Children's Home run by Compass Children‟s Homes Limited in West Sussex

Inspection report children's home: 1253716 1 Registered provider: Compass Childrens Homes Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This home is registered to provide care for up to four children. It is owned and run by a private organisation who state that they help children by assessing and healing complex trauma. At the time of the inspection, four children were living in the home.

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Information about this children's home

There has been no registered manager since January 2024.

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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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1253716 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/01/2024 Full Outstanding 14/03/2023 Full Outstanding 10/11/2021 Full Outstanding 29/05/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report children's home: 1253716 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children come to live in the home, managers carefully consider the information available to them to help decide if they can meet the individual needs of children. However, managers were not given all the relevant information for one child prior to them moving into the home. This caused some difficulties in ensuring that the child had the support that they needed. Managers have fully addressed this. When children move on from the home, this is done in a carefully planned way to support them to have a positive ending.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are guided by clear plan that help them to provide good care to children. These plans are reviewed regularly to ensure that information remains relevant, and that children experience consistency in their care. Children are encouraged to be kind and to develop positive relationships with each other. There are good examples of children acknowledging each other's feelings and finding positive ways to resolve conflict, such as being able to talk about their own feelings and frustrations with each other.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with staff. They feel listened to and know who to speak to about their needs, wants and aspirations. One child spoke about wanting to study to become a cook when they are older, while another wants to join the police force.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in relation to their own starting points. For one child, they are becoming more independent and can now access the community for short periods on their own. For another child, they can talk about and reflect on their own feelings and difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with family and friends that is appropriate to their own circumstances. This is managed sensitively by staff so that children can enjoy themselves and have positive experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to try new activities and have fun. They enjoy a range of activities that help them to develop positive social behaviours and to live healthy, active lifestyles, such as going to the local trampoline park. They also have help from staff to access support from therapists and other health professionals where needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with professionals to ensure that children get the support that they need. One social worker stated that they feel that staff do all they can to support children and that generally communication is very good.

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

Children feel safe living in the home. They can identify staff that they trust and who they will speak to if they have any concerns or worries. Inspection report children's home: 1253716 4 When managers recruit new staff to work in the home, they have clear processes that are followed which align with safer recruitment practices. This means that all staff are suitably vetted before working with children.

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

When children experience difficult feelings that lead to them harming themselves, staff respond in a caring and supportive way. They provide children with appropriate treatment and reassurance to help them feel cared for and to explore their feelings in different ways. This has meant that children have confidence in speaking to staff after these incidents have occurred.

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

When children go missing from the home, staff take effective action, and work with the police to support them to return safely. Staff understand processes well and try to explore the reasons with children to try and prevent further occurrences. These reflections have led to changes in practice and a focus on processes in team meetings.

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

Staff have a good understanding of their responsibilities to safeguard children. When concerns arise, they take prompt action to try and help children to be safe. They work with the wider safeguarding network, such as social workers and police to ensure that information is shared, and concerns are fully investigated. On one occasion, the records were difficult to read as information was spread across lots of documents, though actions were completed.

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

When children experience difficult emotions, staff try to help them find better ways to explore these feelings. When there is a need to use physical intervention, staff use appropriate and proportionate responses to do so, and only for the time needed to keep everyone safe. For one child, who has been involved in a higher proportion of these episodes, the frequency has recently started to reduce.

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

Staff have a good understanding of children's individual risks and vulnerabilities. They are guided by clear assessments that are updated frequently. This supports staff to help keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home currently does not have a registered manager. The provider had appointed a proposed manager, who left shortly after joining the home and now efforts are underway to appoint a replacement. There are effective, temporary management arrangements in place in the home, offering children and the staff team consistency and support with an experienced home manager being supported by a senior manager from within the organisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a clear vision for the home that currently focuses on stabilising the dynamics between the children. She understands the strengths and weaknesses of the home and takes pride in children's achievements. Managers strive to continue to learn and improve. They use opportunities for the team to reflect on shared or individual lessons and to discuss how to support children better. Inspection report children's home: 1253716 5 Staff feel well supported in their roles and speak warmly of managers. They benefit from a wide range of training that they believe helps them to feel more confident in their roles and to feel valued. They have regular supervisions that support them to think about their own practice, any relevant learning points and to acknowledge their hard work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff work with other agencies effectively. Managers have worked in an open and transparent way, showing a willingness to learn and adapt practices in response to challenge from other professionals. There is a clear focus on supporting children. Managers advocate for children and challenge external professionals, such as social workers, when responses from agencies have not been effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The views of children are important to staff. They utilise key opportunities to explore children's feelings and aspirations. This is then used to help create plans for activities and create opportunities for the home to be further developed. Inspection report children's home: 1253716 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 registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children's home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)) 9 September 2024

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Recommendation

 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. In particular, managers must ensure that records are written in a way that makes them easy to access and to understand. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 62, paragraph 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 children's home: 1253716 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Compass Childrens Homes Ltd

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Children's home details

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

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Inspector

Jay Shekleton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1253716 8 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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