Centre for the Deaf

Welcome to our Centre for the Deaf

Norwood Green Junior School provides the junior provision in Hounslow for deaf children with mainly severe to profound levels of deafness. The centre is well established, having been attached to the school for over 30 years. We have had the privilege of teaching many deaf children in our time.

We are very proud of the achievements of our deaf pupils. We value their achievements, not only academically, but also in their social and emotional development. Great emphasis is placed upon giving them life skills and the confidence to succeed.

Aims:

to strive for the highest standards in teaching and learning
to ensure access to a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum
to enable hearing impaired pupils to take a full and active part in school life, to achieve best outcomes in their academic development and social well-being.
to ensure that the centres are a positive contributor to the schools’ distinctiveness and promote a positive image of deafness
to provide opportunities and strategies for promoting independent learning

Facilities:

Our deaf children are members of a mainstream class. They work and play alongside their hearing peers. In addition, our deaf pupils receive additional teaching support through a specialist Teacher of the Deaf. Many of the mainstream classrooms have acoustic tiling to aid listening conditions and our deaf pupils also use a Radio Aid system to enable them to access the speech of their teachers.

The Centre consists of three rooms for group work downstairs and an additional room upstairs. All rooms are acoustically treated to meet the specified building requirements for teaching deaf children. Children are withdrawn into the centre for specialist teaching, speech therapy and when appropriate for literacy and numeracy or other areas.

Our centre provides flexible support which can adapt to the changing needs of each child: depending on individual need and the nature of the lesson, they can either be supported in class during a mainstream lesson or taught individually or in small groups in the unit classrooms. Whenever appropriate the children are encouraged to work independently.

Staffing:

The specialist support for our deaf pupils consists of highly qualified teachers who not only have many years of mainstream teaching experience, but who also have an additional qualification as a Teacher of the Deaf. All Teachers of the Deaf have the minimum specified signing qualification, Level 2 BSL, as required by Hounslow.

We have Speech Therapists attached to the centre who provide individual and group therapy sessions on a weekly basis. Our therapists are specifically trained to work with deaf children.

The London Borough of Hounslow has a policy of Total Communication in the education of hearing impaired pupils. Our Teachers of the Deaf are flexible and adapt using various modes of communication, considering individual needs, group needs as well as the educational setting.

Transition:

Most of the pupils attached to the Centre for the Deaf feed in from Norwood Green Infant and Nursery School to Norwood Green Junior School. Similarly, at the end of the juniors most of our pupils go to Heston Community School Centre for the Deaf. The three centres provide continuity of provision through close liaison by the Teachers of the Deaf.

In addition, throughout the year opportunities are planned for to undertake pupil activities across each school so that the staff and children become familiar with each other. This helps with transition and provides our deaf pupils with more confidence when moving on to a new school. Sports events, assemblies, playtimes and lesson observations have all taken place over recent years across the three Centres.

Parents preferred options for schools are discussed during Annual Review meetings. The ‘Transition Annual Review’ meeting for deciding Secondary school placement take place in Year 5 for junior school pupils.

Equipment:

Our Centre for the Deaf encourages maximum use of residual hearing through good use of appropriate hearing aids, which are checked daily.

Our children use Phonak MLXi Radio Aids. These are used together with the child's hearing aids or cochlear implants for use in mainstream classes to allow direct access to the teacher’s voice, while reducing the impact of background noise. The radio aids, transmitters, batteries and audiological shoes are provided by the Teaching Support Service for use by our pupils in mainstream classes.

Teachers of the Deaf carry out regular checks of the Radio Aid receivers and transmitters to ensure the pupils educational amplification is all in good working order.

Extra-curricular/enrichment:

At Norwood Green Juniors, all children attached to the centre take part in year group trips and events. In addition, trips are arranged specifically for the hearing impaired pupils such as signed performances at the theatre, visits to places of interest and inter-school sporting events with deaf children from other schools. These trips are used as a stimulus and followed up in literacy and PSHCE sessions.

Partnerships with parents:

Close links are maintained between the centre and parents. As many of our centre children are transported to school via mini-bus, day to day contact is maintained through use of a home-school liaison folder. Contact via text/phone is also made when appropriate. Parents are also invited to attend Parents Evenings as well as the yearly Annual Review meeting.

Entry criteria:

Age 7-11 years with a statement of SEN

Hearing loss as the primary SEN
Cater in the majority, for children with at least severe (71-95dB) or profound hearing loss (greater than 95dB), depending on the functional implications
A receptive and expressive language delay of considerably more than 1
Broadly average social development
A need to develop language and communication skills through specialist teaching and possibly the use of other modes of communication such as Sign Supported English or British Sign Language
A need for individual/small group tuition and special equipment, with support for its use. A need for opportunities to learn alongside hearing peers for some of the time
Broad average (non-verbal) ability

Exit criteria:

A language delay of less than a year

Age-appropriate self-help skills
Confident and effective communicator in English, as indicated by the Derbyshire or CELF scheme / assessment