Staff and students of the Shepparton Deaf Facility.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
The Shepparton Deaf Facility, which is preparing to celebrate its 30th anniversary, has a clear motto that it empowers its students with: The deaf can do anything.
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Living proof that it’s more than just words is one of the facility’s staff members, and a former student, Stephanie Hargreaves, who said she had nothing but fond memories of her time at the school, to which she commuted an hour by bus to and from Yarroweyah every weekday as a child.
“It was the best place to be; it gave me a sense of belonging,” she said.
Ms Hargreaves, who has had a cochlear implant since she was two years old, is currently furthering her studies to become a teacher of the deaf.
She dreamed of going to university as a child, but had believed being deaf would hold her back.
It was the Deaf Facility that helped her realise anything was possible, whether you’re hard of hearing or not.
The facility’s first co-ordinator, Sharon Hensgen-Smith — who is now the regional director for the region — was a visiting teacher of the deaf in the Goulburn Valley area when a lack of support for deaf students inspired her to lobby for a complete facility.
Year 6 student Sophia Conte and Year 5 student Liam O’Laughlin.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Thirty years ago, on October 23, 1995, her vision came to life inside the walls of Guthrie Street Primary School.
The facility currently has seven full-time students and four part-time students, who visit a day or more each week from other schools in surrounding areas.
The students are integrated into regular classes at their respective schools, but come to the Deaf Facility to focus on literacy and language.
It’s not set up like a traditional classroom.
Education support worker Renae O’Laughlin with Year 5 student Oscar King.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Instead of rows of rectangular tables, the students work together on the floor or sitting at a round table, which lends itself better to good communication in deaf culture by enabling clear eye contact and sign language between the staff and students.
Deaf students get opportunities they might not get in mainstream schools, such as meeting deaf role models who return to the school to chat them, and excursions to mingle with the deaf community outside their immediate area, such as the deaf sports day they will attend in Melbourne next month.
Teacher of the deaf Angela Joy with Year 2 student Max Dodsworth.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Current and past staff, parents, students and collaborators will come together on Saturday, October 25, to celebrate three decades of hearing support with a tour of the facility and evening meal.
Anyone who has been involved with the Shepparton Deaf Facility since its inception is invited to take part.
Contact Guthrie Street Primary School on 5821 1944 for further details.
The original plaque that commemorates the official opening of the facility in 1995.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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