Deaf Children and Young People Service

We are a team of specialist teachers, support workers, deaf instructors, and audiologists who work across the district to provide expert teaching, support, and outreach work to deaf children and young people.

We work across a range of settings with babies, children, and young people aged 0-19 from the point of identification of deafness, and we support families in their homes.

The service leads three local authority-led resourced provisions (LARP) which are hosted in mainstream schools. These resourced provisions are for deaf and MSI children who require more specialist provision than that which can be provided in a local mainstream school.

Bradford Local Offer Page

For more information on each of these teams, please click on the following links:

Support Team for Deaf Children

Girlington Primary Local Authority led Resourced Provision

Swain House Local Authority Led Resourced Provision

Hanson Delta Academy, Local Authority Led Resourced Provision

For more information about the Multi-Sensory Impairment Service, please click here.

Contact Details

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Meet the Team

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Business Support Team

Support Team for Deaf Children

Local Authority Led Resourced Provisions (LARPs)

Children and Young People Supported By The Team

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The Team supports the following deaf children from identification (which can be as early as 6 weeks of age) to leaving school:

• An aidable level of deafness
  • Sensori-neural
  • Conductive
  • Permanent
  • Temporary
• Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD)
• Idenfitied Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)

Range of Services

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Support Team for Deaf Children Services

The Team provide qualified and experienced teachers of the deaf to work with both pre-school and school-aged deaf children/students and their families.

This support aims to ensure that the individual needs of deaf children are met within the context of home and setting/school. These needs are identified in partnership with the pupil, parents, teachers and other professionals.

The Team provides:

• Support and information for families to enable them to make informed choices for their deaf children concerning language development, communication options and educational pathways.
• Support for pupils in mainstream and special schools to access the curriculum.
• Support and training to teaching staff and Teaching Assistants.
• Contribution to stages of assessment and provide specialist advice for the EHCP process.
• Speech audiometry and other assessments as necessary.
• Liaison with other agencies.
• Advice on classroom acoustics and the need for additional auditory equipment such as radio aids and soundfield systems.
• A Teacher of the Deaf and a Specialist Practitioner who speak Panjabi/Urdu.
• Deaf Instructor support for preschool deaf children.
• Parent-toddler groups that include courses for parents and carers.
• Deaf awareness and introductory British Sign Language courses for parents and carers.

Local Authority Resourced Provisions for Deaf Children Services

• A bespoke and challenging curriculum that is based on individual need and planned and delivered by a Teacher of the Deaf (ToD) and/or supported in mainstream class by a Specialist Support Worker (SSW) and/ or Deaf Instructor (DI).
• A bilingual approach to language development; emphasis is placed on the continued development of written and where appropriate spoken English for all children, as well as an important and equal emphasis on the development of British Sign Language (BSL) with opportunities to achieve formal qualifications in BSL up to Level 3.
• Regular monitoring and evaluation of planning and delivery of teaching to Deaf pupils including individual targeted learning, small group work and inclusion in some or all aspects of the mainstream curriculum and school life.
• Continued delivery of training and support for mainstream and support staff to ensure all Deaf pupils achieve their potential.
• Co-ordination and assessment of speech, language and communication skills in conjunction with other relevant professionals where appropriate and advised.
• Continual support for Deaf pupils to manage and maintain their audiology equipment.
• Attendance at all school parents’ meetings and school events, by resourced provision specialist teaching staff.
• Regular consultation and annual review meetings, to discuss pupil's individual learning targets and progress against their ECHP outlined Needs, Provision and Outcomes.
• Home visits, on request according to need.
• Specialist support for transition, and preparation for adulthood.
• Regular parent drop-in sessions to support families, where information is shared about other local organisations and agencies such as Bradford Deaf Children's Society (BDCS), National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) and other local organisations that support/ work with the Deaf community.
• Opportunities for parents/carers and family members to develop their BSL skills and achieve formal qualifications opportunities for children in school to attend BSL classes after school a commitment to working effectively with multiple agencies including Social Care and Health.

Referrals to the Team

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Referrals come directly to the team from Local Health Trusts. For children identified through the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme, the Early Years Co-ordinator or Team Leader attends the hospital clinics when the level of deafness is confirmed to parents. Schools with concerns about a pupil’s hearing are recommended to ask the family to take the child to the GP or ask the school nurse to see the child to determine whether a referral to an ENT consultant is necessary. All referrals will normally receive a response within 10 working days.

Parents and schools are also able to refer a child or young person directly to the service using the referral form linked below.

Children's Sensory and Physical Needs Service Referral Form

Quality Teaching for Deaf Children

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Quality teaching for deaf children should be ordinarily available in all schools and form part of inclusive classroom practice. Through consistent use of inclusive teaching approaches, schools can support deaf children to achieve their academic potential, develop independence, and build positive relationships with their peers.

This graduated approach is described in the Matrix of Need.

Our team can support schools in implementing this approach. The following short training videos can be used for staff training or as resources when teaching deaf children.

Additional Resources

Useful Information

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Early Years

School Age Children

Special School

Our Vision in the Deaf Children and Young People Service is: “To offer high-quality support for all children through a collaborative approach to provide transformational learning experiences so that children can flourish and make excellent holistic progress and successfully transition to responsible citizens”

Last Updated: 15.10.2026