Children's Home run by Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited in Kent

Inspection report children’s home: SC023740 1 SC023740 Registered provider: Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation for a maximum of three children who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. In accordance with its statement of purpose, the home specifically accommodates boys.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 6 December 2016

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

 There is sound and trusted engagement between the staff and the children, which enables the children to make progress.  The staff team has succeeded in establishing a culture of community in the home that provides the children with a sense of belonging and promotes their Inspection report children’s home: SC023740 2 social development.  The children display investment in the home and this is particularly reflected in the care and personalisation of their bedrooms.  It is very unusual for children to go missing from the home; the frequency of significant incidents has declined substantially and the children say that they feel safe.  Records are well maintained and provide a clear narrative and commentary of the children’s journey in care.  Leadership in the home is strong and clear, and is supported by a cohesive and child-focused staff team.

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 Plans for reducing identified areas of risk for the children need to be clearer and more targeted.  Systems for measuring and monitoring the quality of care and the progress that children make need further development.  Methods for identifying staff who are properly suited for working in the setting need to be further refined.

p.2

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/12/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 06/07/2016 Full Good 04/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/08/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC023740 3

p.2

Recommendations

 The registered manager should ensure that clear strategies are in place to manage and reduce the identified risks for each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.10)

p.3

Recommendations

 The registered manager should make best use of the information available to ensure continuous improvement in the quality of care provided for children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

p.3

Recommendations

 The registered manager should ensure that staff recruitment methods are able to identify those who are suitable for delivering the home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders and managers have succeeded in improving the overall stability of the home as well as significantly increasing the homely atmosphere. Previously absent, the sharing of mealtimes together with lively, constructive social interaction have now become an established norm. This has increased a sense of belonging and attachment for the children. It provides them with a structure for developing their social skills and building positive relationships with their peers and staff.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who have diverse needs and backgrounds are able to express themselves. They engage with each other in joint activities but are also supported to pursue individual interests and aspirations. Staff know the children very well and work together to provide them with consistent and highly individualised care.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Patient staff help children to cope with their anxieties. Children who were previously disengaged from education settle and become more self-assured. Well-managed, phased returns to school result in the children’s renewed enthusiasm and engagement in full- time education.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build trust with the children and provide them with a predictable structure and routine. Consequently, the children’s incidents of challenging behaviour and uncontrolled emotional outbursts reduce significantly over time.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff liaise closely with placing social workers, parents and carers, teachers and those providing specialist services. This ensures joined up working, which benefits the children. Inspection report children’s home: SC023740 4 The children’s contact with family members is sensitively and actively supported. Children’s wishes and feelings about contact with their family are sought and respected; supervision and support during contact is provided and placing social workers are consulted when concerns arise. This child-focused approach enables the children to benefit from contact with the significant adults in their lives. The children feel safe and secure and become able to develop these relationships.

p.3

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

Leaders and managers are thorough and effective in their efforts to properly understand the needs and risks associated with individual children before they move in. This results in few surprises for staff in the task of keeping the children safe and ensuring their well- being.

p.4

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

Clear structure and routines, together with consistently maintained boundaries, help the children to feel safe and secure. When they test boundaries or become unable to regulate their emotions, the response of staff is measured and focused on de-escalating situations. Physical interventions are applied as a last resort and are kept proportionate to the actual risks and hazards. Recording of these events is clear. Good managerial oversight ensures that high standards of practice are maintained and, also, that any aftermaths of incidents for the children and staff are meaningfully resolved.

p.4

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

Appropriate levels of staffing and supervision are maintained. Staff are confident in enabling the children to take developmentally appropriate risks that will help them to become more independent and provide learning in how to keep themselves safe.

p.4

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

Relevant risk assessments guide staff in keeping the children safe outside the home and this together with their good understanding and knowledge of the children enables them to focus on the benefits of activities for the children and to successfully respond to unexpected hazards. While the management of identified risks is good, plans for reducing these risks are not sufficiently clear and targeted.

p.4

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

The home is well maintained, and routine health and safety practice is consistent and regularly monitored by leaders. Staff are also knowledgeable about specialised areas of risk such as exploitation, radicalisation and unsafe use of the internet. They are alert to the indicators for concern in these areas and know how to respond.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The response of senior managers to the sudden loss of the previous registered manager has resulted in successful interim arrangements which have been effective in maintaining the general stability of the home. A manager has been appointed and an application to register with Ofsted is in the process of being made.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

During this inspection period and subsequent to the departure of the previous registered manager, leaders have made a number of improvements to the quality of care for the children. Staff enabled two successful moves out of the home and other children moved Inspection report children’s home: SC023740 5 in. As a precaution, self-monitoring of the service was increased during this period with the leadership conducting regulation 45 reviews on a monthly basis. This enabled leaders and managers to closely monitor the care and progress of the children during the transition of the home’s management.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager enjoys the full support of a cohesive staff team consisting of a good mix of experienced and new staff of both genders. Ambitions for the service are high and the manager displays a clear vision of a service that will enable the children to make maximum progress and achieve their full potential. Refinements, however, need to be made to the recruitment process in order to successfully identify those who are able to deliver on this vision, as well as the ethos outlined in the home’s statement of purpose.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good-quality staff inductions and regular. Relevant staff supervision contributes to the maintenance of a committed and motivated staff team.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is highly attuned to the wishes and feelings of the children. This is reflected in the conduct and recording of house meetings, key-working sessions and in the plans for the children. All reasonable requests made by the children are properly considered and agreed to when regarded as appropriate for the home and those who live there. The individual interests and preferences of the children are vividly evident in their bedrooms, which differ substantially in their appearance and contents.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership of the home displays a very clear and detailed understanding of each child and can speak authoritatively about the progress that they are making. The manager, however, needs to make better use of all the available data to clearly document the journeys of progress and development of the children and to inform the process of continued improvement to the quality of care provided.

p.5

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.

p.5

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: SC023740 6

p.5

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited, 17 Leigh Road, Ramsgate, Kent CT12 5EU

p.6

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Leslie Davenport

p.6

Inspector:

John Pledger, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC023740 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.

p.6

Inspector:

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, 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, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.7

Inspector:

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.7

Inspector:

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.7