Children's Home, Residential special school run by The Partnership of The Chartwell Group in Cambridgeshire

Unique reference number SC015264 Inspection date 21/03/2012 Inspector Caroline Oldham Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Residential special school (>295 days/year)

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Date of last inspection 23/08/2011 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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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 progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011).

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Brief description of the service

This home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to seven children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, and/or learning difficulties. This is a children's home which specialises in offering long-term placements to boys. The home has an independent special school on site.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making good progress.

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Progress

At the last inspection in August 2011, the overall quality rating for the service was judged as satisfactory; with two requirements and three recommendations for improvement being made. Since then the home has worked very hard to put in place systems to demonstrate the work they are doing and to provide clarity in documentation. The management team and staff are all focused on making a difference, and promoting positive outcomes for the young people in their care.

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Progress

At the last inspection the Statement of Purpose did not include details of the staff qualifications and experience, and there was no description of the electronic means of surveillance. The statement has now been updated and is a comprehensive document. The staff were not aware of the need to notify Ofsted of any significant event. Although, to date, there have been no significant events, all staff have been briefed in recent staff meetings and are now aware of the procedure to follow.

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Progress

The recommendations for improvement made at the last inspection related to placement plans and physical restraint. Each child's placement plan is now monitored by a key worker to ensure that the requirements of the plan are implemented in the day-to-day care. The care plans have all been reviewed and are now detailed documents that dovetail with key and focus work. Staff were asked to ensure that where there has been physical restraint, children are always given the opportunity to be examined by a registered nurse or medical practitioner. The restraint records show that this is now being offered. Also, the manager was asked to regularly review incidents of challenging behaviour, examine trends or issues emerging from this, to enable staff to reflect and learn to inform future practice. This has been addressed in both staff meetings and in residents' meetings. Consequently new behaviour management strategies have been devised to manage young people’s behaviour with

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Progress

Young people continue to receive individualised care. Care planning has been reviewed, documentation is much easier to follow, and clearly demonstrates progress. Additional documentation has been introduced to provide a suite of documents including behaviour management plans, conversation logs and key/link working records. A new behaviour management policy has been produced, and behaviour management plans are tailored to the specific needs of each young person. For example, the new scheme has rewards identified for each young person, which can be varied such as, a trip to Cadbury's World or going to a motorbike club. Consequently the behaviour of the young people is generally very good and they respond well to the positive rewards scheme. Young people say that the staff are fair and that they feel safe. Staff confirm that they put age appropriate strategies in place to keep young people safe, such as allowing young people space when they

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Progress

feel upset, but keeping watchful observation to ensure their well-being. Young people enjoy an active lifestyle with plenty of opportunity to try a wide variety of sports and activities. They also enjoy a good range of nutritious and home cooked food.

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Progress

The staff team are long established, qualified, experienced and work well together. There is an ongoing training programme for all staff to ensure their development, and to keep skills up to date. The manager is passionate about providing young people with stability, consistency, clear boundaries and expectations, and enabling them to make the most of the opportunities provided. He supports his staff well to enable them to work as a cohesive team. The manager has very good monitoring processes in place, but he has not been supplying Ofsted with a copy of any review of the quality of care. Care staff support teaching staff in the classroom, ensuring good communication and consistency. Consequently young people's attendance at school is excellent. Some young people go on and achieve well in mainstream educational placements. Young people are actively encouraged to be involved in residents’ meetings and decision making. This enables them to take ownership of the

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the registered person supplies HMCI a report in respect of any review conducted under Regulation 34 to monitor matters set out in Schedule 6. The statutory guidance states it is good practice for these reports to be completed at 6 monthly intervals and a copy of every report sent to HMCI within 28 days of completion (Regulation 34 (2) ) 30/04/2012

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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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