Schoolchildren 'motivated' to learn sign language

Castle Hill Community Primary School in Folkestone has been teaching British Sign Language

The headteacher of a school which has chosen to prioritise teaching British Sign Language (BSL) has said the pupils "absolutely love it".

Castle Hill Community Primary School in Folkestone began teaching BSL to its 370 pupils last September in a bid to become more inclusive.

Stressing that inclusion is "at the heart of everything we do in our school", headteacher Pete Talbot said the move had taken a lot of planning.

He told BBC Radio Kent: "It takes quite a lot of time to organise properly [but] we wanted to make the curriculum relevant and fun for our children."

The British Deaf Association estimates that more than 150,000 people across the country use BSL, and Castle Hill already has a hearing impairment unit attended by 15 pupils.

Mr Talbot said the other schoolchildren had "always been very interested in it" and as such, making BSL a lesson for all pupils was a natural next step.

Alongside introducing BSL, Castle Hill elected to drop teaching a modern foreign language. Mr Talbot said pupils were not as "motivated" by those lessons.

Now BSL lessons run every day, there is a sign language club and children are encouraged to sign at lunchtime.

Mr Talbot says the "dream" is for some of the older children to have gained a qualification at Level 1 in BSL by the time they leave the school.

Mr Talbot said: "We know that our hearing impaired students and their families, when they find that people have taken the time and trouble to learn sign language, it makes such a difference to them," Mr Talbot added.