YOUNG children with hearing problems are having their high ambitions capped by lofty ceilings in older school buildings.

Sounds bouncing around classrooms with high ceilings make it difficult for those with hearing aids to understand their teachers.

But now Bolton council has been awarded a special needs grant to install suspended ceilings so children with hearing difficulties can join in the lessons at one local school.

Staff at Devonshire Road Primary say the £11,000 Government grant to improve the acoustics in eight classrooms will also help their full-time pupils concentrate on their work.

Headteacher Margaret Gregory said: "It is quite an old school so if you drop something or scrape a chair the sound echoes around the room.

"We were intending to tackle the problem as part of our rolling programme. It was nice to the get the grant to do the work all at once.

"It should make the school quieter and cut the noise down for all our pupils, not just those who have impaired hearing."

Devonshire Road takes in pupils from Thomasson Memorial school for the hearing impaired as the children prepare to be integrated in mainstream secondary schools.

Thomasson head Jean Mort said the old building had caused problems for pupils and welcomed the grant to fit lower ceilings and carpets to absorb background noise.

She said: "Children with hearing aids need the best conditions, otherwise trying to work out what the teacher is saying becomes nothing more than calculated guesswork."

Bolton received another £10,000 to buy more radio aids for pupils with hearing problems as part of an £11 million national allocation to help disabled children in mainstream schools.

Mount St Joseph School, Farnworth, was awarded cash for disabled access to the toilet block and Bolton also received cash to buy lap top computers for pupils who have difficulties taking down teaching notes.

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