Children from St John the Baptist RC Primary School in Brighton showed off their singing and signing skills this week at the opening ceremony of the Faculty of Public Health Annual Conference and Public Health Exhibition at the Brighton Centre.
The Whitehawk-based school learned the song and signs as part of sign2sing, a fundraising activity organised by the Deaf Health Charity SignHealth. Sign2sing raises money to help vulnerable deaf children in the UK and Uganda.
“We were very excited to perform the song at the opening of the conference” Jane Noble, Music Coordinator, St John the Baptist RC Primary School
Eighteen children, aged between nine and eleven, performed Reach Out Your Hand at the conference before an audience of delegates and exhibitors. The inspiring song, which was written specially for sign2sing 2016, has a strong anti-bullying theme and has been performed by schools, businesses and other organisations across the UK and overseas.
St John the Baptist have taken part in sign2sing a number of times in the past, this year raising £366 to help deaf children.
“Everyone at St John the Baptist is really proud to have been involved with sign2sing.
It’s such a wonderful introduction to signing and raises money for a really important cause.” said Music Coordinator Jane Noble “We were very excited to have the opportunity to perform the song at the opening of the conference and share the joy of signing and singing with so many people.”Jenny Angliss, Communications Officer at SignHealth said:
“The children from St John the Baptist are fantastic singers and signers. Everyone at SignHealth was delighted that the school was selected to represent sign2sing at such a prestigious event. Hopefully their performance will encourage other schools, businesses and groups to take part in sign2sing 2017, raising money to help vulnerable deaf children.”