In June 2000 two teachers from very different schools met at a citizenship conference in Sheffield. Dave Muir, then deputy head of Blanche Nevile School in north London, and Isobel Bryce, deputy head of Devonport High School for Boys in Plymouth, were both excited by the citizenship project and felt it was an opportunity for a link between their two schools.

There could hardly be more contrast between the two. Devonport High is a foundation grammar school housed in a grand building that was a military hospital in Napoleonic times. Some of its 1,070 pupils are from the most deprived parts of Plymouth. Reflecting the population of the city itself, it has few pupils from ethnic minorities. Blanche Nevile School for the Deaf is an inner-city school making do with a temporary building (though a new one is on the way). Many of its 50 or so pupils are from ethnic minorities. They range from moderately to profoundly deaf, and all use signing.

Bridget Hayman, the Year 7 tutor at Devonport, who has a personal interest in hearing disability, volunteered to help the project by introducing her class to British Sign Language.

A plan for an excursion to the nearby Eden Project with their parallel year group fell through, but it was arranged that the Blanche Nevile football team would play Devonport on a tour they were making in March, when they would be greeted and entertained by Year 7. This would be a new experience for both schools. The Blanche Nevile team had previously played only against other special schools, and few of the boys from Devonport had met anyone with a disability.

In the months before the visit, Blanche Nevile pupils made a video introducing themselves in sign language accompanied by a written translation. Meanwhile, Year 7 sent them e-mails and had a sign-language session with a teacher of the deaf.

“They were so enthusiastic,” says Bridget Hayman. “I left the signing folders out in the classroom and I’d often find them up there in their break times practising on each other. Sometimes I spotted them using it to one another in class, and I had to warn them they musn’t use it in exams!” Using it for real, however, seemed a more daunting prospect, especially since they would be having to communicate with some considerably older boys - Blanche Nevile’s was a mixed-age team ranging up to 16.

Discussing the visit with the football team from Year 10 who were to play them, Isobel Bryce found their expectations of the game were not very high. “They said they weren’t sure, but they didn’t think the deaf school could be much good. How could they play if they couldn’t hear the whistle, and how could they communicate with one another on the pitch?” In fact the visiting team beat them 5-3. “It was a fantastic learning experience,” says Isobel Bryce. “Their centre forward was unbelievable, and our boys were amazed to see how they kept in contact on the pitch and knew exactly what was going on around them. It was lovely to see the camaraderie that gradually developed between the teams, and the way they would instinctively go up and congratulate one another by touching. Sport is a universal language, and football was a good way to begin.”

Once Year 7 had got over their anxiety about signing and accustomed to the fact that “deaf people sometimes seem to be ignoring you just because they can’t hear you,” they thoroughly enjoyed being hosts. Staff were impressed by the younger boys’ determination to communicate and by the generosity and patience of the Blanche Nevile team. After the match, the two groups had tea in the school canteen, followed by a minibus tour of Plymouth, and a visit to a bowling alley “There were so many aspects to this experience,” says Isobel Bryce. “There were the social skills of showing good manners and making the visitors feel at home. And the fact that many of these were older boys made ours feel really good about themselves. Vertical mixing is hard in a big school, whereas it was normal for the Blanche Nevile boys. “They showed us something about concentration, too. Because they are living without the same distractions they are incredibly focused, and this has come up as a learning point. They also showed our boys that there are many other ways of communicating than simply by words.”

Reactions from Blanche Nevile were equally positive. “These were two groups of kids from entirely different backgrounds, but the whole thing was completely unforced,” says Dave Muir. “Ours were buzzing with it afterwards. It was a real boost to their social skills, and I think there was a lot of pride too at having shown a mainstream school that deaf people can play football.”

Now the new Year 7s at Devonport are learning sign language and plan to sign a Christmas carol for Blanche Nevile, which two sixth formers are going to put on video. It is hoped that this will be an ongoing contact, starting with the planned excursion to the Eden Project, and perhaps a return visit to Blanche Nevile when they are in their new building.

Isobel Bryce is enthusiastic about the whole citizenship initiative, which she sees as “one of the few chances we’ve had as teachers to take hold of the whole curriculum and make it work for us”. Perhaps the success of this particular visit is best summed up by one of the Year 7 boys: “My best friends were Ok and Matt, who were both 16,” he wrote. “After we got back to school I was getting quite sad about them going. I really enjoyed meeting them and can’t wait to see them again.”