Children's Home run by Central and Southern Homes Limited in Cornwall

Inspection report for children’s home: 2652096 1 Registered provider: Central & Southern Homes Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private provider. It offers care for up to three children who may experience social and/or emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

Staff in the home are referred to as adults. This is reflected in the report.

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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: 2652096 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/08/2023 Full Good 26/10/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2652096 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with the adults in the home. All the children were seen to approach adults for affection or for support during the inspection. Adults speak about the children with affection and warmth. The inspector met with the children individually and they all took part in the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to raise concerns and complaints. One child has a ‘worry box’ in their bedroom, which they use if they feel unable to say what they are worried about out loud. Children are responded to by adults quickly and respectfully. There have been some difficulties between the children, which can result in conflict. Adults intervene quickly where necessary and are alert to this. Work with all the children on their relationships with each other is in progress. Adults try to have a united response to any conflict between the children by discussing strategies together in team meetings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in education. Adults monitor the children’s attendance and act if there have been any difficulties. Close relationships exist with education providers to support the children to attend and return quickly when there have been difficulties. When one child arrived at the home a school place had not been identified., Other educational activities were arranged, and they were quickly enrolled in school for the start of the next term.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have digital memory books, which are up to date and capture special memories. It is not clear how children can access these independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have nutritious evening meals. However, support for children to have a varied diet at other times of the day is limited.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is spacious, clean and well presented. There are extra spaces for children to relax separately if they need time away from each other. Metal cabinets in one room, bunches of keys and heavy doors detract from the otherwise warm, homely environment. However, these issues were addressed and improved by managers during the inspection.

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

All the children can identify an adult who they feel able to talk to. It is clear from observing the children with the adults and from written records that children feel able to discuss any worries they have with adults. Children’s concerns are taken seriously and are treated sensitively. On occasions, the children’s behaviours towards each other are difficult, and two of the children spoke to the inspector about this being frustrating. The team is aware of this and strategies are in place to manage these difficulties. Inspection report for children’s home: 2652096 4 When children go missing from home, adults follow the procedures to keep them safe. Adults are proactive in looking for children and contacting known friends or family to help find them. Learning from one incident highlighted the need to work more closely with school. This information was shared with the team. Conversations are held with

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

children to carefully explore the reasons for going missing, and children are listened to.

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

When children self-harm, a nurturing response is shown and medical attention is sought quickly. Support is provided to access other agencies, such as child and adolescent mental health services, and room searches are considered where necessary. At times, management oversight of these incidents is limited or missing. Reflections relate to the positive relationships that have been created in the child being able to tell the adults but not what could improve with the adults’ practice.

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

Incidents of restraint are recorded thoroughly. These have decreased in frequency since the last inspection. One child has now reduced from two-to-one to one-to-one staffing, showing that alternative methods to support the child are in place. Restraint is only carried out by suitably trained members of the team. There is an increasing focus on praising positive behaviour and natural consequences with rewards and incentives being used. This is still to be embedded.

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

An allegation about an adult was reported and investigated thoroughly. Appropriate safeguarding agencies were contacted for advice, and information was shared swiftly. Adults were reminded of the correct procedures at the following team meeting and there was no impact on the children.

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

Safer recruitment processes are in place to ensure that appropriate adults are working in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This home is operated by an ambitious and efficient manager, who is now registered with Ofsted. They have solid systems in place to review care and all aspects of the children’s lives. There is now a fully staffed team that needs time to embed consistent practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have considered staffing needs and supported adults to develop, which shows the adults that they are valued. The manager is reflective and quick to make changes where needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Case records reflect children’s lives and help adults know what to do. Generally, recording is highly detailed and thorough. Some plans use first-person narrative, which can be confusing if it is not the child’s actual words. At times, vague statements, such as the child is to use ‘other strategies’ to manage their behaviour, are recorded in children’s plans. However, details of how the child will be helped to do this are not included. Inspection report for children’s home: 2652096 5 Regular supervision sessions and team meetings take place where children’s needs are reflected on. A significant number of new adults have joined since the last inspection; however, the consistent management team has meant the impact of this on the children has been minimal.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good professional relationships exist between the adults and other professionals involved with the children, with information being shared quickly between them. Feedback from the adults working in the home and those outside of the home is positive. They describe how the manager ‘communicates quickly’ and is ‘committed to the children in the home’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2652096 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are provided with nutritious meals suitable for their needs. This applies to all meals and not just evening meals. Children should be involved in choosing and preparing meals, and opportunities to sit together and eat should be promoted. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.8)  The registered person should oversee the welfare of the children in their care. In particular, significant incidents should be reviewed by a manager to identify the learning points for adults’ practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)  The registered person should ensure that adults understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. This specifically relates to ensuring that the

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Recommendations

appropriateness of recording the child’s information using first-person narrative is carefully considered when not using the child’s actual words. (‘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 for children’s home: 2652096 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Central & Southern Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Pitmaston House, Malvern Road, Worcester WR2 4LL

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Matthew Dangerfield

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Inspector

Nickie Doney, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2652096 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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