Marland Hill has specialist provision for hearing impaired children in its Hearing Impaired Resource Base [HIRB]. This is staffed by highly skilled teaching assistants and a teacher of the deaf. The majority of staff are trained in British Sign Language (level 2).  We currently have 10 deaf pupils that access the resource base provision, from Reception to Year 6. When Marland Hill was rebuilt in 2006 it was designed with hearing impaired children at the heart of the design. All classrooms are equipped with Soundfield systems, which can provide enhanced sound systems across the classroom through the built in speaker system.

The curriculum for these children is highly personalised, and where appropriate, combines individualised lessons in the HIRB, and time in mainstream classes. Children in the HIRB regularly spend time working on their targets, taking part in pre and post tutoring sessions, and working on speech and language objectives. All hearing impaired children at Marland Hill, have daily equipment checks, immediate access to specialist staff, speech and language sessions, and personalised time in the unit. All levels of hearing impaired children are welcome at Marland Hill, and can expect an individualised curriculum.

Our vision is to equip all our students with the skills to reach their full potential and alongside this, to see all students grow into confident, successful individuals with a strong self-belief and a positive deaf identify.

The aims of the HIRB are:

• To facilitate access to the National Curriculum for our deaf pupils, whilst catering for their individual needs.
• To create an environment that encourages the development of physical, intellectual, and language, emotional, social and communication skills.
• To give the children the opportunity to express themselves and their ideas with confidence.
• To provide specialist teaching from trained ToD/ support staff.
• To contribute to the overall assessment of the child’s needs.
• To plan and carry out an appropriate programme of learning for each child
• To develop independence and management of all audiological equipment including hearing aids and implant devices.

February 2023

As part of our Topic work on ‘houses and homes’ the children have been learning all about where they live, their houses and also their addresses. This week, the children in the HIRB all went on a local area walk to observe houses in the local area. We then visited the post office, bought our own stamp and posted a letter home. The children are looking forward to receiving their letters this week!

Outdoor learning- Autumn term

Our children love learning outdoors and have developed language through meaningful experiences. This term, the children have been observing weather and seasonal changes.

January 2022

This week in the HIRB the children have had their own Teddy Bear’s picnic. First we tasted a selection of picnic items and have been using expressive language and the pronoun ‘I’ to talk about which food items we like and don’t like. We then we made our own sandwiches. Our teddies loved the sandwiches, as did we!

National Deaf Children’s Society Roadshow Bus 

Spring 2022

In Spring, we welcomed the National Deaf Children’s Society Roadshow bus to school. We had workshops on deaf identity, technology and e-safety. The children loved their experience on the bus and are already looking forward to a future visit. One of our children said, ‘The bus is perfect!’, which to us, sums up just how much they enjoyed it.

Ainsdale beach- Summer Term

The children in the HIRB had a fantastic time visiting Ainsdale beach. The children particularly loved flying the kite and searching for treasure with the metal detector! We even managed to have a paddle in the sea!

Gardening Club- Summer Term 

This summer, we have our own gardening club in the HIRB outdoor area. The children have loved planting different vegetables and fruit and are incredibly excited hopefully eat some of this when it is ready. Each day the children are tasked with caring for the plants, ensuring that they have enough water. 

Rochdale Music Festival

At Marland Hill, we have a signing and singing choir made up of our deaf pupils and their friends from across school. Recently, we attended a competition at St. Mary’s in the Baum church. We were awarded a special trophy and received amazing feedback off the judges. We are all incredibly proud and well done to the children for their hard work and practice!