History

St Martin’s College is proud to be part of the organisation of St Rose’s, with whom we share our site and some facilities. The story of St Rose’s began in 1912 when the Dominican sisters, who had a convent in Stroud, were asked to provide education for a young girl who could not be accommodated in the parish school. Through the inspiring courage of the Sisters, this event led them to found St Rose’s, one of the very first special schools in the country. With money they borrowed, they bought and extensively renovated Badbrook House, near the convent, at the corner of Merrywalks. Through dedicated work they created a place ready to nurture and provide specialist and individual education and residential care for children and young people. Their mission was to provide education for children with disabilities, as well as encouraging the children to develop strong moral values and have the self-belief to become valued members of society.

St Martin’s College opened in 2010 and we have been slowly increasing our numbers since whilst we still maintain a small, family friendly feel. For the last two years the college has been situated wholly on one part of the site, there is a quiet internal road that separates St Martin’s College from St Rose’s school.

Whilst all staff and students are incredibly proud of our history, we are equally excited for the future. In the coming years we plan to increase our capacity and improving our facilities to ensure we provide the best possible experience for our students. When the building work is complete we will have state of the art education and residential spaces to be able to meet the needs of 32 students in total, with 10 residential spaces.