Children's home run by Calcot Services for Children Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2546476 1 Registered provider: Calcot Services for Children Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned home which was registered with Ofsted in November 2019. It provides care and accommodation for up to six children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties (EBD) and children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 3 November 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: not previously inspected

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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 for children’s home: 2546476 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This is the first full inspection the home has received since being registered. Seven children have moved on during the inspection period. Most of the children moved through well-planned processes. However, others moved on in an unplanned way due to the staff not being able to meet their high level of care needs. The children currently living in the home are making good progress. They have benefited from the positive and nurturing relationships they are building with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are cared for by a highly devoted staff team. Staff use a nurturing approach to help children overcome feelings of rejection due to their being away from family and friends. For example, staff gave a child a hug and offered to play with sensory toys to help her calm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Parents, professionals and staff work well together to provide well-informed and consistent care. This has helped children to trust professionals more. One social worker said: ‘The child opens up more and even asks if I can stay a bit longer during a visit, which he has never done in the past placement.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with parents and professionals to make sure that children’s needs are fully understood before they move into the home. Their moves are carefully planned and information is shared in a child-friendly manner for ease of understanding. Children and adults take part in visits to view the home and to meet peers and the staff team. Children are placed alongside peers who they get on well with and have fun. One parent stated that the process for helping their child move into the home was ‘brilliant’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since moving into the home, children have made steady progress in their education. Each child is making progress in line with their capabilities. One child, who is not yet registered in school, is provided with an internal education plan to ensure that they maintain constructive routines and prepare to return to school. The manager makes regular checks with parents and local authorities on the progress made in identifying a school placement. Clear timetables are implemented to ease the process for children returning to full-time education. This helps children settle and fit into their new schools.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to understand and address their physical and emotional health needs. They work alongside drug and alcohol groups to support children to be aware of issues related to substance misuse. Children get additional emotional and psychological support from other external mental health professionals. This was acknowledged by a social worker, who added that ‘these sessions are proving to be helpful for her [the child].’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2546476 3 Children are given opportunities to voice their views and contribute to changes that occur in the home. Staff help children to talk about their wishes and feelings openly and honestly. As a result, children know they are listened to and cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities. Staff help them to attend a variety of activities of their choice. These include visits to the local areas with staff, walks with the therapy dog and horse riding. These activities help them to stay physically fit and to have fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well decorated and clean and feels homely and welcoming. Children’s bedrooms have decorations of their own choice, with several pictures of their families, books and their favourite cuddly toys. Children are involved in decorating and improving the look of their home. During the inspection, children and adults went to purchase Christmas decorations and had fun decorating their home in preparation for the festive season.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most damage that occurs is repaired quickly. However, some windows in the home are currently broken and boarded. This was caused by a recent incident. The manager has requested repairs, but this damage detracts from an otherwise homely feel.

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

Staff prioritise the safety of children. When safeguarding issues occur, the manager discusses these with the staff team. She encourages staff to reflect on incidents to improve practice. This reduces the risk that incidents of concern will reoccur and this helps children to become increasingly safer.

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

High-quality key-work sessions are conducted with children. The aim of these sessions is to help them understand how to keep safe when they are not with adults. These are well recorded and capture children’s views. This helps children to take responsibility for keeping themselves safe and also increases the likelihood that they will engage with staff support to keep them safe.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the children’s needs and provide safe care. Individual risk assessments are regularly reviewed by staff to support children’s safety. However, in some instances, these documents lack management oversight.

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

Some children sometimes go missing from the home. When this happens, staff work effectively as part of a multi-agency network to ensure that protocols are followed, and children are returned home safely. Staff also work collaboratively with the youth offending team, police, social workers and the drug rehabilitation team to help children who are at risk of exploitation and drug misuse.

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

Staff rarely use physical interventions. They support children using de-escalation measures and approaches such as PACE (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy). This helps staff to understand and explore the experiences of children and to identify helpful ways to support them to learn. In most instances, this helps children to learn from mistakes and improve their behaviour. However, on occasion, staff are struggling to balance the need to use the home’s therapeutic model of care Inspection report for children’s home: 2546476 4 with the need to intervene more quickly to contain situations. This has resulted in a number of incidents where damage has been caused to the home. The manager of the home is working with the staff team to ensure that staff gain confidence in using the right intervention to manage challenging behaviours.

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

The organisation uses effective recruitment procedures when employing members of staff. All individuals who work at the home are suitably checked to ensure that they are suitable for the role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the children well. She acknowledges that the home was unsettled for some time when it first opened, resulting in high levels of damage to property. The manager took appropriate action to address these concerns and this resulted in ending some children’s placements. The manager has improved the way that children are matched and has ensured that behaviour management practice has improved. This means that the children currently living in the home are making good progress and have a positive experience of living there.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a clear, child-focused vision with regard to further improving the service. The manager has built a culture of caring and support within the staff team. She understands the difficulties that the staff team and children have experienced during the year and has ensured that appropriate support has been provided to staff and children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff receive regular, meaningful supervisions. Staff meetings are used to reflect on practice and to provide guidance and training for staff. This helps staff to respond to children in a consistent manner.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a new responsible individual who has relevant experience and has worked within the organisation for an extensive period. The responsible individual has good systems in place to provide support to the manager and completes six-weekly spot checks to ensure that care practice meets the needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers use effective monitoring systems to measure progress and practice issues in the home. However, the independent visitor reports do not provide robust scrutiny of care practice; for example, some incidents that occur in the home are not commented on.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

On some occasions, leaders and managers did not notify Ofsted of serious events. The actions taken as a result of the incidents were appropriate. However, failure to report these meant that Ofsted could not review safeguarding practice in the home to ensure children’s safety and welfare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers actively challenge external agencies to ensure that the needs of the children are central to care plans. For example, the manager challenged police when their response to incidents in the home was felt to be unhelpful. This has resulted in a more child-friendly approach and better joined-up working when police Inspection report for children’s home: 2546476 5 involvement with the children is needed. This means that children have not been criminalised as a result of incidents in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers promote tolerance and encourage equality and diversity in the home. Children are encouraged to be non-judgemental of each other’s cultures and identities. Staff receive training to enlighten them on how to support children as they explore their gender and sexual identity. The highly effective approach has boosted children’s confidence in opening up and taking pride in their identity. Inspection report for children’s home: 2546476 6

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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

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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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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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

In particular, ensure that the registered manager has oversight of children’s risk assessment records. 7 January 2022

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 44 (4)(a)(b) (5)) 7 January 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2546476 7 The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to,

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 40 (a)(b)(e)) 7 January 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meet the needs of their children. The children’s home should offer a homely, domestic environment. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene, etc.); however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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 for children’s home: 2546476 8

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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: Advantage, 87 Castle Street, Reading, Berkshire RG1 7SN

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Inspector

Alphie Khumalo, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2546476 9 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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