Van Asch College

Van Asch Deaf Education Centre is located in Truro Street, Sumner, Christchurch, New Zealand. It is a special school for deaf children, accepting both day and residential pupils, as well being as a resource centre providing services and support for parents, mainstream students and their teachers in the South Island and the Lower North Island (south of Taupo).

The school was founded in 1880 and it claims that it "was the first fully government funded school for the Deaf in the world."^[3] Formerly called the Sumner Deaf and Dumb Institution, Sumner Institution for Deaf-Mutes and Sumner School for the Deaf, the school was renamed in its centenary year as van Asch College in honour of its first Principal, Gerrit van Asch. It is now known as the van Asch Deaf Education Centre.

History

In 1904, an Act of Parliament forced parents to enrol their deaf children at the college^[4] (then known as the Sumner Institute).

In 1958, the Boy's House was burnt down in the early hours of the morning.^[5]

The old main building was centred near the hills and Evans Pass.

Oralist beginnings

Up until the late 1970s, the philosophy of the school was to prevent the students from using sign language (now New Zealand's third official language). Children were taught exclusively via oral methods, forcing them to learn to lipread and speak, with punishments being given for use of sign language.^[6]

Bilingual teaching

In the late 1970s, the school switched to bilingual teaching and currently, in addition to presenting the curriculum in NZSL, Sign Supported English and oral (aural) modes, the College now offers the facility for deaf and hearing-impaired students being educated in mainstream settings to learn about NZSL as part of a Deaf Studies curriculum.

Deaf Staff

The employment of deaf gardeners, cooks and cleaners has been credited with having a significant effect on the transmission of signs between generations, with children picking up signs the auxiliary staff used to communicate with each other, despite disapproval from teaching staff^[6]

In 1992 the Board of Trustees had its first deaf chairperson.

In 1993 the first Sign Language tutor was employed.

In 1997 the first deaf teacher was employed.

References