Mary Rose Academy

Overview

Mary Rose Academy is a specialist school where leaders maintain a "palpable sense of ambition" for pupils with severe learning difficulties. The report describes a "calm and purposeful environment" where staff build "deep and caring relationships," ensuring pupils feel safe, valued, and increasingly independent.

Strengths

• The post-16 provision is rated "Exceptional," featuring a bespoke curriculum and an innovative "classroom in the heart of industry" that prepares students for meaningful qualifications and independent living.
• Pupils "achieve very well," making sustained progress from individual starting points through precisely mapped learning plans and expert support for communication and reading.
• Behaviour is described as "excellent," with a "deep sense of calm" pervading the school, supported by skilled staff who help pupils regulate and engage with learning.
• Inclusion is of a "high quality," with staff providing training to mainstream schools and creating an innovative "Bridge" provision that acts as a "lifeline" for pupils with profound needs.
• Attendance has remained stable and persistent absence has reduced, thanks to "deeply personalised approaches" and skilled collaboration with medical staff.

Areas to improve

• Leaders should "continue to refine and connect their evaluative processes" so that developments across sites and pathways are understood well and used to shape provision for pupils’ evolving needs.

Safeguarding

The safeguarding standards are met, with leaders establishing an "open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility" and concerns are actively identified and managed.