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

Inspection report for children's home: SC023741 1 SC023741 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 three 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 January 2017.

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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: SC023741 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/05/2021 Full Outstanding 25/04/2019 Full Outstanding 08/05/2018 Full Outstanding 16/05/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC023741 3

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outstanding

Staff support vulnerable children with care and love, helping children to grow and develop in all areas of their lives. Highly individualised care plans capture the essence of each child, their needs, aims, goals and aspirations. Staff use these structured care plans to clearly identify progress. Staff are rightfully proud of, and celebrate, the achievements of children at the home.

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outstanding

Children who have experienced significant trauma in their early years have found a safe and supportive space in which to start exploring difficult issues. Children are making demonstrable and, in places, transformative progress in all areas of their lives. When children face obstacles, staff work tirelessly to explore children’s issues and find supportive strategies to enable them to move forward.

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outstanding

Staff have a trauma-informed model of working with children. This helps staff to understand children’s early years’ experiences and the impact that they have on their emotional well-being and behaviour. Leaders ensure that bespoke training is available to staff to meet the specific needs of children at the home.

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outstanding

Feedback from professionals who work with the home is consistently positive. One social worker said, ‘I have always been impressed with the standard of care and the attention to detail in meeting the needs of children.’ Another said, ‘Staff have always been there for [name of child], even when times were very hard.’

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outstanding

Staff work closely with a wide range of external professionals to assist in finding shared solutions regarding education, health and well-being. This has led to sustained education placements, access to therapeutic support for trauma and specialist services to support children who have been victims of abuse.

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outstanding

Children are supported by staff to look beyond life at the home and to form positive links with peers in the wider community. Children engage in lots of external activities, such as Scouts and local sports clubs.

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outstanding

Children clearly feel listened to and valued. They speak about having great relationships with the team, with a strong sense of emotional connection and relationships of trust between children and staff. Children are able to give examples of regular consultation on day-to-day matters affecting their lives. However, staff have not fully explored the ability of children to engage in their own care planning in an age-appropriate way.

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outstanding

The children’s home is well maintained and reflects the value that staff place on the children. Inspection report for children's home: SC023741 4 Children speak inspiringly about their life experiences and leave no doubt that they are being enabled by staff to build positive memories of childhood. This is invaluable, considering the difficult starts that they have had in their lives.

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outstanding

When children come to live at the home, they tend to settle in quickly, helped by the strong culture of positive behaviour support. Children are surrounded by excellent role models in the staff team, who support children effectively to learn to manage difficult emotions. Children are enabled to mirror the empathy and care that they themselves receive from staff. This culture leads to exceptionally low levels of challenging behaviour, incidents of going missing and physical intervention.

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outstanding

One child needs supportive interventions to handle separation anxiety at night and this is done skilfully and sensitively. Staff learn strategies and adapt them to find the right solutions. As a result, excellent progress is being made to help this child manage their fear and anxiety.

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outstanding

Staff have a well-developed understanding of safeguarding issues. They are acutely aware of the risks and vulnerabilities of the children. Staff also support children through group and one-to-one conversations to recognise their own vulnerabilities. This has led to a significant reduction in risk-taking behaviour.

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outstanding

Staff show a well-developed capacity to look beyond a behaviour to seek out the meaning or message that the child is trying to convey. Staff are also skilled at depersonalising words and behaviour and recognising the deeper meaning and motivation for the negative actions of children.

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outstanding

Staff provide consistent approaches to children and recognise the importance of working closely together as a team. Staff ensure that children get predictable responses from adults and, as a result, children are prevented from splitting the team or playing one member of staff against another.

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outstanding

Overall, this creates a calm and positive environment where children receive recognition and praise for good behaviour but are not blamed or stigmatised when they get things wrong.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager exudes a passion for the home, staff and children. The registered manager displays a reflective, caring and driven attitude. This leads to a culture where all staff strive for continual improvement and staff are always looking for the latest research or good practice to advance the care of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff praise the quality of support and supervision that they receive. They are able to use reflection to explore challenges and also recognise the impact that their work Inspection report for children's home: SC023741 5 can have on their own well-being. New staff benefit from well-organised and comprehensive induction and probation support. Staff also value the openness and accessibility of their whole leadership team, both in the home and across the wider organisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager’s commitment to achieving the best possible outcomes for all children is infectious. It filters through to the children and staff, creating a palpable sense of ambition. Staff have a can-do attitude and work tirelessly to advocate for the best interests of children. In one example, the registered manager worked closely with a school to identify the reasons why a child was struggling. By offering supportive insights and sharing strategies, the child has settled and started to make excellent progress. Everyone was rightfully proud when the child recently brought home their ‘star of the week’ certificate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager’s strong oversight, ably supported by his manager, enables clear identification of strengths and weaknesses at the home. The registered manager’s workforce development plans and service action plans are full of ambitious but achievable targets.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager also supports his team to produce good-quality, organised and well-structured records. The focus on producing plans and records that have simplicity, flow and clarity enables staff to deliver outstanding outcomes for children in their care. Inspection report for children's home: SC023741 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children are encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as living documents, supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)

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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: SC023741 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: SC023741 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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