Deaf Academy’s pupils return to brand new £10.5m building

The UK’s newest educational establishment for Deaf young people opened its doors to students on the Thursday 3rd September.

Based in the seaside town of Exmouth in Devon, the £10.5 million Deaf Academy features cutting edge Deafspace architecture and technology designed to enhance and improve the learning for its students, who are aged 5-25 – many of whom have additional special needs.

The Academy had been due to open earlier this year and was in the final stages of completion when work was halted due to the impact of coronavirus, and the students’ learning was taken online.

Principal Sylvan Dewing said: ‘We are delighted to open our doors to our students. The new Academy will be an amazing space for young Deaf people to learn and develop. Of course, things are a little different as we implement social distancing measures, but this is an incredible new space where our students will thrive and grow.

‘This is a building which has been designed specifically for young Deaf people and the staff who will be working in it. It will be wholly inclusive and enable our students to live, learn and grow their independence in a safe, state-of-the-art environment.’

The new Academy features a high-ceilinged atrium at its heart, corridors are wider so people can walk side-by-side and sign to each other, and corners of circulation routes are curved to enable students to move safely around the building. In the classrooms, desks are placed in a horseshoe shape to enhance communication and break-out rooms provide space where students can be taught in small groups, take time out or receive therapies, such as speech and language therapy. The proximity to the classrooms will mean students no longer have to take prolonged periods away from their lessons to receive therapies either off site, or in other areas of the Academy.

Staff at the academy worked with architects, south west-based Stride Treglown in the development of the new Academy. Deaf staff played a crucial role in the designing the building. Classroom development was explored by deaf staff. Their views of what a deaf friendly classroom should look was bought to life by the architects.

Carl Harding, architect specialising in education design, says: ‘We undertook a lot of research, looking at other deaf schools across Europe and the United States of America, and particularly the work of the Gallaudet University in the US to understand the unique challenges and opportunities that this exciting project posed.

‘Everything possible has been done to create an environment which improves and enhances communication, right down to the wall colours providing contrasting backgrounds, so people can see each other’s hands clearly when they are signing. Internally visual connection and privacy have been carefully considered, with a range of solid, transparent and translucent surfaces. We have created light open spaces to optimise visual communication for sign language and lip-reading, and will provide good acoustics to maximise access to sound for those using assistive technology.’

Residential students will live together with care staff in ‘family’ flats. In these brand new self-contained flats with a common room, students have the opportunity to grow as young people. Much like university, students come from all over the UK to build their deaf identity, communication and independent skills that will shape the rest of their lives.

Quote from Teacher Of The Deaf and Deaf Role Model Matt Jenkins:

“Ditch your ruby shoe, there is no place like school

When lockdown ripped through Exeter Deaf Academy, Deaf students and staff were whisked away from their old school to the magical land of a deafspace building.
Before we moved to the academy, students were taught in a building which was never designed for them, a misshapen school with old, dilapidated roots in hearing culture. Since moving to the academy the skies have opened and the heavy grey clouds have cleared.
The days at the academy in Exeter are behind us! Now, we enter a new moment in our history, full of vibrant possibilities. Our students are stimulated by a rainbow of opportunities in a school purposefully designed to empower them. Like Dorothy entering the world of Oz, from day one our students have entered a radiant realm where their needs and deaf identity comes first. Student confidence is at an all-time high and grins from ear to ear can be found all around the new academy!

There is no place like school!
There is no place like School!
There is no place like school!

There truly is no place like the Deaf Academy. “

Visit thedeafacademy.ac.uk for further information.