Residential Provision

St Mary’s has excellent residential facilities onsite. Currently, we operate one house that is organised to take account of individual needs.

There is capacity onsite to offer other additional provision and we also offer extended day, overnight respite or short stay opportunities for students who are placed with us as day pupils. We create warm, caring and supportive environments for our children and young people so that they feel comfortable and ‘at home’ during their time with us. Our living areas have communal space for everyone to spend time together as well as shared or individual bedrooms and bathrooms.

We create exciting and appropriate opportunities to take part in activities in the community as well as on site. Pupils work with residential staff to create their activity plans which enable them to enjoy, learn and to make the most of their residential experience. Our ethos of promoting independence continues throughout the living areas where pupils are supported and nurtured to build on life skills and learn how to care for themselves. We can offer a range of residential opportunities from weekly boarding to 38 week boarding. St Mary’s provides a ‘waking day curriculum’ for our residential pupils. This means we provide a consistent programme of support during and after school hours. This includes our Therapy staff who work with pupils both before and after school, in the residential areas and in the community, with the aim to promote the development of independence and life skills.

We offer a number of exciting and stimulating evening and weekend trips and events. St Mary’s takes every opportunity to celebrate key events and dates in the calendar which means that our pupils have a very rich schedule. Current and recent activities include: football, horse riding, arts and crafts, baking, tennis, uniformed groups such as music lessons, judo, running / sports clubs, aromatherapy and many more. If a child has a particular interest, staff at St Mary’s will do their very best to help them explore that interest.

We understand and value the opportunities we provide to pupils to take part in community activities when they are in residence but we also understand that often they enjoy spending quiet time in the house and in their own space. We pride ourselves on getting this balance right for our pupils.