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

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 make good overall progress in this home. Staff complete effective assessments of young people’s needs at the start of their placement. This helps them to settle quickly.  Young people are encouraged to participate in their care planning. Direct work ensures effective delivery of care plan objectives and any new goals or issues identified are then included in a revised care plan.  Staff use risk assessments to keep young people safe. These risk assessments minimise risks in the house and in the community.  Positive behaviour management techniques are used effectively in the home. Good use of a reward system enables young people to behave well.  A supportive, skilful and ambitious manager inspires the staff to achieve the best for the young people.  The manager effectively challenges other professionals to ensure young people are receiving the support they need. This has led to positive change for young

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Information about this children's home

 This children's home is intended for up to five young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties. It is owned and operated by a registered charity. The home undertakes assessments for a period of three to six months, of young people in crisis and in need of either an emergency or planned placement.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

05/01/2015 CH - Interim Improved Effectiveness

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Good

Young people make good overall progress in this home. The staff complete effective assessments of young people’s needs at the start of their placement. This helps them to understand how to meet the individual needs of the young people and how to balance these needs against the needs of others in the home. Group risk assessments are completed and the registered manager adjusts the rota to make sure the right numbers of staff, who have the skills to meet young people’s needs, are working with them. Because of this the young people settle quickly in the home and begin to build positive relationships with staff.

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Good

The registered manager and a therapist who works within the team support the staff to develop good quality relationships. Careful use of effective individualised care plans promotes a positive understanding of young people’s needs. Consequently, staff get to know them and build a caring bond using positive interaction and regular one-to–one work. This helps good relationships flourish. The young people get on well with their key workers saying that they are, ‘easy to talk to’, and, ‘they talk to them every week’. Young people are happy in the home and social workers comment on the good quality of care provided.

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Good

Young people are encouraged to participate in their care planning, and one-to-one work is completed looking at how their care plans reflect their needs. This ensures care plans focus on aspects of their care that the young people wish to be promoted; for some this is access to activities, for others contact is significant so the care plans are drawn up with these aspects at the forefront. Social workers compliment staff on pushing the boundaries to provide opportunities and experience different activities. For example, staff identified one young person’s ability to be creative and use their imagination to develop stories. Following a suitable risk assessment, they arranged for them to go to see a play in London. This has reinforced his interest and has strengthened his relationship with staff.

p.5

Good

Young people’s views are heard in regularly held young people’s meetings. The redecoration of rooms is discussed so that paint can be purchased. Young people are involved in planning for days out and holidays are also considered. Other issues, such as reminders of fire escape drills and the complaints procedures, ensure that the young people are up-to-date with these matters. These issues are also detailed in a comprehensive young person’s guide.

p.5

Good

Staff work hard to provide a range of interesting activities. Alongside the plans made for trips to the cinema, shopping and to the seaside are activities that link with the direct work that is completed with staff. During these one-to-one sessions they encourage young people to talk about activities they may like to try. Staff will research and locate these activities and then look to engage the young person in them. For example, one young person showed an interest in dog training. Staff helped him to attend a weekly training session locally, and as a result he achieved a bronze award from the local kennel club. He said it was ‘great fun’ being with the club and is very proud of this achievement. This has increased his self-esteem and confidence.

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Good

Young people’s education has improved significantly because of living in this home. There is effective joint work between the care staff and the on-site school to ensure that the young people engage and the curriculum is flexible enough to meet their needs. Attendance has improved, resulting in a significant improvement in reading ages and in maths scores. As a result, young people are more likely to achieve their expected academic goals, and plans are in place for some to move to the local mainstream school. This will be positive as it not only supports their academic aspirations but also facilitates a friendship group in the community. Social workers comment on the ‘remarkable’ progress that the young people have made.

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Good

A well-balanced diet is provided and encouragement to participate in sport has helped to keep them fit and well. Help provided by staff to attend opticians and dentist appointments makes sure that these aspects of their health needs are met. Young people have completed a course of dental treatment, which has improved their dental health and also their self-confidence and self-esteem.

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Good

Some young people have needed specific, specialist input and have stayed as an inpatient in hospital. During this time staff stayed over several nights with them to ensure that they were safe. This commitment ensured that staff that knew and understood their specific needs were on hand to support the young people and help the hospital staff to meet their needs. This also meant that staff from the home could inform the local authority of the outcomes of those services provided to the young people. This led to an alternative placement being located which met these particular needs.

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Good

Contact with extended families for some young people has improved. This can take place in the area that the young person’s extended family lives. This promotes their understanding of this community and keeps them in touch with their heritage. Staff support this by transporting to and from the contact and completing one-to- one work with the young people. This prepares them for contact, and staff can address any concerns. As a result of this, contact has improved and been extended as it has safely met their needs. Contact can also take place in the home as well if required and again direct work is provided before and after to support them to manage their feelings about this.

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Good

Staff understanding and implementation of risk assessments helps to keep young people safe. These risk assessments minimise risks in the house and in the community. They are reviewed by the registered manager who identifies specific areas that staff need to focus on to help maintain young people’s safety.

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Good

Safe recruitment processes are in place to ensure that only appropriately vetted adults have access to these young people, and visitors to the home are checked prior to them gaining access.

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Good

The registered manager and staff have a good understanding of safeguarding. They have alerted placing local authorities to concerns, which has led to multi- agency meetings that help to minimise any risks. Staff fully understand the whistle- blowing policy and are aware of who to contact if they have concerns about any issues. Staffing levels are high and the provider has a flexible approach to staffing levels and deployment, which helps to promote safeguarding. For example, a young person’s health and care plan called for two members of staff to be with her at all times, to keep her safe. The registered manager and the staff met regularly with the therapist to look at any issues which arose. They considered safe care guidelines to ensure that they were working within them and agree if any other factors could keep her safe. Debriefs took place at team meetings and with the young person to reflect on the care plan and establish what could be improved.

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Good

Social workers commented on the positive behaviour management technique used in the home and stated, ‘they have brought in realistic boundaries and expectations of good behaviour’. Staff use simple rewards such as buying a magazine or a trip out locally when young people have behaved well. A restorative approach is also used to manage some behaviour that has led to breakages. For example, a wall was damaged and the young person was asked to make a small contribution to the cost of, and to help with, the repair.

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Good

Staff act quickly to identify any behaviour which can lead to bullying, and do not allow these to behaviours to develop. They will meet with the young people involved immediately to de-escalate the situation. This has led to these behaviours reducing. Behaviour in the home, and particularly bullying, is discussed at the staff team meeting and in young people’s meetings to ensure the importance of this matter is not lost. Social workers have also commented on the way the care plans are used to promote positive relationships between the young people in the home. This minimises the risk of bullying and other inappropriate behaviours.

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Good

Staff are trained to restrain young people who place themselves or others at risk. If the use of restraint is required the registered manager analyses these incidents and there is a time for reflection for staff. This analysis, and the time for consideration enable staff to understand the young people better and learn how to de-escalate situations more effectively. The number of restraints has decreased over recent months because of this. The provider has a good relationship with the designated officer in the local authority who confirms that they have no concerns about how the home has managed safeguarding issues. Notifications to the regulator have been appropriate.

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Good

Incidents where young people have been absent from the home have reduced. This is through proactive direct work with the young people and by looking carefully at the assessed needs of the young people prior to admission. Staff training and supervision emphasise the importance of safety for these young people. Staff understand the issues that can lead to a young person placing themselves at risk by being absent from the home, and although these incidents are rare they are alert to prevent these issues from arising. Staff understand the issues around child sexual exploitation and recognise the particular vulnerability of young people in the home.

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Outstanding

A supportive, skilful and ambitious registered manager is in post. She is appropriately qualified and experienced. She inspires the staff to achieve the best for the young people through regular supervision. This includes discussions using scenarios to look at aspects of caring for young people, including safeguarding issues. Social workers reflect that she, ‘really cares about the young people’. For example, one young person went for a short stay at another home that the company owns. The registered manager arranged that staff from this home transported them to the new home where they remained with them while they settled in. While they were away she arranged for the room to be retained so that they could return to their room in their home.

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Outstanding

She systematically uses a number of well-defined approaches extremely well to monitor the progress young people make. These include monthly reports that record the improvement for young people and observing how their skills have been enhanced to ensure that they achieve targets set. For example, she reviews the rewards and sanctions to ensure that these are achieving better behaviour. She skilfully works with the therapist to look at how to re-engage these young people with age-appropriate activities and play. She achieves this by encouraging positive interaction and direct work. As a result, the young people have progressed very well from a position where they were not in school and had been placing themselves at risk in the community to one where they are achieving in line with educational aims and their risk-taking behaviour has reduced and in most cases ended.

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Outstanding

A particular strength is her ability to review and reflect on the services provided in the home. This ensures that the services are in line with the statement of purpose. She is very keen to improve the practice in the home and works well with the independent visitor to study the impact of the work the home has done with the young people. She has initiated a critical analysis of a particularly challenging recent placement with staff, key stakeholders and others to look at what worked well with the placement and what they could do better. One of the immediate outcomes from this placement is the joint work with the therapist. This took place at the team meetings to support the staff in managing their feelings and responses to behaviours within the placement. This gave them an insight into how they could remain consistent with the young person and maintain their calmness. The registered manager plans to use the analysis and the thoughts of staff to shape

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Outstanding

the way the home will work in the future.

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Outstanding

The registered manager has challenged the services provided in the community for some young people, including the service provided locally and nationally, particularly in the regard to young people’s health. This challenge brought a significant and positive change for the young person, as they were able to gain access to the services that they needed but had not previously been able to access. She has an excellent working relationship with placing authorities and keeps them informed through monthly reports sent to them. Social workers are extremely complimentary of the leadership provided to the staff and of her knowledge and understanding of the young people’s needs.

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Outstanding

The registered manager is aware of improvements that can be made to evidencing the good work that they are doing with the young people, and is looking at improving the mentoring for her staff to concentrate their efforts in this area. The training pathway for staff is excellent. The registered manager has been proactive and introduced an initial safeguarding discussion and an introduction to the whistle-blowing process into a new employee’s first week at the home. This helps to keep the young people safe. The induction process includes mandatory training which develops these themes, and individual development plans identify further training that is reviewed in annual appraisals.

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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

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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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