Children's Home run by Compass Children’s Homes Ltd in Shropshire

Inspection report children’s home: 2620678 1 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company owns this home. It provides care for up to six children with learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, specific language/communication difficulties and/or sensory integration difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since September 2022. She is an experienced registered manager and holds a diploma in leadership and management at level 5.

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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

Date of last inspection: 23 November 2021

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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: 2620678 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/11/2021 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 2620678 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager makes sure that the children’s arrival at the home and introductions to the other children and the staff team are well planned. During children’s initial days and weeks in the home, staff share information with them that is easy to understand. This helps the children to understand what is happening, which lessens their anxieties.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide support at a pace which is appropriate to the needs of each child. This helps children to make good progress in key areas. For some of the children, this progress has been achieved in small but highly significant steps. Staff are extremely tuned in to each child’s needs. They work closely with professionals and children’s families to ensure that children’s specific needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide the children with individualised care. They promote education, and, as a result, the children have good school attendance. Staff help the children to develop independence skills. They support the children to lead healthy lifestyles, which helps them to improve their diets, personal care and sleeping patterns. Staff help the children to develop their communication skills, which enables them to identify and communicate their emotions and make choices about their day-to-day lives and their futures. This increases the children’s self-esteem and sense of self.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have fun with the staff and enjoy playing games and engaging in a range of positive activities. When the children struggle to socialise or are hindered in taking part in activities, the staff use alternative methods to help to reassure and encourage them to participate. One child has been supported to gradually increase in confidence and she is now going horse riding and attending two discos a week. Staff are ambitious for the children and provide them with opportunities that support their social development and broaden their life experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home continues to be developed, decorated and refurnished to meet the changing needs of the children, and an increase in the number of children who can live at the home. The home now has the facilities in place to provide care for up to six children. An improvement plan is in place, which is regularly monitored and reviewed by managers. This ensures that the home provides an atmosphere that is warm and welcoming but is also adapted to enable staff to meet the specific needs of the children. For example, shower facilities have been replaced so that staff can support children with their personal care needs.

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

Managers and staff ensure that the children are safeguarded. They understand the children’s vulnerabilities and the importance of having safeguarding measures in place to reduce the likelihood of incidents happening. Inspection report children’s home: 2620678 4 Managers and staff understand the risks that the children face. They assess these risks well and work proactively to reduce them. Children enjoy positive relationships with the staff, who know them well and are sensitive to their needs. Consequences are not used and there have been no missing-from-care incidents.

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

Managers and staff respond to the children’s behaviour calmly and consistently. Staff are trained in de-escalation and a range of physical restraint techniques. Staff are given clear guidance on how to manage children’s unique circumstances and how best to respond to children in certain situations and settings. As a result, the staff are well equipped to support children to feel safe.

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

The registered manager has good oversight of the children’s medical needs, particularly any prescribed medication that they take. She regularly reviews practice and has implemented quality assurance processes in this area. She has also improved oversight of the administration and storage of medication by storing it all in one room. This practice ensures that the children’s health needs are well met.

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

The registered manager ensures that all recruitment checks are completed for the staff coming to work at the home. This means that the children benefit from having staff working with them who have been safely vetted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The responsible individual and registered manager are newly appointed and lead a relatively new and growing staff team. The managers are monitoring the service effectively. They take action to tackle weaknesses when required and have clear plans in place to develop the provision. Together, they are using their vast experience to enhance the environment, prioritise the needs of children and build up the knowledge and experience of the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The clinical service that provides occupational health, speech and language therapy and clinical support to the staff team and the children has not been fully operational. There have been changes to the speech and language therapist and clinical practitioner. This has meant that some aspects of the clinical support service, such as one-to-one supervision sessions and process meetings for staff, have not been taking place. Managers are aware of this and are currently reviewing arrangements. The service is being temporarily overseen by a clinical practitioner from another region, and a new speech and language therapist has been appointed. Training sessions and process meetings have now started.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager provides good support to the staff, who talk positively about the development and direction of the service. Supervision sessions are regular and reflective. Induction processes and staff training continue to be developed to enhance the specialist skills of the team of staff. This ensures that they are equipped with the skills to meet the changing and future needs of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has fostered good relationships with the children’s families. She has also developed strong relationships with other agencies, particularly social Inspection report children’s home: 2620678 5 care teams. She is proactive at addressing any concerns raised and uses lessons learned to inform future practice. These relationships ensure that information is shared in a timely way and enable the registered manager to challenge other professionals’ practice if required. Inspection report children’s home: 2620678 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that each child’s day-to-day health and well- being needs are met. Staff should work to make the home an environment that supports children’s physical, mental and emotional health, in line with the approach set out in the home’s statement of purpose. This specifically relates to ensuring that a clinical model of support for staff and children is in place and operational. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 33, paragraph 7.3)

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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: 2620678 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Compass Community Limited, 3 Rayns Way, Syston, Leicester LE7 1PF

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Inspector

Dawn Bennett, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2620678 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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