Resources
As a consortium, we use a range of teaching resources to support our deaf children and young people with their bilingual (and multi-lingual) language development, wellbeing and learning across all areas of the curriculum.
If we observe a learning need that is not met by the resources available, we collaborate with our members and other partners to develop new and innovative ways of teaching and create educational resources to support our work.
Members have also developed a range of BSL resources and these can be found on their individual websites.
We have collated a list of resources that we hope you will find useful.
BSL Curriculum
The BSL Curriculum for Primary and Secondary schools was developed by a Working Group of Deaf Instructors from consortium schools and services. It was officially launched on 1st December 2023.
The BSL Curriculum provides a structured curriculum from Nursery to Year 11, encompassing the linguistic features, historical context and cultural significance of BSL.
It can be used with pupils learning BSL as their first or second language. Copies of the BSL Curriculum and the individual Programmes of Study for each year group can be obtained from the Frank Barnes School website: https://www.fbarnes.camden.sch.uk/bsl-curriculum-2/
BSL Glossary of Curriculum Terms
The BSL Glossary of Curriculum Terms was developed by the Scottish Sensory Centre to provide lists of subject-specific terms in BSL in STEM subjects for young deaf learners. The BSL Glossary has definitions in BSL, as well as laboratory videos or examples to provide additional background knowledge to help learners to best understand the term or concept.
The BSL Glossary website also has links to other BSL teaching and terminology resources. https://www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/BSL/
Assessing BSL Development: Production Test (Narrative Skills) and BSL Receptive Skills Test
These standardised assessments can only be carried out by testers who have fluent BSL skills (to a minimum of Level 2 BSL qualification) and have successfully completed a certified training course. They can be used on all deaf pupils to assess their expressive and receptive BSL skills. They can also be used to create individual and whole school targets for BSL development. Further information on the online training course (including all assessment resources) can be found on the City, University of London website and the DCAL assessment portal https://dcalportal.org