Children's Home run by The Cuckfield Care Consultancy Limited in West Sussex

Inspection report children’s home: SC066466 1 SC066466 Registered provider: The Cuckfield Care Consultancy Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This private children’s home is registered to accommodate up to six children. The home’s statement of purpose states that it can provide medium- to long-term placements for vulnerable children with emotional, behavioural and psychological issues.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

p.1

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.

p.1

outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC066466 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/07/2017 Full Good 15/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 14/12/2016 Full Good 11/02/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC066466 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children at this home are thriving. They are very suitably placed and enjoy a highly positive atmosphere of calm and respect. They receive a warm welcome and introduction to the home and settle in quickly. Those children who move on are prepared and supported to cope with change.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are thriving across all areas of their lives. The manager and staff work with a range of professionals to ensure that children make excellent progress in their education, health and social development. Education attendance is exceptional for all children taking their starting points into consideration. For some children who have previous poor or non-attendance at school, they now attend full-time education and are catching up on missed education years. The staff maintain effective communication with schools and support the children to have a positive view of education. Additional school tutoring is arranged if needed.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff’s ability to develop meaningful and trusting relationships with the children is a strength. Highly positive relationships enable the home to function in a calm and organised way. The children listen and take guidance seriously. At times when children need extra care and support, the staff are always there and ready to go that extra mile. The manager and her staff team make very carefully considered decisions about children moving into the home, which has resulted in very good placement matching and children living there are compatible. Overall, the staff provide a sense of normality and children feel part of the home’s inclusive community.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

An ongoing refurbishment programme ensures that individual bedrooms are age- appropriate with input from the children so they experience a sense of belonging. Children’s views are valued and their rights promoted.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children have clear and organised plans so they know what they are doing each day, including activity planners for school holidays. They thoroughly enjoy a range of activities in-house and in the community. Holidays are arranged with care and many children experience going abroad for the first time in their lives.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff team sensitively supports children to have contact with their family and friends.

p.3

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

The staff are trained to keep the children safe. Safeguarding training is targeted and meaningful and relates to current risks that children may be exposed to. There is a consistent and proactive response from the staff that reduces the risk of harm to children. This includes regular and effective contact and planning with the child’s allocated social worker and their family, where appropriate. Children say that they feel safe at the home and with the staff team. Inspection report children’s home: SC066466 4 The staff team’s focus on providing excellent standards of care means that children make outstanding progress in changing negative behaviours. Individual risk assessments provide clear and sensible strategies to lessen the risks associated with known or presenting new behaviours. As a result, there have been no incidents of going missing, very few restraints or serious incidents and no safeguarding referrals in recent months.

p.3

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

The support children receive means that they are able to manage their behaviours and feelings safely without putting themselves at risk of harm.

p.4

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

The staff understand the risk that use of the internet and social media may pose to children. The manager continues to develop policies and strategies to keep children safe and to support them in learning how to keep themselves safe. For example, the current e-safety policy and use of mobile phone policy, especially in relation to staff’s own mobile phones, are currently being reviewed.

p.4

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

Children are protected by careful recruitment procedures and regular monitoring of staff also prevents unsuitable people from being employed.

p.4

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

Robust and regular health and safety checks ensure that the physical environment for children is safe and secure and protects them from harm or the risk of harm.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is effectively and efficiently managed by a permanent, suitably experienced and qualified registered manager. The responsible individual and registered manager work closely to ensure that excellent standards of care are consistently applied and that the home continues to develop its procedures and practices.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is confident and ambitious for the children. She is influential in changing their lives, which can be seen in the outstanding progress made by all children in the home. When needed, the manager will challenge professionals, ensuring that the best decisions are made for the children: she provides excellent support to the staff team and knows the children well. The staff team focuses on achieving the best outcomes for children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The members of the staff team are very suitably qualified to work in the home. Staff are extremely well supported through training and supervision, and are well informed and focused on their roles.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager and responsible individual know the home’s strengths and areas for improvement and work closely to continually develop the service. The manager regularly monitors the quality of care provided. Monitoring systems are effective and allow the manager to review the staff’s practice and children’s experiences effectively and to act on their views, wishes and opinions.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The culture in the home is one of high expectations and aspiration. All children are treated fairly in a non-discriminatory manner. The ethos and objectives of the home, as written in the statement of purpose, are demonstrated in practice, for example by the Inspection report children’s home: SC066466 5 excellent progress children make and the stable and highly effective staff team. One member of staff said, `I love coming to work; I feel I am making a real difference to the children’s lives. I wouldn’t work anywhere else.’

p.4

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: SC066466 6

p.5

Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Cuckfield Care Consultancy Limited

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Ashburnham, Cuckfield Road, Ansty, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH17 5AG

p.6

Inspector

Liz Driver, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC066466 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 http://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: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.7