School encourages use of sign language this Christmas

Pupils at St Mary’s School and College have a wide range of speech, language and communication needs and so the school’s choir have learnt to sign famous festive songs. 

The school will be using the Christmas break to teach those carols to anyone who wants to learn.

Anyone who wants to see the videos should just follow the links St Mary’s will be putting out over Christmas and New Year on its twitter feed which is available at

@StMarysBexhill.

Rachael Gildersleeve from the St Mary’s Signing Team said: “Sign supported English (SSE) is used throughout St Mary’s to enable our pupils to communicate independently.

“Christmas carols are a wonderful way of showing how we everyone can use and enjoy SSE.”

Jonathan Smalldon, fundraising and marketing manager at St Mary’s, said: “We hope that people will find the videos fun.

“The signing choir and the use of SSE is an important part of what we do here at St Mary’s to support children with communication needs to achieve their potential.”

St Mary’s was founded in 1922 as a special school for disabled children by medical professionals who wanted to provide the best possible start for young people who then had few opportunities to access education with support.

It is a registered charity which provides non-maintained residential education and therapy for children and young people aged 7 – 19 who have severe speech, language and/or communication difficulties.

St Mary’s caters for up to 160 children and young people, and employs more than 250 staff.

All the staff and pupils at St Mary’s would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Visit www.stmarysbexhill.org for more information.

Have you checked out our new Christmas section yet?

It’s packed with ideas and tips to ensure you make the most out of the festive season.

There’s recipes, suggestions for presents and everything from choosing your tree to recycling your packaging and paper.

Go to www.bexhillobserver.net/christmas/