Welcome to Silver Steps – HIARP

Silver Steps is our dedicated provision for children with hearing impairments. We offer a nurturing, language-rich environment where every child is supported to thrive—academically, socially, and emotionally.

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🌟 What We Do

In Silver Steps, children receive specialist teaching and support tailored to their individual needs. We use a Total Communication Approach, which may include:

• British Sign Language (BSL)
• Signed Supported English (SSE)
• Spoken English
• Visual aids, gestures, and technology like radio aids

Our goal is to ensure every child can access the full curriculum, participate in school life, and develop strong communication skills.

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🧠 Learning in Silver Steps

Children in Silver Steps are fully included in their mainstream classes, with additional support provided where needed. Learning also takes place in small groups or one-to-one sessions in our quiet, well-equipped HIARP space.

We focus on:

• Language development and vocabulary building
• Listening and speech work
• Social communication and emotional wellbeing
• Curriculum access and academic progress

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📚 This Half Term in Silver Steps

This half term we will be exploring the much‑loved story We’re Going on a Bear Hunt 🐻👣 as the basis for our English work. The children will be learning to orally retell the story, sequence key events, create story maps and explore onomatopoeia to make their storytelling more exciting. Once they are confident with the original version, they will adapt the story by changing the settings and descriptions, before creating their own books.

Alongside this, the children will continue developing their vocabulary, grammar and sentence‑building skills through targeted language sessions 🗣️. This includes work on nouns, verbs, syllables, listening and attention games, and memory activities. They will also keep practising writing simple phrases and sentences using colourful semantics, as well as learning new sounds, spelling rules and cursive handwriting.

In maths, the children will continue to build their arithmetic skills ➕➖✖️➗ with daily mental maths starters and weekly quizzes. They will be learning about money 💰, including recognising coins and notes, making amounts and giving change. They will also explore 2D and 3D shapes 🔺🟦, and begin to understand length and perimeter using practical and visual resources. Problem‑solving and reasoning will continue to be woven through all lessons.

🤝 Working Together

We work closely with:

• Families and carers

• Audiology teams and speech & language therapists

• Mainstream teachers and support staff

• External agencies and professionals

Together, we create a personalised learning journey for each child, celebrating their strengths and supporting their challenges.

The children will also continue to join their classes for afternoon curriculum lessons. We support them with pre‑teaching, post‑teaching and precision vocabulary work to help them access new concepts confidently. On Wednesday afternoons, the children take part in British Sign Language lessons and Personal Understanding of Deafness sessions, helping them build communication skills and understand different perspectives.

🏡 How You Can Help at Home

• Encourage daily reading and talk about the story together

• Practise key vocabulary, signs and spellings

• Support homework routines

• Attend review meetings and share feedback

• Use any recommended apps or resources from our team

📌 Daily Reminders

Please ensure your child brings:

• Their hearing equipment

• A named water bottle

• Their reading wallet and Reading Log

Every day.

Look out for our Parent Information Sheet below!