The Hearing Resource Base (HRB) at Wessex Primary School is a resource provision for hearing impaired children fully included within the school.

The children in the HRB have daily access to the Teachers of the Deaf and Special Support Assistants. The school has undergone acoustic improvement work to ensure that the pupils are learning in advantageous listening conditions. All children who are part of the HRB have an EHCP primarily for their hearing impairment ranging from moderate to profound loss. Children wear hearing aids or have cochlear implants and use radio aids in school in order to support their use of residual hearing and to maximise their access to spoken language. All classes have soundfield systems which are beneficial to all children including the hearing impaired.

Children with hearing impairment have the potential to acquire spoken and written language through appropriate amplification and opportunities to develop language through stimulating interaction with parents and others, enabled in recent years by early identification of hearing loss. Wessex Primary School is primarily an oral/aural provision and the HRB follows a natural aural approach to communication.

The natural aural approach includes facial expression, body language, gestures and lip-reading which are a normal part of communication. They are an essential part of a listener’s experience and add richness to communication. We encourage all our pupils to sit in a position in class where they have the opportunity to see the speaker’s face, whether that be the teacher or a fellow pupil.

Children in the HRB follow the national curriculum, differentiated where appropriate so that they can access it at their level. Children are withdrawn to the HRB for speech and language therapy sessions, and for extra support with the curriculum according to their individual needs.