Seashell Trust (formerly Royal Schools for the Deaf) is a

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Cheadle Hulme Cheadle Hulme () is a suburb in the large village of Cheadle, Greater Manchester, Cheadle in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It lies in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Cheshire, south-wes ...

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, England, for children, young people and adults with sensory impairment, profound and multiple learning difficulties, and profound communication difficulties. It is the oldest deaf children's charity in

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and operates Royal School Manchester and Royal College Manchester, as well as children and adult care and residential homes including a supported tenancy.

Schools

The Trust's special school is called Royal School Manchester, the Trust's independent specialist college SCis Royal College Manchester. In addition, the Trust also operates ten adult care homes and seven children's homes.

History

The original school was established in 1823 by Robert Phillips, a

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

merchant, with the assistance of fellow merchant William Bateman. It attained its royal status by Queen

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in 1897, and

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was its patron. It first opened in

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in 1825, with 14 children, but it became necessary to move to a larger building, in

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, where the foundation stone was laid in 1836. It opened on 21 June 1837. Manchester Blind Asylum and Deaf and Dumb School 1838

The school remained there until 1956, when a new campus was built in Cheadle Hulme. The school in Trafford remained open until 1982 and the charity now operates solely from the one site. The name was changed to Seashell Trust in 2008 because the former one (Royal Schools for the Deaf) was "misleading", according to governors. In 2020, the Trust sold the

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land it owned adjoining the school to housing developer

Bloor Homes Bloor Homes Limited is a British housebuilder based in Measham, Leicestershire. It is Britain’s largest privately owned housebuilder. Bloor Homes was established in 1969 by John Bloor. The 2000s was a particularly profitable decade for the f ...

.Seashell sells land to fund special needs school
Place North West, 8 June 2020

Deafness impairment

The reference to deafness in the name of the school had become obsolete because an increasing number of the students enrolled had communication difficulties but were normally hearing. In particular, the Seashell Trust had developed considerable expertise in working with normally hearing autistic students. The deaf students now admitted by Seashell all have very complex additional needs, including visual impairments, physical difficulties and low general ability.

Nomenclature

The Seashell Trust as a charity is effectively the parent body of the former Royal School for the Deaf and Communication Disorders. In changing the name of the school, it was decided to make a clear distinction between its school and its college (which occupy different parts of the campus). It was also decided to remove the reference to disability in the name. The school accepts students from preschool through to 19 years. The college runs a three-year programme, usually commencing when a student is 19 years old.

References

External links

* {{authority control Private schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport Special schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport Charities based in Greater Manchester Educational institutions established in 1823 1823 establishments in England Further education colleges in Greater Manchester Education in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport Deafness charities Schools for the deaf Organisations based in Stockport