You have to hand it to pupils as Shropshire school teaches sign language
Youngsters at a Shropshire school are learning sign language in the hopes that they will be better able to reach out their whole community.
Children at Lilleshall Primary School, near Newport, started to sign in September.
Helen Edwards, who teaches the class, said: "The children are fabulous. They are committed and they work hard.
"We put on a Christmas Concert where we were signing and the parents loved it, and we'll be doing it again at Easter."
Helen said that their ability to sign would help them make deaf people feel more comfortable.
"Imagine you're a deaf person in a roof full of people chatting – it must be horrific," she said. "You would feel quite lonely.
"The advantages of learning sign language is that the children will be able to communicate with those people. Some of them have already had opportunities to do so.
"They're very passionate about what they're doing. They have lots of empathy.
"When I started the course I'd spoken about deaf studies and how they may feel. We've talked about people signing on TV, and about why people learn to sign.
"As long as the school allow it, we'll keep doing it."
To take their efforts one step further, the children are also collecting for Sense, the national disability charity which supports people with complex communication needs.
They have set up a donation bin within the school where youngsters can drop off bric-a-brac, clothes and books.
The items will then be sold in charity shops to support deaf people living in the community.
