Children's Home run by The Caldecott Foundation Limited in Kent

Unique reference number SC037309 Inspector Helen Lee Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person The Caldecott Foundation Limited Registered person address Caldecott House Smeeth Ashford Kent TN25 6SP

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Responsible individual Helen Jones Registered manager Emma Louise Hamlet Date of last inspection 11/02/2014 2 of 11 Inspection date 08/10/2014

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Previous inspection good progress Enforcement action since last inspection none

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Overall effectiveness good

Outcomes for children and young people good Quality of care good Keeping children and young people safe good Leadership and management good

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Overall effectiveness

The young people who have recently left the home did so positively with improved feelings of self-worth and self-esteem enabling them to move on to the next phrase of their lives. A major strength of the provision is the positive and constructive attachments that have developed between young people and staff. These relationships are key to the success of young people’s placement and subsequent achievements.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people have positive views about the home and the care provided. Care planning is highly personalised and allows the uniqueness of each young person to shine. Key working sessions are meaningful and are used to target areas of individual need tailored to the young people's plans and wishes. Staff provide young people with opportunities to develop independence skills and take controlled risks appropriate to their age and level of understanding. They are encouraged and supported in addressing all health issues in a way which engages them in decision making, aiding their personal development.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are safeguarded through strong links with external agencies such as health and the local police. Young people feel safe in the home. The occurrences of young people going missing are significantly minimised through staff's consistent strategies. 3 of 11 Staff and young people benefit from a stable, committed management team who provide excellent support. The staff team is unified, confident and well balanced in age, gender, race and experience, providing good role models for the young people. Young people feel engaged in the running of the home and in decision making about them. The manager is highly experienced and this benefits the young people. There is one requirement and two recommendations made to improve good practice. The requirement regarding the statement of purpose being on the website was addressed immediately. This was an aligned inspection where it was found that at the organisation’s schools, learning is sometimes disrupted by the poor behaviour

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Overall effectiveness

and attitudes of a small number of students. A recommendation was made for the children's home and education provider to work more closely together to maximise each young person's educational progress. 4 of 11

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Information about this children’s home

This private children's home is registered to provide care and accommodation for nine children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is run by a charitable organisation.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/02/2014 Interim good progress 07/08/2013 Full good 22/01/2013 Interim satisfactory progress 11/07/2012 Full good

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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

4 (2001) ensure that where a children's home has a website, a copy of the statement of purpose is published, which in particular is up to date. (Regulation 4 (2A)) 01/12/2014

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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 that staff work with the education provider to maximise each child's achievement, in particular by challenging homework and by facilitating any 5 of 11 extra tuition deemed appropriate (NMS 8.4)  provide clear and effective training evaluation at least annually. (NMS 18.2) 6 of 11

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Two young people have positively moved on since the last inspection to an independence unit and to foster care. These moves are viewed positively after the young people lived at the home for five and three years respectively. Young people experience strong, positive relationships with staff and each other. A social worker states that 'the young person is doing really well - they are in a good place and engaging with the staff unlike in previous placements'.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people are not involved in any behaviour that places them at risk of harm or offending. Young people make good progress in learning how to manage their feelings, learning to talk about worries and reducing challenging behaviour. Good examples include young people taking responsibility and not only owning up to any wrong decisions but also agreeing the best restorative measures to make things right. Young people are listened to. They give their views on all aspects of their lives and contribute to plans for their future. Young people give their opinions about everyday matters in the home, for example, at young peoples' meetings and in key work sessions. Their views are sought and changes are made in light of these, for example about the appropriateness of sanctions, food choices or deciding on holiday destinations. This ensures young people can express themselves and their views are taken seriously.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people have excellent attendance at their educational establishments and are making some progress. Social workers feel young people achieve more from education because of the home's support, staff are better at noticing the triggers than school. They have helped the young person achieve an increase to 96% attendance. They get that the young person is much better at vocational subjects and so they help (name) achieve in this area'. Young people consider options for their adult lives and the skills they will need to acquire.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people participate in a sound range of activities and experience new things such as holidays, celebrations of festivals and trying foods from different countries. They have a variety of positive engagements with the local community and have joined leisure pursuits and clubs such as scouts, fire cadets and youth club. They have met other young people and have allowed themselves to put down roots in the area. These friendships have also flourished and developed. One young person now coaches the younger children in their football club which they are incredibly proud of. Young people benefit from spending time with their friends, meeting them in the home and in the local area. In addition, they benefit from maintaining links with their families.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people's general health improves as a result of living in the home. Young people learn about living a healthy lifestyle and do not engage in any risk taking 7 of 11 behaviour which may be harmful to their health, such as smoking, drug or alcohol use. They take an interest in learning about health conditions and taking responsibility for managing their own health. They learn about healthy eating and the importance of a nutritious diet and they apply this learning when preparing their own meals.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Excellent progress is made in young people learning to do things independently. They help staff with the usual practical household chores such as laundry, cooking and washing-up. They take responsibility for getting themselves to school or college on time and returning to the home when they are expected. Young people's life skills improve, for example, by being enabled to explore and make mistakes whilst being supported by key people in their lives.

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Quality of care good

Young people enjoy and benefit from positive relationships with staff. The staff team, which is well balanced in gender and ethnicity and able to meet their individual cultural and care needs, enhances the care of young people. There were many examples of very individual care provided to young people allowing them to explore their own identity in a safe environment. Young people say that they are confident to talk to any of the staff and get appropriate support from them in addressing their concerns. A social worker stated that the staff and management had gone 'above and beyond with the care provided to the young person'.

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Quality of care good

Staff are conscious of the particular needs and emotional profiles of the young people and engage in an appropriate way to allow young people to benefit positively from these experiences. Staff provide a consistent and thorough approach to working with the young people which is enhanced by case review meetings for each young person. This practice, along with the home maintaining good records, minimises disruption for the young people. Staff maintain comprehensive care plans on young people which they confirm they are actively engaged in creating, giving them a sense of control over their lives. Young people are aware of their care and placement plans and say staff discuss these with them and that they can contribute to them, making them feel involved in planning their own future.

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Quality of care good

Staff provide opportunities for young people to have controlled incremental unsupervised time to develop independence skills as well as relaxed time with staff to discuss personal issues. Staff help young people to develop life skills by cooking meals with them allowing young people as much independence in this as they wish and can achieve success with.

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Quality of care good

Young people access all the general medical services they need. They access the specialist services they require, for example, to support their emotional health and take part in physical activities such as swimming, ice-skating and football to keep healthy. Care staff engage young people in addressing their own health needs 8 of 11 including their emotional and psychological needs. Staff involve young people in sensitive discussions about health interventions and choices and encourage young people to maintain healthy life styles. Young people are extremely pleased that the home now buys and cooks its own food rather than using the previous catering company. Young people say that this is ‘much better’ and 'much fresher with more choice'.

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Quality of care good

Staff support educational progress, for example, by building time into activity schedules for young people to study, visit the library and to read with them. However, staff need to work with and challenge the education provider to maximise each child's achievement by ensuring that homework is at the right level for each individual young person and by securing extra tuition in maths.

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Quality of care good

Young people confirm that they know how to make complaints and that they are happy with the outcomes from complaints they have made. Staff keep a box of memorabilia and photographs of young people's activities and some young people help compile photographic displays in the home. Young people are happy with their rooms and with the communal areas of the home.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Young people are supported to develop in a safe caring environment where staff encourage them to take carefully assessed risks to develop their aptitudes outside the home. Young people say that they feel safe in the home and understand that staff are trying to help them. Young people enjoy friendly relationships with each other. Bullying is not an issue in the home. Young people say that staff encourage them to show good behaviour and they enjoy their company.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Young people have not gone missing from the home for the last six months. Staff have appropriate procedures to follow, tailored to each individual young person in the event of them going missing, in order to protect them. Staff also work with the young people to understand any particular triggers, trends and patterns. Young people are trusted to spend time away from the home independently and to return when they are expected; they generally respond very positively to this trust and are helped to understand the impact of any late returns through key work sessions.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Behaviour management is effective. A young person describes the sanctions used in the home as 'strict but completely fair'. Staff use their knowledge of young people to minimise the use of restraint preferring to work through situations with them to aid the young people in resolving similar situations positively. Young people appreciate the rewards for making progress in their behaviour and for meeting their targets. Robust management oversight of sanctions and restraint ensures methods used in the home are fair and appropriately applied, contributing to a reduction in use.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Strong staff recruitment processes ensure people are only employed to work with 9 of 11 young people when they are deemed as suitable, following all the checks required by regulation. The home's environment is kept safe and secure for young people, for example, by health and safety checks of the premises and encouraging young people to take part in fire drills.

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Leadership and management good

The registered manager has been in post for three years and has secured an appropriate qualification for her role. Strong management and leadership ensure that the home is run with the care of young people at its core. The manager is able to evidence the progress that the young people make and has a good understanding of the home's strengths and areas for improvement. A staff member explained that this home ‘encourages and invites staff to challenge and improve practices’. Another staff member stated that the management is ‘authoritative, structured and extremely knowledgeable’.

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Leadership and management good

Young people benefit from very little change to the staff team so they can form long- term, consistent relationships with those caring for them. Regular, good quality supervision, handovers and team meetings provide further opportunities for support, development and information sharing. Staff are highly motivated to develop their skills and knowledge and thus their performance. Staff appraisals now take account of the young people’s views. As a result, young people benefit from being supported by staff who are constantly working towards improving the care they deliver. A staff member explained that this home ‘makes time to enable us to think and reflect in depth about each young person’.

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Leadership and management good

Staff are inspired in their role and this is evident in their relationships with the young people. Young people and staff benefit from a comprehensive training and personal development package. Staff state that training is excellent and gives them the necessary skills to provide good care to the young people. However, this learning and development programme has not been evaluated to ensure it is effective. Young people receive support from a sufficient number of staff. Staff work together as a team to ensure good outcomes for young people. The staff as a team promote well- organised shifts with appropriate expectations of the young people.

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Leadership and management good

Social workers, parents and independent reviewing officers find the home is good at communicating with them and share important information. Staff report positive relationships with families and professionals so that all are working in young people's best interests. The home’s statement of purpose published on the website was an out of date version which was rectified during the inspection and had little impact on the young people already in placement.

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Leadership and management good

The manager carries out effective quality assurance of the home and this is largely articulated through Regulation 34 monitoring. If undesirable patterns of behaviour or shortfalls become apparent the manager takes prompt action to address matters. She 10 of 11 reports clearly on how she intends to continue to develop and improve the service in response to these findings. She keenly focuses upon consultation with children and young people in this regard. Young people have developed their version of the home’s development plan alongside the manager’s. There has been significant progress regarding some areas of this plan including a change in the home’s food and cooking as well as the home’s decoration. All the staff and management are now clear about how the young people would like to see the home develop.

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Leadership and management good

Records are well set out and kept up-to-date. This ensures young people have a clear record of their time in the home and staff have a clear idea of how to work with young people and keep them safe. Young people benefit from living in a building which is well maintained and in which health and safety requirements are met, for example, with maintenance of the fire safety systems and electrical appliance testing. Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management good

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Judgement Description

Outstanding A service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Good A service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Adequate A service that only meets minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Inadequate A service that does not meet minimum requirements.

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Information 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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Information 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 framework of inspection for children's homes.

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