Local MP supports campaign for better sounding schools

North East Cambridgeshire Malcolm Moss MP from has joined the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) in calling for the Government to ensure new schools meet national building standards so that all children can listen and learn effectively.

On Tuesday 9 June at a parliamentary event held by NDCS, MPs met a group of deaf teenagers to discuss the detrimental effect poor acoustics in the classroom can have on their education.

Malcolm Moss MP, explained:
“I fully support the NDCS Sounds Good? campaign, and it was fantastic to meet deaf young people today to discuss how poor acoustics can affect them at school. It does not seem ethical to place a child in a classroom in which they cannot learn. Barriers such as this must be broken down if we want to give deaf children the best chance of achieving their full educational potential.

In North East Cambridgeshire we are benefiting from the Building Schools for the Future programme and it is imperative that the new buildings conform to national building standards. I shall be writing to all the Head teachers benefiting from the building programme to make them aware of this campaign so that no child with hearing difficulties in our Fenland schools is left behind.”

Brian Gale, NDCS Director of Policy and Campaigns, adds:
“Being able to hear what the teacher is saying is essential to learning. Yet the Government is allowing many millions of pounds to be spent on building schools that are unsuitable for children to listen and learn in, and in which deaf children experience particular difficulty. We are calling on the Government to urgently introduce a mandatory test for all new school buildings to ensure they comply with government standards, to stop generations of deaf children from missing out on a quality education.”