13 May Enfield children mark Deaf Awareness Week
Hundreds of children at Brimsdown Primary School in Enfield have been taking part in the national Deaf Awareness Week campaign to learn more about the impact of hearing loss.
Pupils of all ages got involved in a day of activities to promote deaf-awareness, including a poster competition, lip reading game and 30-minute silence. They also watched nursery rhymes performed in sign language and took part in quizzes.
In the UK, 50,000 children are deaf. All children at Brimsdown have weekly lessons in British Sign Language (BSL) from nursery upwards, to nurture inclusivity. Not only does this help the school’s 13 deaf pupils, helping them to be more confident and independent, it has benefitted all the pupils, many of whom are fluent in BSL as a result.
Tina Kemp, British Sign Language (BSL) Manager at the school, explains: “BSL has become a second language to our children. They absolutely love learning sign language and they look forward to their lessons each week. It is wonderful to see hearing children using BSL to communicate with their friends.
“Deaf Awareness Week is a great opportunity to explore this in more depth. The past year has been an even greater challenge for deaf people who use lip reading to communicate because of the use of face masks to reduce Covid transmission. Through our activities, we hope to raise awareness that deafness can be a hidden disability.”
Brimsdown has a hearing impairment resource base and also offers lessons to staff and parents of pupils. Deaf Awareness Week is an annual event and this year’s theme is coming through it together.
