Children's home run by Calcot Services for Children Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2506232 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

The Lodge provides care and accommodation for up to 12 weeks, for up to three children looked after at a time with SEMH difficulties and complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 22 December 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the 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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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: 2506232 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/10/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 2506232 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from the warm, loving support of staff. Staff and children share a lot of laughter and create a good atmosphere around the large communal spaces in the home. One child said that the home was ‘just perfect’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work with children with complex needs and go out of their way to understand and support them. They are committed to delivering positive experiences and outcomes for all the children who use the service. The home provides short assessment placements, and this is clearly explained to children when they arrive. Children receive a 12-week programme to support them to feel stable and safe, while staff provide assessment observations and information for placing authorities. This helps placement teams to decide on the best future placement options for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children recognise that they benefit greatly from their time at the home. They compile reflective video diaries. They speak positively about the care, compassion and support of the staff and how this has supported them to make changes in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have an active voice and get involved in day-to-day decision making at the home. Complaints are rare but children know how to make a complaint. They have open and trusting relationships with staff, so issues or concerns are picked up quickly and children feel listened to and valued. Children have access to independent advocacy, and this is strongly promoted by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who have been outside of mainstream education for significant periods benefit from an attached education provision. They enjoy this, and there is a strong practical learning base at the home that revolves around animal care and outdoor activities that are on offer. This has supported children to re-engage with education, and they are clearly enjoying this opportunity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Alongside the great resources on site, children also benefit from an activity programme that they speak about enthusiastically. They enjoy the opportunity to engage in community based activity and local leisure facilities. The home also operates a small-holding, and children enjoy working closely with animals. The home has a vibrant, busy feel that is energising and motivating for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children understand the brief nature of the placement and are prepared and supported carefully by staff to move on. The manager advocates strongly for children if timescales for moving on are not being adhered to by external professionals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff place importance on promoting mental health and well-being for children. The staff work alongside child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) and other Inspection report children’s home: 2506232 4 agencies to ensure that children are well supported. Staff’s understanding of the therapeutic model adopted by the organisation is well developed, and this comes through strongly in all plans and strategies for children. Staff describe the approach as very effective in cases where children are struggling or showing signs of emotional distress. The manager prioritises the therapeutic elements of staff practice, and her plans to increase staff’s understanding around ecotherapy, which is a way of helping children engage with the natural world, are ambitious and exciting.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Admissions are handled sensitively and consider the specific challenges of bringing children in crisis into a new placement. Children have often experienced sudden and rapid placement breakdowns prior to arriving. However, the caring and empathic approach of staff supports children to feel safe and welcome and, this in turn, sets up an opportunity for progress and personal growth.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

It is not clear from current planning and progress tracking documents how staff keep a track of the placement objectives set at admission between the placing authority, the child and the home. The home does not currently have a structured approach to progress reporting.

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

Staff demonstrate a good understanding with regard to safeguarding practice. They are able to confidently describe their internal safeguarding procedures. All staff recognise their place in the wider networks of safeguarding support around children. Staff induction contains strong safeguarding elements, and face-to-face safeguarding training is delivered quickly for incoming staff with regular refreshers for existing staff.

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

Managers oversee and ensure delivery of effective health and safety practice. If a child causes damage to the property, repairs are carried out promptly. This ensures a well-managed and safe environment for children.

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

The home is surrounded by large fields where children learn to work with livestock. This adds a layer of additional risk management, but this is well thought out and carefully monitored. As a result, animal welfare tasks are carried out safely, and there have been no accidents or injuries related to this element of the home.

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

Children are sometimes subject to physical interventions from staff. Interventions are proportionate and only implemented after extensive de-escalation is attempted with children. Children have often struggled in previous placements and many have had high levels of restraints in the past. The caring approach of staff is supporting children to reduce incident levels significantly.

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

Following any difficult incidents in the home, staff engage in a reflective analysis that does not seek to blame but rather understand what led to the issues. Children also take part in this process. This leads to learning and aids in the development of new support strategies for children. Staff feel safe, supported and well prepared to manage incidents with children in distress. Inspection report children’s home: 2506232 5 Feedback from staff about consequences does highlight some inconsistency and uncertainty around approaches to certain presenting behaviours of children. Staff do have strategies which address behaviours of children, and children all have behaviour support plans. However, for some behaviours, the understanding and actions of staff were not consistent and led to some negative behaviours going unchallenged. For example, staff did not have clearly defined strategies to inform their responses to children if children use offensive or aggressive language.

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

One child displays some behaviours that are linked to his autism and sensory issues. During conversation with staff, it was not clear that staff fully understood this.

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

Staff have supported children at risk of exploitation to reduce harmful or risky behaviours. In one example, where a child had been very vulnerable to exploitation and particularly at high risk when missing, there were no incidences of going missing from this child during his 12 weeks at the home.

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

When children leave the site without authorisation, staff take swift and effective action. Police support is requested, when required, and appropriate notifications to professionals and family members take place.

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

Records of any allegations are clear and appropriate actions have been taken to address the concerns. Children who make allegations are supported effectively. There was one incident where a notification should have been made to the regulator and this was omitted, though the placing authority and the local area designated officer had been informed and appropriate action was taken to investigate the concern.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and her deputy are passionate and reflective about their work. They are clearly proud of the home, the children and their team. They talk confidently about the strengths of the service and have a positive approach to learning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring and oversight are extensive and implemented consistently. Managers clearly love and care about the children they look after and have a well-developed understanding of their needs and challenges. Leaders also share some exciting ideas about future development and targets for improvement at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The recommendation from the previous inspection has been met, and the manager is now overseeing all incident reports. Incident records show evidence of review, debriefs and learning from incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager reflected on challenges to recruitment that are impacting on the service. Staffing levels are stretched but the home benefits from a well-established bank of temporary staff and a permanent team that is prepared to step in to ensure children have consistency of care and support. The whole team acknowledges that Inspection report children’s home: 2506232 6 the staffing shortages has added some additional pressures. The registered manager is doing everything she can to recruit new staff and to attract the right kind of staff to the role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported and praise managers highly. Supervision frequency and recording are good. Staff feel that line managers have the skillset required to deliver effective supervision. Staff benefit from an extensive training programme that covers all required mandatory areas. They also have the ability to request specialist training and support to meet specific needs of children that are admitted to the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from parents and professionals is consistently positive. One social worker said she is, ‘very impressed with managers. Their approach is very reflective. Feedback has been very helpful throughout the assessment period.’ Inspection report children’s home: 2506232 7

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

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour. (Regulation 11 (1)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Leaders should support staff to develop a clearer strategic approach to use when faced with offensive language. This helps staff to understand the behavioural approach of the home and the use of consequences. Leaders should also seek out specialist advice/support around particular behavioural or neurological issues of children in placement to aid staff in managing the behaviours of children. 31 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)) 09 Dec 2021

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Recommendation

 Leaders should have processes in place that enable staff to share their experience and understanding of the child’s educational needs and progress with other services. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.7) Inspection report children’s home: 2506232 8

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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: 2506232 9

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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

Peter Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2506232 10 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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