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Schoolchildren took part in a host of different activities, including blind taste testing and a signed music video as part of a sensory day.

King’s Academy Northern Parade School hosted its annual sensory awareness day, giving children the chance to learn more about different sensory impairments.

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Michelle Buxton, who works in the sensory impairment resource, has run the event for the last four years, and said it’s a great opportunity for children to learn about the barriers faced by those with impairments.

Pictured: Year 4 pupils attempt blind tasting of different food. Picture: Habibur Rahman

She said: ‘The children love it, they have fun with the activities but most importantly they get to understand what it’s like for a child with visual or hearing impairments and the barriers that they face every day.’

The event involved activities where the children would experience not using a particular sense, for example a blind taste test, a blind obstacle course and a game where the children had to guess the person or object from a blurred image, to replicate what it’s like for visually impaired children.

Michelle said that the aim of Thursday's event was to break barriers and to help disabilities become more normalised to the children, who previously may not have been aware of the everyday difficulties faced by their classmates.

She said: ‘Sometimes children with disabilities are left out and that can be really isolating, so that’s a really special part of the day to help them feel accepted and proud of their disabilities too.’

Pictured:Pupils having a go at Blind Football. Picture: Habibur Rahman

As part of the day, Michelle created a video, where the staff and children performed a sign language version of “A Thousand Years”. As the only person in the school who knows BSL, Michelle had the task of teaching the staff and children their parts for the video.

She said: ‘They picked it up quickly, some of the younger children struggled a bit more but they were really excited knowing that they now knew a few ways to communicate with people with hearing impairments, and they have started using it with one of our students who has a hearing impairment, saying good morning to them, it really makes such a massive difference and makes them feel so included and accepted.’

Sensory Awareness Day teaches primary school children about the barriers faced by people with disabilities