At Treloar’s, we use Makaton to facilitate effective communication among staff and students on a daily basis. This unique program incorporates symbols (pictures), signs (gestures), and speech to help individuals to express themselves and understand language.
Throughout the year, our Makaton tutors run a range of workshops and provide training for Treloar's staff, significantly benefiting many of our students by improving their daily communication skills.
There is also College Sing and Sign Team, consisting of Makaton tutors and Treloar's staff from various departments who are involved in the delivery of Sing and Sign sessions and in the creation of videos on their YouTube channel.
About Treloar College Sing and Sign Team
By visiting Treloar's Education YouTube channel, you will find a playlist of songs which has been exclusively created by the Sing and Sign Team from Treloar College to teach Makaton through music. The team lip syncs and signs songs, providing a creative way to support children and young people with learning disabilities as well as their families and various professionals.
The beginnings
Denise Humphreys, Tutor at Treloar College, started sing and sign sessions to bring Treloar's students and staff together to learn in a fun and interactive way during the challenging times of Covid. At that time, numerous restrictions were in place regarding gatherings and the number of individuals allowed in a single room. This made it impossible for college classes to get together in the hall to attend their regular Makaton sessions.
As a result, Denise was given the opportunity to lead Sing and Sign lessons on Zoom for all the college classes. Initially, the team used resources from other Makaton creators, including Singing Hands. However, after some time, Denise came up with the idea of producing original videos, leading to their first project, “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I, in 2020. 5 years later, the team has successfully produced 167 videos, of which 78 are on YouTube, with some videos achieving up to 16,000 views!
In the summer term, the team will be introducing conversational Makaton sessions to selected students across all cohorts who will benefit from an increase in their Makaton signing skills and vocabulary.
Reaching students at Treloar's and beyond!
Now, Treloar's students not only have their weekly sing and sign class sessions, but they also have the opportunity to join the Sing and Sign after-college club where they spend time with their peers, enjoying signing to the videos they have helped create. Ariza Barranco Villajuan, Treloar's Learning Technologist and a member of College Sing and Sign Team, said:
"We aim to continue making more fun videos with student choices in mind and also involve those who would like to participate behind the scenes in creating our future resources."
College Sing and Sign Team also pays visits to other SEN schools in the area, including the recent visit to Addington School in Reading who reached out to Treloar College to thank them for creating Makaton videos: the resources are incorporated into their lessons every day and their students enjoy the songs and show high levels of engagement during the sessions.
Last week, one of our students from Treloar College joined the Sing and Sign Team during their visit to Addington School. As a student representative, she supports the team in delivering college sessions every Friday. Ariza said:
"We spent a lovely day at their school, meeting all the students and delivering a short Sing and Sign session with a small class. They gave us a tour of their school, and our college student was surrounded by and interacting with Addington students—she was a celebrity!
Diana Petre, Class Teacher at Addington School, said:
"I just wanted to take a moment to thank Clair and Ariza for visiting our class and leading the Makaton Sing and Sign session. Our students absolutely loved it! They were engaged with both of you, vocalising and smiling more than usual—it was wonderful to see their excitement and enjoyment.
"I also wanted to mention how fantastic your student representative was during her work experience with us. She made such a positive impression that everyone in the school wanted to talk with her! Her enthusiasm and interaction with the students were truly appreciated. We look forward to welcoming you again in the future, and we can't wait for the collaboration of the new song together."
