St Mary's Partnership

We are proud to be the founding school of the St Mary’s Partnership. A collective of three schools in Southampton, working together, dedicated to improving educational outcomes and life chances for children across our city. The partnership includes:

St Mary's Church of England Primary School & Nursery
Mason Moor Primary School, Nursery & Specialist Bases
Valentine Primary School & Nursery

Our Partnership cultural expectations and drivers:

High Expectations
No Excuses
Whatever it takes

Going the extra mile

Executive Leadership driving consistency

Led by our Executive Leader, Mr. Daniel Constable-Phelps, the partnership is driven by a shared vision and commitment to providing the highest quality education for every child.

Our Collaborative Approach:

Through collaboration and shared goals, the St Mary’s Partnership harnesses the collective expertise and resources of all member schools to benefit children, staff, and the wider community. By working together, we:

Share Resources: Pooling knowledge, materials, and support systems to enhance teaching and learning experiences across all schools.
Benefit from Expertise: Drawing on the strengths and specialisms within the partnership to continuously improve and innovate.
Develop Strategic Aims: Implementing partnership-wide strategies to address challenges and achieve excellence.
Foster Passionate Commitment: All members of the partnership are united in their dedication to improving the life chances of children in Southampton.

Our Partnership Strategies and Aims:

The St Mary’s Partnership is guided by a clear set of strategies and aims to:

Raise attainment and accelerate progress for all children in all schools.
Develop high-quality teaching and leadership across all schools.
Enhance support for children with diverse needs, ensuring inclusivity and equity.
Engage families and the wider community to support children success.
Create a network of opportunities for enrichment, wellbeing, and growth.

Our commitment to children who find themselves in difficult circumstances:

As a collective, we have created our own Disadvantaged Learner Guide to ensure that these children benefit from the very best of what we have to offer.

This strategy is grounded in Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) research and the school's implementation framework, ensuring disadvantaged pupils are prioritised for rapid academic progress across St. Mary’s Partnership of schools.

Since joining the partnership, all schools have become members of PiXL (Partners in Excellence). The membership provides teachers will a suite of support tools for diagnosis and therapy. In addition, the schools utilise the suite of summative assessments – enabling us to benchmark pupils’ learning locally and nationally. The programme advocates teaching children ‘therapies’ as opposed to ‘interventions’

The impact of our curriculum:

Our curriculum is built to drive improvement:

Together, as part of this passionate and forward-thinking collaboration, we are shaping a brighter future for the children of Southampton.

What have we achieved as a Partnership since 2023?

We have successfully opened two school-based nurseries at Mason Moor and Valentine. And have extended the age range at St Mary's to incorporate 2 year old provision.
All of the schools have made rapid improvements since joining the partnership. St Mary's rose from Good to Outstanding in 2023, Valentine from RI (x3) to Good in 2025 and Mason Moor's 2026 inspection highlighting 'strong' judgements as well as 'expected'.
We have developed expertise across our school group - with a dedicated Art Leader and Teacher, EAL expertise, an in-house ECT leader. Ensuring that our vision and values are palpably lived equally across our schools.
We benefit from having a school within the partnership that houses two specialist bases for SEND. One for profound learning needs and another for SEMH.
Within our family, we now have three 'Pathways' provisions within mainstream, led by a specialist SEND teacher. Ensuring that children's needs are met quickly and with the specialist help required for children to thrive.
Our collective voice matters and is listened to. We have been called upon to give evidence to Parliament at the SEND Inquiry 2025 - chosen because of St Mary's excellent reputation for support SEND children's needs. We have hosted The Children's Commissioner for England in 2026, in the most recent 'listening exercise' to understand marginalised voices in the country.