Childhood First’s Deputy CEO reflects on the lessons from their CORC data analysis report
Childhood First is a charity providing specialist 24/7 therapeutic care, education and treatment for children with complex psychological, emotional and behavioural needs, who are placed across five residential homes in Norfolk and Kent. Late last year, they commissioned a data analysis report from CORC as part of their membership. In this blog, we speak to the charity’s Deputy Chief Executive Robyn Bartram about the far-reaching impact of the analysis, ranging from Trustee meetings and fundraising to insights for practitioners.
Background
Childhood First are longstanding CORC members and during this time, the charity has drawn on our training and data analysis offers extensively. With support from CORC, outcomes collection has now become consistently embedded across their residential services and integrated with statutory processes, with outcome measures used to assess young people entering the service, inform a choice of placement, monitor their progress during a placement, and inform the decision to transition out of a placement when appropriate.
Analysis and reporting
Childhood First approached CORC in the summer of 2025 to discuss a new data analysis report. To maximise the insight from the analysis, it was decided to include data stretching back to 2020. Analysis included data from the following measures:
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Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), including the self-reported, parent or carer-reported, and teacher-reported questionnaires
On the whole, the report found a consistent pattern of statistically significant positive change in measure scores, providing evidence of improvement that aligns with the aims of the support Childhood First provides. Lessons from the report
Since receiving their report towards the end of 2025, the team at Childhood First has already made use of the reporting in various ways:
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The report was presented to the board of trustees, who hold overall responsibility for the charity’s operations. Robyn shares: “It was very impactful to share the analysis from our CORC report with Trustees, as it supported wider discussions about outcomes for children and how we understand progress across our services over time.’’
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The report was also shared with managers in each of Childhood First’s homes: this enabled them to compare the outcomes within their respective setting to those seen throughout the organisation.
In particular, the following insights were key for these audiences:
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Trustees were particularly interested in the Goal Based Outcomes data, as this reflects young people’s own perspective on their development. Most goals saw meaningful improvement over time, confirming the service’s impact in the areas that young people themselves saw as priorities.
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Service managers commonly see that due to the complexity of young people’s difficulties, a young person’s CGAS score deteriorates during the initial phase of a placement, so for them, it was encouraging to see that most scores improved over the course of an entire placement.
Future directions
As an organisation, Childhood First is continuing to use the learning from the report across several strands of work:
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At upcoming engagement events with practitioners in the organisation, the analysis will be shared with them. This presents an opportunity to “close the loop” of outcomes collection and ensure that those who collect the data get to see the end result.
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As Childhood First builds towards significant new projects, the analysis will play a key role in fundraising efforts, evidencing the impact of the unique support that the charity provides.
At CORC, we are inspired to see our reporting be put to use in such a variety of contexts and look forward to working Childhood First to develop their outcomes work further.
If you’re already a CORC member and want to explore how membership analysis can support your organisation, speak to your Regional Officer, they’d love to help you make the most of your membership.
If you’re not yet a member but want to understand what analysis options are available, including commissioned work outside membership, please get in touch at CORC@annafreud.org.