Mary Hare School has been providing outstanding education for deaf children and young people since 1883. They teach children from Reception (5yrs) through to Sixth Form (19yrs), offering a full GCSE and A-level curriculum as well as a range of vocational courses. They inspire deaf children to believe in themselves, helping them to reach and exceed their potential and to mix confidently in the wider community. The majority of their pupils go on to higher education and develop a network of lifelong friends. 

Their unique approach enables them to overcome the barriers to learning that inevitably accompany a deaf child’s hearing loss and encourages the development of spoken and written English. All of their teachers are subject specialists and qualified Teachers of the Deaf, taking an exclusively auditory/oral approach to teaching. This means that sign language is not used in the classroom, with pupils using a combination of lip-reading and technology to maximise residual hearing. By placing great emphasis on language skills, they help each child to make remarkable progress in both language development and subject knowledge. 

The School welcomes children from across the UK and Northern Ireland so the majority of their pupils board. They also welcome children from abroad where independent funding exists. As a non-maintained special school, their pupils are funded by their home local authority.

A New Vision for Mary Hare Primary School

Their new Primary School will be purpose-built to help deaf children get the education that all children deserve, re-enforcing positive learning experiences and creating an accessible learning environment.

The new Primary School will incorporate the very latest audiological technologies to help give deaf children every chance to succeed in life. Classrooms will be built to the highest acoustic specification to ensure that pupils can interact not only with teachers but also with their peers, which helps build confidence and encourages communication. 

Other features of the new school will include: 

• A state of the art speech & language and audiology suite 
• A comprehensive library
  
• Music Room
  
• Multi-function Hall
  
• Homely accommodation for boarders
  

By building a better learning environment they can ensure the children benefit from fully accessible classrooms and residential accommodation within the main campus, which will help them to make significant savings on their utilities and maintenance costs.

What Dreweatts is doing to help

Earlier this year, we announced that Mary Hare School for deaf children, would be our charity for 2019. Over the past few months we have been busy collaborating with them on a variety of initiatives to help them with their fundraising for the new Primary School.

This September we will be hosting a Charity Auction in collaboration with Pippa Middleton, Sophie Ryder, the Mary Hare School, and over 25 esteemed and upcoming artists, as well as the children themselves, to raise essential funds for a new Mary Hare Primary School for deaf children across the UK. All proceeds from this auction and catalogue sales will go towards the Mary Hare Primary School Appeal | Browse the catalogue

Following on from this, we will be holding a Charity Valuation Day in October. You will be able to bring along your paintings, jewellery, watches, silver, clocks, European and Asian ceramics and works of art and antiques for valuation and expert insight from TV's Jonathan Pratt and Cristian Beadman and other Dreweatts' specialists. We will also have auction highlights on view from our autumn auction calendar. 

We look forward to welcoming you to these events and thank you for your support in helping us raise funds for this inspirational school.

Stay tuned for more details!