Specialist Support
St Mary’s University, Twickenham wants to welcome people from all walks of life to study with us and will do our best to support learners from any background.
Care experienced and estranged students
We recognise the need to support students who have previously been in the care of their local authority. We have a dedicated member of staff in the Student Funding Service who is the designated point of contact for all care leavers, and can act as a liaison between any student who requires their assistance and the other areas of the university.
Find out more on our care leavers and estranged students' page.
Mature Learners
Mature students are some of our most well-equipped learners, bringing with them a number of skills and attributes gained from work, family and other life experiences. We recognise that as an adult returning to education you will contribute to the learning environment here.
Find out more on our mature applicants' page.
Students with disabilities
We offer advice and support to our students who have requirements as a result of a disability, mental health condition, specific learning difficulty (such as dyslexia), medical condition or temporary disability, such as injury.
Find out more on our disability and dyslexia page.
Tutoring and Mentoring
The Widening Participation and Outreach team are committed to supporting schools and colleges with attainment-raising activities. We are able to offer local schools, colleges and pupil premium learners tutoring support in subjects that are aligned to St Mary’s University’s courses up to GCSE level. If you think your school or college would benefit from this support, please email Zoe Hourigan, Student Ambassador Coordinator: zoe.hourigan@stmarys.ac.uk to discuss this.
With Brightside Mentoring, St Mary’s University is running a new long-term mentoring programme for Hounslow-based school pupils. The young people are paired with St Mary’s undergraduates who provide mentorship over several months. Based on Theory of Change, this model of mentoring allows the mentees to discover careers and university options, as well as building self-efficacy and social capital.
Through our partnership with AimHigher London South, St Mary’s students serve as coaches to young people from PQ1 wards in London, Surrey and Kent. This yearlong project sees coaches meet with their learners every two weeks to provide support during this important stage in their educational journey.
Team Up is a social venture charity which trains role models to act as inspiring tutors to young people from low socio economic backgrounds who particularly need support in Maths and English.
Since the beginning of our partnership with Team Up in September 2016, 17 of our student ambassadors have worked on the 10 week programme. They have consistently had good results, which shows that this type of intervention proves very successful in improving knowledge and understanding.
Catholic schools outreach
This project aims to raise awareness of St Mary's to pupils, teachers and parents who understand working or being educated in an environment that has a Catholic ethos. The Widening Participation Team are working with schools, parishes and local community groups to establish a programme of regular communication and a series of on and off campus visits.
We are proud to work closely with Catholic schools and collaborate with our Chaplaincy to organise interventions both in-school and on-campus. Additionally, students joining St Mary’s from Catholic schools are entitled to apply for our Catholic school Scholarship.