Children's home run by The Caldecott Foundation Limited in Ashford

Inspection report children’s home: SC065129 1 SC065129 Registered provider: The Caldecott Foundation Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to accommodate up to four children who experience emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is operated by a charitable organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 7 February 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 18 November 2020 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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 outstanding

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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

Date of last inspection: 25 February 2020

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC065129 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/02/2020 Full Outstanding 04/12/2018 Full Good 13/03/2018 Full Good 01/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC065129 3

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outstanding

The staff team has succeeded in maintaining stability and consistency for the children, despite the disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of lockdown fatigue. The staff team has remained stable and mutually supportive during periods of required isolation when working hours have needed to be extended. Leadership has been strong and good communication between staff has been maintained. These efforts have helped the children to feel settled and they have continued to make significant progress in all areas, including their education.

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outstanding

The care of the children is highly individualised. The staff team is involved in detailed assessments that identify and measure the children’s most important needs. This understanding is integrated into targeted plans and approaches to help the children to make the best possible progress. The effectiveness of the plans is maintained through regular reviews. These specialised plans, which are executed on the bedrock of stability and consistency of care, enable the children to make some remarkable and often rapid progress from their starting points.

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outstanding

Strong and skilled staff support enables children with little or no previous engagement in full-time education to engage in learning. The most suitable school setting is sought for each child and they steadily reach the goal of full-time education and continue to make academic progress and develop their social skills.

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outstanding

Staff strive to understand and respond effectively to the children’s underlying needs. This helps the children to build attachments and become more trusting of adults. Because their underlying needs are being addressed, the children’s unwanted behaviours steadily reduce, and they become more focused and more able to respond to everyday demands.

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outstanding

The wishes and views of the children and how they feel about living in the home are important to staff. There is regular consultation with the children, and they are appropriately involved in the running of the home. They make meaningful contributions to the plans to further develop the home and improve facilities. This builds the children’s investment in the home and increases their feelings of belonging and attachment.

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outstanding

The staff make full use of local amenities to enable the children to have fun and develop their interests and abilities. Enjoyable holidays away from the home provide them with new experiences and positive memories.

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outstanding

Staff work closely with the children’s placing authorities and families to build and maintain important relationships. Best possible contact with families has been maintained during the COVID-19 pandemic as restrictions have changed. Inspection report children’s home: SC065129 4 Plans for the children who have become more suited for foster placements have continued, and for some have now reached fruition. This is the result of highly child- focused, detailed thinking and planning, which helps to make this next step a very positive one for the child.

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outstanding

The strong relationships that the children develop with staff, together with the structure and routine they provide, make the children feel secure. They say that they feel safe and well looked after.

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outstanding

Staff’s drive to understand the children’s needs, anxieties and vulnerabilities equips them to be able to respond to children with insight and care. The records of incidents in the home, including those in which physical restriction has become necessary, show that these unhelpful behaviours decrease substantially after the children move in.

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outstanding

The children’s sense of belonging and attachment to the home and staff means that incidents of children going missing are rare. The plans and strategies to guide staff to manage and reduce behaviours that could make the children unsafe or bring them into conflict with others are based on a level of assessment and understanding seldom seen. Staff succeed in helping the children to significantly reduce these behaviours and they become increasingly able to participate in mainstream activities.

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outstanding

Assessment to understand how the children can make best use of their locality and be protected from potential hazards is of the highest standard and includes individualised plans for each child. The staff’s practice in responding to the threats of the COVID-19 pandemic has been of a similar standard and has included ongoing assessment of the risk levels in the locality and region.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The leadership of the home is exceptional. The manager’s constant drive to develop and improve the quality of care of the children is infectious and staff sign up for new projects and approaches. The exploration and application of research and development in the field lie at the forefront of these efforts.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff team has demonstrated commitment and cohesion during this difficult and demanding period. Teamworking, effective communication and good-quality staff supervision have been maintained through flexible and dynamic leadership approaches as restrictions and demands have changed. This has enabled the children to maintain their trajectories of progress and meet the high ambitions that the staff have for them. Inspection report children’s home: SC065129 5 The application of effective tools enables the monitoring of the children’s progress to be nuanced and objective. This helps the staff to focus their efforts on the most important areas for each child’s best possible progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The high standard of children’s care and staff practice achieved so far does not satisfy leaders and managers. Areas of weakness and where things can be further improved are clearly understood, and a continued determination to provide the best possible care for the children is evident. However, the analytical and research skills of leaders are not being used in the regulation 45 quality of care review process. Therefore, opportunities in this regard are being missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The partnership working with external agencies is first-rate. Staff work closely with others to gain maximum benefit to the children, particularly when children move in and when next steps are being taken. When the poor performance by partners cannot be improved through liaison, the advocacy for the children by leaders is decisive and direct.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The high level of care, thought and sophistication in the efforts to best understand the needs of the children, and to facilitate their best possible progress, is admirable. Inspection report children’s home: SC065129 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should decide what each regulation 45 quality of care review should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that time. Using their professional judgement, they should also consider what information or data recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and conclusions. The written report will focus on where and how the quality of care can be improved and/or good standards can be maintained, and the actions required in the next six months to achieve this. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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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: SC065129 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The 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

John Pledger, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC065129 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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