Pelham Primary specialist resource provision

Pelham Primary School is proud to have the only specialist resource provision for Deaf and Hearing Impaired children in Bexley.

The Specialist Resource Provision (SRP) is for pupils with severe or profound hearing losses. A child may be accepted into the school with a moderate hearing loss if there are other reasons that mean they require the specialist support of the SRP. Children are all issued with an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Children with hearing impairments are fully integrated in the mainstream classes and they take part in all aspects of school life.

Pelham Primary School promotes positive attitudes between hearing and hearing impaired children and takes pride in the inclusive attitude of our whole school community. Deaf Awareness sessions are provided to staff in the school and all children in the school have regular deaf awareness sessions from nursery to Year 6. Topic areas include; communication strategies, hearing aids, signing vocabulary and songs, deaf role models and what it means to be deaf.

The SRP has a child centred Total Communication Policy; by this we mean we use the communication approach appropriate to each child. This could be oral/aural, signing, spoken and written English, speech reading, British Sign Language, Signed English, Signed Supported English, finger-spelling, natural gesture, pictures or symbols. Communication methods can change and develop over a child's time at Pelham School and therefore it is regularly reviewed along with their educational and emotional needs.

There is a qualified Teacher of the Deaf in the school who offers specialist support to the children. A team of SEN Teaching Assistants offer support and intervention where appropriate. Specialist support may take the form of individualised work, group activities, reverse inclusion, targeted work towards EHC Plan outcomes, listening skills, audiology maintenance, pre or post teaching, speech and language work, etc. Children use hearing aids or cochlear implants as well as FM systems to aid the development of their auditory/listening skills.

There is a close working relationship between the school and external providers such as the Advisory Teacher of the Deaf, Audiology, Cochlear Implant Centres, Deaf CAMHS and Educational Psychologists. Two Specialist Speech and Language Therapists visit the school weekly to support to the children in developing their communication, speech and language.  We also work closely with parents to ensure that their child is best supported both at school and at home.  We hold regular coffee mornings for parents and community events.