WEEKLY UPDATE 22 APRIL 2021 - GOVDELIVERY

Welcome to our weekly update on 22nd April from the Sensory Support Team 0-25yrs for
children and young people with a hearing loss or visual impairment and their parents, carers,
school staff and professionals.

Weekly Update 22 April 2021
Dear Families,
Welcome to the summer term, I hope you are all enjoying the
wonderful sunshine we have had over the past few days.
If there is anything you would like to discuss or anything we may be
able to support you with, please feel free to contact your QToD/QTVI
or myself.
I look forward to hearing from you with items you would like to share with our Sensory
community.
My warmest wishes to you all
Sibel

Copies of our newsletters can be found at
Weekly update on 25th March 21.pdf
Weekly update on 18th March 21.pdf
We would also love to be able to share your stories, videos and real-life experiences so
please drop me a line. We are happy to help with the technology side of things!
sibel.djemal@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Support with creating adaptations for VI
Children/young people
As part of our drive to continually evolve and develop our services, we are pleased to be able
to offer drop-in, virtual support for TAs who are busy making resources, adapting work and
brailing.
During term time, every Tuesday morning between 9:00am and 12:00pm and Thursday
afternoon between 1pm and 3:30 pm, our specialist TAs will be holding a virtual surgery where
you can drop in and ask the ‘How do I adapt this piece of work?’ or ‘What is the rule around
using lower signs?’ style of questions that you need a quick response to in order for you to
keep work flowing for the young people that you support.
These sessions will be a drop-in time via the TEAMS links below and we will be able to answer
your questions and give you advice.
 Tuesday 9:00-12:00 Click here to join the meeting
Thursday 1:00-3:30 Click here to join the meeting
Also, we are planning on offering some specific workshops on a range of topics, such as:
graphs; scientific diagrams; adapting exam papers etc. – if you have some topics that you
would like us to cover please can you let us know?

Many thanks
Kirsty, Myrtha & Sarah

Sensory Support Team, Family Support Group
Hello families of pre-schoolers,
This term we will be meeting fortnightly via Zoom. We hope you will join us for some of our
sessions:
Tuesday 27th April at 2pm
Thursday 13th May at 11am
Tuesday 25th May at 2pm
Last week, Marie Claire shared Playtime, a DK touch and feel book about Toys. We loved
seeing your favourite toy! We did some songs with our shakers and really enjoyed making
some noise!

Next week, on Tuesday afternoon at 2pm, we will be sharing a book about Bubbles from
Sesame Street Beginnings. Please come along and bring a pot of bubbles if you have some! We
will be singing some songs about bubbles too

Hope you can join us!
Jo, Bridget, Marie-Claire, Andi and Louise
If you would like to join in with our next session please contact your QToD/VI or email Bridget
at Bridget.Joyce@cambridgeshire.g.uovk If you’d like to be added to our
WhatsApp group email Jo at Joanna.Brass@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

BATOD Face masks and adjustments update
There have been some important changes to government guidance on face coverings in
classrooms in England which may help your child.

Last month, we explained how we had taken the first steps in legal action against the
Department for not doing enough to ensure deaf children aren’t disadvantaged by the use of
face coverings in classrooms. Deaf young campaigners have also continued to do an amazing
job in highlighting the impact of face coverings on young people like them – see Dinah’s
petition, for example.
Earlier this week, the Department for Education announced that face coverings would
continue to be recommended in secondary classrooms in England until at least the 17th May.
At the same time, the Department has made two important changes to guidance on face
coverings on 1) ‘reasonable adjustments’ and 2) face shields and visors.

Reasonable adjustments
The guidance now makes clear that schools and colleges must make all ‘reasonable
adjustments’. This is a legal duty which means that they must do everything they can to make
sure that disabled young people are not disadvantaged in education.
The guidance goes on to give examples of what those reasonable adjustments might be:
 • The provision and effective use of assistive listening devices, such as radio aids.
 • An increased focus on the listening environment, minimising all unnecessary
 background noise. Steps should be taken so that children with hearing loss are taught
 in classrooms with the best possible acoustic conditions.
 • Allowing the use of speech-recognition apps on mobile devices and tablets in
 classrooms, taking into account possible variations in the effectiveness of such apps in
 different classroom situations.
 • Additional communication support, including remote speech-to-text reporters or sign
 language interpreters.
 • Separate one-to-one teaching and support, without the use of face coverings and in
 rooms where social distancing can be achieved and/or through a Perspex panel.
These are all examples that we had suggested to the Department, so we are really pleased
that they have copied these into their guidance.

As the Department makes clear, this are all possible examples. Some may work better than
others for your child. There may also be other things that could help your child. This is why it’s
helpful that the guidance also says that:
“education settings should discuss with pupils and parents the types of reasonable adjustments
that are being considered to support an individual.”

Face shields and visors
Another important change is that guidance now makes clear that face visors or shields can be
worn by people when communicating with deaf people.
People are exempt from wearing a face covering if they are communicating with someone who
relies on lipreading. This means that teachers or other pupils, for example, can choose to take
off their face covering when talking to a deaf young person.

We know that this is working well in many areas. At the same time, we also know that some
people may feel uncomfortable about doing this.
This is why we thought it was important that guidance made clear that face visors or shields
could be an option in these cases, as an alternative to the exemption.

Staff Biographies
As a Local Authority we very much believe in a Think Family approach to how we support and
coach our children/young people, families and fellow professionals. We thought it would be a
lovely idea to share our staff biographies with you. As there are over 55 of us in the team we
thought that we would add a few each week rather than all at once 

 My name is Tina Claydon and I am a Teacher of the deaf
 working for the Sensory Support Team.
 I came to Cambridge from working at Harrow in a nursery
 ‘unit’ provision attached to a primary school where I worked
 with 20 young profoundly deaf 3-5 year olds and before this
 I worked for Suffolk as a teacher in charge of a hearing
 support provision at a large primary school.
My journey with Cambridge started at Mayfield primary school in the hearing support
provision. This was at a time when hearing aids were still analogue and the radio aids were big
and bulky!
After working at Mayfield, I moved into peripatetic work throughout Cambridgeshire.
In recent years I have remained in peripatetic work but now support all the special schools in
Cambridgeshire providing support, advice and training particularly ensuring that pupils with
additional needs have access to develop their hearing/listening skills.

Hello, my name is Shan and I’m one of the peripatetic Teachers of the
Deaf. I love the variety of our job, working with so many different
children and families, in so many different schools and settings. My
particular interest is in early years and helping children learn to listen
and speak.
I also love training adults and for several years have organised the PGCE
placements for trainee teachers to come and shadow us.
Before doing this job I was a primary teacher, mostly in early years, and I
spent 11 years working in international schools in Brussels. This helped
me develop my interest in language (I speak French and Spanish) and
how children learn it.
My first teaching job many moons ago was in a school in Essex with a deaf unit. Some of the
children from the unit were in my class and I loved working with them.

Outside of work I enjoy going for walks with my family and friends, going to the beach, cooking
(especially Moroccan food) and I’m a bit addicted to crochet. I’ve even been known to crochet
in a dark cinema!

 Hello, I am Kirsty Millar-Kent. After a variety
 of moves around the country, I ended up in
 Cambridgeshire 15 years ago and finally
 settled in one place!
 I’ve always been a Primary school teacher,
 but as I grew up on a farm, I have a wide
 range of practical skills, including shearing
 and car building under my belt!
 I came into this role because I taught several
children with visual impairments and my interest was sparked by the variety of the job and
how two days aren’t the same. I really like the fact that this role allows me to make a
difference to a child’s life. I work with all ages of children and across a wide range of visual
impairments. I especially like working with children to learn how different technologies can
make a difference to their access to education.
When I’m not working, I spend time with my children. When not stargazing or being musician
and scientist support for them, I can also be found madly crocheting or reading.

 If you would like a copy of this text in large print, Braille, audio tape, or in another
 language contact: Sensory Support Team 0-25yrs, Amundsen House, Stocks Bridge Way,
 St Ives PE27 5JL
 01480 373434 or Sensory.SupportTeam0-25@cambridgeshire.gov.uk