Children's Home run by Active Ark Limited in Cumberland

Inspection report children’s home: SC465634 1 SC465634 Registered provider: Active Ark 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 provides care for up to two children and young people who have social and emotional difficulties. The manager made a planned move internally from another home within the company in December 2017 and registered with Ofsted without delay.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC465634 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/10/2018 Full Good 16/10/2017 Full Good 21/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC465634 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 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 promotes their welfare.

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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 staff work as a team where appropriate. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)) 14/11/2019

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to respond to the health needs of children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.12)  When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the

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Recommendations

home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8) Inspection report children’s home: SC465634 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has recently benefited from some redecoration and refurbishment. It is very comfortable and feels very much like a family home. Currently, there is only one child living at this home, who is settled and making good progress across all areas of his development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since moving to this home, the child has attended a local primary school, where he is making positive progress and meeting his targets. Staff actively support his learning through reading with him and playing games that help to develop his numerical skills. Consequently, the child is well motivated to achieve and has made significant progress in mathematics.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are caring and nurturing. They are genuinely interested and invested in making the child’s experience in this home positive and memorable. Consequently, the child feels safe, secure and cared for. Speaking of his key worker, he said, ‘I think he really cares about me and he’s the nicest guy I’ve ever met.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child enjoys good experiences on a day-to-day basis. Staff encourage his attendance and involvement in age-appropriate activities at a local youth centre This and his involvement with a local football team give him plenty of opportunities for fun and time to socialise and build friendships with other children. These activities are helping to build his confidence and positive self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of family time and work cooperatively with the placing authority to ensure that the child enjoys good-quality time with his siblings. This helps the child to maintain these important family relationships and to retain a good sense of his own personal identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Although the child’s health needs are well met, healthcare planning does not have the benefit of the child’s immunisation history and last health assessment. This information was not available to staff at the time of this inspection. So far, this has not hindered the child’s access to routine or specialist healthcare services. However, this is important information that staff require to inform his healthcare planning.

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

Staff are committed to ensuring that the child feels well supported and protected. The young person feels safe and said that he can trust staff. The strength and quality of their relationships are key to this success.

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

The increasing sense of safety felt by this child can be measured by the improvements in his sleeping patterns and his night-time activities. What was once a chronic problem is now only an occasional disruption. Inspection report children’s home: SC465634 5 Positive behaviour is encouraged and rewarded with praise and small treats. This positively motivates the young person and is building his self-esteem. The consistent use of rules and boundaries provides the child with certainty in his day-to-day life.

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

Staff take care to explain how his occasional lapses in good behaviour can affect others. Such situations provide a good opportunity for the child to reflect and understand the consequences of his actions. On those occasions when formal sanctions are used, these are well documented, appropriate and proportionate.

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

There have been no missing events concerning this child. However, since the last inspection staff have dealt with several missing episodes involving a child previously placed in the home. All incidents were dealt with effectively, and staff implemented a range of strategies to reduce the frequency. However, during this time independent return interviews were not routinely occurring after each missing episode. This meant that valuable opportunities were missed to discuss the circumstances surrounding each missing episode and to check whether the child in question felt safe and protected in this home.

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

Since the last inspection, the home has revised its arrangements for the management and administration of medication. Staff have received further guidance on administration and recording arrangements. Recording has improved, and the process is now more robust in order to promote children’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and staff team have high expectations for children living at this home. They are committed and eager for them to achieve good outcomes. Staff share a good knowledge of the children they care for and are familiar with their needs and wishes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the home’s last full inspection in October 2018, the registered manager has made several improvements, significantly increasing the effectiveness of leadership and management at the home. All previous requirements and recommendations made have been met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff spoken to said that they feel very well supported in their roles. They benefit from regular supervision, staff meetings and training events that promote their professional skills and abilities and keep them up to date with current good practice. All staff are appropriately qualified or are working towards their level 3 diploma.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

However, despite these improvements, when two children are placed in the home arrangements become less effective. Core staff teams tend to work in isolation with their designated child rather than taking a more collaborative approach. Such working in isolation means that there can be some differences in staff approaches to rules and boundaries, which can make children feel that these are not always equitable.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s current external monitoring arrangements appear to be working very Inspection report children’s home: SC465634 6 effectively. There is a greater level of scrutiny of the home since the appointment of a new independent person. The manager reports this to be supportive and helpful to his planning and continuous development of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

During this inspection, the home’s workforce plan was found to be incomplete. While this had no immediate effect on the young person placed, this essential document did not clearly identify how the home is meeting the workforce-related requirements outlined in the home’s statement of purpose.

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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: SC465634 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Active Ark, Unit E, Baron Way, Kingmoor Business Park, Carlisle CA6 4SJ

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Inspector

Gillian Walters, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC465634 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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