Learning Resources

Braille services adapt materials for school and college learners according to a learner's individual needs. Many of the learners at the West of England School and College are totally blind and they might require books/texts/images to be produced into Braille, grade 1 or 2; or Moon, another tactile communication aid.

Learners with some sight may require varying degrees of large print and for the text or paper to be a certain colour. Each learner's preferred choice is known and catered for, along with any grading that the ophthalmologist may request.

Teachers and tutors provide Braille with the curriculum work books/sheets that are needed for each lesson, ranging from GCSE English Literature to detailed mathematic books quoting complex formula. For Geography relief maps are produced and some are displayed on the T3 touchpad machines. Materials can also be digitised (.dtb/ DAISY).

The Library, just like Braille Services, provides resources to match the way each learner likes to read or listen to books. A large print of Harry Potter may be 3 books, a Braille copy is 11 books and put one on top of the other is over a foot tall! Harry Potter is also available in audio and digital versions.

Braille Services also produces material for blind or partially sighted learners in other Devon schools as part of a contract with Devon Education Authority, as well as Torbay Council LEA.