Deaf resource base in South Wales to close, sparking concern from parents (BSL)

Cwmbran High School in South Wales is currently the only school in Gwent to have a specialist base for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

However the school, which also has an ASD base for those on the autism spectrum, has recently announced restructuring plans which will undoubtedly affect the deaf and hard of hearing students attending the school.

Earlier this month Torfaen Council announced that the support service known as the deaf base at Cwmbran High School will be closing in May and support for deaf children integrated into one centre which will be made up of children with ASD as well as other additional learning needs too.

Chatting to Mr Andrew Longney, who is parent to Gethin who is currently in year seven, it is clear how many parents are highly concerned about the sudden plans that have been revealed.

Mr Longney shared:

“On Tuesday 13th March we received a letter home from school stating that the Deaf base is closing and all children will be added to the ASD base and go under the heading of “SNRB” Special needs resource base. This means that the Deaf children would have to move into rooms which are not sound proofed.

The restructuring of the school has meant that the Deaf base lead teacher is now going into early retirement as her current job will no longer exist. Two other experienced teachers within the Deaf base have also been made redundant from their current positions and will be moved to Sencom from May 1st.”

The parents of deaf children at this base have since expressed their shock and disapproval towards these moves, fearing that they will negatively impact their children’s education.

Mr Longney continued:

“We were absolutely devastated at this news. We managed to speak to the headteacher who told us about funding cuts and that the letter we received was written by himself, which was distributed from Torfaen Council the day before.”

However, later on the parents were sent an updated letter which stated the previous news was sent without the authorisation of Torfaen Council and reiterated that the provision for their children would not be changing.

The parents were perplexed by this, asking how things could not change with three key members being removed from their children’s education.

With less staff but the same number of students, the parents are concerned that there will be inadequate numbers of staff members to efficiently work with their children.

The group of worried parents have since decided to get together to officially log their complaint towards the plans and their plight has been published on the front page of South Wales Argus.

As it currently stands, two teachers of the Deaf will be leaving the base on May 1st and the Head of Base ends her position at the end of the school year in July.

However, the parents of the affected children remain concerned that changes of this magnitude – especially whilst the school is in special measures – will have a significant and direct effect on their children’s education.

Mr Longney said:

“Our son Gethin has only been in high school since September. He absolutely loves going to school however he has recently become anxious and has started to tell us when he doesn’t have support in lessons.

Gethin is oral but he relies on sign and support during lessons in school. They have even had support from Teaching Assistants that can’t sign.”

Torfaen council are planning to arrange a meeting with parents in the coming weeks to address the concerns.

Photo credit Google Street View.