Two members of staff at the Blanche Nevile School for Deaf Children – based across two sites in Highgate and Muswell Hill – are fundraising for a trip to Nepal where they will be helping to renovate a similar school.

Teachers Kathryn McCarthy and Lauren Millar will be heading to Asia over the summer.

Their efforts come on the back of a hugely successful deafness awareness week for the school, which took place between May 6 and May 10.

Kathryn told this newspaper about a successful week of events, which saw children even visit the Home Office.

She said: "For us being a deaf school it's really important that we celebrate the week and use it as an opportunity to boost awareness."

Events included a workshop ran by the schools Briish Sign Language (BSL) tutor tackling the misconception that lipreading is easy - it's not - with children from the school and the adjacent Highgate Primary.

Kathryn added: "We were also invited as part of the Kaos choir to the Home Office at the start of the week. It went so well we've been invited back for Christmas!"

The Kaos choir is a made up of a mix of deaf and hearing children.

Kathryn added: "What's really important is that as well as our work together as a team, we are really lucky that we have so many strong deaf role models, people like Richard, at the school for the children."

The school Kathryn and Lauren will be visiting was also in mind last week, too.

Kathryn, the primary school site's assistant head said: "We had our special cake sale which was raising money for a deaf school in Nepal, "We raised more than £450, which will really help to add to the facilities they have there.

"The money raised will go towards the renovations and decorating of the dormitories and classrooms of the school as well as buying much needed resources."

During the week, the National Deaf Children's Charity also brought their "listening bus" to the school where children were able to take a look at some of the exciting advances in technology for deaf and hearing impaired people.

Blanche Nevile provides bilingual teaching for primary and secondary age deaf and hearing impaired children, It is currently on the look out for new trustees.

Lauren and Kathryn's fundraising page is here: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kathryn-mccarthy-lauren-millar-nepal-voluntears?utm_term=BpVmy5eW5