3 August 2025
In 1911 Caldecott started as a Nursery. Founders had wider aims. The name soon changed to the Caldecott Community. For a few years its Annual Reports included the constitution. Its first object was: (a) To form a centre for educational experiment, based upon non-collective teaching for the children of the working classes. Initially the second object was: (b) To be a self-contained institution touching the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of child life from infancy to adolescence by means of a Day School, Play Centre, Holiday School, Mothers' Club, and other activities affecting their daily life.
That sufficed for a school in inner London for young children living nearby. However, by 1916 it was plain that the school and its pupils would need to be moved out of London because of Zeppelin raids etc. A change of function was marked by a new second object: (b) To be a Boarding School for working-men's children, where they may be educated in touch with rural life and occupations. After the First World War ended in 1918 the (generally) Annual Reports ceased to include the constitution. I imagine that alterations may have been made to it as the Community evolved over time.
In September 1946 a limited company was formed called The Council of the Caldecott Community. Its main objects (then in clause 3 of a Memorandum of Association) were:
(a) To take over the work hitherto carried on by the unincorporated Association of the same name.
(b) To provide in the country a communal life, a home, and an education for girls and boys whose home environment is for any reason unsuitable and whose parents or guardians are unable to afford the fees charged by ordinary private boarding schools, and for such other girls and boys whether similarly circumstanced or not, as it may be advisable or desirable in the interests of the development of those children to admit to the Community.
(c) To promote, encourage and conduct the education of children, whether nursery, elementary or higher, on an undenominational basis.
(d) To make provision for and carry out educational research and experiment.
The clause continued with various powers etc. such as to hold property, raise money, borrow, invest (simplified in 1962 to reflect relaxation in charity law), and so on.
The overall constitution was subject to minor alterations in late 1946, detailed additions and some further changes in 1962 and 1983, but the 1946 main objects remained until the constitution was replaced by new Articles of Association (see my earlier posting (42) on The Objects of Caldecott).