Mary Hare School
 | |
| Established | 1916 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-Maintained special school |
| Chief Executive | Mr Peter Gale |
| Principal | Mr Peter Gale |
| Chair of Governors | Mr Andrew Strivens |
| Founder |
Mary Adelaide Hare (3/11/1865 - 5/11/1945) |
| Location |
Arlington Manor Snelsmore Common Newbury Berkshire RG14 3BQ England Coordinates: 51°26′15″N 1°19′44″W / 51.4376°N 1.3290°W |
| Local authority | West Berkshire |
| DfE number | 869/7005 |
| DfE URN | 110180 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 237 |
| Gender | Co-educational |
| Ages | 4–19 |
| Website |
www |
Mary Hare School is a residential co-educational Non-Maintained special school for deaf pupils in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It consists of around 230 pupils from year 7 (age 11) to year 13 (age 19). It was established by Mary Adelaide Hare in 1916 as Dene Hollow School for the Deaf in Burgess Hill, West Sussex. After Mary Hare's death on 5 November 1945, it was redesignated as Mary Hare Grammar School for the Deaf on 1 January 1946.
The school bought Arlington Manor and surrounding estates in 1947, and moved from its old site in Burgess Hill to the refurbished premises in 1949. Several building projects have since followed, expanding the school to its current size, including a classroom block, school hall, boarding house for boys, staff flats (now boarding house for year 7 pupils), swimming pool, science block, sixth form campus, arts and design centre, Arlington Arts Centre which includes a theatre seating 250, music therapy centre, and recording studio. The newest project underway is a boarding house for year 11 pupils, called Murray House, which was completed in 2012.[1]
The school teaches a variety of subjects at GCSE and A level, and guarantees a good solid education for deaf children, many of whom go onto university and other further education. The communication policy is oral, that is, sign language is not used in class. Some students may use sign language outside of class: the "speech competition", a compulsory contest within the school to encourage speech and discourage signing, was abolished sometime in the 1980s.
The school itself is now a small part of a company by the name of Mary Hare Limited, consisting of Mary Hare Secondary and Mary Hare Sixth Form. Other divisions are Mary Hare Primary (formerly Mill Hall School, Cuckfield, West Sussex), Arlington Labs (earmould manufacturers), Mary Hare Training Services (post graduate courses in deaf education, audiology, and hearing aid dispensing), Mary Hare Foundation (fund raising), Arlington Arts Centre (theatre, music, conferences), and Mary Hare Hearing Centres (hearing aid shops).