Children's home run by The Partnership of The Chartwell Group

Inspection report children’s home: SC015266 1 SC015266 Registered provider: The Chartwell Group of Companies 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 privately owned home provides care and education in a small-group setting for up to six children who have emotional and/or behavioural and/or learning difficulties. The home specialises in offering long-term placements to boys. The on-site school is registered with the Department for Education. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since June 2016.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 11 to 12 December 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: 19 September 2017

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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: SC015266 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/09/2017 Full Good 28/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/10/2016 Full Good 09/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC015266 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role that they play in the training and development of staff at the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) In particular, provide staff with training in understanding gangs and county lines issues.  The review of the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the children’s home should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress. They have positive, trusting relationships with a staff team that understands their individual needs. Children said that they like the staff because they are fun, and they listen and help them. A child said, ‘This is the best home ever. I love the staff, they are brilliant.’ The children access a wide variety of activities in the local community. This supports them to develop their social skills and gives them the opportunity to mix with their peers outside of the home. Education attendance is high. The staff understand the importance of education and proactively support the children to attend school. A child said, ‘I really like school now and I go every day.’ The staff work closely with the organisation’s school and other education providers to support children to access and attend education and to achieve well. Children’s placement plans are individualised and regularly reviewed. Children are fully

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

involved in the implementation and review of their plans. They contribute to the plans and add their comments and views. The approach to care planning puts children at the centre of their care and ensures that staff understand children’s needs and have clear guidance to follow to meet those needs effectively. Staff understand the importance of children feeling valued and listened to. Children attend monthly house meetings, during which a variety of topics are discussed. Children feel listened to and can see that staff act on their wishes when possible. Inspection report children’s home: SC015266 4

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

Sanctions are fair and proportionate. Children have the opportunity to discuss any sanctions that are applied to them and they review, comment and sign the records of sanctions. Children discuss behaviour in their key-work sessions, which enables reflection on incidents and consequences so that children can learn to behave in a positive way. Staff are good at reinforcing good behaviour through the use of rewards, which helps children to understand when they have done well. Staff challenge unwanted behaviours and reinforce boundaries. They understand and are sensitive to children’s emotions and are able to de-escalate difficult behaviours. Children have comprehensive individual risk assessments and behaviour management plans in place. These plans help the staff to work consistently to keep children safe. Children are also involved in reviewing their plans, which enables them to understand and learn to manage risks and contribute to developing coping strategies.

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

Children said that they feel safe living at this home because the staff look after them well. Children can speak to staff if they are worried or upset. Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding and have undertaken safeguarding training. However, staff have not accessed training in understanding gang and county lines issues. This is an area that could be improved further so that staff have a good current understanding of topical issues that affect children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has met the one recommendation that was set at the last inspection. He has a clear vision for the home and involves staff in the home’s continual development. Staff receive regular supervision that supports them to work with the children effectively and enables each staff member’s professional development. Regular staff meetings are used to discuss the children and care practice issues. These meetings help to review practice so that the staff work consistently to meet the children’s needs effectively. Staff have undertaken the organisation’s mandatory training and have achieved or are in the process of achieving a relevant level 3 qualification. The manager monitors care practice effectively. She uses the feedback from the monthly visits by the independent person to drive improvement. The manager has not sought information from external agencies to inform the location risk assessment and has not included risks to children if they go missing from the home

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

in this assessment. Although some risks have been identified, the assessment does not state how these can be reduced. Consequently, there is the potential for a lack of communication to staff of local risks and risk-reduction strategies.

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children’s home: SC015266 5 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: SC015266 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Chartwell Group of Companies Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Chartwell House, Goodens Lane, Newton, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire PE13 5HQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Wright

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Inspector

Trish Palmer: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC015266 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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