PRIMARY school children were wowed by a deaf dancer and actors who perform in sign language to mark deaf education week.

Youngsters at Roding Primary School in Woodford Green got time off lessons last week (May 22 to 26) to learn more about the experiences of their deaf and hearing-impaired classmates.

The school in Roding Lane North is one of Redbridge’s main providers of deaf education and encourages its hearing pupils to learn side by side with their hearing-impaired friends.

Over the course of the week they were visited by the Handprint Theatre who use sign language to bring their performances alive and do workshops for deaf children across east London.

Deaf dancer and flautist Chris Fonesca and Ruth Montgomery also performed to the children, parents, and the borough’s new mayor Cllr Linda Huggett.

Roding’s lead teacher for the deaf Johanna Man, who has been with the school for seven years, branded the whole week a complete success.

She said: “The children really enjoyed it, and the performers couldn’t believe how engaged they are were.

“It was really inspiring for everyone, but particularly our deaf children.

“It’s so important to have positive deaf role models, and I think it made them think ‘if they can achieve all that, so can I.”

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Teachers, parents, and pupils at Roding had further cause for celebration last month, when they were awarded Unicef’s Level 1 Rights Respecting School Award.

The accolade is given to schools across the UK who can show the principles of the United Nation’s convention on the rights of the child are practised inside and outside the classroom.

Roding has been working with Unicef UK to secure its Level 1 status since September 2014.

Head teacher Helen Radmore, who saw the school’s Ofsted rating improve to ‘good’ in 2015, said she is “very proud” of everyone’s hard work and is looking forward to getting started with the Level 2 award soon.