Ollie has just been awarded his Pen Licence at Meadows Primary School. When Ollie was asked what he had to do to earn this he said, “I had to write nicely, join up words constantly, the letters have to be the same size apart from capital letters, like the tall letters.” I think we know what he means! Ollie now gets to write in pen all the time, which was something that was very important to him and he had wanted to do for some time. Ollie also received his 200m swim awards, which is a great achievement. Well done Ollie!

Huge congratulations to Willoe Butler, profoundly deaf from birth, who has just been selected to be a member of the NDCS Youth Advisory Board. She was a very nervous entrant but, thanks to lots of support from her family and SIS, she put herself forward and her courage paid off.  Hundreds of young people applied for the opportunity, with thirty entrants shortlisted being invited to attend interview days across the country. Willoe was one of the eighteen successful candidates.

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Willoe has had to work very hard to overcome the effects of profound deafness and to master the use of her cochlear implant but she is now a confident, sociable girl who is very supportive of her hearing and hearing impaired friends. She is even doing very well in Spanish! She has a great sense of humour and always willing to go the extra mile to include her peers! We are thrilled that she has been selected and look forward to hearing all about her trips to London to work alongside other hearing –impaired young people.

What an opportunity! We hope she inspires others to try next year.

Effie is a profoundly deaf little girl with a huge love of anything to do with unicorns. She is also an avid reader, a passion supported by her parents who seem to buy her every book she shows an interest in. No surprise then that she jumped at the opportunity to dress in her new unicorn outfit for World Book Day at school. What an amazing outfit! She recently practised her braiding skills whilst making a unicorn with her Teacher of the Deaf at school – several for the mane and one for the tail.

Effie was lucky enough to recently meet the children’s author Julia Donaldson who also wears hearing aids. Maybe one day, she’ll even meet a unicorn!

Ray has a severe hearing loss and wears two Nucleus 6 cochlear implants. He also uses a Roger Touch FM system at school. Ray had his first cochlear implants in May 2017 (aged 3) and his second implant in December 2017 (aged 4).

Ray has a twin brother called Jim who is his best friend. Ray has made tremendous progress since cochlear implantation with his receptive and expressive language. He independently manages his hearing equipment in school.

He is very sociable and enjoys a good chat with those who work with him. He always has a ready smile and loves to have fun and laugh! He has made 23 months progress in 11 months with his receptive language which is an excellent achievement.

Well done Ray!

Harry was delighted to be chosen to be a Playground Buddy at Woodfield Infant School. This is a very important role where Harry supports the younger children in play and leads play activities, as well as helping to tidy up the equipment and ensure that everything is put away properly. Well done Harry!

Josh, who has a moderate/severe hearing loss, has successfully secured an unconditional place at Derby University, studying Psychology. He has been studying a blend of A Levels and BTEC Level 3 at Shrewsbury College. Josh would like to be a Neuro Psychologist in the future and we wish him well for his future studies and career.