Mulberry Bush School

Last updated

The Mulberry Bush School
Mulberrybushschool-aerial.jpg
Address
Mulberry Bush School
Abingdon Road
Standlake

Witney
,
Oxfordshire
,
OX29 7RW

England
Coordinates 51°43′16″N1°26′02″W / 51.72104°N 1.434°W / 51.72104; -1.434
Information
TypeNon-Maintained Special School
Established1948
Founder Barbara Dockar Drysdale
Local authorityOxfordshire
Department for Education URN 123330 Tables
CEOJohn Tuberville
Head TeacherJessica Hooper
Gender Coeducational
Age5to 12
Website http://www.mulberrybush.org.uk/

The Mulberry Bush Charity was founded in 1948 as an independent residential special school in the village of Standlake in Oxfordshire, for children aged 5 to 12 years; nowadays it is a not-for-profit charity. It has now grown to include MB3 (The Mulberry Bush Third Space) , The Mulberry Bush Outreach service, The Mulberry Bush Research and The Mulberry Bush Consulting.

Contents

The school

The school was founded in 1948 by psychotherapist Barbara Dockar-Drysdale with the backing of the Ministry of Education and the Home Office. She and her husband were co-principals until 1962. [1]

Set in 5 acres of rural Oxfordshire the School offers 38-week and 52-week residential care and education to children who have suffered early years trauma and have severe social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

The Mulberry Bush School offers individualised integrated therapeutic care, treatment and education overseen by a multidisciplinary team. Their continual focus is to help children learn to manage their emotions and behaviours through the development of safe and trusting relationships within a group setting.

Outreach

The Mulberry Bush Outreach service aims to use the charity's core principles to strengthen the culture and leadership in organisations. This is achieved through the provision of training, consultation and support for those supporting vulnerable children, their families and communities.

They also provide all the training for staff across the charity, which is focused around the Level 5 Foundation Degree in Therapeutic Work with Children and Young People and ongoing professional development.

MB3 (The Mulberry Bush Third Space)

This provides a residential and conference/event accommodation complemented by a meadow and woodland located in Toddington, Gloucestershire.

It is also the home of the Planned Environment Therapy Archives and special collections and the National Childcare Library.

Mulberry Bush Research

The Mulberry Bush is committed to researching therapeutic practice with children and families, particularly in residential and education settings.

It aims to develop and shape a research culture to influence practice within The Mulberry Bush and other schools, agencies and providers of care to vulnerable, traumatised children and their families.

Mulberry Bush Consulting

The Mulberry Bush, is well known for its therapeutic approach with children, and for their commitment to ensuring that core values, mission and vision are brought to life in all their work and at all levels of the organisation.

The Mulberry Bush Consultancy service was established to help others, in related sectors, to do the same.

The International Centre for Therapeutic Care

The International Centre for Therapeutic Care is a global alliance promoting Therapeutic Childcare, Social Pedagogy and Trauma Informed Practice amongst all those working with children, young people, their families and communities made vulnerable by childhood trauma.

The school is a registered charity. [2] The Mulberry Bush School is the subject of a BBC documentary film, Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, directed by Kim Longinotto. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

Boys Town, officially Father Flanagan's Boys' Home, is a non-profit organization based in Boys Town, Nebraska, dedicated to caring for children and families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child care</span> Care and supervision of children

Childcare, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typically refers to the care provided by caregivers who are not the child's parents. Childcare is a broad topic that covers a wide spectrum of professionals, institutions, contexts, activities, and social and cultural conventions. Early childcare is an important and often overlooked component of child development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal National Institute of Blind People</span> UK blindness charity

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity that offers information, support and advice to people in the UK with sight loss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action for Children</span> United Kingdom childrens charity

Action for Children is a UK children's charity created to help vulnerable children and young people and their families in the UK. The charity has 7,000 staff and volunteers who operate over 475 services in the UK. They served a total of 671,275 children in 2021 and 2022. Action for Children's national headquarters is in Watford, and it is a registered charity under English and Scottish law. In 2017/2018, it had a gross income of £151 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Standlake</span> Human settlement in England

Standlake is a village and civil parish in West Oxfordshire about 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Witney and 7 miles (11 km) west of Oxford, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Brighthampton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,497. The River Windrush flows past the village and with its tributary Medley Brook it forms much of the eastern boundary of the parish. The western boundary has been subject to changes and disputes in past centuries. It now follows Brighthampton Cut, an artificial land drain dug in the 19th century. The Windrush joins the River Thames at Newbridge just over 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south.south.

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) is a professional body for counsellors and psychotherapists practising in the United Kingdom.

Child and Youth Care (CYC) is a profession which focuses on the developmental needs of children and families within the space and time of their daily lives. Child and Youth Care is primarily a way of working with others and practitioners can be found in a variety of roles including direct care, private practice, educator, trainer, writer, supervisor, manager, researcher, and more. They are sometimes known as Child and Youth Workers, Child and Youth Counselors, Youth Workers, or Child and Youth Care Workers. There are strong connections around the world between Child and Youth Care and Social Pedagogy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Residential treatment center</span> Live-in healthcare facility

A residential treatment center (RTC), sometimes called a rehab, is a live-in health care facility providing therapy for substance use disorders, mental illness, or other behavioral problems. Residential treatment may be considered the "last-ditch" approach to treating abnormal psychology or psychopathology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voluntary Service Aberdeen</span>

Voluntary Service Aberdeen (VSA) Since the charity was first established in 1870, Aberdeen Association of Social Services (VSA) has helped thousands of the most vulnerable people and their families living in communities across the North East of Scotland. Its chief executive is Sue Freeth, who assumed the role in 2023.

Daycare Trust is the UK's national childcare charity, campaigning for quality, accessible, affordable childcare for all, and raising the voices of children, parents and carers. Daycare Trust advises parents and carers, providers, employers, trade unions and policymakers on childcare issues. The Family and Childcare Trust was formed from the merger of the Daycare Trust and Family and Parenting Institute in 2013. The Daycare Trust was established in 1986 and is headquartered in London. It is a registered charity and company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth</span> U.S. organization

The Community Alliance For the Ethical Treatment of Youth (CAFETY) is an advocacy group for people enrolled in residential treatment programs for at-risk teenagers. The group's mission includes advocating for access to advocates, due process, alternatives to aversive behavioral interventions, and alternatives to restraints and seclusion for young people in treatment programs. They have also called for the routine reporting of abuse in residential treatment programs, as well as federal government oversight and regulation of residential treatment programs.

Autism Anglia is an organisation and registered charity that provides services to those affected by autism in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridge. It began life in 1973 when Anthony Boobier discovered there were no specialist autism services for his newly diagnosed son. Its first establishment opened in 1977 and it opened adult services in 1983 when the original children grew up and it was realised that there was no specialised adult autism provision for them. In 2008, The Essex Autistic Society took over the Norfolk Autistic Community Housing Association and the Norfolk Autistic Society and changed the name of the new charity to Autism Anglia to better reflect the enlarged area of operation. In 2013 Autism Anglia took over the Cambridge-based charity East Anglian Autistic Support Trust (EAST).

Quarriers is a Scottish social care charity based in Quarrier's Village, Inverclyde. It provides care and support for people with a disability, children and families, young people, young homeless people, people with epilepsy and carers. In February 2008 Quarriers was the largest non-church social care charity in Scotland.

A therapeutic boarding school is a residential school offering therapy for students with emotional or behavioral issues. The National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs listed 140 schools and programs as of 2005. Many therapeutic boarding schools in the United States have been connected to the abusive troubled teen industry.

Larry K. Brendtro is the author of 16 books and over 200 articles in the field of positive youth development and trains youth professionals worldwide. He formerly was president of Starr Commonwealth, serving troubled youth in Michigan and Ohio, and has been a professor in the area of children's behavior disorders. His youth advocacy efforts include service as a practitioner member of the United States Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention during the administrations of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama. Brendtro is a licensed psychologist and director of Resilience Resources, Lennox, South Dakota, providing research, publication, and training in collaboration with CF Learning a program of Cal Farley's of Amarillo, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camila Batmanghelidjh</span> British businesswoman (1963–2024)

Camila Batmanghelidjh CBE was an Iranian-Belgian author, psychotherapist, and charity executive based in the United Kingdom. She was the founder of the charity Kids Company and Place2Be, charities that worked with marginalised children and young people at risk, in inner London, Bristol and Liverpool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years</span> British charity and membership organization

Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY) is a charity and membership organisation based in London and working in England and Wales. A standard-setting organisation, it promotes best practice and support childcare professionals to deliver high standards of care and learning.

Clare Winnicott, OBE was an English social worker, civil servant, psychoanalyst and teacher. She played a pivotal role in the passing of the Children Act 1948. Alongside her husband, D. W. Winnicott, Clare would go on to become a prolific writer and prominent social worker and children's advocate in 20th century England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caldecott Foundation</span> UK charity

The Caldecott Foundation, formerly known as the Caldecott Community, is a UK charity which provides therapeutic care and education for disadvantaged and vulnerable children. It has been based in the Borough of Ashford in Kent since 1947 and operates seven registered children's homes in Kent and Nottinghamshire as well the Caldecott Foundation School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Dockar Drysdale</span> Psychotherapist

Barbara Dockar Drysdale or Barbara Estelle Gordon was a British psychotherapist who started the Mulberry Bush School for troubled children after the Second World War.

References

  1. "Drysdale, Barbara Estelle Dockar- [née Barbara Estelle Gordon] (1912–1999), psychotherapist" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/72159. ISBN   978-0-19-861412-8 . Retrieved 17 April 2019.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. "THE MULBERRY BUSH SCHOOL LTD, registered charity no. 309565". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  3. The Sunday Times, 11 May 2008.