Children's home run by Channels and Choices Limited in Dover

Inspection report for children’s home: SC434517 1 SC434517 Registered provider: Channels and Choices Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties. The home is operated by a private organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

The suitably qualified manager has been registered with Ofsted since May 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

There were four children living at the home at the time of 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 requires improvement to be 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: SC434517 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/03/2023 Full Good 07/03/2022 Full Outstanding 09/07/2019 Full Outstanding 22/01/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC434517 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children do well and make good progress in this home. Staff provide good-quality personalised care because staff know the children well. The specialist therapeutic programme used in the home enhances children’s progress and development. The staff use the programme’s monitoring methods to track children’s progress towards readiness to move to a foster family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to make good progress in all areas of their life. The staff ensure that they meet the children’s health needs. They work with a range of professionals to ensure that the best possible care and support is provided to the children. Staff are alert to the particular health needs of children from different ethnic groups. For example, staff ensure that one child received the recommended supplements, due to their ethnicity, to maintain good health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage the children in their education. Most children are in school and have excellent attendance. The staff work closely with schools to ensure that both home and school staff know the children’s needs and that they make progress. When needed, staff go into schools and work with teachers to support the teacher and child. One child is supported well through home tuition. Staff provide good education support that replicates the school day. This means that this child does not fall into a routine that might negatively affect their ability to settle into a new school environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children having a say in their lives. They provide the children with a range of opportunities to express their views, wishes and feelings. The children are encouraged to be respectful and wait their turn in discussions at the dining table. This gives children an opportunity to share their day or make requests for changes in the home. Additionally, the manager responds to children in writing about the outcome of requests. This formalises the process. It enables children to understand the importance of expressing their views and making requests for change, solid in the knowledge that their views will be heard.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff ensure that the children know their rights. The children are able to submit complaints and the manager responds to these. There is effective consultation with the children to ensure that the manager hears their voice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff support the children to have good and varied experiences. Children enjoy attending the organisation’s weekly activity programme. The activities children get involved in include baking, arts and crafts, gaming, and movie nights. The staff support children to pursue their own interests such as football, swimming and fishing. One child is completing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prepare children well for their futures. They work with the children to develop their independence and self-care skills. One child has become more able to manage Inspection report for children’s home: SC434517 4 their emotions and, as a consequence, shows more settled and appropriate behaviour. Moves into and away from the home are well managed. The staff ensure that there is a clear plan in place to help children feel more settled when moving into the home. For example, the last child to join the home was able to visit initially without children being there. This meant that the child was not overwhelmed. Staff carefully planned how to support a child whose time at the home ended. Staff worked well with staff in the new home to ensure that this child had an encouraging start.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand risk. They are guided by the detailed, clear and specific risk assessments that are individual to each child. Staff work with children around keeping themselves safe. They understand the importance of children being able to take age- appropriate and managed risks as part of their development. The manager works with children’s responsible authority around developing independence while recognising and managing the risk.

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improvement to be good

Children have not gone missing from home since the last inspection. However, staff know the procedures to follow should a child go missing from the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff know when children are at risk of harm and work to prevent this. However, on occasion, staff have not been able to manage the behaviours that one child presented towards other children and staff. This has now been resolved. However, children said that, at the time, they felt unsafe and were worried for staff. One child said, ‘I can now sleep peacefully.’

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improvement to be good

Staff implement clear and consistent boundaries. Children understand the boundaries and know what staff expect of them. Staff ensure that clear, positive behaviour plans are in place to guide staff in how to manage situations. Staff know these plans well. All staff have received specialist training to manage behaviours that challenge and try to de-escalate tricky situations. Staff use physical interventions only as a last resort. The recording of physical intervention is not consistently strong. On one occasion, there was insufficient information, and the account of the incident omitted critical details. This undermined the ability of the manager to have effective oversight of this incident.

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improvement to be good

Staff follow the safeguarding arrangements in place. They know how to respond to any concerns about a member of staff and how to whistle-blow. On occasion, inconsistency in the policies and processes has led to irregularity when investigating allegations against staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the children well and is ambitious for the children. She communicates to the staff her high expectations for what the children can achieve. Consequently, the staff provide an environment in which the children can experience new opportunities and make progress. Inspection report for children’s home: SC434517 5 Leaders and managers know and understand the progress that children make. They ensure that there are systems in place to monitor children’s individual progress. The manager takes effective action when children are not making the expected progress. She works with staff to encourage children to make use of the personal development opportunities in place. One child is currently being supported to complete the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Thus, the manager and staff enable children to build on their experiences and social interactions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers provide a supportive environment for staff. Staff value the regular and reflective supervision and further therapeutic thinking time that they receive. This reflective approach encourages practice development. Staff value the good-quality training that they receive. The training is relevant to help staff meet the needs of the children. For example, staff receive training in autism and in physical intervention. As a result, staff feel confident in caring for the children and preventing and managing challenging situations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff work hard to build good professional relationships with partner professionals such as children’s social workers and schools. These professionals were positive about how the staff work with them and the children. Children respond positively to this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers know the strengths and areas for development of the service. They work to overcome obstacles. They ensure that staffing arrangements, despite some challenges, continue to meet the needs of the children. A strength of the staff and manager is their commitment to ensuring that the child always has an opportunity to have their voice heard. The manager’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and celebrating difference is evident throughout the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC434517 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

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—

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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 effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iv)(v)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that records clearly state the measures used and the child’s response to these measures.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that critical information about any measure taken is clear and easy to understand. 15 March 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and

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Requirement Due date

sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep under review and, as necessary, revise the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 34 (1)(a)(b)(6))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that policies around allegations against staff are clear. These policies are to be consistent across the child protection procedures. 15 March 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC434517 7 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

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

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(b)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff manage difficult situations in the home, and to make sure that the behaviour of one child does not cause emotional harm to other children. 15 March 2024

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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: SC434517 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Channels and Choices Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Atlas Chambers, 33 West Street, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 2RE

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Inspector

Vevene Muhammad, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC434517 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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Inspector

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