Author: lornagravenstede

In April 2025 the Burwood Centre is celebrating 25 years of offering independent multidisciplinary assessments to help support deaf children and young people.

Over the years we have supported roughly 1000 families of deaf children and young people by providing high quality, specialist assessments and reports.  We’ve been privileged to have the input of some very brilliant professionals over the years including Administrators, Advisory Teachers of the Deaf, Audiologists, Educational Psychologists, and Specialist Speech and Language Therapists.  If you have ever worked with us, then THANK YOU!  If you have ever visited us, we hope that your child/young person is truly living their best life.

An anonymous questionnaire was sent to families who used the Burwood Centre between September 2022 and July 2023 in the hope that this would inform us how well we are able to meet the needs of those that come to the Burwood Centre and inform ways in which we can change so that we are even better.  Roughly a third of the families who were sent surveys responded and we are extremely grateful to them for taking the time to provide us with their feedback.  The responses that we received were overwhelmingly positive.  Here is a summary of what we discovered:

What type of school did your child attend when you visited the Burwood Centre?

How Useful would you rate your visit to the Burwood Centre?

It is really pleasing to see that everyone who responded said that their visit to the Burwood Centre was useful, with 90% rating this visit as very useful.

Was there anything that we could have done better on the assessment day?

Everyone who responded to this question said that there was nothing that could have been better.  One respondent noted that we were ‘very accommodating, helpful, nice and friendly’ and another said that their child would have stayed longer if he had been allowed.

How useful would you rate your Burwood Centre report?

Again, all families who responded rated their reports as being useful, with 60% rating the report as ‘extremely useful’.

Was there anything that we could have done better in the report?

Most respondents said there was not anything that could have been better.  We had two suggestions for improvements, and these were:

1. The report could more specifically outline that the child needed specialist deaf teaching
2. Provide an executive summary indicating the essential changes to be made to provision

With regards to the first point, we do make specific recommendations on our Burwood reports relating to the child’s needs and this does sometimes include direct teaching by Teachers of the Deaf, where indicated.  We do not ever specify a particular named school/placement, however.  We do describe the type of environment and input that our assessments have led us to find a particular child needs and so others (parents and Local Authority professionals) can look at potential schools available and work out to what extent these meet the child’s needs as outlined in our recommendations.

With regards the second point, our reports outline how we found the child on the day and list recommendations in terms of their current needs.  We do not comment upon the child’s current provision because we cannot observe this.  By stating what a child needs, others can work out what changes are necessary.  Having said this, if a parent, representative or solicitor has a particular requirement for a child/young person’s report then we encourage them to discuss this with us before the assessment and we will work out how we can best meet their needs.

Did your visit to the Burwood Centre help or lead to any changes in provision or support for your child?

Of those who responded ‘yes’ to this question, one family stated that their child now attends a school for the deaf (changed provision), another two stated that there was changed educational provision and two stated their reports helped them win their tribunal.

Did you use your Burwood Centre report as evidence in a special educational needs tribunal?

If yes, how useful was your report at tribunal?

What aspects of our service do you feel were good?

• “Communication and timescale”
• “Friendly staff, had a good chat prior and at the end to ensure all information was correct, used an interpreter, that’s always a bonus”
• “All of it”
• “Communication with myself Mum was great”
• “Guidance beforehand and on the day.  Understanding shown regarding the stress experienced by parents facing tribunal.  How the staff accommodated needs on the day and helped put our daughter at ease”

Other comments:

• “Staff all very friendly and if needed ongoing support is available”
• “It was a great experience from start to finish”
• “We are so glad that centres like the Burwood Centre exist as we have attempted assessment previously but these were not adjusted to accommodate our daughters learning and hearing disabilities.  We feel that the report provided an accurate picture of our daughter”

Concluding Remarks

It is very good to hear that the service provided by the Burwood Centre is still meeting the needs of our users.  Our communication with families (before and on the day of the assessment), understanding/empathy, the reports we produce and our expertise in terms of deafness are appreciated by the families who come to visit us.

I would like again to thank all of the families who have given us their feedback.  We really do appreciate it.

Over the last six months we have seen some significant changes to staff at the Burwood Centre.  First, last summer, one of our Educational Psychologists, Dr Rosie Thomasson, took up an exciting new position in Hong Kong.  Rosie worked with us for many years and we all miss her and the amazing expertise she bought to the Burwood team.  It was a privilege to be able to work alongside Rosie and I learned a lot from her.  I am personally hoping that one day in the future, should she return to the UK, she will join us again!  Then in October 2021 our long serving administrator, Frances McMenemy (Fran) retired.  Fran worked at Burwood for 13 years and was very much loved by the staff and families who met her.  She was so supportive of everyone and will also be very much missed.  Everyone at Burwood wishes both Rosie and Fran all the best in their new ventures.

We have now appointed a new administrator/coordinator, Laura Harmer, and if you phone in, then it is Laura’s friendly voice that you are likely to hear.  There has also been a little change to the teacher of the deaf assessments.  Julie Heald is still doing some of these, but we are also joined by Katie Jillians who is a very experienced Teacher of the Deaf and Educational Audiologist.  I am pleased to say that both Roberta Smith and Fiona Boxley-Lang continue to work with us to provide educational psychology assessments and advice.  I (Lorna Gravenstede) am still enjoying providing specialist speech and language assessments to families who require these.