Children's home run by Arc-HD Services Ltd in Eastleigh

Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 1 SC420410 Registered provider: Arc-HD Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to three children who may have emotional, behaviour and learning needs.

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Information about this children’s home

A private provider operates the home. There are three children living in the home. Two children were present in the home during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2019. At the time of the inspection, the registered manager was on leave.

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Information about this children’s home

The responsible individual and deputy manager supported the inspection.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/08/2022 Full Good 17/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 30/11/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 29/10/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in the home benefit from warm and nurturing care provided by a consistent staff team. They receive lots of praise and encouragement from staff to help them build their self-esteem and confidence. Children develop trust in staff and every aspect of their care is highly personalised to meet their needs. They are encouraged to develop their identity, their independence, and to explore and pursue their individual interests. Children are supported well to maintain relationships with family members and to spend quality time with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children move into the home in a planned way. They receive information about what it’s like to live in the home and get to visit the home and meet staff before they move in. Staff help them to feel safe and cared for quickly. When children leave the home, staff endeavour to make this a positive ending for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s achievements and special events are celebrated. Their time at the home and their memories are recorded in beautifully crafted books for children to keep. Children also enjoy a wide range of activities and hobbies that reflect their personalities and interests. These include activities such quizzes or playing cards and board games in the home, thrift shopping, cooking, country walks and trips to local events and days out. All the children living in the home are supported to live successfully alongside each other. While they are encouraged to join in activities together, they mostly prefer to spend time with staff on their own.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s needs are clearly identified within a comprehensive suite of well-written plans. These plans are regularly reviewed and updated by the manager to reflect the children’s progress and changing needs. The internal support provided to staff by a mental health practitioner is a strength and helps staff to meet the children’s complex emotional needs and vulnerabilities. Staff enable children to regularly express their wishes and feelings about the care they receive and for children to inform their plans and care. However, the monthly plans that set out the goals that the children are working towards are primarily formulated by staff. While children are consulted, they are not leading on this activity by identifying their own goals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported and encouraged in their education and learning. Managers advocate strongly on behalf of children and work consistently well with relevant education professionals to overcome any barriers to school attendance and learning. While this is mostly successful, there have been exceptional difficulties relating to one child’s non-school attendance. There has been insightful, persistent and extensive work undertaken by the manager, key members of staff and a range of specialist education and health professionals to address this key issue. During a prolonged period of school absence, the manager and staff provided the child with high levels of daily support and encouragement, a wide range of educational resources, learning activities and online education opportunities. This has helped the child to continue to make some progress in their learning and developing skills in Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

other areas. The child is currently motivated to return to education and is engaging much better with a new education plan.

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

Children living in the home benefit from consistent care, routines and boundaries. They turn to staff at times of need. Staff sensitively and regularly help children to explore the complexities of their feelings, their relationships, incidents and past experiences. Incidents of concern within the home do not occur often. When they do occur, behaviours are managed well by staff. Staff understand how best to respond to the children’s needs. Their approach is highly effective.

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

Children are safeguarded within the home. The manager takes appropriate and swift action in response to safeguarding concerns. A comprehensive suite of risk assessments identifies concerns and risks for the children and provide clear actions for staff to follow if safeguarding concerns arise. ‘Keep safe’ work is also undertaken with the children to help them understand risks within the community.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is furnished and maintained to a high standard. It presents as a calm and comfortable family home for children to live in. The children’s bedrooms are very much their own space and reflect their personalities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led well by an experienced registered manager who is involved in all aspects of the children’s care. The registered manager will soon be moving to another position within the company. A new manager, who is already known to the children, has been appointed. The children have been supported to understand this change and when this will happen. The responsible individual and the deputy manager, who is soon to be the new manager, have an extensive knowledge of the children’s needs and a clear focus on the home’s development plan and where practice and care can be further strengthened. While limited, professional feedback on the care of the children is positive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the time of the last inspection, positive progress has been made in some key areas. The language used in children’s records is consistently child focused. Staff supervision is regular and reflective. It helps staff to develop their care of the children and to focus on their own skills and development. The manager makes effective use of hypothetical scenarios to help staff stay alert to potential safeguarding concerns and to explore their responses. Team meetings are regularly attended by staff and focus on the needs of the children, the quality of practice and the day-to-day running of the home. They are also used effectively for staff training. Staff benefit from relevant training, and they are supported to achieve qualifications that are relevant to their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management oversight and recording is mostly very robust and clear. There is a thorough monitoring system in place. Staff retention is high, and recruitment is safe. The quality of care provided to the children and how well the children are doing living together is reviewed by the manager on a regular basis. All documents and Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 5 policies relating to the home are kept up to date. While comprehensive records are kept for all children, management audit records did not clearly or accurately reflect the education arrangements for one child, and the final days record for one child who has left the home could not be located.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are immensely proud of the children and the good progress the children are making. They are happy in their roles and really enjoy working at the home. They value the support they receive from managers. Staff describe a strong sense of ‘team’ and ‘togetherness’, with everyone working together and supporting each other in caring for the children to the highest standard. Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that each child is provided with support (appropriate to their age and understanding) to communicate their views, wishes and feelings and participate as fully as possible in all aspects of their care planning and daily care. In particular, this refers to helping children to identify and set their own goals every month. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.6)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. In particular, this refers to ensuring that every record relating to children clearly and accurately reflects their situation, and records are fully up to date before they are archived. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes

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Recommendations

Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3 and 14.4).

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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: SC420410 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Arc-HD Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Arc H D Services, Wessex House, Upper Market Street, Eastleigh, SO50 9FD

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Inspector

Kendra Bell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 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 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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