Sherston Software
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Educational software |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founder | Bill Bonham, Lou Bonham |
| Defunct | 2016 |
| Fate | Liquidated after acquisition by Big Clever Learning |
| Headquarters | Sherston, Wiltshire , United Kingdom |
Area served | United Kingdom, India, South Africa, United States |
| Products | Educational software and interactive learning tools |
| Parent | Big Clever Learning (from 2015) |
Sherston Software, also referred to as Sherston Publishing Group, was a UK-based publisher specializing in educational software and interactive learning tools.
Established by educators Bill and Lou Bonham, Sherston initially developed titles for the BBC Micro starting in 1983 and was officially incorporated as Sherston Software Limited in 1984. In 2003, the founders transferred ownership to a management team of four, who subsequently rebranded the company as Sherston Publishing Group. By 2008, Sherston’s Angel House premises in Sherston, Wiltshire also accommodated BLi Education, which owned the TAG Learning, Economatics Education, and SEMERC product lines. TAG Developments, located in Kennington, London, was part of this collective and created MAPS – Managed Assessment and ePortfolio System – incorporating Sherston’s software offerings. Due to difficult market conditions between 2010 and 2011, BLi Education went into administration; nevertheless, Sherston Publishing Group acquired many of its assets.
Sherston maintained development teams in India and operated an affiliate company named Sherston Sheshani in Cape Town, South Africa. Additionally, it had a U.S. branch known as Sherston America based in Portland, Oregon. The company collaborated with prominent organizations such as BBC Worldwide, HarperCollins, and Oxford University Press for software production.
In 2015, private equity firm Big Clever Learning purchased Sherston,[1] which led to the original entity being liquidated in 2016.[2]
Software products
- Planet Sherston
- Rusty Dreamer[3]
- Tizzy's Toybox
- Crystal: The ICT Channel
- Gogglebox: Topic Based Online Channel
- Sherston Mega Deal
- Sherston Online
- Sherston Skill Builders Online
- The Crystal Rainforest
- Mission Control
- The ArcVenture series
- The Map Detectives
- The Nature Park Adventure
- The Email Detectives
- Izzy's Island
- Gomez Returns
- Number Train
- abc-CD - Animated Alphabet
- Skill Builders
- School's Out - After School Club
- 123-CD
- The Crystal Maze (inspired by the British TV show The Crystal Maze)
- Furbles
- Space Mission Mada (which was later adapted into the Australian television series Space Mission Mada News)
- Tina's Terrible Trumpet
- The Worst Witch (based on the book The Worst Witch)
- Typesetter! (a desktop publishing application)
- The Fleet Street Phantom (an add-on for Typesetter!)
- Charlie Chimp's Big Modelling Party
External links
- School's Out After School Club, archived 2007
- Profile at MobyGames
- ↑ "Big Clever Learning acquires Sherston". 3 October 2015.
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