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Making Sweyne Park
School sound good
A summary by the National Deaf Children’s Society
(NDCS) of a study into acoustics




NDCS is the national charity dedicated to creating a world without
barriers for deaf children and young people.
Introduction                                                       Background and methodology
NDCS is the national charity dedicated to                          Essex has three mainstream secondary
creating a world without barriers for deaf                         schools with resource bases for students
children and young people. We represent the                        with a hearing impairment. In recent years,
interests and campaign for the rights of all                       some parents requested ‘out of authority’
deaf children and young people from birth                          schools for their deaf children. Poor
until they reach independence. There are                           classroom acoustics was one of the issues
over 45,000 deaf children in the UK.                               raised, so the Council allocated £150,000
                                                                   for classroom refurbishment and to test
Government figures suggest that deaf                               the effect of applying different acoustic
children are 42% less likely than their                            standards to the problem classrooms.
hearing peers to achieve five GCSEs,                               Sweyne Park School, a secondary school
including English and Maths at grades A*                           with a large resource base for deaf students,
to C.1 Deafness is not a learning disability                       was selected to test the impact of applying
and this gap is unacceptable. NDCS is                              the different standards.
campaigning to close the gap2 and we
believe that poor quality acoustics is one of a                    As there are different standards for acoustics
range of barriers that contribute to it. Earlier                   it was felt that it was necessary to research
this year, NDCS, the Federation of Property                        the impact of three published standards on
Services, and Essex County Council jointly                         teaching and learning and get best value:
funded the analysis of data which tested
the effects of different acoustic standards                        • Type 1: Standard – Building Bulletin
in classrooms. This note summarises the                            	 93 (BB93)3 compliant secondary school
interim findings of this research.                                 	 classroom
                                                                   • Type 2: Enhanced – BB93 compliant
“You feel really left out and you feel like you’re                 	 classroom specifically for use by deaf pupils
sitting in a corner in a lonely classroom so it
hurts your feelings quite a bit”                                   • Type 3: Enhanced to a higher standard
                                                                   	 recommended by the British Association of
                  A deaf pupil from Sweyne Park comments on        	 Teachers of the Deaf (BATOD)
             noisy classrooms before changes to the acoustics

                                                                   3	   Government guidance on the acoustic standards for all 	
                                                                   	    new school buildings is set out in Building Bulletin 93.
                                                                   	    The guidance is mandatory for all new school buildings
1	 www.ndcs.org.uk/data                                            	    and major refurbishments but NDCS evidence shows
2	 www.ndcs.org.uk/mustdobetter                                    	    compliance is not taking place.



The following organisations endorsed NDCS’s Sounds good? campaign:
Special Educational Consortium, NASUWT, Communication Trust, RNID, Essex County Council, NCB, Skill, Sense, National
Autistic Society, Ear Foundation, Voice Concern, British Society of Audiology, the British Association of Education Audiologists,
the British Council of School Environments, Treehouse and the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf.




                                                                                                                   special
                                                                                                               education
                                                                                                                consortium
Three classrooms were refurbished applying      “If everyone was being noisy I couldn’t
a different standard in each. A fourth          concentrate. In this new classroom I find it
untreated room was used as a control.           a lot better, a lot less noisy and it gives me a
Data was then collected which included          lot of confidence to work as a group”
acoustic performance, teacher and pupil                                                  deaf pupil
questionnaires/interviews and pupil
assessments. Data from both deaf and
hearing pupils was collected. All data was      2. Teachers found the acoustically treated
collected without staff or pupil knowledge of   classrooms better and less stressful
the acoustic standard of each classroom.        teaching environments

The Sweyne Park story so far...                 Thirteen class teachers and communication
Considerable effort was made to obtain          support workers were involved in the
objective data. More than 120 hours of          study. Even though staff didn’t know which
lessons were recorded in addition to 78         classrooms were acoustically treated, many
hours of detailed acoustic data. More than      of them made positive comments about
400 children and 13 teachers were involved      the Type 2 and 3 rooms. They described
directly in the study. The data is currently    them as better for talking and listening,
being analysed and will be published in         more pleasant and less strenuous. The
full later. However, the interim report has     less experienced staff reported the biggest
established that acoustic conditions can        reduction in stress levels.
be created which enhance inclusion and
support the teaching and learning process       “I am able to do group work now, whereas
in extremely positive ways. The following       before I would not take that risk” teacher

trends have been identified:
                                                “The real difference is I can teach,
1. Good acoustics can level the playing         previously I could not teach, I had to
field between deaf and hearing children         structure the lesson such that I got them
                                                in, shouted above the noise to try to get
As part of the research, hearing-impaired       them quiet. Now they come in, they are
and hearing children were asked to repeat       calmer and I can actually teach a formal
what their teacher was saying in the various    lesson with the whole class”           teacher

classroom settings. The gap between how
much deaf and hearing children can hear         “Before Easter I would have walked out
narrowed considerably when the acoustics        stressed, high blood pressure, feeling
improved and in some cases, deaf and            blinkered, hearing not right with a changed
hearing children performed equally. Better      altitude as if in an aeroplane. After Easter I
acoustics can effectively level the playing     walk out of there refreshed”.          teacher

field. Observations from teachers also
support this and a communication support        3. Teachers found that pupil behaviour
worker described Type 3 classrooms as           improved in the acoustically treated
‘being more equal and a fairer environment      classrooms
for hearing-impaired children’.
                                                Teachers did not know which classrooms
                                                had been refurbished to the high acoustic
                                                standards. However, they reported:
•	 Improved behaviour in the Type 2 and 		                             Recommendations
 	 Type 3 rooms particularly when working          The majority of deaf children are now taught
 	 with students known to present more             in mainstream schools and any classroom
 	 challenging behaviour.                          could be one in which a deaf child is taught.
                                                   It is therefore vital that acoustics are of
 •	 Improved behaviour of students who were the highest possible quality to ensure that
 	 not normally taught in the treated room.        deaf children are able to listen and learn
 	 One teacher stated that they “became            effectively. This research supports the
 	 positively angelic.”                            case for high-quality acoustics in schools.
                                                   Not only does it benefit deaf children but
 “Before Easter it was the lesson I hated most all students and the staff involved in their
 of all. I had to give loads of detentions in      education. Yet, despite the opportunity
 order to get any sense of discipline at all...    presented by the Government’s school
 but since Easter I have had no discipline         rebuilding programmes, there is evidence
 problems whatsoever and yet these rather          that government standards are being
 structured straight jacketed rows of desks        ignored. NDCS is calling on the Government
 are exactly the same.”                 teacher    to take urgent action to ensure that schools
                                                   do not just look good, but sound good
 “When its echoey, sometimes I feel I like to      too. Essex County Council has given its full
 mess about! When the class is quiet, then I       support to the NDCS campaign. The billions
 start to be good.” 			                 Deaf pupil of pounds being spent on school rebuilding
                                                   must not be wasted.
 4. Type 2 classrooms are only marginally
 more expensive than Type 1 classrooms             NDCS is calling for the introduction of a
                                                   mandatory requirement for acoustic testing
 As a result of the interim findings, all          of all new school buildings before they
 new primary and secondary schools                 open.
 commissioned by Essex County Council
 will be built to the Type 2 standard as a         To find out more about this research or the
 minimum, with care taken to deal with             NDCS Sounds good? campaign, visit
 low frequency reverberation. The Type 3           www.ndcs.org.uk/soundsgood or contact
 standard will be specified for classrooms         Jo Campion on 020 7014 1182 or email:
 used by deaf children. The additional cost to campaigns@ndcs.org.uk
 treat a typical classroom of 50m2 to a higher
 specification from the minimum standard is        Children’s quotes included by kind permission of
 just £375.                                        BBC/See Hear.

                                                                        Thank you to David Canning and Hear2Learn for
 5. Increased sound treatment reduced
                                                                        conducting the research.
 working noise levels to a far greater extent
 than would be predicted by calculations
 alone.




This document is available in alternative formats upon request – please contact campaigns@ndcs.org.uk
Published by the NDCS, 15 Dufferin Street, London EC1Y 8UR • September 2009
NDCS is a registered charity in England and Wales no. 1016532 and in Scotland no. SC040779.

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Essex Study – Impact of different acoustic standards in school buildings on teaching and learning

  • 1. Supported by: Making Sweyne Park School sound good A summary by the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) of a study into acoustics NDCS is the national charity dedicated to creating a world without barriers for deaf children and young people.
  • 2. Introduction Background and methodology NDCS is the national charity dedicated to Essex has three mainstream secondary creating a world without barriers for deaf schools with resource bases for students children and young people. We represent the with a hearing impairment. In recent years, interests and campaign for the rights of all some parents requested ‘out of authority’ deaf children and young people from birth schools for their deaf children. Poor until they reach independence. There are classroom acoustics was one of the issues over 45,000 deaf children in the UK. raised, so the Council allocated £150,000 for classroom refurbishment and to test Government figures suggest that deaf the effect of applying different acoustic children are 42% less likely than their standards to the problem classrooms. hearing peers to achieve five GCSEs, Sweyne Park School, a secondary school including English and Maths at grades A* with a large resource base for deaf students, to C.1 Deafness is not a learning disability was selected to test the impact of applying and this gap is unacceptable. NDCS is the different standards. campaigning to close the gap2 and we believe that poor quality acoustics is one of a As there are different standards for acoustics range of barriers that contribute to it. Earlier it was felt that it was necessary to research this year, NDCS, the Federation of Property the impact of three published standards on Services, and Essex County Council jointly teaching and learning and get best value: funded the analysis of data which tested the effects of different acoustic standards • Type 1: Standard – Building Bulletin in classrooms. This note summarises the 93 (BB93)3 compliant secondary school interim findings of this research. classroom • Type 2: Enhanced – BB93 compliant “You feel really left out and you feel like you’re classroom specifically for use by deaf pupils sitting in a corner in a lonely classroom so it hurts your feelings quite a bit” • Type 3: Enhanced to a higher standard recommended by the British Association of A deaf pupil from Sweyne Park comments on Teachers of the Deaf (BATOD) noisy classrooms before changes to the acoustics 3 Government guidance on the acoustic standards for all new school buildings is set out in Building Bulletin 93. The guidance is mandatory for all new school buildings 1 www.ndcs.org.uk/data and major refurbishments but NDCS evidence shows 2 www.ndcs.org.uk/mustdobetter compliance is not taking place. The following organisations endorsed NDCS’s Sounds good? campaign: Special Educational Consortium, NASUWT, Communication Trust, RNID, Essex County Council, NCB, Skill, Sense, National Autistic Society, Ear Foundation, Voice Concern, British Society of Audiology, the British Association of Education Audiologists, the British Council of School Environments, Treehouse and the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf. special education consortium
  • 3. Three classrooms were refurbished applying “If everyone was being noisy I couldn’t a different standard in each. A fourth concentrate. In this new classroom I find it untreated room was used as a control. a lot better, a lot less noisy and it gives me a Data was then collected which included lot of confidence to work as a group” acoustic performance, teacher and pupil deaf pupil questionnaires/interviews and pupil assessments. Data from both deaf and hearing pupils was collected. All data was 2. Teachers found the acoustically treated collected without staff or pupil knowledge of classrooms better and less stressful the acoustic standard of each classroom. teaching environments The Sweyne Park story so far... Thirteen class teachers and communication Considerable effort was made to obtain support workers were involved in the objective data. More than 120 hours of study. Even though staff didn’t know which lessons were recorded in addition to 78 classrooms were acoustically treated, many hours of detailed acoustic data. More than of them made positive comments about 400 children and 13 teachers were involved the Type 2 and 3 rooms. They described directly in the study. The data is currently them as better for talking and listening, being analysed and will be published in more pleasant and less strenuous. The full later. However, the interim report has less experienced staff reported the biggest established that acoustic conditions can reduction in stress levels. be created which enhance inclusion and support the teaching and learning process “I am able to do group work now, whereas in extremely positive ways. The following before I would not take that risk” teacher trends have been identified: “The real difference is I can teach, 1. Good acoustics can level the playing previously I could not teach, I had to field between deaf and hearing children structure the lesson such that I got them in, shouted above the noise to try to get As part of the research, hearing-impaired them quiet. Now they come in, they are and hearing children were asked to repeat calmer and I can actually teach a formal what their teacher was saying in the various lesson with the whole class” teacher classroom settings. The gap between how much deaf and hearing children can hear “Before Easter I would have walked out narrowed considerably when the acoustics stressed, high blood pressure, feeling improved and in some cases, deaf and blinkered, hearing not right with a changed hearing children performed equally. Better altitude as if in an aeroplane. After Easter I acoustics can effectively level the playing walk out of there refreshed”. teacher field. Observations from teachers also support this and a communication support 3. Teachers found that pupil behaviour worker described Type 3 classrooms as improved in the acoustically treated ‘being more equal and a fairer environment classrooms for hearing-impaired children’. Teachers did not know which classrooms had been refurbished to the high acoustic standards. However, they reported:
  • 4. • Improved behaviour in the Type 2 and Recommendations Type 3 rooms particularly when working The majority of deaf children are now taught with students known to present more in mainstream schools and any classroom challenging behaviour. could be one in which a deaf child is taught. It is therefore vital that acoustics are of • Improved behaviour of students who were the highest possible quality to ensure that not normally taught in the treated room. deaf children are able to listen and learn One teacher stated that they “became effectively. This research supports the positively angelic.” case for high-quality acoustics in schools. Not only does it benefit deaf children but “Before Easter it was the lesson I hated most all students and the staff involved in their of all. I had to give loads of detentions in education. Yet, despite the opportunity order to get any sense of discipline at all... presented by the Government’s school but since Easter I have had no discipline rebuilding programmes, there is evidence problems whatsoever and yet these rather that government standards are being structured straight jacketed rows of desks ignored. NDCS is calling on the Government are exactly the same.” teacher to take urgent action to ensure that schools do not just look good, but sound good “When its echoey, sometimes I feel I like to too. Essex County Council has given its full mess about! When the class is quiet, then I support to the NDCS campaign. The billions start to be good.” Deaf pupil of pounds being spent on school rebuilding must not be wasted. 4. Type 2 classrooms are only marginally more expensive than Type 1 classrooms NDCS is calling for the introduction of a mandatory requirement for acoustic testing As a result of the interim findings, all of all new school buildings before they new primary and secondary schools open. commissioned by Essex County Council will be built to the Type 2 standard as a To find out more about this research or the minimum, with care taken to deal with NDCS Sounds good? campaign, visit low frequency reverberation. The Type 3 www.ndcs.org.uk/soundsgood or contact standard will be specified for classrooms Jo Campion on 020 7014 1182 or email: used by deaf children. The additional cost to campaigns@ndcs.org.uk treat a typical classroom of 50m2 to a higher specification from the minimum standard is Children’s quotes included by kind permission of just £375. BBC/See Hear. Thank you to David Canning and Hear2Learn for 5. Increased sound treatment reduced conducting the research. working noise levels to a far greater extent than would be predicted by calculations alone. This document is available in alternative formats upon request – please contact campaigns@ndcs.org.uk Published by the NDCS, 15 Dufferin Street, London EC1Y 8UR • September 2009 NDCS is a registered charity in England and Wales no. 1016532 and in Scotland no. SC040779.