Children's home run by Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited in Thanet

Inspection report for children's home: SC065517 1 SC065517 Registered provider: Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to seven children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since March 2021.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 3 March 2021 to carry out an assurance 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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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 for children's home: SC065517 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/03/2020 Full Good 26/02/2019 Full Good 19/03/2018 Full Good 19/09/2017 Interim Not judged Inspection report for children's home: SC065517 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a stable and consistent staff team. Children have formed strong relationships of trust and affection with staff. Staff demonstrate a deep knowledge and understanding of the individual support needs of children. This has enabled children to make good progress in many areas of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff produce highly individualised care plans. These contain personal goals that are relevant and achievable. Staff link these goals directly to defined indicators, enabling staff to evidence how they are supporting children to meet their targets. Staff have regular meaningful conversations with children and maintain excellent records of these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in education. Staff share goals with the school and capture evidence of how they support children to meet their educational targets. Children who have previously refused education are maintaining good attendance. One child who could not read when they arrived at the home is now making good progress with their literacy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff do some creative and subtle work with children around positive relationships. This has really helped children to develop their empathy and sense of community. When one child was struggling with peer relationships, staff encouraged them to run their own community resolution meeting. This helped to rebuild their relationships with others and had a lasting impact.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to take part in community activities. One child joined the local gymnastics club. They now go six times a week and take part in competitions. The child is also proud that they are leading groups of smaller children at the club. The trust and responsibility they have been given have a positive impact on their self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children at the home benefit from individual therapeutic support. This has helped them to deal with previous traumatic childhood experiences. Children have also been able to develop strategies to improve their emotional resilience and stability. The home has also made use of external services to support children with complex support needs, such as recovery from abuse and specialist enuresis support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s health needs well. Each child has a dedicated health action plan. Staff set clear health targets, for example sexual health awareness, weight management and attention deficit disorder support. Staff ensure that any progress in these areas is tracked and interventions are analysed for their effectiveness.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide a homely and warm environment. In general, the home is well maintained. Where there are signs of wear, these are quickly identified and added to a maintenance schedule for quick action from the estates team. Inspection report for children's home: SC065517 4

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

Staff demonstrate a well-developed understanding of the risks presented by children in their care. Staff produce effective risk management plans which are specific to the needs of each child. Some strong work has been completed in areas such as risks in the community, stranger danger and internet safety.

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

Allegations from children are rare. There have been two complaints, and staff showed a diligent approach. All appropriate notifications are made, and detailed chronologies show good communication with local authority safeguarding teams.

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

Behaviour support plans are reflective and draw links between early childhood experiences and current behaviours. Staff have clear strategies to follow and a range of personalised interventions available to try in different situations. Progress tracking also indicates that children respond well to the use of incentives, positive peer influence and consistent approaches from staff.

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

When children are involved in difficult incidents, there is good evidence of positive follow-up work with the child. Clear records include key-working support and any consequences for the child if required. Children’s views are gathered afterwards to check out how they are feeling and to look at ways to avoid recurrence in the future.

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

The use of physical intervention is very low. Staff track incidents for children and, in all cases, can demonstrate significant reduction in the need for intervention. Staff have clear policies that stress they will only intervene to prevent harm to self or others.

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

Staff recognise the risks of online life for children. Staff work closely with children around online safety and apply relevant risk measures when necessary. Staff have done some good work with one child, encouraging them to engage in online training and workshops to support them to understand how to keep themselves safe. Staff also engage in many one-to-one sessions with children in which these issues are addressed. Staff are realistic about the importance of online life for children and aim for children to have an active but safe internet presence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has a well-developed understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of her home. This has enabled her to produce clear and ambitious development plans for the home and the staff team. The registered manager knows the children well and supports her team to deliver good outcomes for all.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is reflective in her thinking and engenders this in her team. She encourages her staff to always look for learning opportunities from any events that occur at the home. Staff then feed this back into improvements in support and care for children. Inspection report for children's home: SC065517 5 Staff praise the quality of their supervisory relationships with managers. They say they work in a supportive and developmental environment. Staff say they are encouraged to move forward in their careers and there are opportunities for progression. The registered manager and staff discuss training needs at every supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager also feels well supported by senior leaders in the organisation. Managers from all the homes in the group meet every month. This provides a productive space to plan for personal and team development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External professionals are very positive about children’s placements. They are able to identify lots of progress points. One social worker said that the manager was a passionate advocate for children, willing to challenge when necessary but always remaining professional.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from separate staff meetings, one for discussions about children and the other around operational updates and practical home issues. The registered manager says that this enables focused discussions and that neither the children nor the business of the home gets overlooked.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home provides an inclusive space that recognises diversity. Children are supported to explore their cultural backgrounds. One child was supported to raise money for a charity that meant a lot to them and their family. This led to the child being recognised at an awards ceremony for their charitable work. Another child who was questioning their identity was skilfully supported to explore positive role models through film and literature to help them on their journey. Staff also engaged in some excellent work on the impact of mental health on people in the public eye. This prompted some good conversations about children’s own struggles with mental health and well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children say they have lots of opportunities to engage in consultation through surveys, have your say events and one-to-one conversations with staff. It is more difficult to see how children’s views have been included in service quality reviews. This is an area for development. Inspection report for children's home: SC065517 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should ensure that they can clearly evidence how they have used feedback from children, parents and external professionals to inform service development. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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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: SC065517 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited, 17 Leigh Road, Ramsgate, Kent CT12 5EU

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Leslie Davenport

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Inspector

Peter Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC065517 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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