Children's home run by The Caldecott Foundation Limited in Ashford

Inspection report for children's home: SC065129 1 SC065129 Registered provider: The Caldecott Foundation Limited 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 four children who experience social and emotional difficulties. It is operated by a charitable organisation. At the time of the inspection, there were four children living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 7 February 2021 and is suitably qualified.

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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: SC065129 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/03/2023 Full Good 18/08/2021 Full Outstanding 25/02/2020 Full Outstanding 04/12/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC065129 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a happy and fulfilled time at this home, making memories with staff who care for them. Activities range from the annual summer camp-out to day trips and spending time together playing games. The children have positive and trusting relationships with the staff. Staff have positive and nurturing relationships with children and ensure that their cultural needs are all met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager ensures that children’s care plans are child-focused and capture children’s views. The staff know the children’s needs and can talk about how they support and care for them. All children are making progress, ranging from developments in their speech and language to improved independence and social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are attending education and are making great progress. Staff advocate for children to have meaningful education that supports them to exceed their previous expectations. The communication between the home’s staff and school staff is excellent. One child’s headteacher said, ‘I have never seen a partnership work so strongly for a child.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have regular key-working sessions with the children which are linked to their experiences and support their ongoing development. Children’s views, wishes and feelings are heard. They are given a safe space to express themselves. Children’s interests are reflected in how their rooms are decorated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children’s healthcare planning is not routinely updated when there are changes. When one child’s medication was changed, the plans to support the child with this and the correct administration guidance were not updated. This could have resulted in staff administering the medication incorrectly.

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

The registered manager ensures that the staff understand their responsibilities to keep children safe. This is done through formal training, scenarios in supervision meetings and group discussions in team meetings. Staff can give examples of how this is achieved and the work they have done with the children, such as helping them learn how to keep safe online.

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

Positive behaviour is promoted and celebrated. Consequences are rare, but when they are used, they are a reflective learning opportunity for children.

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

Senior leaders ensure there is a clear selection procedure in place when recruiting new staff. Safer recruitment processes ensure that only suitably vetted staff are employed to work with the children. Inspection report for children's home: SC065129 4 Individual behaviour plans are in place to guide staff to support children in their times of difficulty. Staff rarely need to support children using hands-on intervention and this is always done as a last resort. However, while staff and children are always spoken to following an intervention, records do not consistently capture the discussions held to make clear who spoke to the child or staff and when this occurred. Changes were made during the inspection to the registered provider’s processes to ensure this information is captured.

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

Staff manage incidents involving children well and use children’s individual support strategies to help them. However, some plans to support children are not consistently updated to review children’s risks, which means that some information about how risks are mitigated is confusing. For example, staff allowed a child to have unsupervised access to an item that was a potential risk to them and others, despite risk reduction plans stating they should not have this item.

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

The home is large and spacious and provides a homely warm environment for children to grow up in. Staff ensure that routine health and safety checks are carried out daily. However, not all fire doors consistently close. The provider took action to remedy this during the inspection and is carrying out ongoing work to resolve this issue.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager feels supported with regular supervision and is confident in ensuring that her own personal development is taking place. She is confident that the staff understand the ethos of the home and are implementing this in their daily practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff meet on a regular basis for team meetings. This is an opportunity for them to give updates on the children, their progress and care planning, as well as other developments in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are positive about the support they receive from senior leaders and enjoy working at the home. The registered manager ensures that staff have regular planned supervision and appraisals which are reflective and support their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from external professionals is positive about the children’s experiences at the home and they praise the person-centred care that children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have completed mandatory training and there are plans to use a new training provider as part of the team’s development. Staff are also supported by the in-house clinical team, which provides support strategies to upskill them and reflect on children’s care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered provider has taken action to improve the monthly review completed by an independent person to ensure this is a quality review that is child-focused. Inspection report for children's home: SC065129 5 However, this is in the pilot stages and not yet embedded, therefore this recommendation is repeated. Inspection report for children's home: SC065129 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, The 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 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider should ensure that all risk plans are appropriately updated and followed by staff. 15 January 2024

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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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

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider should ensure that all children’s health plans are up to date, with the correct information about their medication. 15 January 2024

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Recommendations

 Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislation. The registered provider should ensure provision is made regarding the safe operation Inspection report for children's home: SC065129 7 of fire doors. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that the independent person forms an impartial judgement of the quality of the home’s care and takes into account, where possible, the views of children, staff, parents, carers and professionals who know the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.8)  The registered person should ensure that records of restraint and physical interventions are accurate and up to date and include the author and the date entries are made. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the

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Recommendations

quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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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: SC065129 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Caldecott Foundation Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Caldecott House, Hythe Road, Smeeth, Ashford, Kent TN25 6SP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Nicholas Barnett

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Inspectors

Sara Stoker, Social Care Inspector Chelsea Agyeman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC065129 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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