident that anyone who logs on to the Flash website, or uses the allied CD-Rom, will be impressed by all that it has to offer."

The second phase of Headline History, to be launched in September, will encompass Tudors, Romans and World War 2. The later phases will involve a roll-out across the English regions and target 11 to 14-year-olds.

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