Beverley students are learning Auslan and teaching the signs onward

Students at Beverley District High School, about 120 kilometres east of Perth, are learning Auslan as their language class. ABC News reported on October 31, 2026, that lessons run from pre-primary through Year 8, up to twice a week, with hearing teacher Isabel Freeman. She started by teaching one non-verbal student. When the Italian teacher retired, the school asked her to take Auslan on as the language other than English. She has done it for four years.

Freeman works with Angela Linfitt, a Deaf teacher who mentors the program so the signs stay culturally accurate. Linfitt told ABC that deaf people are the specialists in their own language, and that registration rules and thin funding still make it hard for deaf professionals to hold these school jobs. The state education department says nearly 130 Western Australian public schools now teach Auslan. One student at Beverley has a diagnosed hearing impairment.

Principal Wendy Norris, who joined this year, said students already use the signs outside class. They have taught everyday signs at the Beverley Frail Aged Lodge. Student Bethel Fraser said she wants other people to know the language so they can communicate with deaf people. Freeman called it a level field: the class does not depend on reading or maths speed, so more students can succeed at it. The story is a language being taught and shared. It is not a claim that every barrier for deaf people in Western Australian schools has been removed.