Children's Home run by Amicus Residential Care Ltd in Reading

Inspection report for children’s home: SC059221 1 SC059221 Registered provider: Causeway Care Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This small home is privately owned and provides either short- or long-term care for up to three children aged between 12 and 16 years on admission. The children may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2021.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC059221 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/01/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/10/2022 Full Inadequate 16/02/2022 Full Good 06/01/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC059221 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have strong relationships with staff who provide a parental style of care. Children are making progress in some areas of their lives through staff perseverance in offering activities and support for independence. Children say they feel listened to. During the inspection, the inspector observed discussions between children and staff and how staff address why things may not happen or be appropriate, while valuing children’s comments and views.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are engaged in education programmes. Strong joint working with education professionals, including virtual schools, means that children benefit from a joined-up approach to education and ensuring their safety and welfare when at school. Each child attends a mix of formal and alternative education, with activities planned to fill their timetables. Children do not always engage in these activities. However, routines to prepare children for learning are clear. Generally, children are up and ready for school each morning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who move into the home have well-planned moves. The improved referral process to consider if children’s needs can be met by staff is effective. Managers meet with the children as many times as needed before they move in and invite them to the home to meet the other children and staff. The children’s needs are considered in line with those who already live in the home, and managers ensure that staff have the skills to meet the children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain contact with their family and friends. Staff know most of the children’s friends. Joint working with the police and other agencies has led to peer mapping. However, children’s friendships in the community are not always positive and have a negative impact on their behaviour. Staff carry out one- to-one work with children to help them understand the risks of unsuitable friendships. However, details of one-to-one sessions are not always well recorded, and records do not demonstrate that direct work is effective or that these risks are reducing for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to understand the importance of having a healthy lifestyle. Staff promote eating together at mealtimes and prepare varied and balanced meals. Staff talk to children about the risks of smoking and vaping and guide them towards cessation support. There are close links with specialist health professionals, including the looked after children’s nurse, diversion team and emotional well-being team. This provides positive support for the children and helps staff learn how to better support children. A specialist dentist has been sourced for one child, who had required treatment for a significant time, and they attended their appointment with greater confidence. Inspection report for children’s home: SC059221 4

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

Children say they feel safe in the home and are confident that staff will respond if there is an issue. Staff know each child well and understand their vulnerabilities and the risks in the local community. Children were seen to call staff while out if they were feeling anxious or unsafe. Staff readily went to meet children at these times.

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

Staff have excellent links with specialist partner agencies to protect children who are at risk of exploitation and serious youth violence. Joint working has led to the development of suitable plans to keep children safer while in the community. These include locator apps, reduced unsupervised time in the community and good communication between the school and home staff should children leave the school grounds without permission.

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

Staff respond immediately if they feel that a child is not in a safe place or if their location is unknown. Additionally, staff act swiftly if they feel that children may be taking unnecessary risks, such as selling their belongings to access vapes or drugs. Staff follow children from the home and advise staff working in local shops of the children’s ages.

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

Staff understand that children communicate through their behaviour. They actively seek to see what the child is trying to say and how they can help them do this in a more acceptable way. This approach is effective and helps children to understand their behaviours.

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

The home is free from avoidable risks. Routine checks of the building and surrounding grounds ensure that any maintenance issues are identified and addressed. Children know how to evacuate the home in case of an emergency. They are taught about the importance of smoke detectors and not vaping or smoking in their rooms.

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good

Staff are well supported by the management team. They can approach managers at any time for support or guidance. Staff benefit from regular and supportive supervision to improve their practice.

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good

The new responsible individual has been visiting the home regularly and joining meetings via video call. The registered manager feels supported by the responsible individual and her supervision sessions are useful and thought-provoking.

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good

The oversight of the home is continuing to improve since the last inspection. However, the registered manager has not challenged staff on the differing quality of children’s one-to-one sessions. This is a missed opportunity to reflect on the risks to children in the local area and the effectiveness of this work to reduce the risks for children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC059221 5 Generally, staff have the skills they need to meet the children’s needs. The manager has completed a full training audit, which continues to be developed with training needs being identified and further training being planned.

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good

Children’s plans are clear. They provide staff with guidance on how to consistently meet children’s needs and promote their daily routines to ensure that children know what to expect. The management team continues to support staff who are not as confident in implementing these plans.

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good

Staff know and understand the children’s goals and targets and how to support children to achieve these. Due to ongoing concerns regarding safety, plans have been regularly updated in-between the usual monthly reviews. Where it is noted that children are no longer making progress, managers liaise with the placing authority to consider the next steps for the children.

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good

The registered manager is making good use of the independent person. Along with the responsible individual, they are continuing to monitor the effectiveness of the reports to ensure that all shortfalls or gaps are noted and remedied. The requirements and recommendations set at the last inspection have been met. Inspection report for children’s home: SC059221 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

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(vii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children are supported to develop positive relationships with friends in the community. 20 June 2023

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(ii)) 20 June 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC059221 7 In particular, ensure that records for individual sessions demonstrate what has been discussed and what children have learned from the sessions.

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Requirement Due date

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

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure the staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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)(a)(b)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the manager has oversight of the content and quality of individual sessions to help improve children’s awareness of the issued discussed. 20 June 2023

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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: SC059221 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Causeway Care Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 118B Oxford Road, Reading RG1 7NQ

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Inspector

Jennie Christopher, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC059221 9 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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