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.

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.
• A highly experienced Deaf Support Manager
• 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
• Specialist Audiological Technician (2-5 slots per year) provided by LBTH
• Specialist audiology and deaf learning support from the Ewing Foundation
• Network links with other DSB provisions within LBTH

Pupils with hearing impairments have the following opportunities during their week to come together collectively as a deaf community:

• weekly BSL lunchtime club
• pleasure for reading sessions
• friendship group