As part of our advocacy, #OneAccesibility, we will share information about differently able and profile one location with accessible trails. Look out every week for this enlightening post.
This month, we are focusing on Inclusive schools in our community or neighbourhood. If you wish to know what exactly is an Inclusive education, do check this article by @ChinonsoOnukwugha .
One such school in London is the Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children. Frank Barnes is one of the only schools in London, and indeed England, with a truly bilingual philosophy – treating the learning of British Sign Language (BSL) and English with equal importance. As a nationally recognised Centre of Excellence they also offer a broad range of services to parents and the wider community – both deaf and hearing. More information about this can be found on their website.
The staff are dedicated and enthusiastic about seeing the students flourish in every area. Their passion for signing is infectious and many of the hearing children and adults also join in. They place much emphasis on celebrating diversity and a deaf cultural approach in the development of our children’s social skills. The best part of this school is that they believe that each child has the right to a positive deaf identity, to be proud of being deaf and to be part of the deaf community which gives them a sense of belonging. The small and friendly school has been rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, and has a national and international reputation as a centre of excellence for deaf education. The school caters for children aged 2 – 11, and is one of the only schools in London, and indeed England, with a bilingual philosophy – treating the learning of English and British Sign Language (BSL) with equal importance. The school also recognises the status, role and contribution of BSL and deaf people in the education of our children through delivery of the National Deaf Studies curriculum.
Are there any Inclusive Schools in your area? What is special about them? What facilities do they provide? Do mention in the comments below .
If you have a question, suggestion, or contribution, feel free to comment below. You can read last week’s roundup article here and check the list of our other articles under “Accessibility Uncovered”.
Thank you for this article @Globe_trotter_Ish and focusing on this aspect of inclusive schools. I definitely learned that there are variations of sign language, so thank you for bringing light to this. Do you know if parents of the school who through a training or learning period to better help their children/learners? Like if there is a requirement to already know sign language or provisions for classes.
I am glad you liked the post @ChinonsoOnukwugha ! In the UK, the parents/ carers of children with speech or hearing issues are given free courses and trainings if they wish to join one through government programs so that dependency is not on the schools. So generally, such kids and their parents/ carers are already a part of program pre-designed to make them equiped before they start schooling. The education system in the UK is really well -equiped and inclusive specially when it comes to basic school or university education.
As Accessibility advocates, we always try to write about posts that increase awareness about accessibility. I am glad you found the post useful @abhishekpatk !
Thanks for sharing this great example of an inclusive school @Globe_trotter_Ish
You know, I would have liked to have a Mexican Sign Language (SLM) course instead of those complementary courses(that nobody liked ), It would have been so much more interesting and useful.
Very informative and enjoyable post @Globe_trotter_Ish . I loved to read this post to the end and feel very happy to know about Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children Thanks a lot for sharing this nice and informative post with us. Stay safe.
I really admire the way the school is passionate about well being of students and simultaneously focus on quality education respectively. Hats off to them and thanks for sharing with us.
I totally agree with you on this @LaloPadilla ! It would have been really useful to our community and everyone would have communicated easily with each other no matter what ! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us
Thank you so much @MukulR for taking out time and reading the post till the end ! Spreading accessibility awareness is what we wish to achieve through this and I am glad if even a single person reads this and spreads the knowledge ! I am glad you liked the post and found it informative !
You are absolutely right @AjitThite dada about this school ! Even when I was researching , I really found this school interesting and the efforts they are putting to give education to each child with hearing difficulties and treating them all with love and respect is amazing ! Thanks for sharing your views !
), It would have been so much more interesting and useful.
! It would have been really useful to our community and everyone would have communicated easily with each other no matter what ! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us 