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Anger at closure of school hearing impairment unit

BBC A children's choir from St Margaret's Academy using British Sign Language while singing a Christmas carolBBC
Children at St Margaret's Academy signing while singing a Christmas carol

A primary school in Devon which teaches deaf children is set to lose its hearing impairment unit.

Torbay Council is closing the units at St Margaret's Academy in Torquay, which has about 19 children with some form of hearing loss.

The council said the school had been running at less than 50% capacity for more than five years.

But the academy said the council only counted children with an educational health care plan (EHCP) and not other hearing-impaired youngsters which it also supported.

Head teacher Tim Hughes, who is wearing a grey jumper with a striped white shirt underneath. He is a white man with dark eyebrows and grey hair. He is looking toward the camera. He is stood in front of a noticeboard which is brown and purple.
Mr Hughes said there was a "risk" the school could lose specialist staff

The council said it considered the school unit, which has five children with an EHCP and funding for eight places, to be undersubscribed.

But the school said it had an additional 14 children who were hearing-impaired who did not have an EHCP.

Head teacher Tim Hughes said there was "a risk" the school would lose specialist staff and would not be able to help other children.

He said: "We have a teacher for the deaf, we have deaf-inclusion workers, we have specialist teaching assistants.

"They don't grow on trees, they are very hard to find."

'Lost in the chaos'

One mother, Kelly, told the BBC her daughter Teyla had moderate-to-severe hearing loss which was not "severe enough" for an EHCP, but she was "still supported by the hearing support centres".

She said: "If they are not there, she is going to get lost in the chaos."

Donna said her son Lennon would be "isolated" if he was unable to communicate with children at a mainstream school.

Lennon said it would be "not so good" at a different school as there would be "no signing".

Torbay Council said the funding the school had requested, other than a small administrative amount, had now been agreed.

Nick Bye, the lead member for children's services at Torbay Council, said: "It does a fantastic job supporting children with hearing impairment.

"But there are now only five children in the unit remaining and we have identified only another two much younger children likely to come in the future.

"The thinking is to support that much smaller number of children with individual support so they can be in a mainstream classroom setting."

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