DEAF AWARENESS WEEK: DISCOVERY EDUCATION LAUNCHES NEWS BULLETIN FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS
A special news programme to help primary schools celebrate and support children and young people who are deaf is being launched by global edtech leader Discovery Education in support of Deaf Awareness Week.
The Deaf Awareness Week News Bites Special will be broadcast to thousands of UK primary schools from 9th May via Espresso News – the award-winning news service for children. Produced in partnership with ITN Productions, Espresso News brings the world’s biggest stories to UK classrooms every day.
Taking place from 6th to 12th May, Deaf Awareness Week is dedicated to helping children and young people celebrate deaf identity, while raising awareness of the challenges they face. There are more than 50,000 deaf children in the UK, according to the National Deaf Children’s Society. The Espresso News Special will help primary schools to explore what being deaf means while offering tips and advice on how to support children who are deaf.
To create the special film, a crew from Espresso News visited the primary site of Elmfield School For Deaf Children in Bristol, an inspirational setting for deaf pupils from nursery age to Year 6. The school also has a separate secondary site. During her visit, ITN presenter and producer Claire Mewse interviewed teachers and pupils at Elmfield to find out more about deaf culture and how the school supports young people with bilingual teaching, in British Sign Language (BSL) and English.
Headteacher Kate Persaud said:
“We were delighted to welcome the film crew from Discovery Education to celebrate Deaf Awareness Week. The children really enjoyed taking part and it was a great opportunity to raise awareness of specialist education for deaf children and highlight how everyone can be more inclusive in their communication.”
Pupil Mille said, “It was really fun because they made a deaf awareness video. That’s important so everyone can be more aware.”
Andy, another pupil, added “I enjoyed giving new signs to other people and children.”
Lizzy Lambley, Discovery Education’s UK Head of Production said:
“Discovery Education is proud to support Deaf Awareness Week. Our Espresso News Bites Special will help primary schools to learn about deaf culture while highlighting some of the challenges faced by deaf children that they need to manage every day.”
The Espresso News Special can be viewed by subscriber schools from 9th May at www.espresso.co.uk.
Find out more about Deaf Awareness Week at www.ncds.org.uk.
Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital resources nurture curiosity and drive deeper engagement. Explore Discovery Education’s award-winning digital learning services at www.discoveryeducation.co.uk.
