Preparing for residential school
Consider what may influence your enjoyment and learning at residential school
Things you need to do
- Read all the relevant parts of Meeting your needs at residential school (PDF).
- Think about the support and facilities you’ll need to enable you to attend residential school. Get some ideas by reading a list of the equipment available for loan at residential school.
- Check the descriptions of the locations used for residential schools — they include details of the site layout, access for disabled people and the accommodation. Keep in mind that the site you attend may affect which equipment you need and whether or not you will need an assistant. See Residential school venue information.
Do contact the Disabilitiy Resources Team if you'd like to talk about the support and equipment available, or for other guidance.
You can tell us about your requirements by completing the Request form for residential school arrangements or phoning the Disability Resources Team.
What you tell us will be treated in confidence. Information to do with your disability or additional requirements is made available only to staff who have a role in ensuring that your needs are met. If you have any questions about the information we hold in relation to your residential school requirements, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Booking a place at your school
Once you have returned your request form for residential school arrangements, the next stage in preparing for residential school is to book your place (unless you are taking a residential school module – with XR in the code – in which case you may already have done so). A booking form is sent to you three to four months before your school begins, together with guidance notes and a residential school programme. The form asks you to state up to eight choices of date and location.
It's important to look at the descriptions of the sites, see Residential school venue information so you can decide which one is most suitable for your requirements.
The Residential School Team tries to make sure that students with additional requirements get their first choice of date and location, but since that isn’t always possible you should include as many acceptable choices as you can. If you’re not satisfied with your initial allocation you can apply for another place. We will do all we can to find one for you, but you may need to be prepared to accept the original offer.
It’s also possible to book residential school places by telephone or through the Residential schools online booking process in StudentHome.
Information for all students:
- Financial support and Disabled Students' Allowances
- What we can do
- Decide what you need
- Accessibility - using a computer for OU study
- Student stories
- Contacts
- Publications and forms
Information about:
Disabled Students' Allowance - are you eligible?
A Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) can be used to pay for individual equipment and support at a residential school. Find out about the DSA and take the eligibility quiz to see if you could receive financial support.
Remember
Please don’t assume that we’ll know about your needs either from the request form for general services and equipment that you gave us at the beginning of your module or from your DSA assessment (if you’ve applied for one). It’s essential that you give us as much information as possible on your request form for residential school arrangements so we can provide the right facilities and support.
If your circumstances change so that you need more support, or less, than you asked for on your request form, please tell the Disability Resources Team.
