Children's Home run by Calcot Services for Children Limited in Wokingham

Unique reference number SC054468 Inspection date 07/12/2011 Inspector Bridget Goddard Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 04/01/2011 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the Inspections of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011) and the evaluation schedule for children's homes.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service that exceeds minimum requirements Satisfactory : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Brief description of the service

The home, run by a company, is for up to three children and young people, aged between five years to 17 years. There is therapeutic input available and the aim of the home is to achieve permanency within a family. The children and young people usually remain at the home for up to two years before they move on.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be outstanding .

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Overall effectiveness

The home provides care and support to a high standard for children and young people with a wide range of needs. All young people receive highly-personalised care which promotes excellent progress. Young people benefit from living in a nurturing environment, cared for by a highly-motivated staff team. Young people make excellent progress in terms of their everyday physical health, and particularly benefit from the comprehensive therapeutic support available to all.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people's educational needs are very well met, with all young people attending education regularly and on a full-time basis. Young people are encouraged to achieve at school and some are strongly supported to achieve good examination grades.

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Overall effectiveness

Managers closely monitor the running of the home, and are rightly ambitious for continuing improvement. The home is exceptionally well maintained and comfortable. Young people's views strongly influence the running of this home, and help to make it outstanding. There is just one recommendation, relating to young people's bedrooms, to further improve the high quality of care offered.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 ensure a risk assessment of issues regarding a particular young person's bedroom is carried out to ensure appropriate balance between health and safety and the young person's well-being. (NMS Standard 10)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are outstanding . Young people make exceptional progress in this home. Some young people no longer engage in risky behaviours, and other young people clearly benefit from an ordered and safer life with regular routines. This outstanding progress is achieved by close working with health, education and social care professionals. Highly- personalised care plans, clear boundaries, and very effective partnerships free young people to invest their energies in education, activities and friendships. This means that they have opportunities to enjoy and succeed, and have the best chances to develop a positive self-view and emotional resilience.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy a healthy and tasty diet, with careful account taken of their personal preferences. Their evening meal is a sociable occasion around a big table. For some young people the discipline and warmth of this sort of meal is a new experience, and one they initially struggled with but now highly value. This means that they have learnt valuable social skills as well as enjoying the experience. All the young people have their various physical health needs well met, and have regular opportunities for physical exercise of their preference. Some young people have grown much taller since being at the home, and others have lost surplus weight. These factors have a highly positive impact on both their health and sense of well- being. Young people also have excellent opportunities to improve their emotional well-being by making use of highly effective independent and in-house therapy services.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Some young people are achieving outstanding educational progress, and all young people are enjoying their education, sometimes for the first time. All young people attend education regularly, and for some, this is something they have not done for a long time. This has a very positive impact on their self-confidence.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are listened to in this home. They may express their views individually or through formal meetings and some young people say they are, 'over the moon' at the positive impact their suggestions have had. They say that the experience of asking for things has taught them, 'it's worth asking nicely but assertively.’ Young people live in a defined local community, and enjoy positive relationships with neighbours. Some young people have become actively involved in raising monies for charity, baking cakes and filling gift boxes. Other young people have friends in the community, and can spend time in their houses or in their own. This all helps these young people in developing a strongly positive sense of self.

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Outcomes for children and young people

All young people have made excellent progress in their social skills, and enjoy nurturing relationships with staff. Other agencies recognise the 'huge' progress young people have made saying, 'it's difficult to think that we are talking about the same young person.’ Young people are very strongly supported or to maintain complex contact arrangements. This means that young people are both practically and emotionally encouraged to build links with family members. This is highly effective in helping develop young people's understanding of their background.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are consistently encouraged to learn life skills, to help them move into adulthood. For example, some young people do their own washing, and help with cooking. All have some minor chores to complete regularly. Young people who have moved on from the home have done so in a prepared way, following a celebration of their time spent there. Many young people keep in touch and have sustained involvement in education, leading to successfully gaining a job. Their experience in the home has prepared them well for making a successful and sustained transition to adulthood.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people in this home enjoy strong and positive relationships with staff. The atmosphere at the home is relaxed, warm and ordered, and young people flourish within this caring and supportive environment. Staff place the young people’s well- being at the centre of their practice and are able to demonstrate an excellent understanding of the individual needs and moods of the young people. They are able to adapt their care practice to accommodate these needs and tailor the service around the needs of the young people. For example, direct work with young people is highly responsive to current, individual needs. It involves creative use of resources like poetry, role play and video and young people are keen to be involved.

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Quality of care

Young people are listened to in this home. They may express their views individually or through formal meetings and some young people say they are, 'over the moon' at the positive impact their suggestions have had. They say that the experience of asking for things has taught them, 'it's worth asking nicely but assertively.’ Young people do not always get what they ask for and, in these cases, staff feedback the reasons why and this is prominently displayed. Young people are very aware about how to complain, and can directly access complaints forms and the complaints book. Complaints from young people are rare, but are taken seriously and investigated internally. Young people sign and comment on the outcome of any complaint that they have made.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from having detailed plans clearly demonstrating their individual needs, and thoughtful strategies for meeting these. The home works very well in partnership with significant others in meeting young people's highly-individual needs. Young people are aware of their placement plans, and some have read these. However, most young people choose only to be involved by being at meetings. Outside agencies consider that the home's regular updates, and contributions to reviews, are very clear, timely and demonstrate that staff know the young people very well.

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Quality of care

Young people's health is strongly promoted. The home has formed effective partnerships with health professionals, such as psychotherapeutic professionals, nurses and local doctors, which mean that young people get the services they need to support healthy living. A particular strength of this outstanding home is the very regular staff access to psychotherapeutic support and training, which means that young people's highly complex needs are more effectively met. Young people’s health needs are further met and protected by effective medication policies and procedures.

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Quality of care

Staff systematically support the educational attendance and achievement of young people. Some young people were unable to attend formal education for months, and staff successfully sought out and maintained suitable, alternative learning settings. Young people now have excellent daily attendance and follow a full-time curriculum. Some young people demonstrate excellent educational achievement, and recognise staff invaluable support in helping them obtain materials and organise study timetables. Staff maintain effective working relationships with education providers, and have a joint approach to rewarding achievement and imposing consequences, if necessary.

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Quality of care

Young people are strongly encouraged to explore activities they are interested in. There is a good choice of books, DVDs and games in the home and young people attend local clubs and Sunday school. Some young people have gone horse riding and swimming, and others have enjoyed football, music and street dance. Some young people have had their creative work published on more than one occasion. These opportunities help young people to explore skills, experience success, and develop a positive self-image.

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Quality of care

The staff group reflects a range of diverse backgrounds, and this helps ensure that young people's cultural needs are well met. For example, some young people have been introduced to specialist products for hair and skin care; other young people have their heritage reflected in menu choices. On a monthly basis the home organises a cultural evening focusing on the food of a particular culture, and includes a quiz about life in that country or culture. A recent country was proposed by a young person who wanted to learn more about it; this resulted in an informative and fun evening.

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Quality of care

The home is located in a pleasant, peaceful area and is exceptionally well-maintained and presented internally and out. The home was built in the 1950s and is a conventional four-bedroom house with an enclosed, large rear garden. It is situated on a quiet residential road near to public transport and a few miles from the centre. All local amenities are within easy reach. The home is very comfortable and has lots of pictures, photos and ornaments creating a homely atmosphere. Some young people enjoy using the large trampoline, and there is a seaside-themed den as well as opportunities to grow flowers and vegetables. Sometimes there is a tension between the high standard of order in the house, and how young people like their bedroom to be.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is outstanding at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people present as exceptionally comfortable and relaxed in this home. Some young people are not used to feeling safe, and staff have worked very hard to successfully achieve a safe and accepting atmosphere in the home. Young people are clearly confident about approaching staff and having their needs safely met.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are protected from significant harm by outstanding staff recruitment procedures, which are carefully staged to ensure applicants are tested by young people and colleagues before formal approval. This process runs alongside a system of robust formal checking and scoring of references.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are further protected by various, personalised risk assessments of activities. Young people are rightly supported to stay out overnight at friend's houses, subject to common sense checks and social worker approval. However, for some young people, activities involving individual attention will be carefully risk assessed before agreement. Some young people can go out unsupervised, and if out of credit they can reverse charges on their mobiles should they feel unsafe. Bullying is not currently an issue in this home. However, recently all the young people took an active part in a piece of direct work about bullying. This means that they have a better understanding of the different sorts of bullying and how it can make people feel.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Behaviour management in this home is proactive, with the emphasis on understanding triggers and pre-empting them. This is assisted by the excellent routine psychological consultancy, which is very regularly available to the staff team. This means that staff quickly get informed advice on complex and changing behaviour patterns. Staff can then apply these insights in the home. This considered approach has had a very successful impact on patterns of restraint. Earlier this year the use of restraint was relatively high. The use was appropriate, and recorded meticulously with young people's comments, and each young person has a personal, positive handling plan. Although the same young people are in placement, there have been no incidents of restraint since June 2011. This means that young people are at less risk of harm.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Any allegations against staff are promptly reported to the local authority in line with the safeguarding protocol. The home has a missing from home protocol with the local police and met in May 2011 to review it. The number of times the same young people have gone missing has reduced significantly over the last few months. There have been no missing episodes since August 2011. If a young person does go missing, they are supportively interviewed by a manager from a sister home, and encouraged to talk about any worries in 'their' home. This means that young people's safety in relation to missing from home is exceptionally well promoted.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Overall, comprehensive and thorough risk assessments ensure that both premises and appliances are well used and maintained. Regular fire checks and drills are held with young people's involvement. Young people also successfully attended a fire awareness day to further their knowledge and understanding of keeping safe.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are outstanding . The manager of the home divides her time between this home and another similar one nearby. The home has some additional deputy and care management capacity, which ensures that the home maintains its very high standards. There is a regular written monitoring schedule, which comprehensively covers all files and all protocols. Any issues arising from this monthly monitoring are detailed in an action plan, with named and dated responsibilities for taking forward. This process ensures that the day-to-day running of the home is conducted in an efficient and timely fashion.

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Leadership and management

The manager oversees an annual round of questionnaires. These cover staff, young people, social workers, parents and others involved in the home. These questionnaires demonstrate a high level of satisfaction with the home from a variety of involved parties. There were no requirements or recommendations at the last inspection, but the home has continued to improve. The manager completes an annual development plan. The initial part of process is to gather ideas from young people and staff. This helps to develop young people's sense of belonging to the home, and their ability to think through changes. Some developments from last year's plan have had a very positive impact. For example, more staff time is spent in therapeutic training, and involving young people more in community events.

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Leadership and management

The well-resourced staff team are highly motivated to provide excellent quality care for young people. They receive a very good level of support and receive regular and effective supervision. All staff complete mandatory training in their first six months and this is regularly refreshed. Staff feedback last year resulted in more group supervision focusing on psychotherapeutic understanding of behaviour. This has been very successful in both promoting both the best interests of young people, and staff morale. For example, the team were helped to deal effectively with a young person's violent behaviour at bedtime and this success has been very positive for the young person.

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Leadership and management

Young people, staff and placing authorities are very clear about the aims and objectives of the home and the services it provides. This is accurately assisted by the Statement of Purpose and the colourful and friendly young people's guides. Young people benefit from living at a home that is very well-managed. Records are clear, comprehensive, up to date and stored securely. The manager is very much at the centre of this home and has clear oversight of young people's progress, staff morale and development and building and facility issues. Staff and young people alike have great confidence in her, and her effective leadership helps ensure high quality care of young people.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is outstanding .

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