Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Shropshire

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged Requires improvement at the full inspection. At this interim inspection Ofsted judge that it has improved effectiveness . The new manager completed their registration process with Ofsted after the last inspection. Since then, she has strengthened the home’s leadership. Children living in the home feel safe and settled. Care planning and transitions into and out of the home are better planned. Staff are better supported and supervised. Staff practice and recording are reviewed and constructively challenged. The views of the monthly visitor are acted upon and the manager’s own reviews of the quality of care are leading to improvements. The monthly visitor commented, ‘This is a home where children’s needs are increasingly well understood. There have been significant improvements to the recording systems supporting care at the home and the registered manager is providing effective leadership to the staff team.'

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Since the last inspection, two children have moved out. One child lived here for four years before the local authority and staff arranged a very suitable and well planned move. His new provider said, ‘without the home’s support I very much doubt that his transition would have been as successful as it has been. The information shared really helped us get a picture of his needs; he was very positive about moving here and has settled in very quickly. The successful contact visit with mum was largely due to the support offered by his care team when we met mum initially.’ A second child moved on to a foster home after a short transition. Staff plan ‘moving-on plans’ of different durations. For one child and their carers they opted for the shortest plan, but the placement failed after less than a week. Staff and the manager were quick to cooperate with the placing authority to help minimise the upset for the child. They brought him back immediately to the home

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The manager and staff carefully matched a new child to the existing group and prepared children well before he moved in. He said, ‘I have started scouts and really enjoy it; adults take me and stay with me when I play with my new friends. I really like it and am glad I am living here.’ His social worker says, ‘the staff can see potential in him and speak about him with care and concern. It's a long time since I've seen him anything approaching happy and that is good to see.'

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Children are in good routines and are very active. They are all in full time education and are attending therapy and life story work. Staff support them well to enjoy activities like fishing, skating, swimming and scouts. Children are much better engaged in the life of the home and they receive good help to have friends and do things in the local community. They are exercising plenty of choice about day to day life in the home and they are taking a good part in their ‘children’s chat meeting’ each week. Importantly, they feel confident to complain. They have a better understanding of their plans and are attending their review meetings. One child said, ‘the adults all help me; I went to my last review.’ Another child’s social worker said their child is 'thriving' here.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Children feel safe here and are safe. Staff are competent and well organised. Staff ratios are high. One child said, ‘the adults all keep me safe all of the time.’ Children do not go missing. They are challenged to maintain good manners and appropriate behaviour towards one another and to staff. The manager is providing clear guidance to staff about her expectations for more positive behaviour management and more therapeutic practice. For example, she expects staff to spend quality time with children to help settle them at bedtime. She expects staff to think more creatively about providing opportunities for positive behaviour. For example, a child enjoys helping with washing the car or going to the shops and is pleased to earn praise and small rewards, such as a drink out with staff or a magazine. At these times he is engaged positively, behaves well and gains confidence. The manager is using ‘team around the child’ meetings and supervision sessions to endorse the

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

value of providing more nurture and more opportunities for children to be positively involved.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff feel well supported and the manager is ensuring that supervision and practice guidance is constructive and helpful to improve their practice. The manager reviews records to ascertain the quality of work being done with children. She is trying to drive up standards of practice through this. She knows that staff practice is sometimes more reactive than therapeutic. She says that some staff expect children to interpret and explain their behaviour after an incident, but are too slow to interpret and reflect upon their own practice. The manager has requested training for staff in more therapeutic ways of working and in better recording, but staff have not yet all benefitted from this.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Children still experience some ‘ups and downs’ in their behaviour that staff should be better able to anticipate and overcome. For example, children are sometimes bored and difficult in the home during school holidays. They are not involved enough in planning and preparing for outings they want to go on. This reduces their levels of positive engagement. Similarly, staff know that some children are struggling to cope in school and that this is affecting their behaviour in the home. Staff respond to incidents with physical interventions when skilled and creative practice might have enabled them to anticipate and prevent the incident. Staff are not always sufficiently in tune with the adverse impact that physically intervening has on children. They sometimes forget the complexity of the needs of the child and how much their own care style positively or negatively influences each child’s behaviour.

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Information about this children's home

This private company children's home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five young people with emotional or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

09/10/2015 CH - Full Requires improvement

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Recent inspection history

05/03/2015 CH - Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

19/02/2014 CH – Re-registration Not applicable

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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

Ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development (Regulation 33 (4)) 22/03/2016

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that notice is given in writing to HMCI, as soon as it is reasonably practicable to do so, if there is any change in the identity of the responsible individual. (Regulation 49 (e) (iii)) 22/03/2016

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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 staff understand factors that affect children's motivation to behave in a socially acceptable way. Staff should encourage an enthusiasm for positive behaviour through the use of positive behaviour strategies in line with the child's relevant plans. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 39, paragraph 8.13)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that approaches to restraint recognise that children are continuing to develop, both physically and emotionally. Any use of restraint should be suitable for the needs of the individual child. The context in which restraint is used should also recognise that, as a result of past experiences, children will have a unique understanding of their circumstances which will affect their response to restraint by adults responsible for their care. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 48, paragraph 9.54)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that records of restraint are kept in a way that enables the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that 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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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

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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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