Juliet England: One year on, how Jenson is faring following his school place battle

A year ago, we first wrote about Jenson Lindop-Lamens, a deaf boy who turns nine in October and who returned to school at the start of this year after months away from the classroom.

Jenson, who lives in Sandbach, Cheshire with his family, has been at his first-choice school since January.

He initially left Lindow Primary in Wilmslow in late 2017 due to the lack of full-time BSL support there, leading to a protracted battle between his family and Cheshire East Council over the boy’s education.

It involved extensive media coverage, and local MP Fiona Bruce wrote a letter on behalf of the family. The story has recently been followed up by the BBC’s See Hear programme.

His parents Richard, 42, and Jenny eventually won the place for their son at his preferred school after a planned educational tribunal was cancelled and the council agreed that Jenson’s primary need was his deafness, so he required a signing school, which couldn’t be provided in Cheshire East’s educational area.

Having been out of school for more than a year, Jenson, who became deaf at 16 months following a bout of bacterial meningitis, took up a place at Knotty Ash Primary, in January 2019. (While he was away from the classroom, Cheshire East did provide a couple of hours’ daily at-home tuition.)

Mum Jenny Lindop-Lamens, 38, says her son loves Knotty Ash, which has a specialist deaf unit and some 14 profoundly deaf, BSL-using pupils. It is run by Liverpool City Council. The whole school learns BSL to remove potential barriers with hearing children. It means Jenson, who has an older sister and two older brothers, now has equal numbers of deaf and hearing friends.

Deaf children learn in the deaf unit, but in the playground and dinner hall there is full integration.

Lindop-Lamens, a trained beautician who now runs a personalised gifts business from home, adds: “Clearly the whole situation was unbelievably stressful for us as a family, and we’ll never get that lost time back. It shouldn’t have been such a battle to get Jenson what he needed.

“I was nervous about him returning to school after so long, but within a week of starting it was as though he’d always been there. Credit to the staff and other deaf children who have been amazing. Jenson has never shown any reluctance to school since starting, and he absolutely loves it. It’s been life-changing.

“It was a worry, too, him going back after the summer, but he had no problems at all. He had some help over the holidays as one of the teachers runs a company for deaf children which kept him learning and it’s in BSL. It wasn’t free, but it was worth every penny. I hope there may be funding for other holidays, but know this may be hard to get. The problem is that mainstream holiday clubs won’t take him.

“Of course I am saddened that, because of incompetence and a lack of knowledge from the council, Jenson has missed so much, but he is the best possible school now and is a changed child. His signing and communication have improved immeasurably, which makes life much more fun.

“Jenson has always wanted to communicate, but was never given the right support. Now he’s doing well academically – he especially loves maths and counts in sign language all the time.

“The professionals need to realise that if a child can’t communicate and has no understanding of what is going on around them, they can’t progress at school. I always said Jenson was not stupid, he just needed to communicate in his first language. He never forgets a sign, and makes the most of BSL.”

Jenson’s latest school report describes the Year 4 pupil as having ‘an incredible flair for all things creative. He has a wicked sense of humour and, at times, can be a tough negotiator.’

Lindop-Lamens adds: “Deaf children need to grow up with the same hopes and dreams as other children. Society and especially professionals need to see the damage that can be done otherwise. Deafness is not a disability, and I’m not going anywhere till my son is seen as an equal and people stop being so ignorant.”

This month, parents and campaigners delivered a petition about the funding crisis in deaf education to the Department for Education in Westminster. It had nearly 40,000 signatures.

The government has pledged a £700m boost for special educational needs and disability education, which campaigners have cautiously welcomed – if it reaches deaf children and funds frontline services, particularly specialist teachers.

The National Deaf Children’s Society says: “Deaf children across England are being hit by cuts to their specialist teachers, leaving their futures hanging in the balance.”

The government’s own data shows a 15% increase in the number of deaf children requiring support since 2015. Figures also suggest deaf pupils fall behind at every stage of school even though deafness is not a learning disability.

The NDCS’s Ian Noon said: “Deaf children nationally are facing huge cuts to their educational  support, and this petition shows how angry families are.”