the school The Caldecott Community and adorned its walls with Caldecott's pictures. Rendel's grandfather, Alexander, provided them with an endowment and further donations were received from her large circle of family and friends. By 1914 the school was well-established with a written constitution and the Professor of Education at the University of London as its chairman. Princess Louise served as its president. The condemnation of the St Pancras building by the local council in 1917 and the continued German bombing of London led the Caldecott Community to move with its teachers and children to Maidstone. In the process it became the first co-educational boarding school in the UK for working-class children. Over the course of the next 20 years, the school increasingly took in distressed and vulnerable children whose family lives had been disrupted by death, illness, and divorce. The school moved several more times before finding a permanent home on 1947 in Mersham-le-Hatch, a large house surrounded by parkland located near Ashford in Kent. That same year with a grant from the Nuffield Trust, Rendel set up the first experimental reception centre in England to assess the most appropriate placement for children who had been taken into care. She was awarded an OBE for her work in the 1948 New Year Honours. In 1967, Rendel began retiring from active directorship of the Caldecott Community but remained active in the school's life. She died two years later at the age of 86 while undergoing surgery after a fall at her house on the grounds of the school. According to her biographer, Simon Rodway, she had suffered a broken hip in the fall and while lying on the floor and waiting for the ambulance, she insisted on reading the latest book on child care. References Further reading Ives, Cyril (June 2016). "A Child of Misfortune". The Therapeutic Care Journal Rendel, Leila (1952). "The Child of Misfortune". Caldecott Community External links Official website of the Caldecott Foundation Website of 'The Caldecott Association' of former students and staff Caldecott Community Archives Video: Leila Rendel by Barry Northam (memories of Leila Rendel by an ex-pupil of the Caldecott Community) English social workers Social workers English suffragists Officers of the Order of the British Empire 1882 births 1969 deaths People from Kensington