Our Charity

The Deaf Academy is a registered charity (charity number 1124523) and has a rich and long history, being founded in 1826 in Exeter. We are a non-maintained special school, and as such we are not maintained by the local authority. Much of our work relies on donations and the generous support of our funders and fundraisers.

Our Charity’s objectives

Our Charity’s objectives, which were revised with the permission of the Charity Commission in 2008, are:

• to provide education, training, care, accommodation, leisure opportunities, welfare and other support services to deaf people and people who are not deaf but who, due to some other disability, would benefit from the same (principally though not exclusively from the counties of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset) with the object of developing their personal, mental, physical and spiritual capacities so that they may realise their full potential as individuals and members of their communities and society as a whole and so that their condition of life may be improved; and
• to educate the general public in the needs and capabilities of deaf people with a view to achieving greater integration between deaf and hearing communities.

Trustees and governing body

Our Charity has a Board of Trustees which meets at least four times a year. Whilst governance of the Academy is delegated to a Governing Body which meets at least six times a year, the Trustees remain responsible for the Governance of the Charity as a whole.

Our Annual Report provides an update on our previous year’s activities and our financial position for the financial year, which runs from 1 September to 31 August 2022.