Children's home run by Channels and Choices Limited in Dover

Inspection report for children's home: SC434517 1 SC434517 Registered provider: Channels and Choices Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children aged between eight and 17 years. The home is operated by a private organisation. According to the statement of purpose, the home caters for children who have behavioural, emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 24 May 2019.

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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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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC434517 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/07/2019 Full Outstanding 22/01/2019 Full Outstanding 23/11/2017 Full Outstanding 08/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children's home: SC434517 3

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outstanding

The manager and staff are collectively referred to as ‘adults’ in this report. They provide an outstanding approach to care and are highly skilled. Adults understand the impact of childhood trauma on children’s lives and how this can affect their ability to develop and maintain healthy relationships. They use this knowledge to provide well-informed care and support to help children make exceptional progress.

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outstanding

Adults make a positive impact on the children’s lives from the onset. Clear, child- centred plans are made before children move in. These include celebration parties which are planned by adults and children to welcome new children and to say goodbye to those moving on. This gives children positive beginnings and endings, and it lets them know that they are valued and cared for.

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outstanding

Adults have excellent partnership-working relationships with other professionals and parents. This promotes, for example, the timely completion of life-story work with children, helping them understand their family backgrounds and to rebuild relationships with family members. Collaborative joint decisions are made by adults, professionals and families, providing clear pathways for children to move on to well- matched permanent placements.

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outstanding

Children make exceptional progress and have fun from the moment they move in. Children enjoy attending school and completing their academic work. They seek help in completing their homework as soon as they arrive home from school. During the COVID-19 lockdown, children were involved in devising enjoyable approaches to completing school projects in line with their educational curriculum.

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outstanding

Highly child-centred and creative measures are used to support children meet their targets and to track their progress. A social worker said she was pleased to see that their child enjoyed using stickers and ice-lolly sticks to highlight her achievements and earn rewards. This was encouraging her to celebrate success and to make excellent progress.

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outstanding

Adults acknowledge the importance of capturing children’s voices. Children feel listened to. Children complete ‘have your say’ forms and receive ‘you spoke, and we listened’ responses from the manager. This process ensures that their wishes and requests are discussed by adults and acted on.

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outstanding

Children take part in activities both in the home and in the community. Children are kept physically fit through attending clubs and other enjoyable activities. Children and adults have also taken part in the local book fair and garage sales where they have sold their old clothes. They have also been involved in charity work such as the preparation of Christmas shoe boxes to give to the local children’s charity, a collection for children in Ukraine and a visit to the local St John’s ambulance and Inspection report for children's home: SC434517 4 police station to gain community knowledge. As a result, children learn how to give and help those in need, and they develop a sense of social responsibility.

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outstanding

The practice with regard to helping children moving in, or moving back to their family homes, to foster families or permanent residential settings is outstanding. Children are motivated to complete age-appropriate independent skills. These include children walking to school alone, budgeting, buying and cooking meals. Adults successfully support children to develop the skills they need to prepare them for different stages of their lives.

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outstanding

Adults work tirelessly to ensure children are safe and that they feel secure at the home and in the community. Adults help children find thoughtful ways of keeping themselves safe by encouraging them to implement their own ideas. This helps children to improve their behaviours and learn how to make safer choices.

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outstanding

Children do not go missing. This is mainly due to the secure relationships adults and children share. Some children visit the local community with staff. Other children follow self-implemented plans to safely access the community independently. This approach helps children build their confidence and prepares them well with the skills they need in adulthood.

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outstanding

Adults maintain clear boundaries and are consistent in their approach to the care given to children. Children are aware of the home’s rules, expectations and guidelines. Incidents are skilfully managed by therapeutic approaches. This helps the children to develop calmer ways of dealing with their emotions through using reflection and self-regulating strategies. Rigorous evaluation processes are used by leaders and managers to ensure that managing incidents are carried out in line with the model of practice and guidelines.

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outstanding

Safer recruitment procedures are used by the organisation when recruiting adults, providing another layer of effective safeguarding for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is creative and passionate in her approach to leadership and the care given to children. She ensures that a warm and caring culture provides children with positive experiences. She inspires her staff, and consequently the home has a highly motivated team that enjoys playing, having fun with and caring for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and the manager have a clear understanding of the progress children make in the home. They have achievable plans and stretching goals in place. The registered manager responds quickly to any aspects of the environment that need attention. This ensures that children have a safe home. Inspection report for children's home: SC434517 5 Adults prioritise attention to their continued professional development. High-quality training is provided. Leaders and managers ensure that additional training is provided to meet any specific and specialised care needs that children have.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Adults receive regular and effective supervision. Supervision is supplemented by adult team meetings and therapy supervision. These measures help adults recognise good practice and to explore the use of therapeutic approaches in working with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager and adults use well-informed strategies to help promote equality, diversity and gender identity. Children are supported to take part in projects such as Gay Pride celebrations and to use appropriate online material to understand how same sex couples have children. Children completed a nine-month project on human fertilisation and the developmental stages of a baby, sharing this journey with a pregnant adult in the home. They used objects such as fruits and vegetables to estimate the size of the baby throughout the months. The registered manager reported: ‘This process helped children to care for adults and enlightened those who are exploring their identity to understand that they can also have families despite their sexual orientation.’ Inspection report for children's home: SC434517 6

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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: SC434517 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Channels and Choices Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 44 The Pantiles, The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN2 5TN

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Inspector

Alphie Khumalo, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC434517 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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