Mary Hare School is Outstanding

At the end of January Mary Hare School was inspected by Ofsted for both the education and care of the deaf children attending.  Today the full report was published and Mary Hare has once again been pronounced ‘Outstanding’. The inspectors were impressed by the achievement of the pupils and the high quality of the teaching at the school.  The report states:

“Strong and ambitious leadership and the pursuit of excellence have resulted in high quality provision that enables pupils of all ages to make outstanding progress in reading, mathematics and science as well as in their personal development.”

The wider care of pupils was also said to be good, with outstanding features:

“Boarding pupils receive outstanding quality of care. They are cared for by a stable, experienced and sensitive residential staff team who understand pupils’ needs very well. This is enhanced by very effective pastoral care, along with a vigilant staff team who work hard to support pupils with emotional well-being.”

Mary Hare School has been found to be ‘outstanding’ at three of its Ofsted Education inspections over the past nine years.   All members of staff at Mary Hare are proud of their track record of providing the very best education to deaf children from all over the UK. These Ofsted findings are the result of the combined efforts of a dedicated team of staff.

Principal Tony Shaw said: “I believe that the inspection team led by Denise Morris was able to see the school in its true light and I’m pleased by the way the inspectors have captured what they saw in the wording of their report. In this time of constrained budgets when we see so many special schools coming under threat of closure, it is more important than ever that Mary Hare remains a beacon in the educational landscape of provision for deaf children.”

The 6th form was also seen to provide outstanding education for the young people attending:
“Pupils in the sixth form do extremely well in their accredited courses and are close to the national average for all pupils at grades A – C and above other pupils with a statement of educational needs.”

Mary Hare School is the only school in the UK to offer specialist teaching and facilities supporting the full curriculum to deaf children from 4 to 19 years of age. “Pupils make better progress from Year 7 to Year 11 in English and mathematics than all other pupils nationally who have a statement of special educational needs. Progress in developing oral communication skills is outstanding.” (Ofsted)

As Mary Hare School moves forward, there are plans to extend the vocational curriculum for deaf children and young people, to offer more choice to those attending and provide a complete range of opportunities for deaf children. 

To read the full report please go to http://www.maryhareschool.org.uk/downloads/Ofsted_Jan_2014.pdf