A school in Barrow has been promoting the learning of British Sign Language (BSL) with a new 'silent' choir.

Dane Ghyll Community School and Nursery made a change to their curriculum last year after ditching French for BSL lessons.

Headteacher Peter Mills described how the choir had been designed to build upon the success it had already seen following the introduction.

He said: "We started the choir back in September as a new extra curricular group for our pupils.

"We saw that children were enjoying BSL so it was about taking that further, providing a way for them to learn a new language in a more artistic fashion."

The Mail: One of the new BSL lessons at the schoolOne of the new BSL lessons at the school (Image: Dane Ghyll Community School and Nursery)

The choir is currently comprised of 25 pupils with their first performance coming at the Meeting Place in Barrow on December 11.

The group works by accompanying a backing track - without vocals - and then signing the words that would normally be heard.

"It's a very powerful sight when you see it in person," Mr Mills added.

"We had members from the Cumbria Deaf Association coming up to us to say how pleased they are to see BSL being incorporated in such a way, putting it at the forefront of what we're doing at the school."

Towards the end of 2023, Dane Ghyll joined a short list of schools in the UK to prioritise BSL, helping the students they currently oversee who have hearing difficulties.

Mr Mills explained: "There's been an overwhelmingly positive response so far because it's more than just learning a new language.

"It helps the pupils learn how to connect with one another through different means, helps our younger students with their motor skills and improves the communication and English skills of our older pupils."

The Mail: A pupil tries his hand at sign languageA pupil tries his hand at sign language (Image: Dane Ghyll Community School and Nursery)

From 2025, BSL will become an official option as a GCSE for students across the UK, a move that Mr Mills was ready to get behind.

"National changes like that are great to see, and prove that we're currently ahead of the curve," said Mr Mills.

"There's every chance that we could work with secondary schools once the changes to GCSEs are made."