Deaf News: World record for signing and singing broken by 114,000 children

GUINNESS World Records™ has confirmed that the world record for the most people signing and singing a song simultaneously has been broken.

The annual sign2sing record breaker organised by Deaf healthcare charity SignHealth saw 114,277 pupils and teachers from 600 schools break the record in February.

One of the schools that took part was St Joseph’s Catholic Infants School in Aylesbury. Teacher Jean Finn said: “We had great fun in the months leading up to the record breaking event and on the day all the children enjoyed it tremendously. We’re delighted to have helped break the record. It was an engaging way for the children to learn and understand different forms of communication.”

Schools that registered for sign2sing received a DVD to help them learn and practise the song, as well as a set of new classroom resources aimed at increasing Deaf awareness.

The song, entitled ‘sign2sing’, was composed especially for the event. The lyrics were written by Garry Slack, author of the award-winning ‘Sign with Olli’ books and the music was composed by Paul Fairey, who has written theme tunes for television and radio.

The Minister of State for Children and Families, Sarah Teather MP, Actor, Louise Jameson, children’s Laureate and famous author, Julia Donaldson and children’s TV presenter, Dave Benson Phillips all supported sign2sing 2012.