In Residence

We are blessed at Mill Grove in having those who come to stay with us as part of a formal or informal stage in their education or professional development.  Reflecting on those who have done this I now realise that they have come from many different parts of the world (including USA, Europe, Africa, Malaysia, … Read more

Research in Practice has 20 years’ experience in supporting organisations, teams and individuals to access, understand and apply evidence in their work with children, young people and families. The recently published Narey Review recommends ongoing investment in the continuous professional development (CPD) of the Residential Care workforce. Research in Practice offers training and resources to … Read more

  The Mulberry Bush School Cottages At the end of this month the cottages at the Mulberry Bush School are due to be demolished to make way for our new 52-week house and accommodation for our gap-year students who come to us via Latitude to learn our methods and to help us to teach and … Read more

A Partial Register of the 927 (or was in 928?) Eternal Truths. Sheldon Kopp.  This is it ! There are no hidden meanings. You can’t get from there to here, and besides there’s no place else to go. We are already dying, and we will be dead for a long time. Nothing lasts. There is … Read more

Dear Colleagues, As a way to acknowledge completion of our work across the 2015/16 academic year, find here the minutes of the National Centre Advisory Group meeting. These review our activity over the last year, and identify strategic plans for the next. I look forward to re-engaging with you all, and our important work, in … Read more

Haydn Davies Jones Lecture 2012 This paper was given at a conference on Good Practice with Young People held at St Peter’s School, York, in December 2012. This event was also a celebration of the life and work of Haydn Davies Jones, who had recently died at the age of 88. “Seven o’clock: Wake up kitchen boy.” … Read more

Many children underachieve and disengage from education but Young Offenders and Looked After Children continue to cause alarm about their educational performance. They are at the severe end of the performance continuum with an average reading age of 7 for Young Offenders. We know these young people often suffer extreme adversity in terms of social … Read more

How residential care homes are making a change From a blog on the Research In Practice website. 30 JUNE 2016 Our children deserve to be cared for in communities where they are the life and soul of the home in which they live. Residential childcare can be a therapeutic experience, a positive and proactive choice … Read more

 As a shared lives provider (SLP) my partner and I share our home with three young adult students who attend a special needs college. This constitutes part of the college provision. The following reflective essay is an account of our struggles to live with a young man who steals from us. A case study is … Read more

It has dawned on me belatedly that there is one subject even more taboo than religion in residential and foster care settings, and that is politics.  Scanning the 200 or so articles that I have written for the TCJ and ChildrenWebmag I find for example that I have never devoted a single piece to the … Read more

Recently two families with whom we have been actively engaged for many years contacted me to tell me how happy and relieved they were that one of their respective children had received the diagnosis “autistic”.  Although that was exactly how they put it, I made a mental note that most probably they had been informed … Read more

Frame Football is a new activity in the UK set up by amateur football coach, Richard Seedhouse based in Coventry. Ordinarily, many Frame Football players use crutches to assist their mobility but utilise a wheeled walking frame to support them when they play. With more teams now forming across the UK, R82 are gifting eight Crocodile … Read more