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The signs are not good | News crumb | EducationGuardian.co.uk
When her daughter, Isabella, was born profoundly deaf, Polly Burton made the decision to communicate with her using British Sign Language (BSL).
Every Wednesday, mother and daughter made the journey from south to north London to attend the nursery drop-in centre at Frank Barnes school for deaf children in Camden, where Isabella could mix with other deaf children, and Polly could attend sign-language classes.
Frank Barnes is a unique primary school in London and is one of only four schools for deaf children in England that teaches the national curriculum in BSL, rather than in English with the simultaneous use of a signing translator.
All the teachers and staff are fluent in BSL and more than half are deaf. The school has been praised by Ofsted for successfully "providing pupils with the skills they need for academic and personal development and for taking their place with pride in the deaf and hearing communities".
Burton says the beauty of the school is its "holistic approach to education and supporting families".
High expectations
Paula Garfield, who is deaf, wanted her daughter, Molly, to attend the school because of its high expectations for deaf children. "They expect Molly to learn to spell her name at age three. She knows all the colours and can count up to five. In any other school, they wouldn't expect so much from a deaf child," she says.
But whether Isabella, four, and Molly, three, will be able to finish their primary education at Frank Barnes has been thrown into doubt as the council plans to build a new academy on the Swiss Cottage site, which it shares with another SEN school.
Camden, where land is at a premium, says the Adelaide Road site is the only suitable location to accommodate the proposed new six-form entry secondary school, which will receive funding from the government's Building Schools for the Future budget.
Following a meeting of Camden's executive last Wednesday, Frank Barnes, which draws children from across the capital, now faces a merger with another school for deaf children, Blanche Nevile, in Haringey. The council has made relocation to another site in Camden an option, but school governors believe the high costs involved - estimated to be upwards of pounds 4m - will rule this out.
Parents and governors have reacted angrily, fearing that the loss of the pupils' right to be taught the curriculum in BSL - a real possibility with a merger - would have a detrimental effect.
In a paper sent to the council, the governors expressed their concerns, citing differences in teaching methods between the two schools, the lack of facilities at Blanche Nevile and the extra journey time for pupils. In the paper, the chairman of governors, Stephen Phillips, says the proposals "risk consigning the capital's profoundly deaf children of primary age to a sub-standard education which will seriously affect their life chances".
Burton, who, along with Garfield, has set up a parent action group to safeguard the future of the school, says: "We are really not happy with a merger. The thing that is so special about this school, which is something not offered at the school in Haringey, is that the curriculum is delivered directly in British Sign Language.
"Deaf children here need that to succeed," she says.
The National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) has also condemned the council's plans. Susan Daniels, its chief executive, says the existing proposals are "simply unacceptable" and fail to address the legal requirement of the council to ensure any new provision meets the government's "SEN test of improvement", which states that if a specialist resource, such as Frank Barnes, is closed, it must be replaced with something that is either as good as, or better than what was there before.
The council is in a tricky position. Camden certainly needs more secondary school places - only 47% of children stay in the borough for schooling after year 6. And both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats, who entered into a partnership agreement when no party gained overall control in the 2006 elections, are looking to honour election pledges to cre ate more school places with a new build.
Conservative councillor Andrew Mennear, who is the executive member for schools at Camden, insists that no decision on the future of Frank Barnes will be made until March, following a two-month consultation on the two options.
"We need everyone's views before we make a decision," he says. "Council officers have had positive conversations with Blanche Nevile, but we have to make sure that everyone is happy. The key thing for us is that the provision of education for children is right."
He added that the council already had concerns about the long-term future of Frank Barnes before proposals for a new secondary were put forward.
Falling rolls at the school - it currently has 29 children - are a major factor. The council says the school is projected to have a deficit of pounds 100,000 by the end of the year because of the shortfall, a cost the 15 other local authorities whose children go to Frank Barnes are not sharing.
Transition to secondary schools is also a concern, says Mennear, which he believes could be made smoother if pupils were better integrated into a more mainstream setting during their primary years.
More deaf children are also benefiting from cochlear implants, "which is leading to fewer families seeking out a solely sign-language education", he adds.
The council set up a working party with the school in spring 2006, as part of a wider review of SEN provision in the borough, "to try to identity the best future possible for the school", says Mennear, adding that only four pupils from the Camden area attend Frank Barnes. The school is relying heavily on other children in other boroughs to fill up the school roll, which was "a big issue" for the council.
He says that the application for BSF funding merely brought ongoing issues over the school's future to a head.
It's perhaps not fair to view schools like Frank Barnes as local, as their intake comes from a much wider community. Supporters argue that the school should be allowed to develop into a regional centre, which would help to spread costs and cater for more children.
Whatever the final outcome, the row over Frank Barnes highlights some fundamental issues about the teaching of deaf children.
Not all children will use sign language in class, but research conducted in Scandinavia and the US has found that early exposure to signing develops higher reading skills among deaf children than those without the chance to access it.
Critical access
Daniels says even with the best amplification some deaf children will still not be able to get the most out of their lessons or wider school activities without BSL. "It is critical for these children to access the appropriate education provision such as that offered by Frank Barnes."
There is also the question of choice - a word used with frequency by education ministers. Many parents do not even know schools like Frank Barnes exist.
Those who do often have a fight on their hands if they live outside the borough and want to secure a place for their child, despite the school having the capacity for 60 pupils.
The government's drive for inclusion means local authorities are keen to educate pupils in the borough, which often means in units for deaf children attached to mainstream schools. The cost of sending a child to a school outside the local area also brings extra expense.
The school believes the way forward could be creating a regional centre in London that caters for the needs of all deaf children - an idea it put to the council back in 2001.
The centre would deliver the curriculum in ways deemed appropriate for a child's needs. Transport costs could be pooled across the boroughs, as could services from occupational and physiotherapists.
Such a centre could also offer high-quality secondary provision, something parents are anxious for. If Camden backs the relocation option for Frank Barnes, this could be phase one of the centre. A secondary school could be developed at a later stage. The problem is, a regional centre isn't even on the table.
When her daughter, Isabella, was born profoundly deaf, Polly Burton made the decision to communicate with her using British Sign Language (BSL).
Every Wednesday, mother and daughter made the journey from south to north London to attend the nursery drop-in centre at Frank Barnes school for deaf children in Camden, where Isabella could mix with other deaf children, and Polly could attend sign-language classes.
Frank Barnes is a unique primary school in London and is one of only four schools for deaf children in England that teaches the national curriculum in BSL, rather than in English with the simultaneous use of a signing translator.
All the teachers and staff are fluent in BSL and more than half are deaf. The school has been praised by Ofsted for successfully "providing pupils with the skills they need for academic and personal development and for taking their place with pride in the deaf and hearing communities".
Burton says the beauty of the school is its "holistic approach to education and supporting families".
High expectations
Paula Garfield, who is deaf, wanted her daughter, Molly, to attend the school because of its high expectations for deaf children. "They expect Molly to learn to spell her name at age three. She knows all the colours and can count up to five. In any other school, they wouldn't expect so much from a deaf child," she says.
But whether Isabella, four, and Molly, three, will be able to finish their primary education at Frank Barnes has been thrown into doubt as the council plans to build a new academy on the Swiss Cottage site, which it shares with another SEN school.
Camden, where land is at a premium, says the Adelaide Road site is the only suitable location to accommodate the proposed new six-form entry secondary school, which will receive funding from the government's Building Schools for the Future budget.
Following a meeting of Camden's executive last Wednesday, Frank Barnes, which draws children from across the capital, now faces a merger with another school for deaf children, Blanche Nevile, in Haringey. The council has made relocation to another site in Camden an option, but school governors believe the high costs involved - estimated to be upwards of pounds 4m - will rule this out.
Parents and governors have reacted angrily, fearing that the loss of the pupils' right to be taught the curriculum in BSL - a real possibility with a merger - would have a detrimental effect.
In a paper sent to the council, the governors expressed their concerns, citing differences in teaching methods between the two schools, the lack of facilities at Blanche Nevile and the extra journey time for pupils. In the paper, the chairman of governors, Stephen Phillips, says the proposals "risk consigning the capital's profoundly deaf children of primary age to a sub-standard education which will seriously affect their life chances".
Burton, who, along with Garfield, has set up a parent action group to safeguard the future of the school, says: "We are really not happy with a merger. The thing that is so special about this school, which is something not offered at the school in Haringey, is that the curriculum is delivered directly in British Sign Language.
"Deaf children here need that to succeed," she says.
The National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) has also condemned the council's plans. Susan Daniels, its chief executive, says the existing proposals are "simply unacceptable" and fail to address the legal requirement of the council to ensure any new provision meets the government's "SEN test of improvement", which states that if a specialist resource, such as Frank Barnes, is closed, it must be replaced with something that is either as good as, or better than what was there before.
The council is in a tricky position. Camden certainly needs more secondary school places - only 47% of children stay in the borough for schooling after year 6. And both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats, who entered into a partnership agreement when no party gained overall control in the 2006 elections, are looking to honour election pledges to cre ate more school places with a new build.
Conservative councillor Andrew Mennear, who is the executive member for schools at Camden, insists that no decision on the future of Frank Barnes will be made until March, following a two-month consultation on the two options.
"We need everyone's views before we make a decision," he says. "Council officers have had positive conversations with Blanche Nevile, but we have to make sure that everyone is happy. The key thing for us is that the provision of education for children is right."
He added that the council already had concerns about the long-term future of Frank Barnes before proposals for a new secondary were put forward.
Falling rolls at the school - it currently has 29 children - are a major factor. The council says the school is projected to have a deficit of pounds 100,000 by the end of the year because of the shortfall, a cost the 15 other local authorities whose children go to Frank Barnes are not sharing.
Transition to secondary schools is also a concern, says Mennear, which he believes could be made smoother if pupils were better integrated into a more mainstream setting during their primary years.
More deaf children are also benefiting from cochlear implants, "which is leading to fewer families seeking out a solely sign-language education", he adds.
The council set up a working party with the school in spring 2006, as part of a wider review of SEN provision in the borough, "to try to identity the best future possible for the school", says Mennear, adding that only four pupils from the Camden area attend Frank Barnes. The school is relying heavily on other children in other boroughs to fill up the school roll, which was "a big issue" for the council.
He says that the application for BSF funding merely brought ongoing issues over the school's future to a head.
It's perhaps not fair to view schools like Frank Barnes as local, as their intake comes from a much wider community. Supporters argue that the school should be allowed to develop into a regional centre, which would help to spread costs and cater for more children.
Whatever the final outcome, the row over Frank Barnes highlights some fundamental issues about the teaching of deaf children.
Not all children will use sign language in class, but research conducted in Scandinavia and the US has found that early exposure to signing develops higher reading skills among deaf children than those without the chance to access it.
Critical access
Daniels says even with the best amplification some deaf children will still not be able to get the most out of their lessons or wider school activities without BSL. "It is critical for these children to access the appropriate education provision such as that offered by Frank Barnes."
There is also the question of choice - a word used with frequency by education ministers. Many parents do not even know schools like Frank Barnes exist.
Those who do often have a fight on their hands if they live outside the borough and want to secure a place for their child, despite the school having the capacity for 60 pupils.
The government's drive for inclusion means local authorities are keen to educate pupils in the borough, which often means in units for deaf children attached to mainstream schools. The cost of sending a child to a school outside the local area also brings extra expense.
The school believes the way forward could be creating a regional centre in London that caters for the needs of all deaf children - an idea it put to the council back in 2001.
The centre would deliver the curriculum in ways deemed appropriate for a child's needs. Transport costs could be pooled across the boroughs, as could services from occupational and physiotherapists.
Such a centre could also offer high-quality secondary provision, something parents are anxious for. If Camden backs the relocation option for Frank Barnes, this could be phase one of the centre. A secondary school could be developed at a later stage. The problem is, a regional centre isn't even on the table.