Team name: Nurture 2 at Beech Academy
Team members: Ethan, Josh, Leland, Megan, Owen, Sienna, Deborah Foster, and Mica Coleman Jones
Challenge: Chatta: What’s Your Story? Help us solve the challenge of removing barriers to learning for all.
Challenge host: Chatta, Kingston upon Hull, UK
Challenge theme: The Learning Experience

Solution description: 
As a special school we are aware that all of our pupils experience sensory differences, and these can have a significant impact on our ability to effectively teach and learn. Some of our teachers are non-neurotypical too. Sensory experiences can significantly impact our ability to stay well-regulated and focused. In students it can impact their ability to learn, while for teachers it can impact their ability to teach and support others effectively. And even in mainstream schools, where classrooms are so busy and noisy with 30 children in a class, students with special education needs struggle to participate because their sensory experiences can be overwhelmed.

The team Nurture 2 at Beech Academy found a way to support those people that feel sensitive to noise, and background noise in particular. While ear defenders already exists to cancel out background noise, we created a headset that would allow each pupil to hear the teacher, and his/her peers, with a built-in microphone. With the use of a dedicated app, the teacher would be able to control the microphone of each students, whereas the students would be able to adjust the volume of their own headset, ask the teacher for their mics to be switched on so that they can contribute to class discussion, and request discrete support from a learning assistant.

If our solution was available to schools, thousands of children would be able to take part in more class and school activities, feeling less anxious as well as able to contribute and be heard. Pupils will have greater memory recall of new learning, and will be able to self-regulate in ways that might otherwise have not been possible during discussions.

Read the full description of the solution here