Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Norfolk

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 notable progress; they become safer as risk taking behaviour, such a missing from care, is significantly reduced.  Staff support young people to access appropriate educational settings and attain high levels of attendance.  Young people comment positively about their relationships with staff, they have staff they can talk to and trust.  The home has a committed staff group who feel positive about working there and the changes they make to young people’s lives.  There has been no physical intervention because of the positive relationships between staff and young people.  The staff group receive regular supervision and access a comprehensive training package, including training specifically to meet the needs of young people in placement.  Areas identified for improvement include consultation with parents and others by the independent visitor, to ensure young people are effectively

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The children's home provision is good because:

safeguarded and their wellbeing promoted; analysis of patterns and trends in behaviour; group dynamic risk assessment and young people’s contribution to task setting and incentives.

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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

7: The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard:

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the children’s views, wishes and feelings standard, with particular reference to setting incentives, the registered provider must ensure that staff:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(i) ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, when setting incentives with young people to focus on their current placement targets. 27/12/15

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person, if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (2) (a)) 27/12/15

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (2) (a)) 27/12/15

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s): Ensure that the impact of new placements fully considers the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 56 paragraph 11.4)      

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Information about this children's home

This children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to 4 young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties, aged between 11 and 18 years. A private company owns and operates this children’s home.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

23/03/2015 Interim Sustained Effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

12/03/2014 Interim Satisfactory Progress

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Good

The home has undergone significant refurbishment and decoration, resulting in a homely, welcoming environment.

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Good

Young people achieve positive outcomes within a caring and supportive environment. They have their individual needs met by staff who have an understanding and knowledge that enables them to provide a tailored response. Young people themselves report that staff support them and they trust that staff will help them if needed.

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Good

All young people are engaged in appropriate education provision and a marked improvement in educational outcomes is apparent. Prior to placement, some young people had been out of a formal school setting. Since placement, all young people are attending school and achieve very high levels of attendance. Some young people are also engaged in extra tuition, at their request, to catch up on missed learning. Others have their talents celebrated by displaying their art work within the home. Staff value young people. They support them in their learning and abilities, motivating them to achieve and expanding their opportunities in adulthood.

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Good

Staff meet young people’s health needs; they have access to and the support of the organisation’s dedicated clinical team. Each young person has an individual clinical assessment at the start of placement. This evaluates presenting needs and management strategies, so that staff can ensure they meet the physical and mental health needs of young people. All staff have trained in first aid, ensuring that appropriate attention is given in the event of an accident.

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Good

Staff serve healthy food options. Some young people arrived with a very limited palate, choosing to eat a tiny variety of food. However, with staff encouragement, young people enjoy a wide variety of food and a nutritious, balanced diet. Some young people particularly enjoy cooking, an activity that regularly involves budgeting and purchasing the ingredients. This is encouraged and supported both as part of an enjoyable living together activity and as independence development.

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Good

More recently the staff have introduced culturally themed evenings. These evenings offer young people an opportunity to learn and expand their knowledge about different cultures and traditions. Young people fully participate, including trying a range of foods from the region. Young people access some community based activities. They particularly enjoy an appropriately risk assessed motor bike activity. Local friendships are beginning to be established and all residents acknowledge a good relationship with other young people in placement. Family relationships are valued and contact supported in line with individual care plans.

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Good

Young people know how to make a complaint. They not only receive this information in the children’s guide, a complaint folder is readily available for their use. However, they report that there is no need to make formal complaints as they speak freely to staff about matters of irritation or complaint and they trust staff to address the matter. Staff have built a good rapport with young people. Their investment has enabled young people to form trusting relationships with adults, who they know, work in their best interest.

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Good

The home sets clear boundaries and expectations offering consistency to young people. This has helped them to feel safe and secure in a steady and predictable home environment.

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Good

Young people report that they have good relationships with the staff, describing some as being particularly trusting and who they can discuss experiences or concerns with. They report that staff listen to them and take matters seriously. One young person reported: ‘I wanted to change my keyworker, so I spoke with the manager and she was able to arrange it.’ This demonstrates how young people are valued and their views respected.

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Good

Although a relatively new staff group, they hold a shared enthusiasm to offer young people a good care experience. Their investment in developing constructive relationships has reduced the need for physical intervention when managing challenging behaviour. The use of de-escalation techniques and a firm relationship has resulted in no physical interventions for young people for several months. This has enabled young people to self-regulate and to recognise and manage their own thoughts and emotions. A parent explained that their child has become less angry since living in the home.

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Good

Missing and absent figures were high and some young people placed were known to be prolific absconders. To reduce this number and to protect young people, the manager ensures that each young person has a mobile phone. This offers two way communication, which immediately saw a drop in missing episodes and a gradual but significant drop in absent episodes. One parent reported that her child went missing a lot when in foster care yet he had not gone missing once from this home. She reported that her child seemed to be happy and much more settled. Young people placed have become increasingly safe as episodes of missing from care have ceased and absent episodes have significantly reduced. This has been a particularly strong area of practice.

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Good

Staff work with young people to establish routines and boundaries, which offer a consistent and predictable home environment. Young people receive both positive and negative consequences for behaviour. They can also earn financial reward by meeting the incentive targets set. Some young people report that they are not part of setting their incentive targets but wish to be.

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Good

When considering a young person as a potential new resident, the impact assessment does not provide a robust pre-admission tool. It does not ensure all information about the young person is considered alongside the situations and presenting behaviours of those young people already in placement. The home is very much recognised as the young person’s home; as such, any new resident should not compromise the safety and cohesion of those already living there.

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Good

Staff are carefully selected and vetted through robust recruitment checks, this ensures only suitable adults care for young people.

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Good

The manager is suitably qualified to assume the role, holding amongst other credentials the required level five management and leadership qualification. She brings a range of experience to the role and has been in post since March 2015. She is currently in the final stages of registration with Ofsted. The manager has brought together a consistent staff group who share an enthusiasm and commitment to make a difference to the lives of young people in their care.

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Good

Staff receive regular supervision, offering them the time to focus practice on young people’s outcomes. They have access to a wide range of training to enhance their knowledge and skills. In particular, they access training that assists them to understand the specific needs of young people in placement. Supervisors and less experienced staff recognise the areas for staff development and will actively seek to address these through working or training opportunities. Each member of staff either holds the required level three qualification or is working towards it.

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Good

The manager has recently created a staff development plan. This is a working model, which sets out the team’s skills levels and identifies development areas, giving consideration to young people’s needs. This management oversight ensures that young people receive care from a skilled and knowledgeable staff team.

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Good

The manager has created a workforce development plan. It considers how the team will meet the individual needs or targets of young people and is set against the quality standards. This is a new tool and although it may require further refinement, it demonstrates the manager’s desire to continually improve practice to meet young people’s needs to a high standard.

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Good

The staff work well with the wider professional team. Regular communication and attendance at meetings ensure the implementation of young people’s care and placement plans. The regular review of care planning ensures that staff work with the most up to date information and on identified areas of work deemed significant to the young person’s development and progress. The manager attends monthly meetings with other service providers, police and youth offending services. The sharing of local anti-social activity helps to protect and safeguard young people.

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Good

The manager has good oversight of the service, however, the monitoring of the service does not always include an analysis of the information. Consequently, monitoring does not identify, for example, patterns and trends in young people’s behaviour. The independent visitor does not seek the opinions of parents and others to ensure young people are effectively safeguarded and their wellbeing promoted.

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Good

The regularly reviewed statement of purpose reflects the ethos and objectives delivered by the home.

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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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