Children's home run by Compass Children‟s Homes Limited in Charnwood

Inspection report children’s home: SC031220 1 SC031220 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is a residential therapeutic community that provides high-quality care and substitute parenting for up to six children or young people who have problematic sexualised behaviour, aged between 10 and 17. A fundamental objective of the home is to provide ongoing intensive, therapeutic, personalised care and educational structure and attainment. The service offers a four-week assessment programme which will determine the therapeutic needs of the child or young person and their auditability for intervention. The manager of the home has over 15 years of experience of caring for children in formal settings. She has worked in residential services for seven years and was registered with Ofsted as the manager of this service in June 2016.

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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 outstanding

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC031220 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/08/2017 Full Good 25/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/05/2016 Full Good 10/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC031220 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, the 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

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 31/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month. (Regulation 44 (1)) 31/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (5)) 31/07/2018

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) With reference to ensuring that the work being undertaken in the therapy room to address the damp issue is completed in a timely manner.  Staff should keep and encourage children to keep appropriate memorabilia of the time spent living at the home and help them record significant life events. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5) Inspection report children’s home: SC031220 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people at the home experience a high standard of care and nurturing routines, delivered by a competent and dedicated staff team. Relationships between the young people and the staff are positive and characterised by warmth and respect.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Healthcare is prioritised. The young people have attended appointments with local healthcare services. Some young people have refused to participate in their annual healthcare assessment and the staff are working closely with healthcare professionals to innovate and try different methods of completing this task.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a wide range of nutritious and balanced meals on the menu and the young people are encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Educational outcomes are excellent. Some of the young people attend the organisation’s local school. Those young people have been supported to achieve the optimum amount of qualifications on a continual basis. Young people who were previously not engaging with education have achieved qualifications at functional-skills level and have been prepared well for and entered into GCSE examinations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people are supported to develop individual interests and talents. One young person engages regularly in boxing, another is being supported to access a local cycling park. The young people are provided with musical instruments and can have pets in the home. This promotes a sense of belonging and helps the young people to develop a positive sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people are given a colourful and easy to read guide to the home before they move in. They can influence the development of the service through regular consultation and have weekly meetings where they make choices about their day-to-day care. One young person made a complaint which was dealt with promptly and to the young person’s satisfaction.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Contact with family is facilitated by the home and transport is provided for extensive distances. The staff team knows and appreciates the importance of the young people being able to maintain close relationships with family and other significant people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people are provided with plentiful opportunities to bond with the staff and each other. The young people go on outings and day trips and have lots of positive experiences. These experiences are captured in the home’s photograph albums and scrapbooks. The manager is working towards the young people being able to take home individualised books with memories of their stay. This work has not yet commenced.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The physical environment in the home is homely and generally very well maintained, although there is ongoing work to prevent damp in one of the communal rooms. The Inspection report children’s home: SC031220 5 staff lock communal doors downstairs at night as an additional security measure. On occasions, the door to the games room is left locked until someone requests to use it. A requirement is made to ensure that doors are only locked for safeguarding reasons.

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

Supervision levels agreed with placing authorities and families are very high. The young people do not abscond. On occasions, the young people have been out of the sight of adults for short periods of time. The staff have been effective in locating them and young people have returned to the home swiftly of their own accord.

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

Any bullying behaviours between the young people are challenged and not tolerated. An effective restorative approach is taken to ensure that relationships are repaired. This approach ensures that a culture of positive and healthy relationships exists in the home.

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

Risk management is excellent and the staff are very knowledgeable about the young people in their care. Placing authorities and parents feel that the young people are safe. Leaders and staff successfully achieve a very careful balance of affording the young people appropriate levels of freedom without compromising their or others’ safety.

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

The staff work closely with their in-house therapeutic service. Using research-based principles in their practice, the staff help the young people to learn healthier ways to express their emotions. This includes a progressive approach to risk management. This approach has reduced the frequency and severity of incidents of negative behaviour.

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

One young person said: ‘I feel like coming here has helped me open up to people. Before I came here, I couldn’t do that. This has helped me to feel safer and better about myself.’ A social worker said: ‘[The young person] has never been able to talk to anyone about his experiences and why he might behave the way he does. The home has adapted its programme to fit his circumstances. He has never been able to own his behaviour or reflect and can now do that.’

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

When incidents do occur, they are well managed, recorded appropriately and de-briefed with staff and young people. Subsequently, physical interventions and presenting challenging behaviour has decreased substantially. This decrease has been sustained over a prolonged period.

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

The young people are supported to become increasingly safe at home and in the community. The young people have made considerable progress in being able to access community resources and enjoy appropriate levels of independence in mainstream clubs and activities. This is outstanding progress.

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

The staff ensure that the young people are educated about internet safety and supervised in accordance with agreed plans. Recruitment procedures are safe and robust. Inspection report children’s home: SC031220 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a competent and child-centred manager who has considerable experience of working in residential childcare settings. She is supported by a committed and enthusiastic deputy manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff report that the setting is well managed and say that they feel supported to carry out their roles effectively. Leaders ensure that the team is supervised regularly and supported to deliver a high standard of care for the young people at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from frequent training opportunities that provide them with the necessary skills to care for young people with complex behavioural needs. The staff work in partnership with an in-house therapeutic service that provides regular intensive support to the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders hold team meetings that enable staff to contribute their views about care planning and behaviour management for young people. Care planning processes are comprehensive and subject to regular review. As a result, young people are making good progress across all aspects of their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is evidence of good standards of monitoring and evaluation of practice standards in the home. The manager has implemented a monthly monitoring system which will provide greater ease in identifying patterns and trends of incidents and behavioural issues.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

On one occasion, the independent visitor to the home did not conduct a visit in person. A requirement is made to address this matter.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of care review is evaluative and considers the views of the children and young people at the home. A requirement is made to extend this feedback to parents, placing authorities and staff, as required by regulation.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC031220 7 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: SC031220 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Mountfields House, Off Squirrel Way, Epinal Way, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3GE

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Inspector

Nicola Thomas: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC031220 9 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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