Sign Bilingualism in Practice

What does Sign Bilingualism mean in Practice?

At Red Oaks, children have access to BSL support throughout the school day (including break and lunchtimes) to ensure full access to the Foundation Stage Curriculum and National Curriculum and to the social aspects of school life.

All children are full members of their class group. They spend the day with their hearing peers following the same curriculum, modified and differentiated when required. When the needs of a pupil differs substantially from that of their hearing peers (for example - in the teaching of literacy, speech and language work or listening skills) children receive one-to-one teaching and support from the Teacher of the Deaf and/or SBI Teaching Assistants.

All children have an Individual Play Plan (IPP) (Foundation Stage) or Individual Education Plan (IEP) (Key Stages 1 and 2). The Plans contain targets for each child to promote development and progress in academic, personal and social skills. Targets are shared and agreed with parents/carers and are used to inform 1:1 teaching sessions. Progress against targets is reviewed on an on-going basis and targets are updated termly (6 times a year).

Daily Inclusion Monitoring Sheets are kept, detailing children’s achievements, any difficulties they have experienced, and examples of good inclusive practice. The information is used to monitor children’s progress and inclusion in class and school-life and to inform staff training and children’s IPP/IEPs.

All children have a Home-School book which SBI staff use to tell parents/carers about their child’s school day, achievements, issues or important information, and which parents/carers can use to communicate with school staff. Parents who drop off/pick up their child are also welcome to talk to staff face-to-face to share important news, worries or celebrations.

Developing Literacy Skills

The development of literacy skills is fostered through the use of:

• Fingerspelling
• Signed English – used for reading and writing activities.
• Phonetic Cues (a set of handshapes that visually represent all the sounds in spoken English) used for phonics and some speech and language activities.
• BSL - for explaining and discussing ideas in greater depth and for comparing and contrasting the grammatical structure of English and BSL language.

In Nursery (FS1), the emphasis is on developing fingerspelling skills and an awareness of print and the written alphabet. More formal literacy teaching (reading and writing) begins in Reception (FS2).

Audiology

Hearing aids and cochlear implants are checked daily by the Teacher of the Deaf. A qualified audiologist comes into school regularly to take earmould impressions.
There are close links with the Audiology and Ear, Nose and Throat teams at Great Western Hospital, and with the South of England Cochlear Implant Centre at Southampton

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