Children's Home run by The Caldecott Foundation Limited in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1244117 1 Registered provider: Caldecott Foundation 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 provides residential care and accommodation for children aged from five to 16 years. It offers placements to children or young people in need of support with a range of emotional, behavioural and/or social difficulties. In some circumstances, young people may stay up to the age of 18; this will be dependent on their individual needs and in line with an agreed transition plan. The home is registered to provide care for up to five children and young people.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post has been vacant since May 2019. A new manager has been appointed and has submitted her application to be the registered manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1244117 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/05/2018 Full Good 19/12/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 17/05/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1244117 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, 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who —

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(ix)(xii)) 04/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered 04/10/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1244117 4 person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f)) 04/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing—

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Requirement Due date

injury to any person (including the child);

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Requirement Due date

serious damage to the property of any person (including the child); or

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Requirement Due date

a child who is accommodated in a secure children’s home from absconding from the home.

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. 04/10/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1244117 5 (Regulation 20 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2))

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (‘the authorised person’)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 35 (3)(a)(ii)(iv)(v)(vii)(b)(i)) 04/10/2019

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improvement to be good

The home has experienced a particularly unsettled period. This has meant that at times the progress and experiences of children living there have not been positive. On occasions, the home has been chaotic. This has resulted in children sometimes feeling worried.

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improvement to be good

The home has not always been a nurturing and calm place for children who have experience of trauma. On occasions, staff have failed to understand why children are behaving in certain ways. Staff have not always provided the sensitive and nurturing care that children need. This has led to children’s behaviours escalating and adding to children’s distress.

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improvement to be good

Despite these shortfalls, all children are in education and are doing well. One child has lived at the home for a significant amount of time. This has provided the child with Inspection report children’s home: 1244117 6 invaluable stability in his life. One child said, ‘I like living here, its great. The staff are nice. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) I would rate the home as 11.’

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improvement to be good

Children’s universal health needs are met. Weekly sessions with a designated therapist help staff to understand, and manage, children’s complex behaviours. However, staff are yet to consistently implement these skills in practice. The therapeutic approach that is described in the home’s statement of purpose is not fully embedded in the home.

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improvement to be good

Most transitions into and out of the home are well managed. Staff understand the importance of ensuring that children have a good experience of arriving at and leaving the home. Staff prepare children for independence. Children are helped to understand the importance of managing their own finances, doing their own shopping and meeting their own needs. Crucially, management and staff have also stayed in contact with one child when this child moved on to semi-independent living. This is commendable.

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improvement to be good

Some shortfalls in practice have left children vulnerable in this home. Because staff are not consistently able to manage difficult behaviours effectively, they do not always provide children with a sense of safety.

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improvement to be good

There are times when physical intervention is inappropriately used with children. There are incidents where staff have used physical intervention to try to manage children’s behaviours, even though it is ineffective. On more than one occasion, staff have physically intervened with children up to four times during one incident. Staff have not had the skills to de-escalate children’s behaviours. For one child, the use of physical intervention has left them extremely distressed and has been entirely counterproductive for them.

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improvement to be good

The recording of physical intervention requires improvement. Exactly what has occurred, and the techniques used to prevent a physical intervention being necessary, are unclear. Timing regarding how long the physical intervention has lasted for is also recorded wrongly on several occasions.

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improvement to be good

Staff are not consistently having a debriefing following the use of physical intervention. When concerns have been identified they have not been addressed during debriefing sessions. This is a missed opportunity to address shortfalls in practice and improve standards.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are well written and provide a detailed account about how children should be supported and safeguarded. However, despite clear direction in these assessments, they are not always followed by the staff. These documents are therefore ineffective and fail to assist in ensuring children’s safety and well-being.

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improvement to be good

Despite these shortfalls in practice, there have been no incidents of children going missing from the home. The acting manager is focused on promoting children’s self- Inspection report children’s home: 1244117 7 esteem. Effective behaviour management strategies have now been implemented. Good behaviour is rewarded through incentives that are meaningful and worthwhile for the child.

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improvement to be good

When safeguarding incidents do occur, there is a robust response, and all appropriate policies and procedures are followed by management. A social worker said, ‘Staff understand the child’s needs and have a very calm approach. They are good. They are definitely making progress.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

A new acting manager is currently in post. She is suitably qualified and very experienced. The acting manager has a clear vision regarding the improvements that she wants to make in the home. She is a focused individual who has a firm but fair approach. She has started to address weaknesses in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The acting manager has been supported by a senior management team that is highly committed to ensuring that unwavering standards of care are embedded across the home. Once the senior management team recognised that there were issues in the home they acted to address the shortfalls.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There has been a high turnover of staff since the last inspection. This has created instability and uncertainty for children. Staff morale has been low. However, in the last several months this has started to improve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Systems to monitor the progress of children effectively are not robust. As a result, management has not had a comprehensive oversight of what is happening in the home and the care being provided to children. This has resulted in practice, which is not always child-centred, being left unchallenged.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home environment requires improvement. In some places the home is unwelcoming. Children’s bedrooms are not always kept tidy and some redecoration is required. This makes it difficult for children to invest in the home or to show any respect for or pride in their surroundings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The acting manager is starting to embed good-quality and regular supervision. This, along with regular team meetings and input from the therapist, assists to ensure that staff are receiving ongoing support, advice and guidance.

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children’s home: 1244117 8 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: 1244117 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Caldecott Foundation Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Caldecott House, Hythe Road, Smeeth, Ashford, Kent TN25 6SP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Nicholas Barnett

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Inspector:

Davinia Lawton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1244117 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.

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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