Children's Home run by Calcot Services for Children Limited in Oxfordshire

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 progress. Their self-esteem is growing and they are feeling more confident about making positive changes.  Young people’s risk-taking behaviour is beginning to reduce.  The behaviour management strategies used by staff are effective in supporting young people to understand their behaviours and self-regulate their emotions.  Young people are involved in their care planning and they are able to influence how they are cared for.  Young people build meaningful relationships with staff in which they feel safe to discuss their worries and concerns.  The children’s home needs to improve on the quality of placement plans and risk assessments, the timeliness of staff supervision sessions and the implementation of young people’s individual missing protocols.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meet(s) 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

In order to meet the standard the protection of children standard the registered person is required to ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(i) that staff assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. In particular, ensure that impact risk assessments include all the necessary information. 16/02/2017

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendations:  The registered person must ensure that the supervision of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. This includes providing regular supervision as detailed in the home’s workforce development plan. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 62 paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission and ensure that these are followed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 45 paragraph 9.28)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children to manage long-term conditions. In particular, ensuring staff receive training to meet young people’s needs arising from their mental health, such as training in post-traumatic stress disorder. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 35, paragraph 7.12)

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned by an established company. The home is registered to accommodate a maximum of five young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties. This is the home’s first inspection since it was registered in July 2016.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement N/A

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Good

This is a new home, which has been operational for six months. Since opening, there have been five admissions and two discharges. Transitions into the home are well managed. All admissions have been planned. Young people have the opportunity to meet staff and visit the home prior to admission in order to begin building relationships which will support a successful move. Effective placement planning ensures that young people are only placed in the home if the staff have the skills, experience and understanding to support them.

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Good

The experiences of young people are enhanced by the good standard of care provided by the staff. From their starting points, young people have made progress and have been well supported to overcome difficulties and to achieve positive changes in their outlook and prospects.

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Good

Staff provide sensitive care to young people who have complex needs. Staff have a good understanding of young people’s histories and the impact these have had on their behaviour and perception of the world. Staff are adept at building relationships with young people in which young people feel valued. As a result, young people trust staff, feel safe with them and are beginning to share their thoughts and feelings with them. One young person commented, ‘Staff know when I’m low and they will talk me up, say things that improve my mood and make me think differently and more positively.’

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Good

Staff provide a nurturing and supportive environment. They work closely with child and adolescent mental health teams and the organisation’s therapists to support young people to get to know themselves, understand their emotions and build their resilience. As a result, young people’s confidence increases and they feel more able to take on new challenges.

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Good

Staff pay close attention to young people’s health needs and liaise effectively with health professionals to ensure that young people lead healthy lives. In small steps, young people are developing an understanding of healthy eating and are participating in physical exercise through enjoyable, fun activities.

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Good

Medication arrangements are sound and safe. Some young people are now able to take more responsibility for their own health. For example, with professional guidance staff have supported a young person to reduce their medication. This is a great achievement.

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Good

The young people residing in the home are not currently involved in full-time education. With regard to the educational starting points of young people, some have taken steps towards engaging more fully with their education. Others continue to have poor attendance, which means that they do not benefit fully from the opportunities that are made available to them. Staff continue to encourage and support the young people to engage in educational provisions. They maintain a log of young people’s efforts.

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Good

Young people are involved in planning their own care. They work closely with staff to devise strategies of support that inform staff how to respond when they behave in a certain way. This ensures that young people receive care in the way they prefer while supporting them to become calm and regain control. Young people are taking more responsibility for their plan of care by developing their own problem- solving skills. This increases their self-esteem.

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Good

Staff encourage young people to have their say and share their opinions. As a result, young people express themselves openly and with confidence. Young people use formal occasions, such as young people’s meetings, and day-to-day interactions with the staff to express their views. This enables them to shape their care and the manner in which the home is run, making them feel valued and listened to.

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Good

Young people are provided with opportunities to try new things and develop their talents. They enjoy a variety of trips out and are encouraged to follow their interests. Young people attend a local youth group, a community church and activities such as boxing and swimming. As a result, young people have been able to extend their social networks, build on their social skills and experience achievement. This boosts their confidence and helps them to view themselves in a more positive light.

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Good

Staff support young people to prepare for the opportunities and challenges of adult life. Young people are taking on responsibilities in this respect and are being given the opportunity to build their confidence in their independence skills, such as budgeting, daily chores and understanding how to keep themselves safe.

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Good

Each young person’s care plan provides a distinct picture of them as an individual, identifies their particular needs and presents detailed strategies that assist staff in caring for them and promoting their development. However, a few of the care plans have not been updated after incidents to reflect young people’s current needs and risks, and the new strategies which have been implemented. This may compromise the quality of care provided by staff.

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people are helped and protected

Staff are very alert to any potential risks and actively engage with young people to let them know if they have any concerns about their safety. Staff use their knowledge and understanding of each young person, combined with their safeguarding knowledge and training, to protect them from risk. There has been one safeguarding concern since the home opened. Managers followed safeguarding procedures appropriately and the matter has been effectively addressed.

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people are helped and protected

Young people become increasingly safe following their admission. Through building trusting relationship with staff, young people feel more able to discuss their history and current concerns. As a result, staff have a good understanding of each young person’s vulnerabilities and work proactively to reduce the risks that these present. However, a few of the young people’s risk assessments have not been updated after incidents to reflect the current risks or the strategies that staff are now implementing. This may compromise the ability of staff to keep young people safe.

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people are helped and protected

Staff have undertaken training to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to keep young people safe. This includes safeguarding training, drug and alcohol awareness, and self-harm and ligature training. Due to the complexity of the young people who live in the home and the relatively short time that they have been in placement, there have been some instances of young people returning to previous harmful behaviours. Staff use the learning from their training to reflect on and improve their practice. As a result, young people are beginning to respond to staff support and invest in their placements. Consequently, there has been a reduction in missing-from-home incidents and the use of drugs and alcohol over the past month.

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people are helped and protected

Staff have a good understanding of why young people go missing from home. They work effectively with parents, extended family, and the police to review their interventions to ensure that strategies are effective and that they support young people to learn to avoid risk-taking behaviour. However, on some occasions staff have not followed the young person’s individual protocol when informing the police. This could have compromised the police’s ability to respond to a missing-from- home incident.

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people are helped and protected

Staff are vigilant to the signs and symptoms of child sexual exploitation. They have worked closely with the police to implement strategies that have successfully reduced young people’s risk factors in relation to child sexual exploitation.

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people are helped and protected

Behaviour management is effective. Staff work closely with young people to develop strategies and techniques to use when specific behaviours arise. These have helped young people to regain control and learn to regulate their emotions. As a result, there has not been a physical intervention for two months. When these have occurred, they have been recorded appropriately, aiding the manager to monitor interventions and identify trends and patterns in order to improve practice. Staff use sanctions and reward systems effectively in order to assist young people to reflect upon and learn from their behaviour. The use of sanctions focuses on reparation and education to help young people develop an understanding of the consequences of their actions. Staff’s approach to behaviour management has been successful in supporting young people to display more positive behaviour. As a result, staff have not had to implement a sanction for two months. Records of

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people are helped and protected

sanctions are reviewed by the manager to ensure that they continue to be effective.

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people are helped and protected

Recruitment of staff is well managed. There is a comprehensive recruitment process in place, which ensures that only suitable adults care for young people.

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people are helped and protected

The environment is homely and maintained to a high standard. Regular health and safety checks are carried out to protect young people and staff from the risk of harm.

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Good

The manager is an experienced registered manager and has been registered with Ofsted in respect of this service since it opened in July 2016. She has the required qualifications and has proved herself to be a strong and effective manager. The manager is passionate about placing the specific needs of young people at the forefront of the home’s practice. Since the home opened she has forged very effective working relationships with external colleagues. These relationships have positively contributed to young people’s well-being. When necessary she has also used professional challenge (to external agencies) effectively in order to advocate on young people’s behalf.

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Good

Managers and staff know the young people very well and have developed positive and meaningful relationships with them. This has assisted in increasing young people’s feelings of self-worth and has helped them to move forward in their lives.

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Good

Young people are confident that managers and staff will listen to their concerns and will be fair and responsible in their responses. Young people feel able to say what they think and feel about things they don’t like. As a result, there have been no complaints since the home opened.

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Good

The manager fully understands the strengths and shortfalls of the service and is using quality assurance systems effectively to inform the home’s development. This is reflected in a comprehensive development plan and a workforce development plan. The manager regularly consults young people and other stakeholders on the quality of care that is provided in the home. This enables them all to have a say in the running and development of the home. The independent quality assurance visits and subsequent reports are of good quality and have been an effective tool in both overseeing and driving improvement.

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Good

The statement of purpose outlines how the service provides care for young people and provides an overview of the policies and procedures of the homes within the organisation. This ensures that young people and commissioners are clear about the aims and objectives of the home and what the service intends to provide.

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Good

A healthy staff environment is promoted and the staff feel supported. This is a new staff team and all members of staff who were spoken with were happy with the level of support and the training available within the organisation. Staff are equipped with mandatory training in safeguarding, first aid, fire awareness, food hygiene, and behaviour management. Some training has also been provided to enable staff to support young people with particular health needs, such as diabetes. However, staff are yet to complete in-depth training to support young people’s individual mental health needs.

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Good

Supervision provides staff with the chance to review and reflect on young people’s progress and needs. It also gives them an opportunity to review their own performance and development needs, the running of the home and how best to develop and improve the standard of care and support provided. However, staff have not been receiving supervision within the time frames stated in the home’s workforce development plan.

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Good

Managers and staff are aspirational for the young people they support. Their drive and determination to want the best for young people is prevalent throughout the whole staff team, which results in a vibrant and caring atmosphere.

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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 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 children looked after 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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