Mater Dei School is located at Narellan, near Camden. It is a special school, with a residential programme, that was established by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in 1957. It was previously the Mater Dei Orphanage. Records of children who have attended Mater Dei School since 1957 are held at the school.
In 2011 Mater Dei offered a range of services to support babies, children and young people with disabilities and developmental delays, including early intervention therapy, education and residential programmes.
The Mater Dei school programme supports up to 140 students from K-12 and enables them to achieve a school certificate, or higher school certificate in life skills.
Sources used to compile this entry: Hanson, Dallas, Why are they in children's homes: report of the ACOSS children's home intake survey, Australian Department of Social Services: Australian Council of Social Services, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1979, 83 pp; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf; Thomas, Stephanie, 'Mater Dei: A privileged place to work', The Good Oil, 2011, http://www.goodsams.org.au/good-oil/mater-dei-a-privileged-place-to-work/.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 7 March 2011, Last modified: 10 June 2021