A HEADTEACHER in Barrow has spoken of the 'brilliant impact' on pupils after his school became one of the first in the UK to add British Sign Language (BSL) to its curriculum.

Dane Ghyll Community School and Nursery on Skelwith Drive swapped out French in October for tutoring in the language used by those with hearing loss.

In 2003 BSL was recognised as a language in its own right by the then Labour Government. 

The school currently has a handful of school children with hearing difficulties and was inspired by the Right to Sign Campaign. 

In 2017 the campaign's Young People’s Advisory Board called for a BSL GCSE and after years of battling, it recently succeeded in its goal.

The Department for Education looked at feedback which it used to finalise course content for pupils across England.

BSL will now be an official GCSE option made available to students across the UK from 2025. 

Headteacher Peter Mills said: "It was quite a bold move for us to take French off our timetable.

"We feel it's very important to help those with hearing difficulties however and we want people to know that there is a school in their area dedicated to British Sign language.

"Our children can now learn to sign from as young as reception age - with our year six students able to sit a level one exam in it from next year.

"The pupils have been having a weekly lesson with Bek, our qualified interpreter since the beginning of this term in October.

"The change is only two months in and it’s already had such a brilliant impact.

"It’s amazing how quickly they pick it up, particularly the younger ones, and you can see it’s changing and improving how they communicate with each other."