ONE area that Park View Infant School is excelling in is the provision for children suffering from hearing impairments.

The school is the only one in Basingstoke which has educational provision for pupils suffering with hearing loss. A team of three sign language communication staff and a teacher of the deaf work with children on a daily basis in the “tree house” to provide extra help.

However, the five children suffering with hearing impairments at the school are encouraged to join in with the rest of the pupils and they spend most of the time with the other children.

Julie Shepherd, sign language communicator at the school, said: “We do work on speech, language, and reading, and anything they need extra work on, they come to do. They come in daily and it varies depending on what other activities are going on so we are in here daily to do something.”

She added: “We use sign language and we communicate with them and that goes across the school. We sign all songs in assemblies and Christmas performances.”