Caldecott Foundation
Registered charity | |
Purpose | Therapeutic care and education of disadvantaged and vulnerable children |
---|---|
Headquarters | Caldecott House |
Location | |
Managing Director | Nicholas Barnett |
Chairman of Trustees | Charles Lister OBE |
Website | thecaldecottfoundation |
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
The continued
The school moved back to the Maidstone area in 1932 where it occupied
In 1947 the community moved to Mersham-le-Hatch, a large country house designed by
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
References
- ^ Stocks, Mary (March–May 1963). "Social Pioneers: Leila Rendel". Social Service Quarterly, pp. 151–153. National Council of Social Service
- ^ s.n. (December 2010). "A century of care in Kent". Kent Life. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
- ISBN 1134534191
- ISBN 0286627507
- ^ Horder, Thomas (ed.). (1946). Health And Social Welfare 1945–1946, pp. 325–326. Todd Publishing Company
- ISBN 185742316X
- ^ Rodway, Simon (16 April 2017). "James King Obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 27 September 2018 (subscription required).
- ^ Salter, Steve (22 June 2017). "Town Mourning Countess Montbatten". Kentish Express. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ^ Charity Commission for England and Wales. Caldecott Foundation Limited. Charity no. 307889. Company no. 419256. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
- ^ Ofsted (15 July 2005). Inspection Report: Caldecott Foundation School, p. 3. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- KentOnline. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ^ Caldecott Foundation (2018). "Who Are The Caldecott Foundation?". Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ^ Ofsted (5 April 2017). Inspection Report: Caldecott Foundation School, pp. 6–8. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
Further reading
- Coggin, Enid (1922). "A boarding school for the children of working men: The Caldecott Community.". The New Era in Education, pp. 35–42. G. Philip & Son
- Ransom, Josephine (1919). Schools of To-Morrow in England, pp. 22–29. G. Bell & Sons
- Rendel, Leila (1952). "The Child of Misfortune"[permanent dead link]. Caldecott Community
External links
- Official website of the Caldecott Foundation
- Caldecott Community Archives Archived 20 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- Website of 'The Caldecott Association' of former students and staff
- Ofsted reports (2005–2017). Caldecott Foundation School. Reference Number: 119027
- Kentish Express. (10 February 2011). "Social Pioneer Opened Nursery" (has images of the original Caldecott nursery founded by Leila Rendel in 1911)