Levenshulme children let their hands do the talking in new art installation

Pupils at Alma Park Primary School have re-instated an iconic piece of sign language artwork at the Greater Manchester station, which was unveiled earlier today (Thursday 23 January).

The project, supported by Northern, Friends of Levenshulme Station and ACORP, is designed to highlight the work done at the school to support hearing impaired and deaf children.

It features the hands of 11 hearing-impaired children from the school spelling ‘Levenshulme’ in sign language, and it replaces a previous similar piece that was removed following water damage.

Children travel from across Manchester to receive support from the specialist school-based team from Manchester’s Sensory Service. Pupils are taught through a combination of spoken English and sign language and spend some of their time in the classroom with hearing children – who are also encouraged to learn and value signing as a community language.

Head teacher Charles Parfitt said: “Alma Park is exceptionally proud to be the only designated resource provision for deaf children who require signed support to access the curriculum.  

“Sign language is highly valued as one of the many languages used by our school community, and we all benefit hugely from the expertise of the specialist signing staff at Alma Park.

“All our children and staff enjoy the opportunities to learn British Sign Language through lessons, assemblies, activities and song.

“When our deaf children see the photos of their hands on display, we know they will be extremely excited as well as proud to share this with both their deaf and hearing friends.

“It is a wonderful tribute to the inclusive nature of the Levenshulme community that British Sign Language is promoted in such a public and permanent form.”

Rebecca Styles, Community and Sustainability Manager at Northern, said: “We want to say a huge thank you to Friends of Levenshulme Station, the amazing pupils and Alma Park staff, and all others who helped to make this happen.

“It’s wonderful to see this inspiring and educational piece returning to the station.”