Children's Home run by Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited in Kent

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:

 Staff understand the needs of children very well and use this knowledge with competence, to support their best possible progress and achievement.  Staff listen to children and are patient in ascertaining their true wishes and feelings. This makes them feel valued and secure.  Staff are vigilant and alert to hazards and risks that might threaten the safety and well-being of children. This makes them feel safe and protected.  Staff engage meaningfully with all aspects of children’s learning. They are ambitious about what they can achieve, and children make consistent and sustained academic progress.  Children are stimulated to develop and expand their interests outside of formal education and they have access to a wide range of leisure and learning activities.  The home is furnished, decorated and maintained to a high standard. This contributes to children feeling valued and respected.  The very experienced registered manager leads a competent, committed

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The children's home provision is good because:

and attentive staff group in providing children with a good level of care.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 The registered manager should make and embed changes that will ensure that he is accessible and available to staff and maintain his capacity to ensure that the quality standards are met for each child in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, para 10.7)  The registered manager should ensure that staffing levels are sufficient to meet the needs of child, to promote continuity of care and to respond flexibly to unexpected events. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, para 10.15)  The registered manager should ensure that staff are equipped to respond effectively to helping children to deal with some long-term health conditions. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 34, para 7.12)  The registered manager should review the children’s guide to ensure that it is

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Recommendations

accessible and age appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, para 4.21)  The registered manager should promote children choosing and helping to prepare meals and sharing these together. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, para 3.8)

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation for a maximum of three children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. In accordance with its statement of purpose, the home specifically accommodates boys.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

04/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

17/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Children with complex needs and repeated experiences of emotional trauma profit from the consistent and supportive care provided by a committed and resilient staff group. Children are effectively helped to deal with uncertainty and disruptive changes in their transition planning by staff who are proactive and sensitive to their needs. Children enthusiastically share their daily experiences and achievements with staff. Staff are attentive and affirming in their responses. Children are making steady progress with their education, and some have achieved substantial improvement in their attendance since coming to the home. One child who arrived with 8% attendance is now achieving 94%. One child with 100% attendance is regularly awarded ‘student of the week’. Staff support children to access their learning and are knowledgeable about their progress and attainment levels. One child is supported each day by a staff member in the classroom.

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Good

Staff respond to the challenging and unwanted behaviours of children in a patient, consistent and controlled manner and continually encourage children to behave in a respectful way towards others. Staff display insight into, and understanding of, the challenging behaviours of children that result from disappointment, uncertainty and changes in their transition and contact arrangements. They are successful in actively supporting children through these difficult times. Children are engaged in a wide range of leisure and learning activities that include horse-riding, judo and hiking. One child has a paper round and is planning to start motocross. New opportunities for children to expand their experiences and to broaden their development are consistently promoted. The general health and well-being of children receives a high priority, and routine access to medical, dental and optical services is strongly supported. Medication is

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Good

properly controlled and, when appropriate, children learn to take responsibility for their own medication. Diagnoses are pursued and questioned when appropriate. Children receive necessary specialist care such as individual therapy and counselling. However, specific health plans require more attention, for example one child’s ongoing medical condition. Children’s contact with family and carers is actively supported and appropriately monitored. Strong efforts are made to make contact events enjoyable for children. Staff build and maintain positive relationships with family and carers. There is flexibility and creativity in relation to contact events, and activities include surprise parties and family birthdays. Well-considered plans for the 24-hour care of children are individualised and reflect a detailed understanding of behaviours and how these are best managed. Considerable individual differences and conflicts between children are actively

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Good

managed. Choices and preferences are respected and accommodated, when appropriate, but this practice has also undermined the family culture and routines in the home, such as regularly shared meals and social interaction and the positive effects that these have. Children are encouraged to personalise their living space. Their bedrooms reflect distinct individual differences and interests.

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Good

The safety and well-being of children is highly prioritised. Potential risks and hazards in the home are well understood by staff. Comprehensive and relevant risk assessments inform staff about specific areas of vulnerability. Staff apply these plans to protect children. Risk management plans are regularly reviewed and adapted in response to changed circumstances and significant events. Potential hazards and risks in the wider local area are also well understood. The home’s locality risk assessment reliably informs staff about how to keep children safe outside the home. Staff apply this knowledge, for example in deciding on levels of supervision when planning outings. Staff have good knowledge, awareness and monitoring practice that enable them to keep children safe in the social media and internet environments. All staff have completed mandatory as well as additional safeguarding training and this is

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Good

regularly updated. Additional training has included child sexual exploitation and radicalisation. Staff display good awareness of child sexual exploitation risks, and this is reflected in children’s and young people’s risk assessments. Children are learning to recognise risk for themselves, and this leads them to talk to staff about keeping safe online and to report suspicious activity. Carefully considered management plans help staff to manage potentially harmful and unwanted behaviours in a vigilant and proactive manner. This is because they have a good understanding of children. The use of physical restraint is rare. There is one recorded incident over the past six months. The low incidence of physical intervention is achieved through the application of a wide range of de-escalation approaches. Minimal physical restraint helps to maintain positive relationships between children and staff. Children going missing is also rare, and there are no recorded incidents of this over

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Good

the past six months. Proactive practice by staff and the application of relevant risk assessments contribute significantly to this low occurrence. Staff recruitment is safe and completed with rigour. A recent staff recruitment process reflects a thorough and systematic approach with no gaps in information and full reference checks. Children are protected in this way from exposure to unsuitable staff. Children are well protected from regulated risks within the home. Full health and safety procedures and provisions are in place, and the relevant checks are carried out and recorded. The frequency of some checks and drills exceeds the normal requirements. The registered manager displays a detailed understanding of all aspects of the physical environment of the home and how this needs to be maintained in order to provide a safe and homely environment for children.

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Outstanding

A suitably qualified and very experienced registered manager expects a high standard of practice from his staff team. He has been in post for more than 10 years. His clear priority is the well-being and progress of children in the home. Staff follow his lead. By his own design, the registered manager has maintained a relatively small staff team in his desire to provide the best possible continuity of care for the children. This has, however, resulted in his having an increased workload and additional strain on the staff team, for example, due to their working additional hours when members move on or are unexpectedly absent. Staff are also being utilised to support one child at school on a daily basis, adding additional strain. Current staffing is under capacity but recruitment is under way. The registered manager understands the strain that has developed for him and his staff team over time and he has implemented an action plan to address this. This aims to achieve

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Outstanding

a more resilient workforce and a more stable and sustainable service to children. A review of staff structure and the delegation of key functions are also intended to contribute to the increased sustainability of a high-quality service. The registered manager and his staff have a clear understanding of the individual needs of children and display a strong resolve to secure these when external services are required. This results in a comprehensive and coordinated approach to achieving the best possible outcomes for children. Effective monitoring systems are in place, and progress and changes are tracked. This informs planning and key working as well as ongoing risk assessment. The current experiences for each child are varied and complex. A number of events and developments, outside of the home’s control, have disrupted transition planning for some children and have been emotionally traumatic for them. This

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Outstanding

included the sudden cancellation of transitions due to family breakdown and a mental health crisis. The registered manager and his staff have acted proactively and positively with other agencies and parents/carers to manage these situations, with children’s needs and well-being being placed at the heart of their actions and considerations. The registered manager and staff challenge other agencies when shortcomings threaten the well-being and progress of children. No complaints have been recorded since the last inspection, and there have been no notifications of serious incidents. Staff feel positive about what they do and are proud of the outcomes that children achieve. Staff feel valued and are sustained by regular and reflective supervision, which helps them to maintain motivation and focus in their roles. Staff feel refreshed by some recent successful recruitment and are positive about development plans for the home.

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Outstanding

The particular needs of individual children are effectively addressed because staff feel equipped to deal with these needs and are open to further learning and development. Staff training and development are proactively planned and scheduled to minimise disruption in the home and to maximise learning. All staff have either attained the required level 3 diploma qualification or are in the process of completing this. The maintenance and continuous improvement of standards of care for children is supported by a clear development plan. The outdated children’s guide is under review. The home’s statement of purpose adequately sets out the purpose and ethos of the home and meets requirements. It would, however, benefit from further review and refinement to more accurately and clearly reflect the model of care and values to which the home aspires.

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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’. 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

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What the inspection judgements mean

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 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

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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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