Our Deaf Support Base

The school has a deaf support base (DSB) which is a valued part of the school community, providing excellent specialist support from the nursery to Year 6 for 30 pupils. This is not a specialist provision within the school as the pupils are fully or partly integrated into mainstream classes depending on their individual learning and hearing needs.  

The school adopts a total communication (TC) approach, using Sign Supported English which is based on British Sign Language (BSL) to meet the needs of pupils with a range of hearing impairments. TC is a philosophy of educating children with hearing loss that incorporates all means of communication; formal signs, natural gestures, fingerspelling, body language, listening, lipreading and speech. The goal is to optimise language development in whatever way is most effective for the individual child. Our aim is for the pupils to be effective communicators and confident independent learners. All of our deaf pupils have education, health and care plans (EHCP) and the majority have additional SEND and /or complex medical needs which indicates the scale of genuine pupil need, which the academy is committed to meeting. 

The current provision includes: 

  • Two highly experienced qualified teachers undertaking the trainee Teachers of the Deaf (ToDs) qualification and one QToD on maternity leave (due to return in Nov 2025)
  • A highly experienced qualified teacher with BSL level 3
  • BSL trained support staff ranging from Level 1 to Level 3
  • Weekly British Sign Language (BSL) lessons delivered by a deaf instructor/BSL teacher who works for LBTH Learning Advisory Services
  • Barts Health NHS Trust Speech and Language Therapists delivering sessions and supporting staff and pupils twice a week
  • 6 days advisory support provided by LBTH from a Qualified Teacher of the Deaf for the year which will equate to 1 day per half term
  • Specialist Audiological Technician (2-5 slots per year) provided by LBTH
  • Coaching and mentoring support for the ToDs provided by external Headteacher and QToD
  • Specialist audiology support from the Ewing Foundation
  • Network links with other DSB provisions within LBTH
Last updated September 27, 2024