The presence of a role model for children is crucial for the wellbeing of a young person as they grow up; these people can inspire, provide a blueprint of how to behave and act as a source of valuable information. With this in mind, young deaf people need the presence of adults who are themselves deaf in their lives. Our children were given the the opportunity to meet a successful role model, who is profoundly deaf and whose first language is BSL.
Paul initially toured our school, briefly visiting the classes with deaf children in. He then spent time with Mrs Norford’s Literacy group where the children shared their current written work: ‘The day the BFG visited Hacton Primary School’.
Paul then meet with a group of children for 20 minutes and they had a chance to introduce themselves and discuss their hopes for Christmas presents. All children learnt some new signs and enjoyed Paul’s sense of humour.
Finally, Paul visited Mr Marshall’s Maths class and spent time working with different children in the room who were learning how to accurately measure angles. The children had the opportunity to meet a successful deaf role model and practise their communication skills, both spoken and sign language as well as lip reading.
Provision for Hearing Impaired Children said:
"It was nice to meet new deaf people, especially an adult so we can get help with our sign language. It was nice to show him what we’ve been doing."
"I liked meeting Paul because he was funny and kind. It was nice to sign with him."
"It was fabulous when he joined us in Maths. I felt shy but proud to have him in my lesson to help."
