The exploits of the Baghdad Blogger during the Iraq war made headlines around the world.

The anonymous Iraqi regularly posted uncensored descriptions of his daily life on the net throughout the war.

He was a high-profile example of one of the internet's fastest growing phenomenons - weblogging, or blogging.

At their simplest, weblogs let people publish information on the internet instantly and easily.

Individual sites can be updated regularly and the sender's writing can potentially be seen by millions of people around the world.

Teachers too are starting to realise the potential educational benefits of the craze.

Hangleton Community Junior School in Hove is the first junior school in the UK to set up a weblog site and will officially launch it on May 25.

Other schools around the country are watching closely to see how successful the project is and plan to adopt their own if it works.

The site has been developed mainly by pupils who have chosen the topics, designed the weblog and will update it on a regular basis.

There is space for up to 100 different blogs on the site and there are plans to create space for 200 more.

The topics covered include cricket, Manchester United, cats, funky food, poems about the environment and everything you need to know about animals.

The sites are there for anybody in the world to read but for security reasons nobody can send messages or communicate with the children.

The site was the idea of teacher John Mills, who set up an after-school club.

He said: "The children have loved every minute of it.

"They get the thrill of knowing that thousands or even millions of people can get to see their work.

"We have got children as young as seven doing the type of information technology work which the National Curriculum has highlighted to be taught at secondary school.

"They are more than able to deal with it and it is giving them a head start. The other benefit is it improves literacy skills and creativity.

"They know these sites are going to be seen by a lot of people so they are making every effort to make sure there are no mistakes."

In the long term, pupils could even post their homework on their site and teachers could post information.

Mr Mills said: "It is only a trial at the moment and it is done after school but the children absolutely love it.

"They are even logging on at home and putting the finishing touches to their sites - you don't often get that eagerness from homework."

Nine-year-old Alice Bell-chambers has created a Manchester United weblog in homage to her favourite team.

She said: "My log is all about the different players. I update my page every two days."

Charlie Harrington and Billy Sandle, both eight, have a joint weblog about trains.

Billy said: "It has got seven links on our page. Me and Charlie do it together because we both like trains."

Charlie, also eight, said: "I get a lot of information from my train videos and books."

James Phoon, nine, and Catriana Cull, ten, have put together a weblog about animals.

James said: "We both really like animals. I've put things on there about what cats and hamsters eat."

The web site address is www.hangletonweblogs.org