Devon Primary School’s Hearing Impairment Unit Faces Closure, Drawing Criticism

A primary school in Devon that educates deaf children is slated to lose its hearing impairment unit. Torbay Council is proceeding with the closure of these units at St Margaret’s Academy in Torquay, an institution that currently supports approximately 19 children experiencing some degree of hearing loss. According to the council, the school’s unit has operated below 50% capacity for over five years. However, the academy countered this by stating that the council’s count only included children with an educational health care plan (EHCP), omitting other hearing-impaired youngsters who also receive support from the school. The council deemed the school unit, which accommodates five children with an EHCP and is funded for eight places, to be undersubscribed. Conversely, the school reported supporting an additional 14 hearing-impaired children who do not possess an EHCP. Tim Hughes, the head teacher, expressed concern that there was “a risk” the school could lose its specialist staff, thereby hindering its ability to assist other children. He stated: “We have a teacher for the deaf, we have deaf-inclusion workers, we have specialist teaching assistants.” He added, “They don’t grow on trees, they are very hard to find.” Kelly, a mother, informed the BBC that her daughter Teyla experiences moderate-to-severe hearing loss, which was not considered “severe enough” for an EHCP, yet she was “still supported by the hearing support centres.” Kelly remarked: “If they are not there, she is going to get lost in the chaos.” Donna conveyed that her son Lennon would feel “isolated” if he could not communicate with peers in a mainstream school environment. Lennon himself commented that attending a different school would be “not so good” due to the absence of “no signing.” Torbay Council confirmed that the funding requested by the school, excluding a minor administrative sum, has now been approved. Nick Bye, the lead member for children’s services at Torbay Council, stated: “It does a fantastic job supporting children with hearing impairment.” He continued, “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.” Bye concluded, “The thinking is to support that much smaller number of children with individual support so they can be in a mainstream classroom setting.” Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding our approach to external linking is available.