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

Inspection report children’s home: 1247765 1 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes 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 children who present with a variety of challenging behaviours and complex needs. The manager was registered with Ofsted in July 2018, and is in the process of completing her level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 28 to 29 November 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: 8 February 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

At the interim inspection in February 2018, the home was judged as declined in effectiveness. As a result of the high number of shortfalls found during the inspection, a restriction of accommodation notice was issued to ensure that no further young people were admitted to the home.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Two monitoring visits took place in March 2018 and found that the organisation had Inspection report children’s home: 1247765 2 complied with the restriction of accommodation notice, and had worked hard to ensure that all areas of the home were ready for new young people to be admitted. This resulted in Ofsted taking the decision to lift the restriction of accommodation notice.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/02/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 18/07/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 1247765 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good-quality care from staff who have a clear understanding of their individual needs. Staff go out of their way to ensure that they start to build trusting relationships with children. As a result, children settle well and begin to develop a sense of belonging in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress. This is because the manager and staff support children to lead healthy lifestyles. Those children, who historically smoked cigarettes, are now no longer smoking, and are enjoying activities such as going trampolining and skating.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff are proactive in supporting children to participate and engage in education. The manager works closely with placing authorities and advocates for children who are not in full-time education. Staff work well with children to regain their confidence in education, and engage them in structured activities both in and outside of the home. One placing social worker stated, ‘Staff have been careful and shown a real commitment to many areas of his [child’s] development. They have been very supportive, especially around his education.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children frequently enjoy day trips out with staff, and have been on a holiday to the seaside recently. Consequently, children are beginning to increase in confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff work well with children’s families to promote positive contact. They advocate strongly on children’s behalf and help children to maintain and develop relationships that are important to them. As a result, one child has regained contact with family members he has not seen for several months, and another child is now having regular home contact at weekends.

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

Children are happy and feel safe living in the home. Staff ensure that there are consistent boundaries that contribute to a feeling of well-being and security for children.

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

Those children who have previously displayed extremely complex and challenging behaviour are working well with staff. They are not going missing from the home or engaging in activities that require them to be physically restrained. This is a significant improvement from their starting points.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the children’s behaviour and the risks they may encounter. They are clear about the measures they need to adopt to safeguard children. Staff receive a range of training opportunities which enable them to be aware of how to Inspection report children’s home: 1247765 4 keep children safe. This training is supplemented by workshops on topics such as radicalisation and county lines.

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

Safe recruitment practice ensures that anyone employed in the home is safe to work with children .

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has significantly improved and developed since the last inspection. An experienced registered manager has been employed who is supported by a long- standing deputy manager. The home has undergone a considerable refurbishment and the environment is now warm, comfortable and child friendly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are motivated and feel well supported by the manager. Staff receive good-quality supervision and training that are tailored to the needs of the children they care for.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager oversees the running of the home well. This ensures that she has a clear understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. The children’s outcome trackers ensure that the management team has a clear understanding of the progress children are making.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is child focused and advocates on behalf of the children in her care. She is proactive in calling multi-agency meetings to consider the safety and suitability of children’s placements in the home. One police officer commented, ‘We are both very impressed with [the manager]… She runs the homes well. I also had cause to praise her to our Chief Inspector regarding the handling of [a child] who had come to [the home] with insufficient background information from the placing authority.’

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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: 1247765 5 Inspection report children’s home: 1247765 6

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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, Epinal Way, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3GE

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Inspector

Sue Young: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1247765 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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