Frank Barnes School For Deaf Children

We have been rated as ‘outstanding’ again by Ofsted and have a national and international reputation as a centre of excellence for deaf education. Children from across Greater London and from many different backgrounds attend our school from the age of 2 – 11.

We have a bilingual philosophy which means that we teach using both British Sign Language (BSL), the language of the Deaf community, and English, the language of the hearing community. We value these languages equally and want our children to be competent in both.

We have now settled into our wonderful new school. All of the classes are bright and spacious and fitted out with brand new furniture and the latest technology, including Soundfield systems. They all have amazing views over the Regent Canal, Kings Cross and London! The children really enjoy their new learning environment. We look forward to seeing you all again at our joint Frank Barnes and Kings Cross Academy ‘International Summer Fair’ on Friday 7th July, from 6pm to 9pm.

Frank Barnes is one of the only schools in London, and indeed England, with a truly bilingual philosophy – treating the learning of British Sign Language (BSL) and English with equal importance.

As a nationally recognised Centre of Excellence we also offer a broad range of services to parents and the wider community – both deaf and hearing. More information about this can be found on this website.

In 2015, we re-located to a multi-million pound, specifically designed new building co-located with our partner school, Kings Cross Academy, which will allow our pupils to flourish in a state-of-the-art learning environment and inspire them to succeed. Combined with our innovative creative curriculum, the new facilities will support us in providing a Centre of Excellence for Deaf education.

Our vision is to provide a high quality education for our children through a bilingual learning environment. We have high expectations of our children’s social, emotional and academic development. We believe that effective communication, praise, celebration of success and quality teaching and learning will enable each child to reach their full potential.

In order to provide a bilingual learning environment, we:

• Maximise our children’s social, emotional and cognitive development through the use of British Sign Language (BSL)
• Expect our children to achieve fluency in BSL and literacy, and age appropriate levels of attainment across the whole curriculum
• Develop high levels of self-esteem and confidence in our children so they view themselves as successful, independent learners
• Develop the children’s positive Deaf identity which prepares them for secondary education and adulthood
• Work closely with parents, carers and supporting professionals.