Leadership: How to ensure deaf children's needs are met in difficult financial times

In May, we released some research showing that almost one in five local authorities in England has cut vital educational support for deaf children, despite the government's ringfencing of the education budget. Although the attainment gap for deaf children has closed slightly, 65 per cent of deaf children still fail to get five good grades at GCSE - and these cuts mean even less support to enable them to achieve.

It is important that we're clear how we will respond to challenges like this and we refuse to be anything but ambitious about the future for deaf children. So we have published our vision, aims and objectives in our new six-year strategy, Every Deaf Child, Every Day. We want the professionals, young people and families that we work with to know what the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) is seeking to achieve over these next six years, and how all of our members and stakeholders can be involved.