Children's Home run by Compass Children’s Homes Ltd in Herefordshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1247764 1 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This service is a privately owned children’s home that is registered to provide care for four children who have problematic sexualised behaviour. There is a registered manager in post.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 1247764 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/10/2019 Full Good 15/10/2018 Full Good 26/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/09/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1247764 3

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outstanding

Staff have an in-depth understanding of children’s needs because there is excellent partnership working between the home, therapist and school. For example, there are daily handover meetings, following the home’s therapeutic model of care. Because of this, children are thriving in school and home, as well making progress in their therapy programme.

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outstanding

The two children currently living in the home are making outstanding progress. Staff promote a culture of celebrating success and praise the children for all their achievements. Children feel valued, their self-confidence has improved and they are developing a true sense of self-worth and identity within the home and in the wider community.

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outstanding

Staff use the input from the therapist to agree strategies to support the children. Staff then support the children with research-informed direct work. This takes place alongside children receiving weekly one-to-one and group therapy sessions. As a result, children are making better life choices, they are learning how to deal with the trauma from their childhood experiences and becoming more emotionally resilient.

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outstanding

Staff have high aspirations for the children. They promote a culture of positive educational attainment. Children feel that staff believe in them; they respond well to this and are exceeding targets. Previously children had poor educational attendance now both children have excellent school attendance. They are on full- time timetables, they complete weekly homework and engage in various after- school clubs. One child attends chess club. Both children are working towards their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. This is supporting them to develop key skills and be involved in community work.

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outstanding

Staff promote creative opportunities to support and develop children’s talents and skills. For example, one child is learning about carpentry and farming on a weekly work experience placement. He has built the home a chicken coup and introduced hens. Another child has developed skills in photography and is now studying it as a subject at exam level at school. Children are expanding their interests and developing new skills that will help them as they move on towards adulthood.

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outstanding

Staff support the children to contribute to the community they live in. They have taken part in charity events and raised money for mental health awareness and Comic Relief. Children are supported to understand how they can contribute to the community that they are part of. As a result, this has developed their self-worth in knowing that they are valued members of their community. Inspection report children’s home: 1247764 4 Children have positive relationships with the staff. One child shared that ‘Staff listen to me and they are fair.’ Inspectors observed staff supporting the children to engage in group discussions. They saw children giving each other praise and celebrating each other’s achievements. This support promotes positive group living and healthy relationships with the other children with whom they live.

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outstanding

Professionals speak highly of the registered manager and the staff team. One social worker shared that ‘the staff go above and beyond’ and said that she has great confidence in knowing the child lives at this home and they are making great progress. Feedback from other professionals echoes this viewpoint.

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

The registered manager and staff, in collaboration with the therapist, are successful at discussing and looking beyond the children’s presenting behaviours. Staff use this understanding effectively to support the children to resolve incidents such as going missing from home, physical aggression and damage to property. As a result, these incidents have reduced and are now minimal.

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

Children have child-friendly risk assessments, which are easy for them to read and understand. The therapeutic programme supports them to contribute to these risk assessments. This helps children to recognise situations when they may be at risk of harm and learn strategies to reduce those risks.

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

The registered manager ensures that children are safeguarded. When necessary, he makes prompt referrals to the designated officer and appropriate partnership procedures are followed. The registered manager and therapist conduct lessons learned exercises after key incidents to ensure that similar incidents do not occur again. This demonstrates reflective practice and a drive to ensure that improvements are made to safeguard children.

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

Staff use the support from the therapist in providing effective debriefs to children following incidents in the home. Staff support the children to share their reflections and look at alternative ways in responding to such incidents. For example, one child recognised how their behaviour was affecting another child and the staff who care for them. This improved the child’s self-awareness of their behaviour and where they are able to seek help from staff to express themselves appropriately without the use of aggression.

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

Risk assessments and behaviour management plans are in place and contain useful information. However, in some examples, they do not fully reflect the staff team’s in-depth knowledge of children or the extent of the risk management strategies that are in place and being used to manage and reduce potential risks. Inspection report children’s home: 1247764 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is inspirational, solution-focused and passionate. He is driving improvements to provide children with positive outcomes and in managing the home. This is supported by an equally passionate staff team whose members share the passion in improving the lives of children. For example, the registered manager has ensured that each child’s move into the home is well planned and involves the child at every possible stage. He has embedded the therapeutic model of care, which is central to the care planning provided to children. He has introduced close partnership working, which means that children have to participate actively in education, therapy and leisure activities to achieve goals and targets. As a result, the children make exceptional progress because of the well- rounded care they receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff are dedicated to ensuring that children receive positive endings when they move on from the home. For one child, the registered manager ensured that there was an individualised transition plan for their new placement. The child received a personalised video presentation from the whole staff team sharing their messages of positive advice and memories. This approach ensured that the child received a successful transition to their new homes and the new carers were well informed of how to support the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is innovative in making improvements. He looks at patterns and trends relating to incidents and uses research-informed practice to inform his evaluation of the children’s progress. He has also introduced detailed, individualised personal development plans for each member of staff to ensure their continuing professional progression. Both of these systems have been taken on board by the organisation and introduced into their other children’s homes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The members of the staff team have a clear understanding of the therapeutic theories and research they are using to enable children to progress. They receive regular supervision from the registered manager, clinical supervision on a one-to- one basis with the therapist and staff team meetings facilitated by the registered manager and therapist. This supports them to reflect on their practice and make improvements to the quality of care they provide to the children. Inspection report children’s home: 1247764 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff and managers are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. This specifically relates to ensuring that risk assessments and incident reports record detail specific to each child and each incident. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: 1247764 7

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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, Off Squirrel Way, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3GE

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Inspectors

Sam Dulay-Kainth, Social Care Inspector Dawn Bennett, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1247764 8 to 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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