Support from Annette Brooke helps charity to victory on acoustics in schools
October 22, 2009 5:44 PM
Following support from Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, for the National Deaf Children's Society's (NDCS) Sounds good? campaign, the Government has agreed to take action on acoustics in new schools in England.
In a new package of measures, announced on Friday 16 October, Local Authorities will not get funds for more schools, unless the schools they have already built have passed acoustic testing.
This breakthrough decision came in response to evidence collected by NDCS that many new mainstream schools do not comply with Government standards on acoustics. A study published by the charity shows that only one in five local authorities surveyed could confirm that their new schools comply with the government standards on acoustics.
Annette, who signed early day motion 1381 calling for action on acoustics in schools and also attended an event held by NDCS in June 2009 to meet a group of deaf teenagers to discuss the detrimental effects of poor acoustics in the classroom, stated:
"I am delighted at the success of the NDCS Sounds good? campaign. It is fantastic that their hard work is being rewarded and the Government has announced these measures to improve acoustics in schools, which will make a real difference to deaf children.
"I now call on all schools, Local Authorities and other bodies involved in the building process to enforce the new rules quickly and to maintain vigilance over their school rebuilding programmes. These actions will prevent the schools from incurring any further costs related to retrofits."
Government figures suggest that deaf children are 42% less likely than their hearing peers to achieve 5 GCSEs at grades A* to C. NDCS is campaigning to close the achievement gap and says that poor quality acoustics is one of a range of barriers that contribute to it.
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