School pupils attempt world record challenge

Published by HearFirst for HearFirst in Communities and also in Education

A group of school children have been so inspired by learning British Sign Language (BSL), they are now set to join in a world record attempt for the most people signing and singing at the same time.

Over 400 pupils from Cravenwood Community Primary School in Crumpsall, Manchester will be participating in a national event called, Sign2Sing on Wednesday 8 February at 2.45pm.

The children, aged between 3 and 11, will join other schools and young people’s groups from all over the country to sign and sing to the same song at the same time.

Last year, 94,489 children successfully took part in the first Sign2Sing event which broke the previous record of 13,418 people singing and signing at the same time.  This year, they are hoping to beat last year’s achievement.

The pupils have been learning basic signs in relation to what is being taught at school and they have been so interested, that they have decided to join in with the world record attempt.

Gudrun Heatley, Head Teacher at Cravenwood Community Primary School, said: “Sign language helps to improve a child’s communication skills but it also teaches the children about issues such as deafness and disability and raises awareness of the different ways in which people communicate.

“The fun sign language sessions have engaged all the children and we are really looking forward to participating in attempting to break a world record here at the school."

The signs have been taught by training specialists, HearFirst who promote deaf awareness and BSL.  Julie Ryder, Director and Founder of HearFirst has been working with the children over the last couple of weeks and said: “We have been teaching them some basic signs such as meet and greet signs and have been working with the children in Key Stage 2 to teach them how to sign their name.

“They have all really enjoyed learning the signs and are very excited at participating in attempting and hopefully, breaking a world record.”

The attempt will only be successful if all children sing and sign using British Sign Language at the same time and the event is designed to raise awareness of deafness and the work of SignHealth, the national healthcare charity of Deaf people.