Children's Home run by Calcot Services for Children Limited in Wokingham

Inspection report for children's home: SC054468 1 SC054468 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 home is privately owned by a company which operates several children’s homes in the area. The home cares for a maximum of four children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC054468 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/06/2021 Full Outstanding 29/01/2020 Full Outstanding 19/03/2019 Full Outstanding 06/03/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC054468 3

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inadequate

At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home. Two children have moved out of the home since a monitoring visit in December 2021.

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inadequate

Leadership and management and safeguarding arrangements in the home are inadequate. These failures have had a negative impact on the overall experiences and progress of children living in the home. As a result of this inspection, a restriction of accommodation notice and four compliance notices have been served on the provider.

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inadequate

Since the last inspection, there have been several staff changes. These have resulted in a largely new staff team, who are inexperienced and struggle to provide safe care for the children living in the home. Gaps in rotas have led to occasions when insufficient staffing levels have compromised children’s care. During a recent period when three children were living in the home, rotas show that, at times, only two members of staff were working in the home, despite two of the children requiring one-to-one staffing. This insufficient staffing has left children vulnerable and at the risk of harm.

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inadequate

Staff are ill-equipped to support children to develop safe social relationships. Staff do not understand how to help children to stay safe when using social media apps. As a result, children have been able to engage in unsafe contact with strangers.

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inadequate

Staff have not responded appropriately to address children’s behaviour in the home and protect the other children. When one incident occurred, a child became so distressed that staff called the police for help.

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inadequate

Children’s basic health needs are met. Staff are sensitive to one child’s specific dietary requirements and have designed a bespoke plan. This creative approach has enabled the child to have a more varied diet.

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inadequate

The home has recently been redecorated and provides a homely and inviting environment.

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

Safeguarding arrangements in the home are inadequate. The staff do not have the skills and/or the knowledge to keep children safe. Despite a child being admitted with a known risk of sexually harmful and violent behaviours and requiring one-to- one staff supervision, the staff have allowed the child to have unsupervised time in the community. This poor decision-making has resulted in incidents that have placed the child and members of the public at risk. Consequently, strategies and guidance Inspection report for children's home: SC054468 4 around the child’s complex behaviours are ineffective in keeping the child and others safe.

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

Staff’s recording of physical restraint incidents is misleading and inaccurate. When concerns were raised regarding the use of restraint by one member of staff, the managerial response was weak. Despite a risk assessment being in place for the staff member, they continued to use restraint. This was not in accordance with the risk assessment and further undermines the safeguarding practice at the home.

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

Ofsted receives notifications of significant events and incidents that occur in the home. However, during the inspection, inspectors identified that not all incidents are reported, and that information does not always accurately reflect the severity of the incident. This shortfall means that Ofsted is not able to monitor incidents in the home effectively.

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

During the inspection, four fire doors were found not to be closing correctly. Although the provider took immediate action to rectify this, the fact that this was not known until inspectors raised it is a concern. This demonstrates a failure in routine checks to pick up fire safety shortfalls. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that the environment is safe for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management of the home are inadequate. There has been no registered manager in post at the home since 31 December 2021. A new manager joined in January 2022 and is in the process of applying to Ofsted to be registered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Gaps in rotas have resulted in multiple occasions when there have been insufficient staff to meet children’s needs. For example, when three children were living at the home, two of the children required one-to-one supervision. However, despite this being known, there were several occasions when only two members of staff were on duty. On one occasion, a serious incident occurred that placed children and staff in danger.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff supervisions do not always support staff to develop their skills or knowledge. For example, when incidents have occurred, these are not covered in supervision. This creates a missed opportunity to formalise and review staff development and to provide constructive challenge to staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers fail to oversee incidents and records comprehensively. During the inspection, inspectors found several examples of records with missing details, which had not been challenged by managers. For example, on one occasion, there was a five-month gap from an incident occurring to the manager carrying out a review. This delay means that poor practice by staff is not promptly challenged.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to implement effective monitoring systems. For example, there has been a failure to engage with children’s local authorities to Inspection report for children's home: SC054468 5 secure missing information. As a result, managers do not have the necessary oversight to understand or continually improve the quality of care that children receive. Inspection report for children's home: SC054468 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(a))

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Requirement Due date

A recommendation was made at the last inspection and is restated as a requirement. 17 July 2022

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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; and positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(vi)(vii)(xii)) 17 July 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC054468 7 This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

*The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health; and that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vii)(b)(c)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 17 July 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC054468 8 *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 promotes their welfare.

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(d)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 17 July 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out— how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— 17 July 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC054468 9 the name of the child; (details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that records are clear, factual and provide full and accurate information. 17 July 2022

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Requirement Due date

*The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— 17 July 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC054468 10 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. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff supervision records contain sufficient detail. This should include details of the actions and outcomes of these meetings. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.4)

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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: SC054468 11

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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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Inspectors

Sarah Olliver, Social Care Inspector Emeline Evans, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC054468 12 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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