Our History

In the mid-1990s, musician and song-writer Sir Richard Stilgoe and neurologist Dr Michael Swallow started piloting music weeks for disabled people. These were so effective that Sir Richard decided to start a place where disabled people and students could work together for longer than a week – to change their own and other people’s lives by creating new music and performing in public. The Orpheus Centre opened in 1997 at Sir Richard's former family home in Godstone, Surrey.

Orpheus started with five disabled students who lived on-site, learning to cook, manage budgets, do laundry and go shopping. They also wrote songs, devised dances and challenged people’s preconceived ideas about disabled people whenever and wherever they performed. Nearly twenty years later and Orpheus has up to 28 full-time students living in independent flats, as well as around 20-day students. Our students are all motivated by the performing arts and have performed in venues all over the country including the Royal Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury Festival, Notting Hill Carnival, the Paralympic Opening Ceremony, The Royal Festival Hall, and appeared in hit TV show Call The Midwife.

In 2018 we celebrated Orpheus’ 20th anniversary year. As we look back on the successes over this time, we are also excited to see what the next 20 years hold for Orpheus.

Orpheus Student Frankie reports on proposals for college life and grounds: 'Orpheus in 20 Years Time'. 

 

Vision

Our vision is of an inclusive world where young people with disabilities, a passion for the performing arts and a desire to live and work independently can achieve their aspirations.

Mission

We use the performing arts to empower young adults with disabilities by developing communication, social interaction and other independence skills.

Our Ethos

At Orpheus we use the arts as a vehicle to promote learning and personal development. We teach a diverse curriculum that covers the arts, independence and employment skills. We offer a range of qualifications working with awarding bodies such as Ascentis, Trinity College, LAMDA and the London College of Music, as well as outreach programmes. Students learn a variety of skills, from cooking and personal finances to accessing the community and managing personal support.

We work closely with each of our students to enable them to transition successfully from full time education into adult life. We support our students to think about what kind of life they would like to have when they leave Orpheus and an important part of this process are our work experience and transition programmes. Team Teach, Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and restraint are not available at Orpheus.