{"id":235804,"date":"2025-07-03T22:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T22:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/235804\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T22:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T22:04:09","slug":"new-sign-language-boards-installed-at-park-playgrounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/235804\/","title":{"rendered":"New sign language boards installed at park playgrounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Children at playgrounds around Leeds are being encouraged to learn sign language as new fun educational boards are installed.<\/p>\n

Funded by the National Deaf Children\u2019s Society, two boards have been put up at 10 playgrounds, including in Cross Flatts Park, Beeston, showcasing the British Sign Language (BSL) fingerspelling alphabet and a selection of helpful words when playing.<\/p>\n

Early years can have a profound impact on deaf children\u2019s language and social skills and the aim is that the signs will improve and encourage interaction between all children through playful interaction in the playgrounds.<\/p>\n

The grant was awarded as part of a scheme funding community projects that support the communication skills of deaf children.<\/p>\n

Bryony Hughes runs Leeds Deaf Children\u2019s Society, which is affiliated with the National Deaf Children\u2019s Society, and was the one to apply for the grant. She said:<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe needed to use the money to improve the communication skills of local deaf children and we thought that putting the signs in parks was a way that we could reach as many families across Leeds as possible<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aim is that if more people, deaf and hearing, learn some basic BSL then it improves the skills of all involved, and also helps deaf people feel less isolated.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur son is profoundly deaf and wears cochlear implants. When he\u2019s not wearing them, we sign with him and it\u2019s important that he has an additional way of communicating with us, and also with other deaf people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The sign language boards have been installed in children\u2019s play areas at Cross Flatts Park, Pudsey Park, Horsforth Hall Park, Bramley Park, Yeadon Tarnfield Park, Stanningley Park, Springhead Park Rothwell, Heritage Village, Blands Avenue Allerton Bywater,\u00a0 and East End Park.<\/p>\n

Councillor Helen Hayden, Leeds City Council\u2019s executive member for children and families, and Councillor Mohammed Rafique, executive member for climate, energy, environment and green space, said:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe new signs are a great improvement to the playgrounds, encouraging interaction between all children, deaf and hearing. Learning basic BSL is useful to any person and we\u2019re hoping that this will reach many local families and help them learn a new language.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work hard to be a child friendly city and it is important that all children feel represented and included in spaces designed for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Angela Calder, of the National Deaf Children\u2019s Society\u2019s Community Grants programme, said:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis was a great idea from Leeds Deaf Children\u2019s Society. We hope the new signs get people talking about British Sign Language (BSL) and even using a few basic signs. It\u2019s a really powerful way of helping deaf children feel more included.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Community Grants programme is all about initiatives like this \u2013 enabling groups and communities all around the UK to make a real, tangible difference on the ground, helping deaf children and young people feel part of their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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This post is based on a press release issued by Leeds City Council<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Donate here, or sign up for a subscription at bit.ly\/SLLsubscribe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Children at playgrounds around Leeds are being encouraged to learn sign language as new fun educational boards are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,92142,28825,92143,393,4884,1860,11743,9457,92144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-235804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-british-sign-language","10":"tag-cross-flatts-park","11":"tag-deaf","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-leeds","15":"tag-leeds-city-council","16":"tag-play","17":"tag-playground","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114791571038710189","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}