Children's Home run by Kent County Council in Kent

Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 1 SC037282 Registered provider: Kent County Council

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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 children’s home is operated by a local authority and provides short break care for children and young people aged between five and 17 years who have learning difficulties, physical disabilities and other associated complex needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: Outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is outstanding because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children who have complex needs enjoy high-quality stays in a stimulating and safe environment where they feel welcome and where their diverse needs and abilities are embraced and celebrated.  Children are skilfully challenged and supported to expand their experience of the world, enjoy themselves and reduce their dependence on others.  The parents of the children who stay trust staff to meet their child’s complex needs. Parents can relax and meaningfully focus on other priorities when their children stay.  The staff team radiates an affection for the children and is wholly focused on providing them with a safe, stimulating and fun experience.  The commitment and motivation of the staff team is sustained by a thoughtful and stimulating training programme, a positive supervision culture and attentive leadership.  Leaders and managers are driven by their compulsion to constantly improve and develop the service.

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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

 The quality and content of staff supervision meetings remains variable.  Further clarity in setting targets for children’s stays and measuring and documenting the progress that the children make would enhance this aspect.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/08/2016 Full Outstanding 21/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 14/09/2015 Full Good 24/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have a system in place so that all staff receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) In particular, continue to develop and refine the structure of supervision sessions to support staff’s full engagement with the process.  The registered person must use the opportunity for children to enjoy and achieve new things. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 29, paragraph 5.22) In particular, to target key areas for achievement and to measure and record the progress that the children make.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

A combination of comprehensive and current personal information, high standards of communication with schools, parents and carers, together with a staff team highly attuned to the needs of the children, ensures highly individualised and satisfying stays. The staff team clearly understands the broad context from which the children come for short breaks. This compels the team to liaise closely with all those normally involved in the children’s care and development. Sound and trusting relationships are established with parents and carers, teachers, placing social workers and other professionals. This ensures that the health and safety needs of the children are met and that the benefits of their stays are maximised. Parents report feeling welcomed and included at the setting. They see their children being received by staff with affection and interest. Parents and carers develop trust and confidence in staff and are able to enjoy peace of mind when they entrust their child into

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

staff’s care. The staff team embraces the wide range of personal care needs, abilities, aspirations and personality traits of the children who stay, often with necessary good humour. This enables staff to be confident, creative and ambitious in the way that they support the children during their stays. This includes activities off-site that increase children’s independence, expand positive life experiences and support integration with the community. There is a near universal report from parents that their children enjoy and look forward to their stays. Further, that their children develop new abilities and interests and develop skills for increased independence. The targeting of areas for achievement and how these Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 4 are agreed and documented sometimes lacks precision and detail. This is a missed opportunity to demonstrate children’s successes.

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

The leadership of the provision regards the meticulous meeting of the complex care, health and safety needs of the children as the bedrock for successful stays, during which the children can have fun and explore their abilities and interests. Medication administration is maintained at a high standard. The health team ensures that staff possess the necessary expertise to meet the specialised care needs of the children. The maintenance of facilities and equipment, together with routine health and safety checks, is meticulous. Fire safety practice, including individual evacuation plans, are kept current and are also externally monitored. A hallmark of this provision is its holistic safeguarding culture, which permeates all aspects of the service. This includes the staff team’s clear understanding of the particular vulnerabilities of children who have complex needs and the vigilance required to ensure their safety and well-being during stays. Staff remain acutely sensitive to any

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

concerns that may arise about the children’s care outside of their stays and report these responsibly and effectively. A fundamental attitude of value, respect and sense of worth for children who have complex needs, as displayed by staff, underpins the safeguarding culture. The knowledge and expertise of staff in safeguarding practice is maintained to a high standard through targeted training, as well as a systematic approach to the updating of mandatory subjects. All staff receive training to address specialist areas such as exploitation, safe internet use and extremism. Staff have recently undergone development in understanding the emergence and expression of sexuality in children who have complex needs. This helps them to respond appropriately to any sexual behaviours in a confident and positive manner.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager leads the staff team with a confidence rooted in deep knowledge and experience of short break provision. She inspires the staff to deliver high standards of care while always aiming to improve. Current examples of the registered manager’s innovative plans for improvement include:  The deepening of a positive staff supervision culture.  Increasing parent/carer engagement.  Increasing staff accountability and ownership of recording practice.  Embedding the deputy manager role.  Increasing staff expertise. The registered manager continues to focus on her own professional development, such as through her additional studies in developing her understanding of complex behaviours Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 5 and how these can be positively responded to. Additional ways are being sought to increase the influence that children have on how the service is run and how stays are

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

managed. Enhancement of the physical environment of the provision is ongoing. Staff recruitment practice is of a high standard and is focused on identifying only those suited to work with children having complex needs. Safer recruitment practice is meticulously followed. Staff speak enthusiastically about their training and development and find this stimulating and sustaining for their practice. Supervision arrangements are satisfactory and most staff experience positive supervision. The leadership has, however, launched a process to further raise the standard of supervision and for this to become embedded as a desired and essential component of normal care practice. All staff have recently undergone training in the use of supervision as well as reflective supervision practice. Research findings, practice literature, case studies, and parent/carer as well as professionals’ feedback, are routinely employed to inform and develop practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

This is a provision that is firmly focused on the core business of consistently providing safe, enjoyable and stimulating short breaks for children who have complex needs, but is also constantly seeking ways to improve and develop the service, in a measured and considered manner.

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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: SC037282 6

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Inspector:

John Pledger, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC037282 7 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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Inspector:

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