NDCS want your views on Middleton and deaf education in Peterborough

The National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) have emailed parents in Peterborough asking them to complete a survey about education services for deaf children, in the wake of a reduction of teachers of the deaf at Middleton School.

Middleton School, which has long been the home of the specialist support for primary age deaf children in Peterborough, is coming under closer scrutiny after parents raised concerns with NDCS that support for deaf children was under threat. NDCS are also probing educational support for deaf children of all ages across the city as part of their Stolen Futures campaign

NDCS Campaigner Gary Nethercott emailed parents and PDDCS yesterday:

You may be aware that Middleton Primary School in Peterborough has reduced its numbers of Teachers of the Deaf. If your child attends Middleton Primary School, we would like to get an idea from you about what you think of the level and quality of support your child receives at the School.

If your child does not attend Middleton Primary School, we would like to know what you think of the support you and your child receive from Peterborough Council. Please complete our questionnaire, the information you give us is important as it could alert us to problems in your area and prompt us to take action to combat these issues if necessary. Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire.

You may also wish to know that you can contact our helpline on 0808 800 8880 if you would like to talk to someone at NDCS about Teacher of the Deaf support at Middleton Primary School and/or the support you receive from Peterborough Council.

We look forward to receiving your feedback.

Gary Nethercott

You can find the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JJY8GL2

Pride not Prejudice Event on Friday 16th November

Check out the poster for the upcoming Pride not Prejudice event.  PDDCS is being represented by Debbie Reilly and some of the kids from Jack Hunt School who will be giving out information and selling some of the goods made by the youth group. 

Hopefully see you there!

Pride Poster

TQ Scoops Top Local Education Award

Teresa Quail receives the trophy and certificate

Prominent PDDCS Committee Member, PDDCS lead blogger and Lead Teacher of the Deaf for Secondary Provision, Teresa Quail has won the award for Best Support for Students for Special Needs at Peterborough Telegraph Education Awards.

This was for Teresa's teriffic work with Students from Jack Hunt School's Hearing Unit which has been nothing short of amazing.

Teresa said "This award is great but I have to pay tribute to my fantastic team who do so much too. I see this as an award for us all. Not to mention the fantastic children who make it all worthwhile"

The award ceremony was Peterborough's Key Theatre and the award was sponsored by Vivacity and the Key Theatre who were unfortunately unable to provide signed support or subtitles for the deaf adults and students who were there to see the awards ceremony. This despite having prior notice.

Teresa also plays a major role within PDDCS. Teresa has secured funding for the Deaf Role Models night, sponsorship for the John Smith Comedy night, enabled the use of Jack Hunt School for events, regularly volunteered and written hundreds of posts for the PDDCS blog which has recently seen it's 50,000th hit. Teresa also coordinated the City's contribution to the world record breaking 'Sign2Sing' effort this year.

From all at PDDCS, well done Teresa and thank you from everyone involved with deaf children in Peterborough. We're lucky you chose us.

Click here for the video of the event from PT (without subtitles) 

See below for more images of the night.

Teresa and other award nominees

Teresa with some of her team, students and parent after the awards

Teresa inspects the certificate outside with a friend

Teresa Quail with the trophy, Pamela Kilbey with her Best Headteacher nominee certificate





Confirmed: No Cuts to Hearing Support in Peterborough

Peterborough Town Hall

Exclusive

Good news for the city's deaf children and their families as PDDCS gets it confirmed that there will be no cuts to the budget in 2011/12

NDCS's Cuts Map still shows that there is no information from Peterborough but we had it confirmed by the Head of Inclusion and Sensory Support, Claire George, who emailed to say: 

"I am able to confirm that there are no planned cuts to the sensory service budget in the current financial year."

In addition, Claire George also said that they had filled in a long and detailed questionnaire about funding for the service in response to a freedom of information request from NDCS.

That's great news - but PDDCS now wonders what's going to happen next year...

NDCS stopping cuts to education for deaf children in Stoke, but what's happening here?

Not so fast Stoke....NDCS take on Stoke Council at the High Court

Great news from the BBC that NDCS have forced Stoke Council to take their planned cuts to the hearing support service to a judicial review in the High Court. The review means that the cuts won't go ahead unless a judge approves them, all the arguments will now be made in a courtroom, rather than the council chamber.

Winning  a review is a small but very important victory on the road to protecting the education for deaf children in Stoke and sends a message about how NDCS mean business. 

The NDCS campaign 'Take Action' aims to fight cuts to children's services for deaf children all over the country - but what is happening in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire? 

Despite requests from NDCS for information, the picture in Peterborough is unclear.  Check this map out for information from around the country to see what is going on, although sadly, there's not much news from our neck of the woods. 

You can find out for yourself and pass the information on to NDCS (they don't seem to be getting any joy) and urge the councils in our areas to protect our services if they plan to cut them. All you have to do is click here and follow the instructions to send a message to your local council leader.  

Will only take a minute but might make an important difference  

Thanks to Cllr Janet Goodwin

Just a quick post to send our thanks to our long-time supporter Councillor Janet Goodwin, who represents Peterborough Orton Longueville Ward.

Janet, once again, has arranged for a donation to our Charity, this time of £750, which will help pay for our October fun day at Big Sky (more details to follow) and our annual Christmas Party. Janet's support and friendship to our charity has made a real difference to the growing number of deaf children and their families in the city.

Thanks again Cllr Goodwin!