Sounds good? parliamentary event: report from St. Paul's Way Community School

Agibou, Ahtik, Samiur and Boody, deaf young people from St. Paul's Way Community School (SPWCS) in east London, were among a group of childrne that came to the NDCS parliamentary event on the 9th June to demand action on acoustics in schools. Below, the students deliver their report on how they came to be demanding action from MPs to support the NDCS Sounds good? campaign.

"Listen up! Four Year 9 SPWCS boys have become TV stars by visiting Parliament to tell MPs how to improve listening conditions in schools.

Agibou, Ahtik, Boody and Samiur from 9T were filmed and interviewed by a BBC TV crew in school and at the Houses of Parliament, for a show to be screened in September. Ms Bentham, Head of the DSB (Deaf Support Base) and Ms Wild, Assistant Headteacher, were also interviewed.

We were invited to an event in a committee room in Parliament on Tuesday June 9^th by NDCS. It was organised by Ian Noon to promote a campaign for good acoustics in schools. Acoustics means listening conditions, or how easy it is to hear the teacher’s voice in the classroom.

Ms Bentham and Ms Dew, DSB teacher, came on the trip with us. We talked to loads of MPs, but Agibou and Ahtik talked to the most – at least 15! Samiur and Boody also talked to many politicians and important people including the Minister for Health, Ann Keen, and two Labour Lords.

Agibou and Ahtik spoke to an expert on acoustics, who offered to come and test our school’s listening conditions and then come back in 2011 and test the classrooms in the new school when it has been built.

We used laptops and headphones to show the MPs what it is like to be deaf in class. Using a simulation, we first played a recording of a lesson in a classroom with poor acoustics and background noise: a bad classroom with echoes and noisy children. Secondly, we played a recording from a classroom with good acoustics and no background noise. The MPs were quite shocked when they realised how hard it could be for us and other students to learn. We took a hearing aid so they could hear what it is like to have all the sounds and noises around you amplified.

One of the politicians we spoke to was Labour Lord Baroness Wilkins. She said: “I very much enjoyed... having such a convincing demonstration from the local deaf pupils - they did it superbly - clear and confident.”

We were talking about how to stop bad acoustics in classrooms and other parts of the school, for example the assembly hall and dining rooms. These rooms often have poor acoustics because the sound echoes off the walls, there is no carpet and the ceilings are high.

‘See Hear’, a BBC 2 programme for deaf people, filmed us in school and outside Parliament. The programme, which will feature other schools and students, will be on TV in September.

Before going into the committee room, we met Lord Ahmed on College Green outside Parliament and told him about the campaign. Agibou talked to another Lord in the House of Commons toilets!

Ahtik spoke about the causes of bad acoustics and how to improve listening conditions. Agibou said when the acoustics are bad in his lessons he sometimes misbehaves because there is too much noise. Ahtik suggested that all schools in the UK should have good acoustics by law. Other students from schools in Essex and north London also participated.

Susan Daniels, NDCS Chief Executive, mentioned that she was incredibly impressed by how good all of the students were – and said that the event would still have been a complete success if all the staff had disappeared and left the students running the event!

Agibou commented, “Altogether we spoke to 30 MPs , which was very brave and suprising. I never thought the MPs would want to speak to us. I enjoyed talking to the politicians, they were very friendly.”

Ms Bentham said, “I am so proud of the students for their hard work and excellent conduct at this event. It was a great follow-up to last year’s event when they made speeches in the Commons.”

Ms Dew added, “Hopefully, we have persuaded the politicians to make rapid improvements in schools which will help all deaf and hearing children to learn. Well done Agibou, Ahtik, Boody and Samiur!”

More information:

Megan Farman from North London Deaf Children's Society also attended the event. Read her report from the day>

Photo gallery for the Sounds good? parliamentary event.

NDCS's Sounds good? campaign for better acoustics.