Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Shropshire

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:

 Children are well matched and spend enjoyable times together.  All children take an active part in helping new children to feel welcome.  Children celebrate one another’s successes and special days without being jealous.  Children are making good or steady progress towards being able to live in a family.  Children belong to a variety of organised groups and are doing well with developing suitable friends in their locality.  Children are progressing well with their self-care, self-esteem and health.  Children feel safe with staff and say that staff are kind and caring towards them.  Children behave well overall and are overcoming previous unsafe and/or inappropriate responses.  Staff spend good-quality time with children, playing, making things, getting the house jobs done and going out on enjoyable trips.  Staff work well together as team and complement each other’s care styles.  Children benefit from helpful one-to-one time, particularly with their key

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The children's home provision is good because:

workers.  The manager is a warm, nurturing, insightful, available leader whom children and staff value.  The manager is ambitious for what each child can achieve.  The manager is committed to using and developing staff members’ abilities.  The manager does not make best use of records or monitoring in order to sustain consistent good practice and best outcomes for children.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure that managers make best use of information from internal monitoring to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24).

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Recommendations

 Ensure that children are encouraged by staff to see the home's records as living documents, supporting them to view and to contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voices on a regular basis ('Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19).

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the outcomes identified and progress made by children in building relationships and achieving socially acceptable behaviours can be recorded and measured (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.4).

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Information about this children's home

This private children's home is part of a national organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five young people who have emotional and/or behavioural problems arising from severe trauma. Therapy is provided and a special school is available.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

04 January 2016 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

11 March 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Children make good progress because staff provide good-quality care. One child said, ‘I like the people. They are kind and care about me.’ A parent recently praised her child and said that staff had done good work with him over the past year. A social worker for a child placed earlier in 2016 said, ‘I am very impressed. It is a warm and nurturing environment with good staffing.’ Staff spend as much time as they can with children and include them in all the activities of running a home. Staff help children to learn the social skills that they need to live with others and to manage their emotions appropriately. For example, children choose to spend an afternoon in the school holidays running a pretend sale in the garden. They set out individual stalls of their things and take it in turns to be sellers and customers. They exchange pretend money and negotiate prices. They learn how possessions give away information about each another’s interests,

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Good

preferences and personalities. They build friendships and practise how to consider and talk politely to others. Children playing with good-quality input from staff equips them for making peer friendships locally. For example, children now meet friends to play at the local park and go to organised groups like scouts, drama club, cadets and the riding stables. Staff have good relationships with children. They create a homely atmosphere and teach children to help others to feel at home. For example, staff and children discuss details about how they are going to welcome new children, say goodbye to others and celebrate one another’s birthdays. They choose and wrap presents, write cards and plan favourite meals for one another. One child who was leaving wrote a card and bought a toy for a child who would arrive after he left. The other children planned a farewell party for him. A new child had his favourite meal of

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Good

lasagne on his first night here. Staff also lent him their portable DVD player because he is used to having a film to help him settle to sleep. One child recently wrote in a card to a new child, ‘I hope you like your gift I got you and I hope you love your new home.’ These gestures help all children to feel quickly that they belong. Children experience carefully assessed and supported contact with their families, friends and people who are important to them. They are helped to develop these relationships in ways that promote their future living arrangements, be those returning to family, returning to their home authority, or living locally with a suitable foster family. Alongside this, children are learning the skills that they need to be independent adults. For example, a child recently learnt to use local busses, manage free time with friends, and do his own laundry and some cooking before returning to live in his home area.

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Good

Children make good progress in relation to their health. They are taking pride in their personal hygiene and are engaging better with dentistry and medical professionals. This is because staff give children good emotional support and help. For example, key workers ensure that they always accompany their child to their life story sessions and stay with them in the dentist or hospital. Children therefore understand how professionals can help them to be healthier and more confident in all areas of their lives. The manager challenges delays in achieving a child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) for one child. Children attend school full time and are making good progress. For some children, this progress means that they can move from the organisation’s school into local mainstream schools. Staff ensure that children receive good support in school by staying alongside them throughout the school day and by creating good routines

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Good

for completing homework after school. These inputs help children to make the most of their education and to overcome barriers that previously existed because of their emotional and behavioural difficulties. Staff write a daily diary book for children as a keepsake of their time here. This captures the fun of holidays and children’s successes at school, home and outside. Children often ask to look at their diary during their settling-to-sleep time. It reminds them of how much they are achieving and how proud staff are of them. Staff also create a monthly photo newsletter for each child, collecting good memories together of each month that has just passed. Children have had a copy of their ‘news’ for a number of months now, but staff do not always print them off promptly for children to enjoy them in a timely way. Children are not well informed about the detail of their plans and targets or how staff are going to help them to achieve these. For example, children do not know

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Good

what progress they have to make in order to be ready for a foster home. Children do not know what is in their care, behaviour, risk assessment and placement plans because staff do not write child-friendly versions. One child wrote ‘ish’ when asked whether she understands her plan. Children also cannot see in writing how well they are doing at building relationships and achieving socially acceptable behaviours. They rarely read, and never keep, a record of their key-work sessions. Children, therefore, do not have good opportunities to remind themselves of what they have learnt. This potentially slows their progress.

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Good

Children receive good-quality help and protection from staff and the manager. Each child’s individual risks and vulnerabilities are understood well. For example, children who will talk to and go off with anyone are taught about the dangers of this. They know the reasons why they need to be with those that they know and tell adults where they are. As a result, children rarely run away. Similarly, children who want to play computer games and watch films that are certified for older young people are not allowed to watch or use them until they reach the appropriate age. They are taught about this helpfully and regularly by key workers and the manager. Staff and the manager make good matching decisions when new children are being considered for the home. They obtain full, accurate information about children’s risks by consulting with previous caregivers and by meeting children whenever possible before they come. Children who are likely to go missing together are not

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Good

placed together. Good matching decisions, combined with including the existing group of children in welcoming every new child, mean that risks are well managed from the outset of placements. As a result, children feel safe and are safe here. Children play and interact safely with one another because staff are alert to the potential for bullying and abusive behaviour. Staff supervise children well and explain helpfully what behaviour is wanted and why. For example, they think about where children’s bedrooms are situated and bear in mind children’s risks as well as their choices when considering requests for changes of bedrooms. Staff are skilled at identifying potentially unsafe situations and providing clear and consistent boundaries. They reward good behaviour and encourage children to inspire one another to behave well. For example, children who are in good school routines encourage other children to be the same.

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Good

Staff promote positive behaviour and reward it, so that children learn the benefits of acceptable good behaviour. Rewards are often in the form of special trips out with staff, perhaps to the cinema or to have a meal or drink. Staff mostly prevent incidents from occurring through vigilance and good use of individualised de- escalation techniques. They plan shifts well and ensure that children know what they are doing and who is looking after them. On occasions when restraint is necessary to prevent serious harm, there is careful debrief and analysis of each incident. In most instances, staff and the manager have a good understanding of the underlying reasons for the change. Children receive good help and protection, but the progress made by children in building relationships and achieving socially acceptable behaviours is not clearly recorded or measured. Staff do not date the changes in behaviour that children

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Good

make or state when previous risky behaviours took place. Staff do not spell out clearly enough in documents what help they are going to provide to children, or when and how. For example, some children need more help with relating to females, respecting differences and coping with feelings of jealousy, before incidents, physical interventions and difficulties with making positive relationships will improve and the children will be ready for fostering. A lack of clear and useful recording has the potential to hold back the rate of progress that children make. It also potentially holds back staff in delivering targeted input. Staff and the manager are competent in their understanding of child protection procedures. All staff are carefully selected and vetted. Any child protection concerns are immediately shared with the placing and host authorities. Good records of all actions taken are retained. Investigations into allegations against

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Good

staff are handled fairly and quickly and involve the local authority designated officer. However, the manager does not always sustain best practice by making clear conclusions when asked by the designated officer to complete an internal investigation. In addition, the manager has not ensured that staff have always been promptly supplied with a summary of allegations made against them as soon as investigations have been concluded. These shortfalls do not have a negative impact on any child’s safety or protection.

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Good

The home is well managed by a well-qualified manager with many years’ experience. She was registered for this home in August 2015. The manager is nurturing, insightful and available to staff and children. She has high expectations of what each child can achieve and is skilled in creating a homely environment that supports that achievement. She thereby ensures that the home meets the offer outlined in its Statement of purpose. The manager places good emphasis on supporting and developing staff skills. This includes giving staff opportunities to take the lead and providing extra training that she devises and delivers herself. The manager successfully ensures that children are well matched and enjoy a wealth of good experiences and routines. She ensures that the home is well resourced and organised, so that children get consistently high-quality care that meets what is promised in the home’s statement of purpose. She is well thought of

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Good

by senior management in the organisation and is able to exercise fully the responsibilities of registration. The manager places high importance on being committed to children and on understanding them. She teaches staff to ‘walk the walk’. She strives to ensure that all staff build children’s emotional resilience and self-confidence effectively. She expects all staff to prepare children for independence and to develop an ability to withstand difficulties and setbacks in the future. She teaches staff to be mindful of what emotions children can transfer to staff and what emotions staff can transfer to children. She expects a culture of respect and togetherness in the staff team, and the staff say that this is really achieved. The manager acts on the requirements and recommendations that are made at inspections and by the home’s monthly independent visitor. For example, the manager gives more detail and evaluation of children’s progress on their monthly

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Good

reports and makes clear what help they still need staff to focus on. This helps stakeholders to see how the home is helping each child to progress. She has also updated the home’s lone-working risk assessment, so that it reflects the needs of the children currently living in the home. The manager has secured and maintains good quality professional relationships with families, placing and host authorities, independent reviewing officers, police, schools and health services to ensure good all-round support to children and young people in all areas of their development. Social workers say that the level of communication about children’s progress, and the contribution to care planning, are good. However, the manager does not keep the quality of care under rigorous review, or sustain consistently good practice in all areas. For example, she is not capturing the consultation messages gained from stakeholders when they come to the home.

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Good

She does not always keep risk assessments under review, such as the risk assessment for the use of bedroom door alarms and children’s missing-from-home risk assessments. She does not ensure that children’s individual records and plans are useful and up to date. She has thought about devising child-friendly care plans to help children to understand what help they need and how it is being provided, but has not done anything about this yet.

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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 children looked after 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 that 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 that 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 whom 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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