Children's Home run by Compass Children’s Homes Ltd in East Sussex

Inspection report for children’s home: 1250931 1 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd

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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 six children with social, emotional and mental health difficulties. At the time of the inspection, five children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager left in July 2024. A new manager started but has since left. The previous registered manager returned as an interim manager in November 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

Date of last inspection: 29 November 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1250931 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/11/2023 Full Outstanding 15/03/2023 Full Outstanding 05/10/2021 Full Good 22/01/2020 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: 1250931 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have moved out, and three children have moved in since the last inspection. All five children were spoken to during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience good-quality care. Managers and staff focus on children’s well- being and their best interests. Children have complex needs, including a history of trauma and additional needs, such as neurodiversity. All children have long-term plans, and two of the children have lived at the home for more than three years.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with staff. Children speak positively about staff and have built affectionate relationships with them. Staff speak fondly of caring for the children. This helps children to feel valued and loved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support and encourage children to go to school, and they help with their education daily. All children are in full-time education, and most children have been able to remain in the school settings they attended before they came to the home. This has allowed children’s education to continue without disruption.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff plan good moves for children into and out of the home. Staff welcome children and give them information about the home in an age-appropriate way. Endings are planned and positive where possible. For one child who moved out, staff supported a well-planned transition to foster care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a wide range of activities, trips and clubs. These are specific to each child’s individual needs and interests. One child attends a dance group, and another child attends martial arts. Several children go swimming regularly. The range and breadth of clubs, trips and activities help to promote children’s self-esteem, build healthy routines and support an active lifestyle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote children’s health and well-being. Staff know children’s physical and emotional needs well. Health plans assist staff to support children’s health needs, and promote personal care tasks, such as brushing teeth, to more-complex issues, such as enuresis. Staff have therapeutic training, and children have additional support from an on-site psychotherapist to support their emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is welcoming, well furnished and well laid out. The home also benefits from extensive, well-maintained grounds. Children can personalise their rooms. Children enjoy a good range of toys, games, crafts and other activities.

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

Staff know children well and have a good knowledge of children’s strengths and vulnerabilities. Plans and assessments are individualised and updated regularly. Inspection report for children’s home: 1250931 4 Detailed risk assessments and behaviour support plans help staff to understand and respond appropriately to children’s specific vulnerabilities.

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

Staff are aware of safeguarding procedures and are encouraged to raise any potential concerns. When safeguarding incidents, including allegations, occur, staff take them seriously and respond appropriately. Leaders and managers review incidents and encourage an open culture to enable learning from them.

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

Children rarely go missing from care. However, when children leave the home without permission, staff react quickly and follow procedures and protocols. Staff work with other agencies, including the police, to help children to return safely. The home has a detailed missing-from-care policy. Missing-from-home records are detailed and accurate.

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

Physical interventions only happen when there is evidence of a risk of harm and interventions are proportionate. Staff have training in appropriate intervention techniques. There have been periods when physical interventions have been frequent. However, the interim manager identified measures to reduce these. Detailed recordings include evidence of debriefs with staff and children.

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

The home has an excellent approach to reinforcing positive behaviour. Staff have a good understanding in working therapeutically with children and work to promote positive behaviour. This is a strength in the home. Children have individual daily plans, and monthly goals and targets which are personal to them. There are clear and child-centred reward charts and plans. Consequences are very infrequent but are proportionate and restorative.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has experienced a period of instability, with several management changes. This period of change led to instability in the home. In November 2024, the previous registered manager returned to oversee the home on an interim basis. Since then, the home has become more stable and settled and incidents have reduced. There is now a good dynamic between the manager, the responsible individual and the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A high number of new staff started within a short period of time in 2024. This led to the staff team being inexperienced and further contributed to an unsettled period in the home. Since then, the staff team has stabilised. The interim manager and responsible individual have worked to improve the staff culture and build a positive ethos at the home. Staff now speak positively about their role, colleagues, managers and the work they do in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safer recruitment processes are followed. Staff have excellent inductions, which include comprehensive training. Additional training is also identified specific to the Inspection report for children’s home: 1250931 5 needs of children in the home. New staff said that they feel supported by senior staff members and can ask questions without fear.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision sessions take place monthly for staff. Staff speak about supervision positively as an open and reflective forum where they can raise problems without fear. Advice to improve practice is supportive rather than corrective. The home also holds fortnightly team meetings, which include ‘child-focused meetings’ that are facilitated by the therapeutic lead. These have helped staff to deliver a therapeutic approach to care for children effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professional feedback is mostly positive in response to individual children’s care and in respect of the management and staff support across the home. Several professionals spoke with some concerns about the home having a difficult period in 2024, but feel that the home has addressed these and is now providing good care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of records and recordings is good. They are child-focused and include good examples of child-centred language. Other documents come in child-friendly versions to help children understand what is written about them. Language used by staff in conversation was also respectful and child-focused.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

No requirements or recommendations were made at this inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 1250931 6

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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: 1250931 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Daniel Rankin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1250931 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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