Mary Hare School achieves OUTSTANDING in Ofsted Care

Mary Hare School is celebrating huge success as it has achieved Outstanding in all areas following their annual Ofsted visit for residential care.

Mary Hare School is a school for deaf children and young people based in Newbury, Berkshire. With students attending from across the UK, many of the students also board at the school. Ofsted Care visits are made annually to ensure that appropriate standards of residential care are in place for the young people. Following their visit in October, the residential care at Mary Hare School was judged to be Outstanding is all areas.

A highlight from the report included: ‘Managers and staff have created a highly aspirational culture that helps children to achieve their full potential and improves their life chances’.

When reporting on the impact of staff on the students, it shared that staff are ‘attuned and responsive to children’s presenting needs’ as well as being ‘invested in the ethos of the school and take great pride in supporting development’.

The inspection team added that, for pupils, ‘…the experience of moving to the school has been transformational for them and their parents’.

One child said, ‘Moving to the school has allowed me to meet my best friends, express myself and find out who I am as a person.’

Robin Askew, Principal of Mary Hare School, shares his delight in the results, “This is a great achievement and reflects the concerted work over many years of all staff, but especially those who work in residential care. This result reflects our commitment to maintain Mary Hare as an ambitious and aspirational school, transforming the lives of deaf children and young people.”

Safeguarding at the school has been acknowledged as a significant strength in being ‘proactive’, ‘methodical’ and ‘transparent’.

Another comment from the report states that, ‘children enjoy access to a range of social and educational learning opportunities that are planned around the education timetable’, demonstrating the school’s holistic working between in-house therapists, wellbeing staff, teachers and residential staff.

For more information about Mary Hare School and to read the full report, visit: www.maryhare.org.uk