Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Leicestershire

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:

 The home is providing a good, and in some respects an outstanding, service to young people.  Young people make good progress in many aspects of their lives. They are engaged in education. Staff place a high value on young people achieving their potential.  Staff implement comprehensive risk and behaviour management plans to safeguard young people. There is a reduction in risk-taking behaviours.  Staff demonstrate a good understanding of young people’s complex emotions and manage challenging behaviour well.  Staff promote contact with families when it is safe and appropriate to do so, and manage these relationships positively.  The home provides a welcoming environment and the staff ensure that young people arriving at the home feel valued and welcomed.  Young people develop age-appropriate independence skills and emotional resilience. Young people are supported when they leave care.  Staff form positive relationships with young people and there is a strong focus

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The children’s home provision is good because:

on inclusion and participation.  The registered manager is ambitious for the young people and the staff, and seeks to make continual improvements to the home and the care provided.  One area for improvement has been identified regarding the consistent quality of recording. Most recording is of a high standard, but some young people’s meeting minutes could be improved. Recording in some instances would benefit from more detail and checking for accuracy. This is not having a negative impact on the safety and well-being of young people.

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Recommendations

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

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Recommendations

 The registered person shall 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. This is with particular reference to children’s meeting minutes, recording more detail following a physical intervention, and generally quality assuring documents. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this children’s home

 The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for six children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. It is owned by a large private provider and offers medium to long-term placements for young people.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

02/09/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

11/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Young people are happy and settled. There are good relationships between the staff and young people. Staff work hard to ensure that the young people living in the home feel valued and value each other as peers.

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Good

The house has been thoughtfully decorated to create a welcoming, calm and child- centred home. Young people’s achievements and positive experiences are celebrated with photographs and other memorabilia on the walls.

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Good

Young people are making good progress in many aspects of their lives. All young people are engaged in education, which is tailored to meet their individual needs. Staff are proactive in working with other professionals to achieve good outcomes for young people, and take the initiative to advocate on their behalf. Staff are ambitious for the young people they care for and provide lots of opportunities for them to reach their potential.

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Good

Core health needs are met, with staff ensuring that young people have health checks as soon as possible after admission.

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Good

Staff find creative ways to promote positive message to young people, and will utilise a range of interventions to support this. This has included inviting specialist practitioners to run workshops, or arranging social events, such as quizzes, competitions and outings, to enhance learning. Visits to places of worship and other culturally diverse settings stimulate better understanding of the community and develop acceptance, tolerance and empathy.

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Good

There is a strong focus on participation and young people are encouraged to take part in their own care planning. There are regular young people’s meetings where views and ideas are shared. Staff will address the need to record these meetings to a consistently high standard.

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Good

A strength of the home is partnership working, and this is particularly evident in promoting and maintaining contact with families. One parent commented that, ‘the staff made me feel so welcome when I came, like a big family. I felt included.’ Staff recognise the significance of family relationships and support contact in line with the young person’s care plan. Staff are also commencing life story work with young people who have more problematic contact arrangements.

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Good

Young people are encouraged to develop age-appropriate independence skills, and increasingly take responsibility for budgeting and making choices as they prepare to leave care. Preparation for independence is managed incrementally and there are good resources in place to manage this transition well. Young people are encouraged to be aspirational and think carefully about their future education and lifestyle choices.

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Good

Young people are safeguarded through the effective use of comprehensive risk and behaviour management plans. These plans are reviewed regularly and reflect new information around risks and strengths. Risk-taking behaviour is reduced and young people become safer as a result.

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Good

Staff and young people have positive relationships. Staff can therefore anticipate when young people are at risk of engaging in harmful behaviour. Some staff are relatively new and are still developing strategies to manage behaviour and successfully avoid an escalation in behaviour. The number of young people placed in the home reflects the registered manager’s awareness of behaviour management and the need to carefully consider matching alongside other young people to minimise disruption.

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Good

Admissions to the home are well planned. The registered manager has firmly challenged placing authorities when insufficient information has been provided prior to admission, placing other young people at risk. The registered manager has devised additional matching processes as a result to ensure that all young people are safeguarded. Conflict between young people living in the home has been managed appropriately and respectfully.

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Good

Partnership working has been very effective in supporting a young person at risk of sexual exploitation. Missing from care incidents are infrequent and managed appropriately when they take place. Staff work well with the local police.

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Good

Staff acknowledge that young people want free time and need to develop peer relationships within the community. Free time is risk assessed and agreed with the placing authority. This generally works well and staff respond appropriately when young people do not arrive back at the home at the agreed time.

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Good

Positive behaviour is promoted through the use of a reward box. Young people can choose a reward instantly in the home to recognise when they have done something well. This instant recognition works well with some young people. Physical interventions have been used, but are seen as the last resort to prevent the young person or someone else getting hurt. Physical intervention is proportionate and safely managed. Staff and young people’s debriefs are undertaken in a timely manner. This process could be improved with more detailed debriefs, particularly for staff, and better description of the hold used.

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Good

A recent concern about a young person’s involvement in gangs was addressed appropriately. All staff have now received training in relation to gang culture and work has also been undertaken with young people.

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Good

The physical environment is well managed. Potential risks are identified and addressed. This includes keeping young people safe within the home, such as through the use of door alarms and regular fire evacuation drills. Risks in the community are identified and addressed through the locality risk assessment. The registered manager regularly meets with the police to review risks in the community and share information.

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Outstanding

The home benefits from a strong and inspirational registered manager. Since the last inspection, due to strong leadership and management, the home has continued to progress. It is evident that the registered manager has used external and internal monitoring very effectively to address any shortfalls.

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Outstanding

The registered manager is appropriately experienced and is working towards completion of the required management qualification.

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Outstanding

The staff team continues to develop, with a number of new staff having been recruited since the last inspection. While a number of these staff are working towards, rather than holding, the required qualification, this does not have a significant impact on the care provided in the home. Staff continue to develop skills in de-escalating challenging behaviour at an early stage.

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Outstanding

Staff receive a good level of core training, and there are lots of opportunities to develop areas of interest. Staff feel that the training provided enables them to work with young people effectively and anticipate their needs. Safer recruitment processes are in place and staff benefit from a robust induction process. Any concerns raised about staff are managed appropriately. Staffing levels are maintained appropriately, with the registered manager ensuring that she has good oversight of the care provided. The registered manager has a clear vision for the home. She is ambitious for the young people, ensuring that staff do all they can to support young people to reach their potential. This involves creativity and a ‘can do’ attitude, which inspires staff and young people alike. There is a genuine respect for young people and respect for their families and unique circumstances.

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Outstanding

The home fulfils its commitment to young people, as outlined in its recently updated statement of purpose. There is a young person’s Statement of Purpose and a very well-designed children’s guide. The home itself is well maintained and is designed to provide a calm and child-centred environment.

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Outstanding

Partnership working is strong, with staff advocating on behalf of young people. Communication with placing authorities is good and staff will request meetings to discuss young people when needed, in addition to statutory meetings. Staff are aware of young people’s care plans and work alongside professionals to meet identified needs. The progress of young people is evident. Staff know the young people well and can articulate the progress and successes of young people from their starting points.

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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 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

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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 0300 123 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, work- based 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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