Birmingham Stars Given Thumbs up for Film

A dvd starring pupils from Birmingham schools has received national acclaim as a teaching aid from the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf.

The pioneering council project, which highlights ways of including children with hearing impairment in mainstream schools, has just been given a five star rating for its innovative style and content.

A rave review was published in the January issue of Batod’s magazine, commending the subtitled, 15 minute presentation for its easy to understand style as well as features such as audio tracks which simulate hearing loss.

Commissioned by Birmingham City Council’s Action for Inclusion team, the dvd was produced by Midlands-based iceni Productions, who have since followed its success with a film about students with visual impairments.

Iceni’s film shows the ways in which hearing impaired pupils can be helped with learning, as well as giving an insight into the challenges faced from every angle through frank interviews with class teachers, parents and the children themselves.

Reviewer, Jane Bishop, a teacher of the deaf in Newcastle upon Tyne said: “The dvd is ideal for training situations.

“Information is presented via real life situations which are readily applicable. It is particularly helpful to hear the children talking about their experiences.

“The audio tracks are also brilliant. Recordings demonstrate hearing loss, background noise and reverberation, listening through a radio or hearing aid and sound field amplification.

“This will probably be a real eye opener for many mainstream staff. I’m sure the dvd will be widely used.”

Lynda Holland, children with hearing impairment coordinator at Birmingham City Council said: "We are really pleased with the dvd and how iceni has translated our positive message.

“We are delighted to get such a glowing review from our peers."

Cathy Bentley, managing director at iceni, said: “We rarely get feedback from the end users of our training dvds, so this review means a lot to us.

“It is great to see that the amount of research that went into filming the project was worthwhile, and that we have helped to produce a valuable resource.”

The dvd is available to buy from Birmingham City Council by contacting Joan Jones on 0121 303 2619 or joan.jones@birmingham.gov.uk