The developer of an innovative digital learning app supported by Pocklington School has been invited to address international education specialists at Helsinki Education Week next week.

Chris Williams will be demonstrating and talking about the Chatta app, which develops children’s early language and communication skills by encouraging them to talk about their experiences using their own photos and pictures.

It is used at Pocklington School to help Pre-Prep and Early Years children speak fluently, as well as to support overseas boarders as they master the English language. The app has also proved useful in helping the oral skills of children with special needs.

Mr Williams, Chatta Co-Founder, is travelling to Helsinki as part of the annual week-long festival of collaboration between international learning experts and Helsinki’s teachers, pupils and parents. Finland’s education system is widely regarded as one of the best in the world and its policies are widely studied by educators and leaders.

The Chatta app has already created such a stir among educators attending the festival that Mr Williams’ workshop on Monday is already fully booked.

He said: “I’m honoured to be invited to Helsinki Education Week to talk about our work at Pocklington School and beyond. The event will give us a platform to share what we do on a much wider scale. I invented the app to meet a need I’d spotted as a primary teacher, and I’m now having to pinch myself at how widely it’s being used.”

Mr Williams has been invited to the British Embassy in Helsinki to speak about the success of the Chatta app at schools in Malaysia, Spain and Canada. He will also visit a local kindergarten where he will use the app to help children aged 5-6 to improve their language skills in Finnish and English.

Teachers at Pocklington Pre-Prep have been thrilled by the effectiveness of the Chatta app in helping early learners improve their communication and storytelling skills.

Ian Wright, Headmaster, Pocklington Prep School, said: “The Chatta app has had an immediate impact on our youngest pupils’ command of language and communication. It’s fun to use and helps children effortlessly raise their levels of oral communication.”

The School is helping to develop new Chatta learning aids with the feedback of teachers and pupils.