St Dominic's School

St. Dominic's School in Hambledon, Surrey, England is a co-educational weekly boarding and day school, one of the oldest special schools in the United Kingdom and specialises in the education of children with autism. While currently independent, it is supported by local government funding as a centre of excellence in an area of disability for which public funding is to a certain extent is variously provided throughout the country. Currently pupils are admitted from over 35 different LEAs. It admits and educates pupils ages 8–19.AdmissionsApplications are normally made through the Local Education Authority in whose area a child's family live. Currently pupils are admitted from over 35 different LEAs.BackgroundOn Mount Oliviet, a hill in the Greensand Ridge, the place was named after St. Dominic Savio, the patron saint of juvenile delinquents. The site was originally property of Charles Watney. It consisted of an observatory and a chapel, the latter of which remains a prominent assembly place. When Watney's wife died in 1929 - some time after Watney himself died - the Roman Catholic nun's congregation known as the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary established the school at her request, and they remain its trustees to this day. The school is one of those supported by the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton (in the Roman Catholic church).