Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Leicestershire

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people benefit from clear structures and boundaries. This enables them to feel secure and enjoy an increasingly stable home environment.  Young people are kept as safe as possible and their lives start to stabilise. Risk-taking activity, such as going missing from care, decreases.  Young people have a voice in their care; they are respected and valued. They are supported to make small decisions about their care, such as the paint colour for the dining room, as well as significant decisions about their future care arrangements.  Despite some changes in staff, young people continue to feel secure in their environment. They like the staff team. Staff are enthusiastic and confident. They are building trusting and nurturing relationships with young people. The atmosphere in the home is fun and welcoming.  New leadership is beginning to create a culture of high aspiration. The new manager is helping the staff team to grow in confidence, work to consistent

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The children's home provision is good because:

standards, and take responsibility for their own practice.  The manager understands the strengths and weaknesses of the home and has clear plans for continual improvements to the service. For example, since the last inspection, a significant redecoration of the home has resulted in an atmosphere that is relaxed, respectful, and non-institutional, and which young people respect and enjoy spending time in.  While the majority of young people’s individual identity needs are met, on one occasion they were not. This indicates care planning is not always effective in considering how to best meet young people’s cultural or heritage needs. One inaccurate record, which held confidential information about a child who does not live at the home, was identified. Following a significant turnover in staffing, it is recommended the provider reviews the reason for this and considers how retention of staff can be improved.

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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 (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children received care from staff who-

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Requirement Due date

(2) (b) provide personalised care that meets each child's needs, as recorded in the child's relevant plans, taking account of the child's background. 01/09/2015

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  The registered person should monitor and review the patterns and trends of turnover of staff, whether agency or directly employed, and be able understand and where possible, address any negative trends. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 54, paragraph 10.19)  The registered person shall ensue staff are familiar with the home's policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non- stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this children's home

This home is run by a large national private provider. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

04/06/2014 CH - Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

25/06/2013 CH - Interim Satisfactory Progress

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Good

Young people respond well to clear structure and routines. This helps them understand how to behave appropriately, understand consistently applied boundaries and helps ensure relationships with staff become secure. As a result, young people’s behaviour is positive and they are learning how to better self- regulate their feelings. Young people who are new to the home quickly settle, responding well to the clear boundaries. A new young person said, ‘It’s nice here’.

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Good

Staff are enthusiastic, and they enjoy spending time with young people. Despite the ethos of consistent routines, staff do not allow young people’s experiences to be limited and enable them to take the lead. For example, during the inspection, young people and staff decided to start a garden project: painting the fence, planting seeds and fruit trees. Staff encouraged this interest by getting ‘stuck in’ too and suggesting a trip to the garden centre. This approach promotes young people’s interests and self-esteem.

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Good

Young people’s individual care needs are usually well met. However, on one occasion a young person’s personal care needs were overlooked and they waited a number of weeks to receive a specific comb for their hair care. This indicates a lack of in-depth planning on admission around cultural and identity needs.

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Good

Young people are encouraged to make decisions about their lives and influence their own care on a daily basis through informal discussions, access to advocates or independent visitors, or through young people’s meetings. Young people enjoy being active. They play football and go swimming. New young people are quickly registered with local primary health care facilities such as the GP. There is also access to specialist health care such as the child and adolescent mental health service where appropriate. As such, young people’s health, emotional and psychological needs are met.

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Good

The majority of young people have excellent attendance and achievement at school. For young people who are new to the home, usual school routines are maintained where this is safe to do so. In consultation with the placing authority and education provider, sensible decisions were made about the appropriateness of one young person’s attendance at school at the end of term, carefully balancing his safeguarding needs. If young people are not attending school, as a short-term measure, staff provide appropriate educational opportunities during the day to maintain routine, while urgent action is taken to confirm educational arrangements. Young people benefit from access to a range of activities and are looking forward to a holiday abroad during the summer. The staff team recognises that helping young people find their own individual likes, hobbies and interests will help them understand their own identity better and give them something to be proud of.

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Good

Young people are supported to access the community and see their friends in the local area where this is appropriate.

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Good

A high number of staff have recently left, meaning one young person, who has lived at the home for a number of years, has had to adapt to a new manager and unfamiliar staff. The young person, and people significant to his life, such as his family and social worker, confirm that the changes were managed as well as they could have been and the young person was made to feel comfortable and secure throughout, despite the sadness of staff whom he was attached to leaving. This planning and approach helped limit any impact on the young person from this significant change in the people who care for him.

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Good

The local police are positively and actively engaged with the home, and information is regularly shared, for example, in relation to risks young people may have in going missing from care. Young people take advantage of opportunities provided by the local police such as football tournaments and positive behaviour awareness sessions. This active engagement helps young people have a positive image of the police.

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Good

Up-to-date and comprehensive risk assessments detail young people’s individual risks and strategies staff use to help make young people safer. These are well implemented in practice. Risk assessments are also used to enable young people to take age-appropriate risks, for example, increasing their independence by having free time away from the home with friends.

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Good

Young people live in a safe environment. They rarely engage in any risk-taking activity and their behaviour is positive for the majority of the time. Incidents of going missing from care are rare and are decreasing. If young people go missing, staff are clear about the steps they need to take to try and ensure the young person’s safety. Staff adhere to the local missing from care protocol. They search the last known location of the young person, contact friends and family, involve the police and inform the placing authority. On the young person’s return, an interview is carried out by someone independent of the home to ascertain the young person’s views and feelings. Staff are effective at employing appropriate conflict management strategies to ensure young people benefit from positive relationships with each other. Through close supervision, staff are acutely aware of how young people are acting and their

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Good

behaviour around one another. Diversion and de-escalation techniques are used, such as promoting individual activities, if young people are not getting on. This is especially important when young people are new to the home, and peers are getting to know, and are getting used to, each other.

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Requires improvement

Since the last inspection, a new manager is in post who is submitting her application to register with Ofsted. The manager has been in post for four months and has a clear vision for the home’s development as well as understanding its strengths and weaknesses.

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Requires improvement

Over the last few months, the home has experienced a considerably high turnover of staff, with the majority of the previous core team, including the manager, leaving. New staff are in post and recruitment to vacancies is ongoing. Although all new staff have previous experience of working with children and young people, the majority have little residential childcare experience, are not yet qualified to the appropriate level and are still in their probationary periods. This creates vulnerability and means young people who have lived at the home for a long time have experienced significant changes in staffing and are cared for by staff they do not know well.

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Requires improvement

The manager recognises the vulnerability the current structure of the staff team presents and is committed to developing a culture of high aspiration and good quality care. She is starting to achieve this and staff are well supported by the manager, who is instrumental in their learning and practice development. Until further staff vacancies are filled, the provider has instigated a voluntary policy of not admitting any more young people to the home. This is a sensible approach; however, this significant turnover of staffing requires further scrutiny by the registered provider to consider the reasons why it happened and what can be done to prevent it happening again in the future.

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Requires improvement

Families and professionals involved in the lives of young people report a consistent approach between the old and new staff and that communication has been maintained to its high standard, helping to ensure information is shared appropriately. Staff benefit from good quality induction and training. Induction programmes cover mandatory training such as first aid, safeguarding and physical intervention to ensure they have basic skills to care for looked after children. Supervision is regular, with the manager currently supervising all staff. Staff state they feel well supported and appreciate this opportunity to review their own practice and consider areas for professional development.

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Requires improvement

One record relating to a young person living in the home was identified as containing inappropriate confidential information, including the name of a different child who does not live in the home. This demonstrates a lack of attention to detail and compromises that young person’s confidentiality; however, this shortfall was not observed in any other documentation, indicating it is not a widespread shortfall.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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