Children's Home run by Compass Children‟s Homes Limited in West Sussex

Inspection report children’s home: 1253716 1 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The aims of this home are to provide individual attention, stability and support to children who have experienced disrupted development and multiple placement moves. The daily running of May House is based on a structured day, with clear routines, firm boundaries and personalised care. The registered manager has been in post since February 2017, when this home was re- registered with Ofsted. The report reflects the language used in the home, where the staff are referred to as adults.

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 Outstanding

p.1

Good

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

p.1

Good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

p.1

Good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1253716 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/03/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: 1253716 3

p.2

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (i) assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; (Regulation12(2)(a)(i)) In particular, the registered person must ensure that records provide details of how any identified risks have been assessed and minimised and that information about the location is used effectively to inform risk assessments for each child. 31/09/18

p.3

Recommendation

 Any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5) In particular, the registered person should satisfy themselves that the independent person makes sufficient contact with professionals and children’s families as part of their assessment.  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. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression.

p.3

Recommendation

(‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report children’s home: 1253716 4 In particular, the registered person should check that there are sufficient numbers of plug sockets in each room to meet the needs of electrical appliances used there.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) In particular, the registered person should review the quality of children’s records across the service to ensure that the standard which they expect is reflected

p.3

Recommendation

appropriately in all instances. The registered person should also ensure that all complaints are recorded appropriately. Inspection report children’s home: 1253716 5

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress here and the speed of change reflects their needs and circumstances. Care plans are quickly changed so that adults can support children’s needs effectively. Children settle well here. Professionals are impressed by the plans in place for children to move in. From the start, the adults plan and evaluate how they can help children the most. Adults quickly establish good relationships with children and find out what they want to happen while they live here. Adults understand children’s needs well and the children say that the adults are one of the best things here. The relationships that the adults build with children are warm and helpful. Adults co-operatively work as a team to provide consistent care which nurtures children’s well-being and feelings of safety. One social worker said that the adults ‘really care and involve [the child] in decisions’. She went on to comment that the

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

support the adults had given has helped the child to manage his anger better. He now recognises and can name his emotions. The adults take care to act like parents would and are particularly skilled at helping children who have complex needs to develop stability and improve their coping skills. Three children have lived at the home for at least two years and all children gave living here a high score out of 10. The children talk about the difference that living here has made to them. The adults support and promote children’s relationships with their families and friends exceptionally well. The adults advocate for what they consider is the child’s best interests, including when this means reducing contact for a child. Parents and social workers are very positive about the support that families receive and how they manage these relationships. One parent said that the adults had supported her well, even

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

during difficult circumstances. Children’s health needs are met well. One child no longer takes unnecessary medication, and another has lost weight since living at the home. Children’s health records are up to date and any missing information is chased up appropriately. Adults make strong representation for children to get to the right school, and the daily routines assist the children to develop appropriate approaches to home study. This has resulted in children attaining well and showing an interest in learning. Children learn how to look after themselves and develop personal interests. There is a strong emphasis on children having normal everyday experiences. They know what they can do for themselves and what adults expect them to have support with. Children develop good manners and are helped to learn how to behave well in social situations. Children are given experiences which extend their knowledge of others, such as visiting

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

the Netherlands and Disneyland. They develop relationships outside the home, and take part in joint activities which support them to develop positive relationships with Inspection report children’s home: 1253716 6 other children, such as a camping trip. There is a very homely environment. However, the use of the games room as a sleep- in area detracts from this. Senior managers agreed during the inspection to review this, which will better ensure that communal rooms are only dedicated to children’s use.

p.5

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

Adults carefully manage safeguarding concerns appropriately. Their knowledge of safeguarding concerns is continually updated. For example, adults continue to be updated about relevant areas such as child sexual exploitation and problematic sexualised behaviours. Good behaviour is promoted well, and poor behaviour managed effectively. The adults plan to avoid difficulties and thereby pre-empt what may cause a child’s behaviour to change. One child finds settling difficult. The adults spend some hours helping him to settle each night. Over time, this is assisting him to get to sleep more quickly and be less distressed at bedtime. Bullying is dealt with quickly and rarely occurs. Children say that adults manage restraints well. After a child has been restrained, an adult talks to the child about how they might help them to manage their behaviour better. One child said that this conversation and the changes that were made to his care resulted in him not having

p.6

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

any more restraints. Adults effectively help children to feel more emotionally secure and learn how to respond differently to the emotions that they have as a result of some situations. The adults are aware of the differing relationships that children have with them, and take good care to make sure that they reflect on these so that they are giving children consistent messages. Children’s tolerance of others, empathy and understanding of equality grows as a result. Risks to children’s well-being are regularly assessed by adults. Risk assessment records do not always demonstrate the level of thinking adults have taken to minimise any risks. For example, there is no written assessment of how adults decided that children were ready to ride their bicycles on the road. However, adults can explain how they have checked that a child is able to do so. The location assessment refers to the beach, but other risk assessments such as ones for when a child goes missing do not reference

p.6

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

how the adults need to take the beach into their plan of action when considering one particular child. Complaints are managed appropriately but not always recorded. This is a missed opportunity to record the actions the adults take to develop positive relationships in the community and to listen to a child’s views. The home is well maintained and there are good plans to ensure that this continues. However, some rooms have fewer plug sockets than others and this results in several extension leads being used. Adults and children know fire safety well and fire checks are appropriately undertaken. The cupboard under the stairs contained the electricity Inspection report children’s home: 1253716 7 switchboard and meters. Car oil was also being temporarily stored in the cupboard. This is a fire risk. Immediate action was taken to remove the item. The manager also took action to ensure that this would not occur in the future.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager’s committed and child-focused approach to the ethos and objectives of the home provide a clear vision for the future. The manager considers that the addition of a deputy manager’s post from September 2018 will enable him to put into action his development plans. This appointment will allow for the step-down programme in place to help children to return home or live in foster care to be written up and approved for use across the organisation. The registered manager guides his team successfully. He is an excellent role model who supports the adults to develop the knowledge and skills to care for children in the best ways possible. Children, the adults he manages and external agencies all hold him in high regard. One adult said he is ‘strict but fair’. His influence and management have ensured that changes in the team of adults who care for the children have had a minimal effect on children.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Oversight and review of the home is innovative and generally thorough. When an issue is found, the manager quickly responds and puts it right. The independent visitor covers a wide range of issues well, but rarely contacts outside agencies and children’s families to check their views of the home. This is a missed opportunity to gain independent views about the quality of care and safety of children. Staffing levels are sufficiently high to ensure that the adults manage and respond well to some very challenging incidents without having to resort to calling the police. The adults’ strong relationships with children and their understanding, vigilant and caring approach result in children quickly settling after incidents. A social worker was very positive about how flexible and accommodating adults are. She said that the adults ensure that they can manage changes to events so that children’s needs are always met.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Adults are trained appropriately, and they can describe well the impact that the training has on their practice. They especially noted how the quality of attachment training has helped them to understand and manager children’s difficult behaviours. Very positive relationships with other agencies support children effectively. One social worker said that she particularly liked the well-considered challenges that the adults gave to their thinking about what a child needs. Their thinking helped her to consider the child’s future needs from a different perspective. One current development the manager is working on is developing adults’ report- writing skills, which are variable. His review has led to improvements in how adults record and link documentation regarding restraints. However, this is less evident in other records. Inspection report children’s home: 1253716 8

p.7

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.8

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: 1253716 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd

p.9

Children’s home details

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

p.9

Inspector

Ruth Coler, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1253716 10 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.9

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.10

Inspector

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

p.10

Inspector

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

p.10