This week we are celebrating Sign Language Week (March 15 – 21) with our children, pupils, students, and job seekers showcasing the importance of British Sign Language (BSL) in their communication.
The week will be celebrated across our Little Learners Day Nursery, Doncaster School for the Deaf – which has been educating Deaf children for over 190 years, Communication Specialist College Doncaster and Aspire to Be employability service.
Alexis Johnson, executive principal of the `Trust said: “We are proud to be celebrating Sign Language Week with a variety of activities taking place in our classrooms and residential settings.
“British Sign Language plays an important role in many lives at the Trust, right from our nursery setting where Deaf children are encouraged to sign by trained nursery practitioners through to our school where all members of staff sign and college where signing is one of many communication methods used.
“The main message this Sign Language Week is that Sign Language is for everybody and is something that can be shared and enjoyed by many children, people, families, groups and communities.
“We’ve been extremely proud to have been able to promote this message over the past 12 months via our, lottery funded, free online BSL course, launched at the beginning of the first lockdown period in March 2020.
“Since launch the platform has seen thousands of people register to learn to sign and people have been working through the course at their own pace. We’ve been thrilled that we’ve been able to bring Sign Language to new audiences.
“We’ve also worked closely with ten businesses in Doncaster, our Super 10, who have been encouraging their staff to learn to sign and will continue to share their progress as they develop through the course.
“For our children, pupils and students seeing that people in the community are taking the time to learn to sign is fantastic. It gives them the opportunity to communicate with even more people.
“We want to make sure that everyone knows the importance of BSL, and how awareness can make a big difference.”