New Marston Deaf and Hearing Support Base
New Marston is proud to have a diverse community and host the New Marston Deaf and Hearing Support Base (DHSB). Our aim is for children and young people with SEN to make good progress, achieve well and enjoy school, family and community life. Please find the New Marston Deaf and Hearing Support Base Information Report attached here. Within our base, we have Teachers of the Deaf (TODs) and Communication Support Workers (CSWs) who provide language models and support our children to develop their expressive language, their understanding and confidence. We aim to enable students to:
● fulfil their academic and social potential in an inclusive mainstream setting;
● have the same educational opportunities and challenges as their hearing peers;
● become resilient and independent young adults with positive self-esteem;
● enjoy their time at school;
● become effective communicators in their chosen mode(s) of communication;
● be involved in decisions regarding their own education and take increasing responsibility for their own learning;
● benefit from the close co-operative working of parents, the school and other agencies;
● be prepared for life in the wider community;
● enjoy their time at school.
● have a well-supported and smooth transition from EYFS into primary and then into secondary school.
How we Learn
Our children are based in their own mainstream class; when working in the mainstream class they will have a CSW to support them. Mainstream teachers and base staff work closely to monitor children’s progress, wellbeing and needs. They work together to create targets, interventions and feedback within termly meetings and annual reviews for EHCP (Educational Health Care Plans). Other professionals who may work with children such as Speech and Language Therapists (SALTs), Occupational Therapists (OT), physiotherapists or other professionals, Deaf CAMHS etc. Depending on needs, some children may work within our base which has specialist acoustically treated classrooms so that they are provide a quiet environment in which to learn, receive specialist intervention or recap or pre-teach learning.
Teachers of the Deaf teach specialist sessions to pupils, use specialist assessments to monitor progress and check pupils’ audiology equipment daily.
Sign Language
Within our base, we use Total Communication (a combination of speech, sign language, and visuals/symbols, depending on the needs of each pupil) to support children’s language development and access to the curriculum. Children in New Marston can now sign up to our British Sign Language club which takes place over lunchtime.
If you or your child would like to learn British Sign Language (BSL) try some of these resources.
Deaf Studies
We encourage our children to learn about deafness, audiology and the deaf community. We want children to feel confident and accept their deafness. We encourage our children to self-advocate for themselves and be independent in managing their learning and their audiology technology so we learn how to use our equipment independently, how to understand audiograms and explain what can help Deaf children in weekly Deaf Studies base sessions. To help children feel part of a wider Deaf community, we have attended base trips and events such as Panathlon’s Deaf Tournaments so that our children can meet other Deaf children and know that they are part of a larger community. We also arrange visits from Deaf role models to encourage our pupils to develop a sense of ambition of all the amazing things that Deaf people achieve, such as our visit by Deaf illustrator Lucy Rogers. We celebrate BSL recognition day and Deaf awareness and are developing a sign choir.
Audiology
Children may wear hearing aids or cochlear implants to improve access to sound. Many of our pupils have radio aids and sound field systems in class to give them an advantage to hear their teacher above the background noise of their peers in class. We encourage our children to look after their own equipment and self-advocate for themselves if there is a problem. Children should feel safe to remind teachers if their radio aid is not working, off or on mute. It is also beneficial for children to practice cleaning their equipment and changing their batteries at home.
Visual Phonics
Many children learn to read using phonics and speech sounds. For some deaf children this can be very tricky so we use ‘Visual Phonics’ which links each sound to a different hand gesture to make sounds ‘visual’ and highlights where the sound is made, what the lip patterns may look like. If you would like to learn our Visual Phonics or practice these with your child, please contact the Lead Teacher of the Deaf using the email below.
For more information
The Deaf and Hearing Support resource base (DHS resource base) is part of a continuum of support available, through the local offer, to children and young people who are deaf living in Oxfordshire. More detail on the local offer can be found at the following link:
https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/public-site/special-educational-needs-and-disability-local-offer
If you have any questions or enquiries, please contact our Lead Teacher of the Deaf for the base, Mrs Amy Lanphere on newmarstonhrb1@nmps.org.uk
