Archives: Courses

This course is grounded in the Children Act 1989 duty to promote contact, the Positive Relationships Quality Standard within the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, and local authority family time (contact) procedures.

This course is genuinely, deliberately distinct from the brief siblings-and-family-contact reference within the Key Working in a Children’s Home course, and the relationships-and-support-networks content within the Preparing for Independence course, elsewhere in this series — this course goes considerably deeper into planning, supporting and recording family time. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal framework, this child’s own web of relationships, from “contact” to “family time,” the Placement Plan and agreeing arrangements, the family time planning cycle, preparing a child beforehand, supporting a session well, observing and recording honestly, risk-assessing family time, working respectfully with parents, sibling contact, supporting a child afterwards, when family time needs to change, reunification and rehabilitation planning, cultural and identity considerations, and life story work’s connection to family relationships over time.

This course is grounded in the Positive Relationships and Quality and Purpose of Care Quality Standards within the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, and the multi-agency working framework within Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023.

This course is genuinely, deliberately distinct from the brief multi-agency references within the Key Working in a Children’s Home and Effective Communication courses elsewhere in this series — this course goes considerably deeper into the specific professional network around a looked-after child. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal and quality framework, the network around the child, the social worker relationship, the Independent Reviewing Officer and the LAC review, the statutory meetings cycle, education and the virtual school, health and CAMHS, the youth offending team, advocates and independent visitors, information sharing, professional boundaries, contributing effectively to reports, handover during a crisis, resolving professional disagreement, working with a distant placing authority, and the residential team’s own genuine voice and expertise.

This course is grounded in the 2014 statutory guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care, the Philomena Protocol, and independent return home interviews within 72 hours of a child’s return.

This course is genuinely, deliberately distinct from the Level 2 and Level 3 Awards in Safeguarding Children and Young People elsewhere in this series, which introduce child sexual exploitation and county lines as part of a wider safeguarding curriculum — this course centres specifically, deeply on the missing episode itself. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal framework, missing versus absent, understanding push and pull factors, prevention and the individual missing risk assessment, the Philomena Protocol, immediate checks when a child is first found missing, the genuine response timeline, searching safely, working with police as genuine partners, missing and exploitation, a child’s genuine, warm welcome home, the safe and well check, the independent return home interview, trigger plans and learning from a pattern, recording and reviewing data, and supporting staff and other children afterwards.

This course is grounded in the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 staffing requirement that a person with a suitable first aid qualification is genuinely available, and in recognising and responding to common paediatric emergencies.

This course is genuinely, deliberately distinct from the “basic life support” content within the Care Certificate course elsewhere in this series, which introduces first aid at a general, single-standard level, and from the Health and Safety in a Children’s Home course, which covers wider environmental safety rather than the medical emergency response itself. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal and regulatory framework, recognising an emergency, getting help, choking, unresponsiveness and CPR basics, febrile seizures, asthma attacks, severe allergic reaction and anaphylaxis, head injuries and concussion, burns and scalds, cuts/grazes/bites, responding to self-harm injuries, poisoning and suspected overdose, minor illness versus genuine emergency, recording and reporting, and staff qualification and keeping skills current.

This course is grounded in the Health and Wellbeing and Quality and Purpose of Care Quality Standards within the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, general child development milestones, and the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) framework.

This course is genuinely, deliberately distinct from the existing Attachment and PACE course elsewhere in this series, which focuses specifically on attachment theory and the PACE model — this course covers the broader developmental trajectory across all domains, and how genuine adversity can disrupt it, rather than repeating attachment-specific content. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal and quality framework, physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development, puberty and adolescent brain development, what “typical” genuinely means, developmental delay versus difference versus disorder, the ACEs framework, toxic stress on the developing brain, developmental catch-up, observing and recording development, working with the wider professional team, life story work, and supporting development through everyday care.

This course is grounded in Regulation 20 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 (restraint and deprivation of liberty), the associated Guide to the Quality Standards, and Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) functional assessment methodology.

This course is deliberately, genuinely distinct from the existing Level 3 Award in Promoting Positive Behaviour course elsewhere in this series, which already introduces the Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence (ABC) model at a general level — this course goes further, into genuinely practical de-escalation technique and formal PBS functional assessment specifically within children’s residential care, rather than re-teaching ABC from scratch. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal framework, the genuine arousal curve, the function of behaviour, the functional assessment cycle, proactive and secondary prevention strategies, verbal and non-verbal de-escalation technique, when restraint may genuinely be necessary and restraint reduction, recording and reporting, debrief, individual behaviour support plans, a trauma-informed lens, and working with the wider team.

This course is grounded in the Food Safety Act 1990, the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, and the Food Standards Agency’s 14 recognised allergens, and connects to the Health and Wellbeing Quality Standard within the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

A children’s home kitchen is genuinely different from a commercial catering kitchen — it is also, ordinarily, a genuinely homely, shared space where children learn to cook, help prepare meals, and eat together as a real part of family-style residential life, and this course holds both truths together throughout. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal framework, the four Cs, safe temperatures, personal hygiene, cleaning and disinfection, cross-contamination, storage and stock rotation, allergens, managing a known allergy day to day, the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, HACCP and Safer Food Better Business, cooking together as a genuinely homely activity, teaching children food hygiene as a life skill, food waste and pest control, food from outside the home, and recording and responding to a food safety incident.

This course is grounded in the SEND Code of Practice 2015 and the Children and Families Act 2014, and connects to the Education and Health and Wellbeing Quality Standards within the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

Written specifically for registered managers and residential care staff, this course is deliberately, genuinely distinct from both the adult-social-care “Level 3 Award in Supporting Individuals with Learning Disabilities” course and the “Supporting Autistic Children and Young People” course elsewhere in this series. It covers across eighteen lessons the legal framework, what learning disability genuinely is and how it differs from autism and learning difficulty, the severity spectrum, total communication for children, age-appropriate and dignified support, the EHCP and specialist provision, health needs and health inequalities, positive risk-taking, mental capacity as a young person approaches sixteen, safeguarding, behaviour as communication, siblings and family, working with school, identity and self-esteem, transitions, and working with the wider specialist team.

This course is grounded in the SEND Code of Practice 2015, the Children and Families Act 2014, and the National Strategy for Autistic Children, Young People and Adults 2021-2026, and connects to the Education and Health and Wellbeing Quality Standards within the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

Autism is genuinely common among children in residential care, and understanding it well — the real, neurological basis for how an autistic child experiences and interacts with the world, and practical, everyday strategies that actually help — makes a real, measurable difference to a child’s daily experience. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal framework, what autism genuinely is, communication differences, sensory processing, creating a sensory-aware home, meltdowns and shutdowns, masking, the EHCP and the home’s role, working with school, routine and managing change, social relationships, co-occurring conditions, safeguarding, identity and neurodiversity, working with family, and transitions to adulthood.

This course is grounded in NICE guideline NG87, “Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management,” which explicitly identifies looked-after children as a population with increased ADHD prevalence, and connects to the Health and Wellbeing and Education Quality Standards within the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

ADHD is genuinely common among children in residential care, and understanding it well — the real neurodevelopmental difference behind the behaviour, its genuine overlap with trauma presentations, and practical, everyday strategies that actually help — makes a real, measurable difference to a child’s daily experience. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal and quality standards framework, what ADHD genuinely is, executive function, ADHD and looked-after children, distinguishing ADHD from trauma responses, diagnosis and assessment, what NICE guidance says, medication and the care staff role, practical everyday support strategies, structure and routine, clear communication, supporting emotional regulation, working with school, ADHD and risk, celebrating strengths, and supporting transitions and independence.