Children's home run by Educare Adolescent Services Limited in Cannock Chase

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged Outstanding at the full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judge that it has sustained effectiveness .

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people continue to make progress beyond expectations in education, independence skills and relationships. The home is warm and welcoming with lots of photographs of staff and young people enjoying activities together. Young people have personalised their own rooms and say they feel very much at home. They enjoy trusting relationships with the consistent and highly committed staff team. They spend time together with staff and like to share jokes and banter in addition to talking about their concerns and personal issues. Staff have aspirations for young people and are extremely supportive and encouraging about their plans for the future. Young people experience a lot of praise and rewards and their achievements are celebrated.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people engage with a monthly diversity project. This is organised by a staff member who uses a diversity calendar to explore many issues including culture, religion, disability and gender. A board in the games room displays their work and other interesting information.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

One young person has successfully moved and settled into a new school and another has left school and started a college course. These changes have been challenging for both young people, but highly skilled staff have supported them to feel confident and motivated. One young person, who has 100% school attendance, is predicted very good GCSE grades and the other is successfully engaging in entry to employment skills, including English and maths. The college also offers her work experience in an area of her choice.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

One young person has made significant progress with regard to strengthening her family bonds, which will provide her with highly valuable support for her future independence. Staff have enabled her to spend her first Christmas at home with her family for many years. She is now on a semi- independence plan and is making good progress with cooking, shopping and travelling independently.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff who provide a very stable, safe and therapeutic environment are meeting young people’s complex emotional needs. This provides young people with the security they need to progress and to manage their own emotions and behaviour. One young person now feels able to engage in anger management and staff have provided the support to seek this help.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager holds a level 3 qualification in health and social care, children and young people and level 5 award in leadership and management. He has over 11 years’ experience of working in residential care. He also manages another home in the group, which was judged good at the last inspection in July 2015.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager has continued to be a highly effective leader and manager and to support the outstanding work that staff undertake to meet young people's complex needs. He supports and develops staff with regular supervision and relevant training, which ensures that they are constantly learning. He provides training and books for staff about attachments and trauma theory and ensures that staff understand how to apply these in practice. All of the staff team had therapeutic parenting training in May, which strongly supports their care of the young people. He is always open to discussion with, and receiving ideas from, staff and young people and uses young peoples’ meetings and team meetings as learning opportunities.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager challenges poor practice in other professionals and works in close collaboration with local authorities to formulate and progress young people plans. He remains passionate and highly child focused and is constantly seeking to drive up standards. Since the last inspection, he manager has been instrumental in developing the role of the new deputy manager, which now supports him, the staff and young people. Both he and his deputy manager are highly thought of by the staff team. A social worker commented that when a pathway plan did not meet the needs of a young person, ‘The registered manager flagged this up with the local authority repeatedly and even wrote a new plan which he sent to them’.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

There have been no incidents of concern since the last inspection. This demonstrates the quality of care that young people receive and the stability and security that they experience. When friction occurs between them, staff are highly skilled at calming them down and avoiding escalation. Staff tailor their responses to each young person in keeping with their age and stage of development. Fully trained staff have not had to use physical intervention for the past six and a half years. Consequently, Staff keep young people very safe and teach them how to keep themselves safe.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff work proactively with a range of professionals including therapists, education and social workers to enable the young people to make the progress and development that they have. Social workers receive weekly detailed progress records to enable them to follow the young people progress and be aware of any developing concerns. The staff and registered manager attend essential meetings including looked after reviews and personal education plan meetings. They liaise closely with professionals on a daily basis. Staff work in close collaboration with the clinical psychologist who supports their understanding of and decision making about how to work effectively with young people. Staff have excellent working relationships with family members. The mother of one young person said, ‘They keep in contact by phone and regular meetings. She made progress with school here and she is now at college- she has just passed one of her English exams

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager responded positively to the requirement at the previous inspection. He quickly put into place a clear system to obtain regular feedback from staff, young people, parents and professionals. This information is now available to incorporate into his of review of quality of care. It has increased his ability to understand and respond rapidly to any issues or concerns and to ensure that the care provided by the home continues to meet the changing needs of the young people.

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned children’s home is registered to provide care for up to two children and young people aged 10-18 years 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

27/03/2015 CH - Interim Sustained effectiveness

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What the inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspection, we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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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 focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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Information about this inspection

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 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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