Dragons' Den star Deborah Meaden visited a Bristol school to The free telephone helpline launched by Esther Rantzen in 1986 continues but now the charity, which for three years has been part of the NSPCC, is hoping to reach more children by using the latest internet technology.

Its latest website offers a place where children can play, talk about their feelings on a message board or with a counsellor and contact the service about their worries.

Students at Brislington Enterprise College tried out the site and listened to a talk from Deborah Meaden, who as well as being a West-based businesswoman and part of the TV series Dragons' Den, is also chairman of the charity's South West Child's Voice Appeal, about why the service was so important.

She told them that at present, one in three calls to ChildLine goes unanswered, because of a shortage of funding and volunteers.

"I felt that could not continue. It is very important that, if a child plucks up the courage to pick up the phone, the call gets a response from someone in their area," she said.

Latest figures from ChildLine South West show that it answered about 3,000 calls from children in the past 12 months, an increase of nearly 150 on the previous year. The most common reason for calling was about being bullied, but physical or sexual abuse and family relationship problems also featured highly. Nationally, ChildLine received 2.3 million calls last year.

Students at Brislington, which has strong programmes to help students support one another, said they would encourage those who looked upset to go online and seek help.

One said: "I'm really excited about the website and know that lots of my friends will log on. It's really good that Deborah came to talk to us today, not to sell anything but to ask us to share ChildLine with others. I now know that if I saw someone looking upset I could do something to help, where as before I felt helpless.

"There is so much on the website that I think any young person would find it helpful. It's really easy to use and definitely user-friendly. I like the fact that there are loads of answers to questions so that people don't have to feel embarrassed about asking things. I loved meeting Deborah Meaden, especially as I'm a massive Dragons' Den fan and she's my favourite dragon!"

Corinne Breingan, marketing and PR co-ordinator at BEC, said: "We are delighted that Deborah Meaden came to visit us at BEC. She is truly an inspirational figure for a college specialised in business and enterprise, and the students revelled in the opportunity to meet her. Her passion for ChildLine and its good work was evident and we will ensure we promote it as far and wide as possible. In fact, raising awareness of this website will be the core focus of our activities throughout anti-bullying week in November."

Cheryl Marshall, children's services manager at the West ChildLine base, said: "Some children aren't lucky enough to have this support, or find it difficult to talk about their feelings, so can end up suffering in silence.

"ChildLine provides trusted and confidential support for those children who feel isolated, and now thanks to government funding and public support, we have been able to develop the service to do it in the way that suits them best."