Philip Morant’s Enhanced Provision has places for a maximum of 18 students who have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) where their main need is their hearing impairment. Our deaf students are fully integrated into the school and make up an important part of the school’s community. All staff and students in the school have deaf awareness training regularly. Students are mostly taught in mainstream lessons however they do have tutorials with the ToD or communicators where it is decided that this would be beneficial. Tutorials are used to pre-teach concepts, consolidate learning and build key skills.
Support is given to students who are part of the Enhanced Provision based on their individual needs and communication methods. For students who use BSL, a communicator is present in all lessons and will interpret the teacher and facilitate communication between the deaf student and their hearing peers where needed. Other students may only require signed support to clarify points or reiterate what has been said. For some students a note-taker is provided. This allows the student to focus on the lesson knowing that there will be a complete set of notes for them to refer to after the lesson.
There is a speech and language therapist who visits to work with individual students where this is highlighted as a need in their EHCP. We also have a Deaf British Sign Language instructor who works with students on a one-to-one basis.
Specialist audiology equipment is available for all students to use in lessons and tutorials. This enables students to access lessons in a variety of ways based on the communication preferences. Enhanced Provision staff are able to assist students with equipment and solve any problems with their personal audiology equipment. We are in touch with student’s audiologists and can make contact if replacements are needed. Should a more serious issue arise with equipment a visit may be required.
Our deaf students are encouraged to participate in many sporting activities and regularly compete in the Panathlon, winning trophies along the way! They come together once a year to enjoy the Signed Carol Concert held at Chelmsford Cathedral and get recognition for their efforts. The Signing Choir take part in competitions organised by other schools to encourage mixing with their deaf peers.
For further information, please contact Abby Woods, Head of Enhanced Provision, via abby.woods@pmsc.school.
