The Old School House

What families say

People visiting Old School House mention the warm atmosphere they feel from the moment they arrive. Families describe staff who are genuinely friendly and take time to know each resident as an individual.

Based on 2 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth35
• Compassion & dignity35
• Cleanliness40
• Activities & engagement35
• Food quality35
• Healthcare35
• Management & leadership30
• Resident happiness35

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-08-22 · Report published 2019-08-22 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection assigned an overall rating of Requires Improvement, but no individual domain ratings were published and the full inspection text was not available. This means it is not possible to confirm from the official record what specific safety concerns were identified, how medicines were managed, whether infection control was adequate, or how incidents and falls were handled. The home is a small 12-bed service, which can mean staff know residents well u2014 but also that a single staffing gap overnight can leave your parent with very limited support. The previous rating was Good, meaning something changed between inspections to prompt the decline, but without the report text the nature of that change cannot be confirmed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"When a home declines from Good to Requires Improvement, families rightly want to know what went wrong and what has changed since. Without the inspection text, you cannot get that answer from this report u2014 you need to ask the home directly. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the period when safety most often slips, particularly in smaller homes where there may be only one or two staff on duty. Our family review data shows that attentiveness of staff is one of the factors families notice most, and it is hardest to observe on a daytime visit. Ask about the last three months of incident logs and what actions were taken in response.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the strongest predictors of inconsistent safety outcomes in small care homes, particularly where dementia is a specialism, because continuity of staff knowledge about individual residents is a core safety mechanism.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: how many permanent staff were on duty overnight last Tuesday, and how many of those shifts in the past month were covered by agency or bank workers?"}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"No domain-level rating for Effective was published for this inspection, and no inspection text was available to draw on. It is therefore not possible to confirm whether care plans were person-centred and up to date, whether staff had received appropriate dementia training, whether GP access was timely, or whether the home's approach to food reflected genuine understanding of individual needs and dementia-related eating difficulties. This is a significant gap for a home specialising in dementia care.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your parent living with dementia, the Effective domain covers some of the most important practical questions: does the home know who your parent is as a person, do staff understand how dementia affects eating and communication, and is your parent's health being monitored proactively? Good Practice evidence is clear that care plans should function as living documents, updated after any significant change and reviewed formally at least monthly. Our family review data shows that food quality and healthcare responsiveness are among the themes families cite most in positive reviews u2014 and their absence is noticed immediately. Without inspection evidence here, you must ask the home to show you these things directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base found that dementia-specific training which covers non-verbal communication, responsive behaviours, and mealtime support u2014 rather than generic care training u2014 is associated with meaningfully better outcomes for people living with dementia in residential settings.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan and ask when it was last reviewed u2014 then ask what happened after the last significant change in your parent's condition, and whether families were contacted and involved in updating it."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"No individual domain rating for Caring was published, and the absence of inspection text means no direct observations of staff interactions, no resident or relative quotes, and no specific examples of dignified or compassionate care can be confirmed from the official record. In a 12-bed home specialising in dementia, the quality of moment-to-moment interactions between staff and residents is everything u2014 and this inspection provides no evidence either way. The Requires Improvement overall rating means you cannot assume this domain was found to be satisfactory.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth and compassion are the two highest-weighted themes in our family review data, accounting for over half the weight in the Family Score u2014 and for good reason. When your parent cannot always communicate clearly, the kindness and attentiveness of the people around them becomes their entire experience of daily life. Good Practice research emphasises that for people living with dementia, non-verbal communication u2014 tone of voice, unhurried pace, use of preferred name u2014 matters as much as what is said. On your visit, watch what happens in the corridor between planned interactions: are staff stopping to engage, or moving past? That is where the real culture of a home is visible.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that person-led care, where staff know and consistently use individual preferences, communication styles, and life history, is associated with lower rates of distress and responsive behaviours in people living with dementia u2014 and that this knowledge degrades rapidly when staff turnover or agency use is high.","watch_out":"When you visit, listen for whether staff use your parent's preferred name and notice how quickly u2014 and how warmly u2014 staff respond when a resident appears unsettled or confused in a communal area."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"No individual domain rating for Responsive was published and no inspection text was available. This means there is no confirmed evidence about the activity programme, whether one-to-one engagement is offered to residents who cannot join groups, how individual preferences are recorded and acted upon, or whether end-of-life planning is in place. For a small 12-bed dementia home, the risk is that activities are limited to group sessions that not all residents can access meaningfully, and that individual engagement is inconsistent.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our family review data shows resident happiness and activities are among the themes that most distinguish homes families recommend. For your parent living with dementia, having a life in the home u2014 not just being safe u2014 matters enormously. Good Practice evidence increasingly supports the use of everyday, familiar tasks and individual rather than group activities as the most effective approach for people with moderate to advanced dementia. Ask the home not just what activities they run, but what happened last Tuesday for a resident who did not want to join the group session. The answer to that question tells you more than a printed activity timetable.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based and task-focused individual activities u2014 including familiar household tasks, sensory engagement, and life-history-based conversation u2014 produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes for people with dementia than group entertainment programmes alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity records for the past four weeks and specifically ask: what does a staff member do for a resident who stays in their room and cannot or will not join group activities?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"No individual domain rating for Well-Led was published and no inspection text was available. The overall decline from Good to Requires Improvement strongly suggests that leadership and governance were a factor in the inspection outcome, but the specific nature of any concerns cannot be confirmed. In a 12-bed home, the manager is often the single most important variable in quality u2014 their tenure, their visibility on the floor, and their ability to build and retain a stable staff team directly shape everything else your parent experiences. An inspection over five years old also means the leadership team in place today may be entirely different from the one assessed in 2019.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of a home's quality trajectory. A manager who has been in post for several years, who works on the floor, and who has demonstrably acted on the issues that prompted a Requires Improvement rating is a very different proposition from one who is newly appointed or disengaged from daily care. Our family review data shows that visible and approachable management is a consistent theme in positive family reviews. You should ask directly: how long has the current manager been in post, what specific actions have been taken since the 2019 inspection, and has the home had a subsequent inspection that is not yet published?","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University evidence review found that homes where the registered manager is consistently present on the floor, where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, and where quality data is used actively rather than filed are significantly more likely to sustain Good or Outstanding ratings over time.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: what were the main reasons for the Requires Improvement rating in 2019, what specific changes were made in response, and has there been any subsequent inspection or monitoring visit from the regulator since then?"}

  Verified by inspector

Source: CQC inspection report →

What the evidence base says

Against the DCC Good Practice in Dementia Care standards, this home’s evidence aligns most strongly on Old School House provides residential care for people over 65, with particular expertise in dementia care.. Gaps or open questions remain on The home welcomes people living with dementia, with staff who understand the importance of individual attention and maintaining a warm, consistent environment. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.