Events

Restorative practice provides a relationship-based approach to responding to conflict, challenging behaviour, harm, and relationship breakdown. Rather than focusing primarily on blame, punishment, or consequences, restorative approaches encourage children, young people, and adults to understand what has happened, recognise its impact, take responsibility where appropriate, and participate in repairing relationships and moving forward.

The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023 established a regulatory framework for supported accommodation for looked after children and care leavers aged 16 and 17. Understanding these requirements is essential for providers, Registered Service Managers, Nominated Individuals, and practitioners responsible for delivering safe, effective, and child-centred support.

Allegations or concerns about adults who work with children require careful, timely, and proportionate responses. Organisations must protect children while ensuring concerns are managed fairly, information is shared appropriately, and safeguarding, employment, regulatory, and multi-agency responsibilities are understood.

Effective oversight of children’s social care services depends on senior leaders understanding not only their own responsibilities but also how their role connects with the Registered Manager and the wider organisation.

This practical course explores how professionals can develop and implement person-centred, realistic, and outcome-focused Pathway Plans that actively support young people’s progress. Participants will consider how to move from process-driven planning towards a dynamic and relational approach in which young people are meaningfully involved in decisions about their lives.

This provoking seminar explores the legal, ethical, and practice considerations associated with Deprivation of Liberty (DoL) within children’s social care. Participants will develop a clear understanding of the legal framework, the circumstances in which deprivation of liberty may arise, and the responsibilities placed upon professionals and organisations. The course focuses on promoting rights-based practice that protects children and young people while supporting their development, independence, and long-term wellbeing.

Effective quality assurance should do more than confirm whether policies, records, and procedures are in place. Its purpose is to help organisations understand the quality of practice, identify emerging concerns, recognise what is working well, and use evidence to improve the experiences and outcomes of children and young people.

Effective life story work is much more than creating a book, collecting photographs or developing a timeline of significant events. It is an ongoing and sensitive process that can help children make sense of what has happened to them, explore important relationships, understand decisions that have affected their lives and develop a stronger and more coherent sense of identity.

This seminar explores how to complete robust matching assessments that support safe, suitable, and sustainable placements. Participants will examine the factors that should inform placement decisions across different care settings and learn how to evidence professional judgement through structured, child-centred assessments. The course focuses on reducing risk, promoting wellbeing, and ensuring placement decisions are defensible, transparent, and aligned with safeguarding and regulatory expectations.

Effective care planning is central to good practice in children’s social care. A good plan should provide much more than a record of identified needs or a list of tasks for professionals to complete. It should create a clear connection between what we know about a child or young person, what they need, what we are trying to achieve and how support will contribute to meaningful change.

This full-day course explores the complete care planning journey: Assessment → Need → Outcome → Plan → Intervention → Review → Progress

Developing cultural competency is not simply about learning facts about different cultures, nor is it the same as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training. It requires professionals to recognise how culture can influence identity, communication, relationships, behaviour, expectations and experiences, while also recognising the influence of their own cultural background and assumptions on professional practice.

A well-managed children’s home should be able to demonstrate the quality of its practice, the experiences of children and the difference the service is making as part of its everyday operation. Inspection preparation is therefore not simply about ensuring that documents are available or that staff know what to say. It is about understanding what inspectors are looking for and ensuring that the evidence of good practice and positive outcomes can be clearly demonstrated.