A NATIONAL charity based in the North-East which is trying to develop a new GCSE in British Sign Language is asking for help.

Durham City-based charity Signature is urging people to get voting after entering a competition that could see it receive a £250,000 funding boost from Virgin boss Richard Branson.

Signature, which employs 23 people at its headquarters in Belmont is a national charity which campaigns to improve the standards of communication with deaf and deafblind people.

Signature is currently developing a GCSE in British Sign Language (BSL).

The GCSE figures for England show that seven of every 10 students in our schools gets 5 GCSEs at grades A-C. For deaf students, that falls to only four in 10.

Integrating BSL into the UK education system is of great importance to Signature and the deaf community and winning the competition will provide the vital financial support the BSL GCSE campaign needs.

Signature submitted its entry to Branson's 'Pitch to Rich' in the ‘grow’ category earlier this week, and are in third place with almost 2000 votes.

This is a great start but the charity is looking to generate even more votes by the first round deadline of May 5, and is calling on support from across the North-East.

When the results are announced on May 19, the top fifty entrants with the highest votes from each category will progress through to the semi-finals, and the finalists will be revealed on June 2.

To vote visit: virginmediabusiness.co.uk/pitch-to-rich/grow/signature/