A student from Blessed William Howard Catholic High School has set up a school lunchtime sign language class to teach other students, and staff, how to communicate via sign language.

Rebecca Palmer (14) started to learn sign language at age nine, taught by Jayne Fletcher-Brander, a deaf pop star who leads Sign2Sing videos.

Sign2Sing is an annual national fundraising event, organised by the Deaf Health Charity, SignHealth, to promote sign language as a communication tool and make music more accessible to those that can’t hear it.

The event also raises essential funds for projects to support the deaf community.

Almost 20 students are taking part in the classes, aged from 11 to 17. Once they have all learnt the basic signing skills, Rebecca will be creating a video of them performing Take That's 'Greatest Day' as part of the year’s ‘Sign2Sing’ event.

Karl Brown, Principal at Blessed William Howard, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to improve their communication skills and for Rebecca to develop her leadership skills. As a Catholic school we encourage students to be actively involved in charity work; to combine this with learning a new and useful skill is a great idea.”

SignHealth is a UK registered charity, established in 1986, dedicated to providing and improving healthcare services for people who are deaf.

They provide health and wellbeing services in sign language for deaf people and are committed to breaking down the barriers that deaf people continue to face, with poorer communication support and poorer access to health services than hearing people.

To support Rebecca’s fundraising for SignHealth please click here