Children's home run by Calcot Services for Children Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1271214 1 Registered provider: Calcot Services for Children 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

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for six children and young people. The home’s statement of purpose states that this service is for children and young people who have learning difficulties, complex needs and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in May 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 28 February 2019 to 1 March 2019

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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: first inspection since registration

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1271214 2

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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, 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

The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 16(3)(a)) 30/04/2019

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home. (Regulation 25(1)(a)) 30/04/2019

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Recommendations

 Just as in a family home, children should be able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home (regulation 21(c)(i)). Any decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home, and any modifications to the environment of the home, must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. Information on restraint and deprivation of liberty is contained in the protection of children section of the Guide from paragraph 9.41. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, paragraph 3.10, page 15)  The Care Planning Regulations set out that the responsible local authority

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Recommendations

(meaning the local authority that looks after the child) must make sure that its looked-after children are provided with appropriate healthcare services. The health of looked-after children must be assessed at regular intervals and the child’s care plan must include an individual health plan setting out the approach that the placing authority will follow, and the desired outcomes required to meet the child’s health needs. These outcomes, recorded in the health plan, will be the basis on which the registered person will be expected to meet regulation 10(2)(a)(i) in the health and well-being standard for each looked-after child in their care. Details of the local authority’s responsibilities for the health of its looked-after children are set out in ‘Children Act 1989: Care planning, placement and case review’. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, paragraph 7.4, page 33)

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: 1271214 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make substantial progress from their starting points. They can regulate their behaviour, meaning that incidents requiring physical intervention and incidents of missing from care and self-injurious behaviour have significantly reduced in number. Some young people who previously who previously have avoided contact with others are now engaging with others, and are confident and talkative, with clear ambition for their future life. Young people develop independence skills such as cooking and being able to manage free time in the community without adult supervision. Staff, parents and young people celebrate their progress. One parent said, ‘The staff have worked a miracle.’ A professional was very complimentary about the progress that a young person has made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is a strength of this home. All young people are in education, with most attending the organisation’s own school, which is near the home. Staff have been successful in supporting young people to go to, and return from, school, with some young people now doing this independently. Staff advocate for young people to give them every opportunity to achieve the best possible education outcomes. They involve parents in the decision-making process at every step of the way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are some restrictions on young people’s movements to keep them safe. Some blanket approaches have not been sufficiently risk assessed to determine that they are necessary to safeguard each young person. Staff do not keep such practice under review to ensure that it is the best or only way to support a young person to keep them safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager does not always ensure that local authority health records are readily available to inform the healthcare plans. However, there was no evidence that this has had any immediate negative impact on the health and well-being of the young people. Young people have made significant progress, such as getting to their ideal weight and engaging regularly in healthy exercise. Young people have ready access to child and adolescent mental health services, and other therapists, to meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff seek the views of young people so that they can enjoy a range of activities in the home and the wider community. Young people have experienced, for example, a trip to a waterpark, a spa day and a visit to a museum of their choice. Staff support young people to attend a monthly meal with young people from the organisation’s other homes, giving them an opportunity to develop social interaction skills and make friends.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people can contact their parents and other people who are important to them, utilising digital technology if they want to. Staff have developed good relationships with the children’s parents, keeping them informed about the progress of their children. Parents said that staff understand their children’s needs and that they promote them well. Inspection report children’s home: 1271214 4

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

Young people develop trusting relationships with the adults who care for them, and especially their key workers. They can discuss any concerns or worries, confident that staff listen to them and respond appropriately.

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

The response of staff to missing-from-care episodes is a strength of this home. They consider carefully the vulnerability of each young person when their whereabouts is unknown. They ensure that they have grab-packs with key information and actively look for young people when they are concerned. They communicate effectively with the police, social workers and families to ensure young people’s safe return.

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

Staff are trained in behaviour management techniques, and especially de-escalation skills. They use positive strategies to diffuse situations, only using physical intervention as a last resort. The registered manager is meticulous in her approach to reviewing and scrutinising individual episodes of physical intervention as well as completing an overarching analysis. She ensures that there is reflection and learning to inform future practice.

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

Staff are conversant with the safeguarding policy and are diligent in applying it in practice. They inform senior safeguarding leads within the organisation about any concerns. Safeguarding leads respond swiftly and decisively. This includes working with others such as the designated officer for safeguarding in the local authority.

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

The registered manager ensures that all the necessary health and safety certification and maintenance are up to date. She has an evacuation procedure in place. However, this procedure is not clear regarding the sequence of events in an evacuation, nor does it describe clearly the use of an air horn as an additional alarm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is demonstrating good leadership. She understands the strengths and weaknesses of the provision and has clear plans for development. She utilises the statutory monitoring reports, for example the independent visitor’s report, to drive forward improvement. She deals effectively with complaints, recognising this as an opportunity to further improve. She ensures that statutory notifications are sent to the relevant authorities, including Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager leads a team of staff who are professional, competent and well trained. The initial turbulence that occurred when the home was first established has passed. Recruitment and retention of staff have stabilised. There is a positive culture with high morale. A motivated staff team works collaboratively, focusing on the needs of each individual young person and how best to support emerging behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager ensures that staff have regular supervision where they can talk Inspection report children’s home: 1271214 5 about their work and the emotional impact of it on them. Staff said that their supervisors support them very well, the training is good and they are fully equipped to fulfil their role. One member of staff said, ‘There is brilliant support from management.’ Another member of staff said, ‘We are like a family.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is committed to supporting young people to make good progress and be the best they can be. Staff understand the young people’s individual goals and permanence plans. They use regular progress review reports to provide a consistent approach that keeps everyone working towards the same targets, and to inform placing social workers and parents of progress. Staff communicate effectively at handovers about each young person’s individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose refers to the setting as the organisation’s first residential education provision, whereas in fact the provision is registered as a children’s home. The statement of purpose describes the staff as residential therapeutic care workers, and states that therapeutic principles are applied. However, there is no indication as to the therapeutic model of care that is adopted or what qualifications and experience therapeutic care staff are required to have. A member of staff said, ‘It would help more if there was individual therapy for the young people.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager ensures that placement plans are available to inform staff of the needs of the young people. These plans include information on contextual safeguarding, risks regarding bullying and e-safety’ She recognises that risk minimisation strategies could be smarter, especially in relation to the actions/timescales in response to an incident needing greater clarity. Young people said that they have access to their placement plans and can contribute to them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Young people live in a warm, comfortable and homely environment where they can access many communal areas or choose to spend time in their rooms, which are highly personalised. Inspection report children’s home: 1271214 6

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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: 1271214 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Calcot Services for Children Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 8, Brewery Court, Theale, Reading, Berkshire RG7 5AJ

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Inspectors

Keith Riley: lead social care inspector Andy Whippey: Her Majesty’s inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1271214 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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