At Slade Primary School we have a Specialist Resource Provision (SRP) known as 'Titan Class' which caters for the needs of our children who have a severe to profound hearing loss.  

The children that are a part of Titan Class are very much part of the main school, just like any other child, which means they are also part of one of our mainstream classes within the main school building.  In order to ensure the children's needs are met, they each have a personalised education plan in place.   How much support they receive from Titan Class staff, and in what form, is carefully assessed by the Teacher of the Deaf at regular intervals throughout the year, in consultation with the children and their parents.

Depending on individual need and the nature of the lesson, they can either be supported in class during a mainstream lesson or taught individually or in small groups in the SRP.  Whenever appropriate the children are encouraged to work independently.  We ensure the children have the support of a deaf peer group so that they do not feel like the only deaf child in the school. 

Signing is taught to the whole school in order to raise awareness of an alternative method of communication used by many deaf people. Periodic deaf awareness training is given to staff and pupils to remind everyone about good practice, for example, remembering to make sure a deaf person can see your face to lip read while you are talking.

Slade’s deaf children have the best of both worlds! They are able to develop friendships with their hearing classmates, but also have the support and reassurance of having other deaf children around them. They are fully included within mainstream classes, which have all been fitted with furnishings appropriate to improve the room acoustics, but also have access to individual or small group teaching when required. The children use radio aids in class which cuts out background noise and makes it easier to hear the teacher. The SRP staff are always on hand to troubleshoot, if anything goes wrong with the equipment. Class teachers and SRP staff work together on how best to help each deaf child fully access the curriculum. Where appropriate weekly speech therapy sessions are provided at school and programmes are planned which complement the work done by unit staff.

To sum up, our SRP provision provides flexible support which can adapt to the changing needs of each child.

Admissions and Transitions

We work closely with professionals and other settings to make sure that transition to and from Slade is as smooth as possible for all the children in the specialist resource provision.

Transitions are broken down into two main areas below

Applying for a place in the Slade Resource Provision:

• Children must have an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) before they can be considered for a place in the resource provision.
• Kent County Council requests the school to consider the suitability of the placement for a particular child.
• If the needs of the child can be accommodated then the school will offer a place.

Transition from Nursery to Slade:

• Once parents have accepted their place at Slade we will set up a separate transition meeting where parents, professionals who work with the child (e.g. teachers of the deaf, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists etc), nursery teachers and any other care givers are invited along to Slade to meet the staff and discuss how transition will be managed to best suit the needs of the child.
• After the individual transition meeting the parents will be invited to a new entrant's meeting where they will meet other new reception parents and attend a meeting with the Head Teacher. During this time the children will have the opportunity to spend an hour in their new classroom with their teacher and a member of staff from the resource provision.
• We also have an additional story time session and a transition morning, where the children can come and spend more time in their new classroom with their teacher and member of staff from the resource provision.
• Additional transition meetings can be arranged if needed.

Transition from Slade to Secondary School:

• Towards the end of Year 5 parents are asked for their preferences for Secondary Schools.
• This information is passed on to Kent County Council who approach the schools requesting a place. 
• In March of Year 6 the child's Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) is updated stating their new Secondary School Provision.
• In June of Year 6 we set up a transition meeting with parents and professionals who work with the child (e.g. teachers of the deaf, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists etc). At this meeting the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) from the receiving school discusses school provision.