Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Lincolnshire

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:

 Young people are making good progress in many aspects of their lives. They benefit from positive, trusting relationships with staff, and grow in confidence and self-esteem.  The home is welcoming and provides a safe environment.  Young people are encouraged to engage fully in their education and they make good progress from their starting points. Staff are ambitious for young people and support them to achieve their potential.  Young people are supported to make successful transitions to independence.  Staff promote contact with families where it is safe and appropriate to do so, and manage these relationships positively.  Staff demonstrate a good understanding of young people’s complex emotions and manage challenging behaviour well. Young people develop the skills to regulate their emotions.  Staff respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns, following procedures to manage risk effectively.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 There is a reduction in risk-taking behaviour. Young people become increasingly aware of risk through effective key work with staff, and through this awareness begin to make safer choices.  Two requirements and two areas for improvement are identified by this inspection. The two requirements and one recommendation are made in relation to timely recording, and ensuring that information about the home is kept up to date. The second recommendation is made in relation to ensuring that young people are involved in their care planning and are engaged meaningfully in how the home is run.

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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 ‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every six months. (Regulation 45 (1)). 05/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard (2) In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person is required to— (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. This is with reference to ensuring that supervision files are kept up to date. 05/10/2016

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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 person shall ensure that they develop and keep under review a ‘statement of purpose’ (Regulation 16 and schedule 1). The home’s statement of purpose should be child-focused, indicating how the home provides individualised care to meet the quality standards for the children in their care. This is with reference to ensuring that any updates to the statement of purpose are completed and shared in a timely way. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5)  Children should be encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. This is with reference to more meaningful engagement with young people and encouraging them to get more involved in their care planning and in the running of the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58,

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Information about this children's home

This home is managed by a large private organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 29/10/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/06/2015 Full Good 05/02/2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness 19/06/2014 Full Adequate

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Good

Young people living in the home make good progress from their starting points. The home is relaxed and welcoming. There are a number of communal areas in the home, enabling young people to have their own space, or to meet privately with family or professionals visiting the home. Young people are making slow but steady progress in education. All the young people in the home are in school or college. Staff actively promote and support young people in education and advocate strongly on their behalf if decisions or delays impede their progress. Some of the young people need a lot of prompting to get up and out for education or other appointments, and they resist attempts to get them motivated. Staff persist and young people’s achievements, however small, are celebrated. Good relationships are evident between staff and young people, with staff supporting young people to form trusting and secure relationships. Young people

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Good

take part in activities, sometimes with staff and sometimes independently. Contact with family is actively promoted and supported, if this is consistent with the young person’s care plan and it is safe to do so. Family are welcome to the home, as are family pets. In some instances, family members play a full part in plans and transitions with staff, such as supporting a young person with their college interview and attending an open day. Staff work in partnership with parents, forming positive relationships. A good example of working collaboratively is in managing behaviour, was seen when the parent and staff agreed how to manage a young person’s mobile phone use. Young people are encouraged to develop independent living skills. Staff monitor this carefully to ensure that positive routines are established. Staff use independence workbooks to guide the process, but some young people have disengaged from this work. Staff are aware of the need to be more inventive.

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Good

Thinking ahead and having aspirations is strongly encouraged. There is emphasis on education and training and the skills needed to be a productive adult. Staff celebrate achievements and use small successes as opportunities to build confidence and self-esteem. The manager carefully considers new admissions to the home. The impact upon the young people already living in the home is balanced against the individual needs and known risks and vulnerabilities of the young person being considered. Judgement grade

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Good

Young people living at the home experience safe care and there is a reduction in their risk-taking behaviour. Staff understand the individual needs of each young person, and in partnership with other professionals devise robust behaviour management plans. Staff regularly share information as a team to ensure that everyone is apprised of any emerging issues or risks. Behaviour and risk management plans are regularly updated. Staff have clear expectations about behaviour and provide consistent boundaries. Observation of staff show that they support each other in maintaining those boundaries when challenged. Partnership working is good and there is evidence of staff and other professionals working collaboratively to reduce risk and keep young people as safe as possible. Bullying is not tolerated and staff are skilled in recognising bullying behaviour and when young people might be vulnerable. Young people increasingly develop the

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Good

skills to regulate their own behaviour. Missing from care incidents reduce as a consequence of young people living in this home, with a marked reduction for most young people. There is a robust and well- coordinated response when young people go missing. Independent return interviews do not always happen. This is partly due to placing authorities not offering timely independent return interviews and partly due to young people refusing to engage in the return interview. This reflects the need for young people to have a better understanding of their plans. Physical intervention to manage risk or behaviour is used as a last resort. Staff have appropriate training in the use of restraint, but if possible, restraint is avoided. Incidents of restraint are rare and when used, recording is very good with debriefs for staff and for young people. There are safeguards in place regarding internet use and young people are

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Good

educated about keeping safe online through key work sessions. Staff have a sound understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities and know how to escalate concerns. There is appropriate use of the local authority designated officer. Staff have a clear understanding of their company’s whistleblowing policy.

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Good

The registered manager is suitably skilled and experienced. She is in the process of undertaking the level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare. The manager has a strong background in working with children and young people, having worked in education and in services for children and families in the past. This supports her in working in partnership with other professionals. It also enables the manager to challenge confidently and advocate on behalf of young people. Staffing has been a constant challenge, with some difficulties in recruiting staff in a timely manner and in finding the right candidates. However, recent appointments have been made and are very promising. The staff team is still experiencing change. The residential childcare experience of staff varies from very strong, to a number of staff needing time to develop and gain valuable experience. Staffing issues are carefully managed to reduce the impact upon young people, with the

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Good

manager ensuring that additional temporary staff are familiar to the young people. The manager has introduced a new system for tracking the induction, supervision and appraisal of staff and this is a helpful development. Supervision is taking place regularly. However, recording of supervision is sometimes subject to a small delay. Staff have access to a good range of training. The manager is also increasing informal training and development opportunities. This includes reflective practice sessions as part of team meetings and inviting specialist agencies to deliver workshops. There is a good record of reflective practice but informal workshops are not recorded well enough. There are good systems in place to track young people’s progress. Monthly reviews of progress ensure that the manager and staff are able to swiftly address emerging issues. There is some evidence of young people contributing to their plans and

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Good

staff and young people looking at progress together, but this needs more development. The manager is in the process of reviewing the quality of care provided by the home but this has not been completed within the regulatory timescales. A requirement has been made to reflect this issue. The manager understands the strengths and weaknesses of the home, and is able to provide a detailed appraisal on both. The manager has some good ideas and lots of experience to share. She is developing improved systems in the home, as well as being a visible, hands-on manager. The home is going through a period of development and change with necessary priority being given to recruitment and induction rather than practice development. The manager wants to ensure that young people presenting with challenging behaviour are cared for safely and that staff feel confident and have a range of interventions that they can use to manage behaviour. She does not believe that

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Good

restraint should be used in anything but exceptional circumstances and wants staff to confidently be able to de-escalate situations and avoid the need arising for restraint. Staff work closely with other agencies to consistently manage behaviour. Partnership and challenge are evident in relationships between staff and other agencies. Staff effectively advocate on behalf of young people, particularly where decisions or delays might impede a young person’s progress. The statement of purpose reflects the ethos and objectives in the home. The manager is in the process of updating the statement of purpose to reflect recent changes to the clinical offer, and changes to staffing. There has been a small delay in progressing this required update to the statement of purpose and a recommendation has been made to give this more priority. Complaints made about the home or the care provided have been responded to

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Good

efficiently and managed well. The manager has provided meaningful and helpful responses. An example of this is a recent complaint from a young person about the use of consequences. The response could have been dismissive but a dialogue has developed making the young person feel listened to. This complaint has also been used to enhance staff learning and review how consequences are used as one of a number of ways that behaviour is managed in the home. This demonstrates a learning culture, and that young people can have a role in shaping their care.

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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 looked after children 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 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 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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