Archives: Courses

This course is grounded in the Prevent duty under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, and in the Channel programme — a voluntary, consent-based, local-authority-chaired, multi-agency programme of support, genuinely distinct from a criminal process. It connects directly to the Protection of Children Quality Standard within the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

This course is written at a professional, safeguarding level throughout — it focuses on understanding, recognising and responding sensitively to radicalisation concerns, and deliberately does not describe extremist ideology, tactics or content in any specific, operational detail. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal framework, understanding radicalisation, vulnerability factors, recognising possible signs, avoiding jumping to conclusions, the notice, check, share referral process, the Designated Safeguarding Lead role, what happens after a referral, the Channel programme itself, children’s social care’s complementary role, online radicalisation, avoiding stigma and discrimination, supporting a child referred to Channel, working sensitively with faith and identity, peer influence, and staff confidence and support.

This course is grounded in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and is deliberately, specifically scoped to the fire warden operational role itself — sometimes called fire marshal, with no genuine legal distinction between the two terms in the UK.

Where the general Fire Safety course elsewhere in this series covers what every member of staff should know, this course goes further and deeper into what a named, trained fire warden specifically does — confirming and raising the alarm, conducting a genuine building sweep, directing evacuation, the assembly point headcount, the warden’s specific, limited role with firefighting equipment, liaison with the fire and rescue service, and reporting afterward. Written for registered managers and residential care staff appointed as, or considering becoming, a fire warden, this course covers across eighteen lessons the role itself, appointing and training wardens, raising the alarm, conducting a genuine sweep, sweeping with children in mind, closing doors and noting hazards, directing evacuation and supporting those needing extra help, the assembly point headcount, firefighting equipment, liaison with the fire service, reporting and recording, leading drills well, night-time warden duties, supporting new staff, cover when a warden is absent, and reviewing the system over time.

This course is grounded in the pathway planning duty under the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and the Children and Families Act 2014, and in the Staying Close programme — the Department for Education’s programme of enhanced support specifically for young people leaving residential children’s homes.

Leaving care remains, genuinely, one of the most significant transitions a young person in residential care will face, often happening earlier and more abruptly than it does for their peers who remain at home into their twenties. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal framework, the pathway plan and its timeline, starting preparation early, practical life skills, money and budgeting, cooking and household skills, health and self-care, education and employment, housing and tenancy, the Staying Close programme, the Personal Adviser role, emotional readiness, relationships and support networks, identity and life story work, staying safe as an independent young adult, and genuinely involving the young person’s own voice throughout.

This course is grounded in attachment theory and in Dr Dan Hughes’ PACE model, described by Hughes himself as “a way of being” rather than a technique, and connects directly to the Positive Relationships and Health and Wellbeing Quality Standards within the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

Nearly every child in residential care has experienced some genuine disruption to early relationships, and understanding how this shapes their expectations of adults, and learning to respond in a way that genuinely helps rather than confirms old fears, sits at the heart of good residential child care. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons what attachment theory tells us, the four attachment patterns, how attachment difficulty shows up day to day, the PACE model and each of its four elements in turn, using PACE in difficult moments, felt safety, being a genuine secure base, consistency across the whole staff team, attachment-aware boundaries, staff self-regulation, and working sensitively with placement moves and multiple past attachment figures.

This course is grounded in NICE guideline NG225, “Self-harm: assessment, management and preventing recurrence,” published in September 2022, and in the Health and Wellbeing and Protection of Children Quality Standards within the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

This is genuinely sensitive territory, and this course is written at a professional, protective level throughout — it focuses on understanding, recognising, responding compassionately to, and reducing the environmental risk of self-harm, and deliberately does not describe methods in any specific, instructional detail. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal and quality standards framework, understanding self-harm, risk factors and warning signs, responding to a disclosure, responding when self-harm is discovered, ligature risk, conducting a ligature risk assessment, balancing safety with a genuinely homely environment, individual safety planning, what NICE guidance says, working with health professionals, recording and information sharing, self-harm versus suicidal intent, ongoing support, the impact on staff, and reducing stigma.

This course is grounded in the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, and specifically in the three Quality Standards key working most directly gives practical expression to: the Quality and Purpose of Care standard, the Children’s Views, Wishes and Feelings standard, and the Positive Relationships standard.

Key working sits at the genuine heart of good residential child care — it is the named, consistent relationship through which a child comes to know that one specific adult genuinely knows them, holds their history, and represents them. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal and quality standards framework, becoming a key worker, getting to know a child genuinely, the Placement Plan, structuring key work sessions, building trust, multi-agency co-ordination, advocacy, siblings and family contact, identity, honest recording, recognising performative versus genuine practice, transitions, leaving care, difficult relationships, and supervision and support for key workers themselves.

This course is grounded directly in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which places a legal duty on the “responsible person” for any premises, including a children’s home, to identify fire hazards, assess the risk, and implement genuinely appropriate fire safety measures.

Fire safety in a children’s home carries particular, genuine weight: the people you are responsible for evacuating are children and young people, some with their own additional vulnerabilities, sleeping overnight in the building, at exactly the time of day evacuation is genuinely hardest to achieve safely and quickly. Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal framework, fire risk assessment, fire prevention, detection and alarm systems, fire doors and means of escape, firefighting equipment, day-time and night-time evacuation procedures, Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs), fire drills, responding sensitively to a history of fire-setting behaviour, smoking and other specific ignition risks, working with the fire and rescue service, record-keeping, what to do in a real fire, and keeping training current.

This course is grounded directly in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, RIDDOR 2013, COSHH, and the Quality and Purpose of Care and Protection of Children Quality Standards from the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 — the framework Ofsted inspects children’s homes against.

Health and safety in a children’s home carries a genuine tension worth naming honestly from the outset: a children’s home is meant to be a genuine home, where children cook, bake, use scissors, climb on furniture, and gradually take on the everyday risks and responsibilities of growing up — not a sterile, risk-free institution. Genuinely good health and safety practice is what holds this balance, identifying and controlling real, preventable hazards without stripping a child’s home of everything that makes it feel like one.

Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal framework, the five steps of genuinely good risk assessment, balancing safety with a homely environment, kitchen and everyday domestic safety, slips, trips and falls, COSHH, first aid and medical emergencies, hot water and bathing safety, vehicle and minibus safety, off-site activities, lone working and staff personal safety, RIDDOR reporting, infection prevention and control, online and digital safety as part of the wider picture, safety for visitors and contact, and building a genuine health and safety culture.

This course is grounded directly in Regulation 23 (Medicines) of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, and in the Health and Wellbeing and Protection of Children Quality Standards from the same regulations — the framework Ofsted inspects every children’s home against, distinct from the CQC framework covered throughout the adult social care courses elsewhere in this series.

Getting medicines right in a children’s home is genuinely different from getting them right in most other care settings. The people you are supporting are children and young people, still developing the understanding and judgement to manage medication themselves, often arriving with a complex medical or psychiatric history, and genuinely entitled to move, over time and wherever appropriate, toward managing their own medicines as part of growing up — not simply having medicines managed for them indefinitely.

Written for registered managers and residential care staff, this course covers across eighteen lessons the legal framework under Regulation 23, roles and responsibilities, safe storage and security, receiving and disposing of medicines, safe administration and the “six rights”, supporting a child toward self-administration, PRN and behaviour-related medicines, controlled drugs, why covert administration is a genuinely different and far more restricted question for a child than for an adult, recognising and reporting medication errors, the real risk of medication being used as a form of chemical restraint, working with prescribers and pharmacies, supporting a child’s own understanding and voice, record-keeping and audit, medication during placement moves and the transition to adulthood, and staff training and competency.

This course is grounded directly in the real Pearson BTEC Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training (CET) specification, a minimum 36-credit qualification — 21 mandatory credits plus 15 optional credits — built from five mandatory units: Understanding Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships in Education and Training; Planning to Meet the Needs of Learners in Education and Training; Delivering Education and Training; Assessing Learners in Education and Training; and Using Resources for Education and Training.

Where the Level 3 Award in Education and Training course elsewhere in this series introduces the foundations of teaching through a single short micro-teach, the CET goes considerably further: a minimum 30-hour supervised teaching practice placement, deeper planning across a whole scheme of work rather than a single session, and genuinely more sophisticated assessment and resource-use skill. Written for registered managers, senior trainers and anyone building a sustained, ongoing training role across Supported Living, Domiciliary Care and Ambulance Services, this course covers across eighteen lessons roles, responsibilities and relationships in greater depth, the wider legal and quality assurance context, understanding learners and initial assessment, schemes of work and course design, detailed session planning and differentiation, delivering training and questioning technique, teaching and learning strategies, managing behaviour and group dynamics, the teaching practice placement, assessment purposes and types, assessment methods and validity, involving learners in assessment, record keeping and internal quality assurance, selecting and evaluating resources, technology-enhanced learning and accessibility, and applying all of it specifically within a care setting.

This course is a standalone, foundational grounding in the real CET qualification structure and content. It is not itself an accredited award — achieving the genuine, certificated CET qualification requires enrolment with a recognised awarding organisation, completion of an assessed portfolio, and a minimum 30-hour supervised teaching practice placement. This course is written as the natural next step after the Level 3 Award in Education and Training course elsewhere in this series.