Children's Home run by Calcot Services for Children Limited in West Berkshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC011185 1 SC011185 Registered provider: Calcot Services For Children

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered for up to seven young people; it is owned and managed by a private organisation. The home caters for young people who have a range of emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home aims to prepare young people to be ready to leave care.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 12 to 13 September 2017

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 8 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children’s home: SC011185 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Real progress is being made for young people currently in placement in relation to their starting points on arrival at the home. This is seen in the reduction of aggressive behaviours, their improved self-confidence and in the young people being able to form attachments.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are all attending and engaging well in their individual school provisions. This is a huge achievement for all the young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager leads by example and staff are fully involved in all decisions; this has led to high staff morale.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Relationships between the staff group and young people are one of the strengths of the service. Relationships are consistently based on trust and respect.

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Key findings from this inspection

 External professionals speak extremely positively about the progress that young people have made and about the joint working relationship that exists between themselves and the staff in the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager has a clear vision of how she wants the home to operate; this is reflected in the child-centred approach achieved by her and the staff team.

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Key findings from this inspection

 There is very good awareness of the strengths and weaknesses in the home; monitoring practice is effective.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 There is little challenge and advice around health needs, such as smoking. Other areas of health, including diet, are not being accurately recorded.

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Key findings from this inspection

 There have been a high number of reports of young people going missing and on their return it is not clear how staff fulfil their responsibilities to ensure that they are well.

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Key findings from this inspection

 A number of staff have left, which needs to continue to be reviewed.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Key-work sessions are not sufficiently overseen or coordinated to ensure that they are effective in meeting the aims of the placement. Inspection report children’s home: SC011185 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/02/2017 Full Good 07/07/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 20/10/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC011185 4

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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 within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff help each child to– achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans. understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 10(2)(a)(i)(ii)) 13/10/2017

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Recommendations

 Ensure external agency staff’s qualifications and skills are taken into account before they commence work. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.16)  Continue to monitor and review patterns and trends of turnover of staff and ensure the staff retention strategy is frequently reviewed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.19)  Ensure the procedures to be followed including the responsibilities of staff are detailed for when a child returns to the home after being missing from care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28) This specifically refers to ensuring that they are well and safe and checks that are required take place.  Ensure that staff understand and help children to understand what makes healthy and nurturing relationships. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including

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Recommendations

the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.10) This specifically relates to ensuring that key-work sessions that are carried out offer guidance, advice and support. Inspection report children’s home: SC011185 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from the quality of the relationships they are developing with the staff who work with them. It was evident that the staff team wants the best for the young people and acts as corporate parents in ensuring that young people have the skills they need to be able to progress and succeed. A social worker commented, ‘The key success for her [young person] is the relationships she has made and the genuineness of the staff.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Individualised care takes place, which ensures that young people’s aims of placement are identified within the home’s care planning documents. This enables staff to be clear on targets and any specific areas for targeted work. Young people confirmed that they are beginning to deal with the issues that affect their emotional well-being through the open relationships in the home. Key-work times are used to offer some of this support; however, some sessions could be more detailed to include and offer direction and advice in line with the aims of the placement. This is, at times, limited and it is not clear what impact these sessions are currently having. They would benefit from closer oversight to ensure that they are effective.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Even for young people who are fairly new in placement, progress has already been identified. There have been improvements seen in young people’s challenging behaviours: they become more able to accept boundaries, their confidence grows and they learn to build attachments. Attendance in education has vastly improved, with all young people now attending school. This is an area that they all previously struggled with; some of the young people had not attended any form of education for a significant amount of time before arriving at the home. A range of progress has been seen and celebrated. Some young people are still settling into their environment and staff are aware that at certain times difficult behaviours increase; staff have a good awareness of particular triggers for these behaviours and support young people closely. Critical reflection groups are used effectively to look at particular causes and ensure that

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are involved in consultation on service development through the house meetings and general discussions with staff and managers. Young people know that any issues or concerns will be dealt with appropriately by staff; they have received and understood information about making complaints and they state that they do not really feel the need to do so. Although young people are fully involved in decisions, they are also becoming more aware of why at times some wishes cannot be met. They are developing an awareness of the boundaries and how to respect them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are becoming increasingly committed to the therapeutic intervention offered and, conversely, staff are creative should young people become disengaged. Young people’s health needs, although identified in placement plans, are not met as well in practice. For instance, if young people smoke there is little discouragement or challenge by staff, but instead a culture of acceptance. There is limited reflection on Inspection report children’s home: SC011185 6 healthy lifestyles in any conversations in the one-to-one time. In addition, there has been a request for diet to be monitored by health professionals and the recording is not accurate. Young people’s health needs are not managed as well as other aspects of the care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Transitions are managed well and the management team works with the necessary agencies to ensure that transitions into the home and out are well managed. There have been two discharges from the home and three new admissions since the last inspection in February 2017. The discharges have followed the plans for the young people: one young person moved back to parents and another to the organisation’s supported living home. Staff make sure that young people are well prepared and confident about their future plans. This helps young people to make important choices and move successfully on from the home.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Young people are kept safe. Staff act promptly on any concerns and report them to the necessary professionals. Staff work with external professionals to support and give advice to young people so that they understand how to keep themselves safe. The manager has made a referral to the ‘Prevent’ team which has had a positive, proactive response. There is a good awareness of the vulnerabilities of the young people, particularly around radicalisation, self-harm and exploitation. Young people feel protected from harm and are able to talk to staff if they don’t feel safe. There is responsive action from staff that reduces the risk of harm to young people. There have been a high number of incidents of children going missing, 25 in total since the last inspection on 8 February 2017, although in recent months this has decreased, with none for a number of weeks. However, it is noted that when young people returned and it

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

was assessed that they may be under the influence of illegal substances there is no evidence to state that the young people have been monitored to ensure that they are well. The missing from care procedure and guidelines do not detail the responsibility of staff in this area.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff receive training in the use of physical intervention. There is an emphasis on de- escalation and distraction. Staff demonstrate a sound understanding of these principles with a low level of restraint being used. Staff maintain good recording systems for this and look closely at trends; this has then been successful in reducing the volume of incidents. There is much more of a focus on rewarding behaviours rather than using sanctions. Staff are using more restorative practices to enable young people to learn from their behaviours and develop relationships with the staff team and each other. They are beginning to take ownership of and responsibility for themselves.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Managers plan for new admissions and will request additional information to determine whether the prospective placement will be suitable. There is liaison with professionals to anticipate known vulnerabilities when young people are new to the home. Impact risk assessments take into account the other young people to enable a detailed evaluation in order to determine whether the home can meet all the young people’s needs. Close and effective working relationships with the local neighbourhood police team enable good Inspection report children’s home: SC011185 7 information-sharing, as everyone works together to understand the risks for young people and to put together strategies to reduce these risks.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

There have been no referrals of a safeguarding nature since the last inspection; managers have the necessary links with external safeguarding professionals. Staff awareness of safeguarding is good and they give constructive advice to young people on how to keep themselves safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager clearly prioritises the young people’s needs and is quick to take action if there are any concerns. She is child-centred and has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in the home. Although it is a new staff team, the senior team is beginning to utilise the staff’s skills and develop the team further. Both the staff and managers share a joint vision of providing a nurturing and therapeutic environment. One professional commented, ‘It’s a lovely home and very welcoming.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is able to describe the progress that young people have made and will and does challenge if external services are not provided. The manager and staff team recently advocated and challenged for a particular school that a young person wished to attend; this was successful. Young people benefit from being cared for by an evolving and enthusiastic staff team. Staff are positive about their roles and enjoy their work. Staff report that morale is good among the members of the team they are empowered and supported to make decisions and have clear direction and leadership. There has been a fairly high turnover of staff in the home, with four new staff joining and four staff who have left and another due to leave very shortly. The organisation needs to continue to look at staff retention to ensure that relationships and attachments are not disrupted. The senior management is very aware of the need to continue to do this. There has

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

been low use of agency staff; however, the manager has not ensured that these staff have or are working towards the necessary qualification prior to them working in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are positive about the range of unique training opportunities offered by the organisation. Since the last inspection, staff have participated in a range of training specific to the needs of the young people currently accessing the service. This has included training in therapeutic ways of working. Regular supervision, critical reflection groups and staff meetings also support staff to provide a high-quality service to the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has worked very hard to build relationships with the local community. Young people access external groups and they are fully involved in charity work and are part of the organisation’s council; this has been positive and enables young people to feel a sense of belonging and achievement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Young people benefit from collaborative working relationships between staff, parents and professionals from a range of other agencies. Information is then cascaded down to staff to ensure that they have the appropriate knowledge to support the young people’s Inspection report children’s home: SC011185 8 needs effectively. Professionals commented on how effective the communication is and how they feel they work closely with the staff to achieve some really positive outcomes for the young people.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC011185 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Calcot Services For Children

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Calcot Services for Children Limited C/O Haines Watts Advantage, 87 Castle Street, Reading, Berkshire RG1 7SN

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Inspector

Emeline Evans, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC011185 10 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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