What do "care experienced" and "estranged" mean?
Care-experienced students are individuals who have spent any amount of time in local authority care, including foster care, residential children’s homes, or being looked after at home with a supervision order, at any point in their life, regardless of their current age.
Estranged students are individuals who are studying without the support or approval of their family network, meaning they have a significant breakdown in their relationship with their parents and do not receive financial or emotional support from them, usually due to a lack of contact or a severed relationship. This can include situations where parents are deceased or the student has been disowned.
What support is available for care-experienced and estranged students?
Students with WP criteria, such as care-experienced or estranged students, will always be prioritised for our support where possible, whether this is engaging in one of our key initiatives, such as Get Set for Success, or receiving support through one of our funding schemes. If we cannot provide the support needed, we will do our best to signpost you to the correct services that can.
Primarily, support to care leavers, care-experienced, and estranged students is provided by the Student Services team, and some of this work is supported by WP. You can find information on the support available to care-experienced and estranged students on the Student Services page, including bursaries.
If you would like to talk to a member of the WP Student Engagement team to help you with accessing different support, you can contact us at studentengagement@stmarys.ac.uk.
Follow us on Instagram