Children's home run by Educare Adolescent Services Limited in Cannock Chase

Inspection report children’s home: SC050418 1 SC050418 Registered provider: Educare Adolescent Services Limited

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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 owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people aged nine to 17, who have social and emotional difficulties. The current manager was registered with Ofsted on 18 September 2017. She holds a level 5 qualification in leadership and management. Inspection dates: 17 to 18 April 2018

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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: 29 January 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC050418 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/01/2018 22/03/2017 05/12/2016 09/02/2016 Full Interim Full Interim Requires improvement Improved effectiveness Outstanding Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC050418 3

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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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8(2)(a)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, continue to escalate concerns with the relevant placing authority to enable young people to return to school as soon as possible. Furthermore, when young people are not in school, ensure that staff engage them in constructive activity during the school day consistently. 31/05/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff understand the system for rewarding and celebrating positive behaviour and recognising when children have managed situations well. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.39) Specifically, ensure that staff record consequences and rewards consistently.  Ensure that all staff have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)  Ensure that where children have specific health needs or conditions, they should be supported to manage these subject to their age and understanding. (‘Guide to the children’s home’s regulations including the quality standards’, page 34,

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: SC050418 4 paragraph 7.10)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people develop positive relationships with staff. They feel listened to and can approach staff if they have any worries. This helps them to feel safe and valued. A young person said, ‘[Staff] do a good job of listening to everybody equally.’ Independence plans are tailored to the individual needs of young people. Staff support young people towards independence well, and young people develop skills at a pace that suits them. As a result, young people develop good skills that will help them in adulthood. One young person who has lived at the home for a long time has made excellent progress in many aspects of his development. Two young people have arrived at the home more recently and are settling in well. They are making progress in some aspects of their development. Staff have a good understanding of their needs and are working hard to build on the progress already made. Staff support some aspects of young people’s health well. For example, with support

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

from the organisation’s clinical team, staff use a therapeutic approach to care for the young people. The clinical team offers support and advice to staff to assist in their understanding of each young person’s needs. These systems support young people’s progress. However, additional work is required with one young person, to help him to stop smoking. Young people’s educational progress is variable. One young person is doing very well at college. However, two young people are not attending formal education due to delays in decision-making within the young people’s placing authority. Managers communicate regularly with relevant professionals and have escalated their concerns, and this work is ongoing. Although staff provide young people with some structured activity during the school day, this is not consistently applied. A lack of access to formal and regular education is impacting on young people’s learning and progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to develop positive relationships with people who are important to them. For one young person, this has led to him re-establishing contact with his mum. Staff encourage young people to develop interests and hobbies. Young people enjoy going on different leisure activities with staff, which helps to increase their confidence and self-esteem.

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

Young people’s individual risk assessments contain clear guidance for staff. These documents are reviewed and updated regularly to ensure that they remain current. As a result, staff understand young people’s needs and how to support them to keep them safe. Inspection report children’s home: SC050418 5 Young people are safe. Occasionally, young people fall out with each other, which can be unsettling for them. However, they turn to staff for support and guidance and staff respond well, which reassures young people. Staff provide young people with consistent and clear boundaries to help them to manage their behaviour appropriately. As a result, young people know what is expected of them. The staff use de-escalation techniques effectively. They also implement the home’s therapeutic model to engage young people and help them to manage their own emotions. A system of positive rewards and consequences enables young people to begin to

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

understand the impact of their behaviour on themselves and other people. However, staff do not always record these consistently, and this is an area identified for improvement. Staff acted promptly when concerns were raised about a young person’s drug misuse. They worked in partnership with other agencies, which appears to have had some success in reducing the young person’s use of cannabis. Working effectively with other agencies promotes young people’s safety and welfare. Staff undertake key-work sessions with young people, which address a range of issues, including relationships, behaviour and drug misuse. However, the quality of key-work sessions varies. The manager is aware of this and is looking at ways to improve consistency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been in post since July 2017. She has recently taken up a different position within the organisation and another manager has been appointed. A good handover period has ensured continuity and stability for the young people and staff. Since the last inspection, the registered manager and staff team have worked hard to improve standards within the home. For example, young people’s meetings are taking place regularly and young people are able to express their views, wishes and feelings. The manager and staff team are also developing a greater awareness of the home’s strengths and areas for development to support ongoing improvement. Managers are currently reviewing staff training needs, particularly in relation to physical intervention. This is so that staff can adapt their techniques, when necessary, to meet the needs of a particular child. Organising training to help staff to adopt a different

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

approach will better support the young person and staff. Managers liaise with placing authorities and escalate concerns when young people are not receiving the support and services they need. This has not yet brought about sufficient change and the work is ongoing. Occasionally, agency workers supplement the number of staff on duty. Managers largely use the same workers to provide consistency for young people. Staff report that they are well supported by the managers. They receive supervision, and the frequency of supervision has improved overall since the last inspection. However, staff have not yet had an annual appraisal, which means that they have not Inspection report children’s home: SC050418 6 had the opportunity to reflect on their performance and future learning needs. Some areas of the home require updating. The organisation has a plan to address this and home improvements are due to take place later this month.

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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: SC050418 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Educare Adolescent Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, 12 Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock, Staffordshire WS11 0LG

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Inspector

Sarah Junor-Fitzpatrick, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC050418 8 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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