Caldecott Foundation

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Caldecott Foundation
PurposeTherapeutic care and education of disadvantaged and vulnerable children
HeadquartersCaldecott House
Location
Managing Director
Nicholas Barnett
Chairman of Trustees
Charles Lister OBE
Websitethecaldecottfoundation.co.uk
Formerly called
Caldecott Community

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.

The foundation's roots go back to 1911, when Leila Rendel founded a day nursery in the St Pancras district of London which catered to the children of women working in a nearby factory. It later evolved into a pioneering boarding school in Kent, first for working class children, and then for distressed and vulnerable children who had been placed into care. Rendel named the community after the children's book illustrator Randolph Caldecott whose pictures adorned the walls of the St Pancras nursery.

The foundation was officially incorporated in 1946 as the Caldecott Community. Its name was changed to the Caldecott Foundation in 1997.

History as the Caldecott Community

The Caldecott Comminuty began its life in 1911 when Leila Rendel and her friend Phyllis Potter set up their own nursery school based on the progressive ideas of

suffragist. Their school was located at Cartwright Gardens in St Pancras and mainly catered to the children of women working in a nearby matchbox factory. An admirer of Randolph Caldecott's children's book illustrations, Rendel named the nursery school in his honour and adorned its walls with a frieze of his pictures. Rendel's grandfather, Alexander Meadows Rendel, provided them with an endowment and further donations were received from her large circle of family and friends. By 1914 the school was well-established with a written constitution and Percy Nunn as its chairman. Princess Louise served as its president.[1][2][2]

Charlton Court in East Sutton, Caldecott's home from 1917 to 1924

The continued

German bombing of London and subsequent condemnation of the St Pancras building by the local council in 1917 led the Caldecott Community to move with its teachers and children to Charlton Court, a large country house near Maidstone. In the process it became the first co-educational boarding school in the UK for working-class children.[3] When the lease on Charlton Court expired in 1924, the school moved to another country house in Goffs Oak, a village in Hertfordshire and remained there for the next eight years. During its time there the community increasingly took in distressed and vulnerable children whose family lives had been disrupted by death, illness, and divorce.[4]

The school moved back to the Maidstone area in 1932 where it occupied

Jewish refugees, were living in the community. They ranged in age from 1 to 16. At the time, only children up to the age of 11 were educated within the community itself. The older boys and girls went to local secondary schools. Over the years, ten Caldecott pupils were sent to Gordonstoun School on scholarships. Leila Rendel was a life-long friend of Kurt Hahn, Gordonstoun's founder, and was a founding trustee of the school.[5][2][6]

Mersham-le-Hatch in Mersham, Caldecott's home from 1947 to 2000

In 1947 the community moved to Mersham-le-Hatch, a large country house designed by

OBE for his work with the community. During his tenure he reorganised the community's structure and set up smaller family units for the residential care of the children and young people in its care.[8][9]

Caldecott Foundation

With the impending expiry of the lease on Mersham-le-Hatch in the late 1990s, the community's organization underwent further structural changes, and in 1997 changed its name to the Caldecott Foundation.[10] An £8m appeal was launched to fund the future accommodation and expansion of Caldecott. In 2000,the foundation's new headquarters were opened at Caldecott House, a large Victorian residence in Smeeth. Several residential homes were constructed on its grounds as well as a purpose-built school nearby which opened in 2000.[11][2]

The foundation launched another appeal in 2011, its centenary year. The appeal raised £750,000 which was used to upgrade the foundation's supported accommodation and to set up two vocational training centers.[12]

As of 2021, the Foundation's services include therapeutic residential care, education both through tutoring and small classes in their residential care homes or at the Caldecott School, and therapeutic fostering placements. Caldecott Fostering moved onto the Ashford site in 2020. The Foundation is governed by a board of trustees whose chairman is Charles Lister OBE.[13] Nick Barnett was appointed as managing director in March 2017.

Caldecott Foundation School

The Caldecott Foundation School is an independent

Year 11 or from the sixth form went on to further education, training or employment.[14]

References

  1. ^ Stocks, Mary (March–May 1963). "Social Pioneers: Leila Rendel". Social Service Quarterly, pp. 151–153. National Council of Social Service
  2. ^
    s.n. (December 2010). "A century of care in Kent"
    . Kent Life. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  3. ^ Horder, Thomas (ed.). (1946). Health And Social Welfare 1945–1946, pp. 325–326. Todd Publishing Company
  4. ^ Rodway, Simon (16 April 2017). "James King Obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  5. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    . Retrieved 27 September 2018 (subscription required).
  6. ^ Salter, Steve (22 June 2017). "Town Mourning Countess Montbatten". Kentish Express. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  7. ^ Charity Commission for England and Wales. Caldecott Foundation Limited. Charity no. 307889. Company no. 419256. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  8. ^ Ofsted (15 July 2005). Inspection Report: Caldecott Foundation School, p. 3. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  9. KentOnline
    . Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  10. ^ Caldecott Foundation (2018). "Who Are The Caldecott Foundation?". Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  11. ^ Ofsted (5 April 2017). Inspection Report: Caldecott Foundation School, pp. 6–8. Retrieved 2 October 2018.

Further reading

External links