Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Somerset

Good

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

p.2

The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people feel safe and happy at the home and have developed good positive relationships with the staff that care for them.  Episodes of young people going missing or being away from the home without permission have decreased significantly. Records are maintained well and evidence how a committed and caring staff team are. They make every attempt to keep the young people safe when away from the home.  Young people say they enjoy living at the home and a social worker said their young person has made ‘excellent’ progress’.  Young people take part in a range of creative and interesting activities of their choice. These develop their self-confidence, their social skills and increase their self-worth.  Supporting young people’s independence is a key strength of the home. Young people are encouraged and supported by a warm and caring staff team to learn how to budget, make meals and plan their days.

p.3

The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people are listened to and their wishes and views are given the highest priority. Consultation and involvement of the young people is at the very heart of the home leaving young people valued and respected by the staff team.  Recruitment processes are robust and whilst a new staff team take time to embed, the safety and care of the young people is adhered to in practice and safeguard young people.  The staff team are led and managed by a compassionate and dedicated registered manager, receiving regular supervision and training to support their learning and to develop their practice.

p.3

Information about this children's home

This children’s home is registered to provide accommodation for a maximum of 3 young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is run by a private provider that also operates other children’s homes in the local area.

p.5

Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

Recent inspection history

15/10/2014 CH - Interim sustained effectiveness

p.5

Recent inspection history

18/10/2013 CH - Interim Inadequate Progress

p.5

good

Young people benefit from highly personalised and individualised care. As a result young people are thriving and happy, and living in a safe and homely environment.

p.6

good

Young people have made excellent progress from their starting points. Encouraged and supported by a staff team that whilst in the main are relatively new, they are skilled, experienced and passionate. Young people are feeling valued and included in the day to day running of their home, as staff spend considerable lengths of time interacting and talking whilst using a range of communication techniques and creative interventions. For example photographs of staff are used to ensure young people with some communication difficulties understand which staff will be caring for them.

p.6

good

Young people are living in a well-furnished home that provides enough room for them to have personal and private space. Benefitting from being fully involved in the day to day running of the home, young people have personalised their rooms and there is a strong sense of identity within each of their bedrooms. Paraphernalia that is seen throughout the house is testimony to the relaxed and homely style of living that the young people are enjoying.

p.6

good

Staff work hard to ensure that each young person’s dietary needs are met by providing homely and nutritionally balanced meals. Those young people that are moving towards independence are supported by the staff team to learn to budget, plan and create meals. Young people say they enjoy making their own meals, but always like to eat the ‘roast dinner’ that staff prepare.

p.6

good

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of the differing needs and abilities of the young people. Using key worker sessions, staff and young people are able to create and plan activities. For example safe time away from the home, visits with family and friends and social events. Consequently young people are developing a strong sense of identity, emotional resilience, self-respect and motivation.

p.6

good

Providing clear and fair structures in the home is a key strength of the staff team. As a result trusting and positive relationships have developed between young people and staff. Young people acknowledge they have learnt to moderate challenging behaviour, and report they feel ‘understood’ and not ‘judged’. Reports from placing social workers confirm as a result of young people receiving consistent care and support they have made excellent progress in respect of their behaviours and emotional wellbeing. Young people are benefitting from the stabilising and learning effect of attending school and college regularly, and from the ambitious support of the staff team. Reports from both education and local authority documentation concludes that young people are learning, progressing and reaching their developmental milestones. Additionally young people are developing a sense of pride from their achievements both at school and from home. For example bringing home cakes

p.6

good

that had been baked in school, attending road safety training, gaining part time employment and developing brick laying skills at college.

p.7

good

Young people enjoy good health and those that require regular medication are supported to manage this intake by staff that are skilled and trained to do so. Young people that choose to smoke or participate in the use of drugs are further supported by staff that work cohesively with local support groups, the Youth Offending Team, local authorities and police. Reports from a placing social worker provides evidence of young people’s progress in safely reducing these behaviours.

p.7

good

Young people are safe and protected because staff give the highest priority to their safety and well-being. Records demonstrate that all staff have undergone a robust and rigorous induction and the training programme equips them to understand fully the protection and safeguarding of young people.

p.7

good

Newly appointed staff report that whilst the induction programme was ‘intense’ they said ‘it was better than any they had experienced before’. As a result staff feel qualified, skilled and better able to protect and support young people. Consequently staff know what to do if they have a concern about young people’s safety and well-being, there are appropriate systems in place for the safe recording and processing of allegations and complaints, and robust risk assessments are in place to manage individual vulnerabilities.

p.7

good

Staff work tirelessly to keep young people safe. Positive and cohesive relationships with local authorities, LADO, local community groups and the local police ensures young people are kept safe when away from the home and unsupervised. Further to this good plans are in place that help young people understand the importance of communication when away from their home. Staff recognised young people need to develop independence and will have unsupervised time away from the home. Young people are therefore provided with a mobile phone that they use regularly when away or late to return. Young people say that sometimes they don’t like the staff calling them, however, they also say it makes them feel cared for. Further more young people can use their mobile phones to keep in touch and have private calls with friends and family.

p.7

good

Following any episodes of being absent or missing from the home, young people benefit from having time with a trusted member of staff, independent visitor and or the local community police officer to talk to. Likewise social workers report they are kept up to date with all significant incidents and that the registered manager is quick to alert, risk assess and analyse the situation. As a result there are clear considered and manageable risk assessments in place for young people, the structure of the home and the external environment. In addition robust and routinely reviewed risk assessments are in place for young people who are considered vulnerable to others. Consents are in place to ensure the use of alarms and window restrictors are appropriately used. In doing so young people’s identity, vulnerability, freedom and privacy is not compromised.

p.8

good

A key strength of the staff is their progressive attitude towards promoting positive behaviour. Staff recognise when young people are doing well and make every attempt to reward these steps. For example praise, financial rewards, days out, new items purchased etc. As a result, episodes of challenging or confrontational behaviour, violence and physical intervention are rare. Those that do take place, young people are involved in the review and if necessary appropriate restorative action takes place. Young people report a fairness to how staff respond to these incidents.

p.8

good

The home is led and managed by an enthusiastic, committed and experienced Registered Manager. They have been a manager for a number of years and is suitably qualified sharing their knowledge with the staff team during team meetings and during regularly recorded supervision sessions.

p.8

good

The staff team have recently undergone a significant change and as such there are a number of new staff. However, the Registered Manager has recognised this and through creative use of their own time, monitoring and careful analysis, fully staffed rotas are in place ensuring young people and staff are safely supported. Additionally staff say they feel much supported in their role with an on-call system that is robust. High staffing ratios means that there are always sufficient staff on duty to support young people and enable them to engage in a wide range of activities in the home and in the community. Furthermore, a key strength of the Registered Manager is their ability to build a staff team with individual core qualities for example, warmth, compassion, dedication, trust and honesty that are recognised and appreciated by the young people. The current staff team are consistent in their approach, attitude and

p.8

good

response to the young people, with inclusion and consultation being central to the running of the home. This has helped significantly to young people being able to share their worries and concerns.

p.9

good

The Registered Manager demonstrates a responsive attitude to the on-going learning of the staff team. They have been instrumental in identifying bespoke training for the staff team. This has resulted in young people being skilfully cared for by a team of staff that understand different communication and learning abilities.

p.9

good

The Registered Manager efficiently and routinely uses a suite of monitoring and reporting tools. Consequently staff, social workers, parents and notifiable bodies receive an excellent quality of updates. There is a good level of analysis on young people’s risk assessments, care plans are reviewed and are current, and the statement of purpose clearly sets out the ethos and objectives of the home. All significant events are routinely reported to the appropriate authorities and a social worker said the Registered Manager is ‘brilliant’, ‘efficient’ and will notify without delay.

p.9

good

Despite the staff team being relatively new to the home, they are led by a Registered Manager that is committed to supporting young people living away from their families. Staff said she is an ‘excellent role model’ and always places the young people’s needs first, and in doing so young people have positive role models and consistency in care.

p.9

good

The Registered Manager has worked hard to develop the home and receives a good level of supervision and appraisal from senior managers. At the last inspection a requirement and a recommendation was made. By providing young people with their own mobile phone so that they can make private and personal calls, and by identifying bespoke training for the staff team, both the requirement and recommendation has been met.

p.9

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.

p.10

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

p.10

What the inspection judgements mean

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

p.10

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

p.11

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 .

p.11

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,

p.12

Information about this inspection

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

p.12

Information about this inspection

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

p.12

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

p.12