St Vincent School of the Deaf

School for hearing impaired kids

St Vincent has a proud history of educating deaf children for the past 75 years. It currently has 270 pupils ranging in age from 22 months to 20 years. Traditionally, St Vincent educated mostly white children, but over the last two decades the demographics have changed, and now 81 % of the learners are black, almost 8% are white and the remaining 11% are made up of Indian and Coloured learners. A few of the learners live close by in areas such as Alex, Berea and Randburg, but the vast majority live beyond a 30km radius of St Vincent. At least 15 of the learners come from other African countries, including the DRC, Gabon, Kenya and Nigeria.

The change in the school’s demographics reflects the improved medical care available to children from higher income-bracket families and, for those who can afford it, the impact of cochlea implant procedures that have successfully enabled many deaf children to hear.

Pre-primary school

At St Vincent Pre-Primary we adopt a child-centered, play based approach to education.We believe in developing the whole child by working on the child’s level and catering to every child’s specific educational needs.

The preschool exudes a sense of family and the dedicated team of teachers and class assistants has a close bond with all the children at the school. At present we have four classes:
- Nursery One (ages 2-4),
- Nursery Two (ages 4-5)
- Nursery Three (ages 5-6)
- Grade R (ages 6-7)
We are particularly excited to accept toddlers and babies as young as possible; as exposure to sign language at an early age is extremely important for future language and concept development

Foundation, intermediate and high school

We offer education needs for all learners in these grades. Please see our website for more details.

Specific needs - wish list

St Vincent requires a far higher level of teachers and teacher support staff per pupil than schools for children without disabilities. Accordingly, the school sees an immediate need for the following:
- Bursary scheme for indigent families
- More support staff, including speech and occupational therapists,
Translators and psychologists
- Computers, smart boards, Autocad
- Assistance with transport
- Sponsorship of the school hostel (which is currently closed) for learners
needing to travel more than 60kms to get to school each day