Children's home run by Impact For Change Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1264756 1 Registered provider: Impact For Change 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 part of a small private organisation. The home is registered to care for up to two children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since October 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

The home’s statement of purpose sets out that the home provides long-term care for children aged between 8 and 18 years old.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home. The inspector met with one child who was present in the home during the inspection. The other child, who was out of the home during the inspection, spoke to the inspector on the telephone.

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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 children’s home: 1264756 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/08/2024 Full Good 28/11/2023 Full Good 09/08/2022 Full Good 14/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1264756 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care in this home drives children’s progress. Staff have invested time with the children to help them to prepare for their futures exceptionally well. Children complete their own laundry tasks, have acquired financial management skills, and they cook nutritious meals and bake cakes to a high standard.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff deliver skilled care that promotes children’s progress. Throughout the inspection, interactions between staff and one child were characterised by playfulness and sensitivity. Alongside this, staff consistently implemented appropriate boundaries and promoted positive behaviour. This helps children to learn how to develop essential social skills, including empathy and respect for others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

In consultation with the children’s placing authorities, staff support children to participate in a range of positive experiences, which has improved their confidence. One child has successfully gained part-time employment over the summer holidays, and the other child is showing promising sporting talent that has given them a focus to want to build an active and healthy lifestyle. Staff show a genuine interest in the children’s interests and their achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are involved with their care planning and their views are understood. Where possible, children are supported to spend time with their friends and their family members. The manager’s and staff’s collaborative approach has helped one child to improve their relationship with their family and to spend more time with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have developed positive and trusting relationships with staff. They spend time together in and out of the home. One child described the positive attributes of staff team members, including the manager’s sense of humour, that they said was one of the things they most liked about them. The other child described living in the home as ‘good’.

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

Staff consistently use professional curiosity to ensure that children’s time with their friends away from the home is safe. They use a proactive safeguarding approach effectively. However, when one child attends a community club, there has not been such scrutiny about relevant safeguarding checks to ensure that the environment is positive and safe.

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

When incidents occur, staff take appropriate action to reduce risks to children and to support children’s needs. This includes staff spending time with children to talk through their difficult feelings. However, proactive support and guidance given to children to help minimise concerns before incidents occur, are less evident. This reduces opportunities to help children to develop skills and strategies to manage their feelings before they feel overwhelmed. Inspection report children’s home: 1264756 4 Children rarely go missing from the home. Plans to reduce the risk of one child missing from the home have been effective, and there have been no concerns associated with them missing over a sustained period. The care provided to children has supported them to develop a sense of belonging, security and purpose.

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

In response to any practice concerns, prompt and comprehensive action is taken by the manager to reduce the risk of reoccurrence effectively. Where appropriate, the outcome is communicated to the child.

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

There have been no reported errors relating to medication given to children. On occasion, recording discrepancies have occurred. Audit systems in place have not addressed this effectively. This leaves the potential for administration errors to occur.

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

Staff recruitment procedures are in place that help to reduce the risk of unsuitable persons working in the home. Managers involved with recruitment process have completed training relevant to safer recruitment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed effectively and efficiently by an experienced manager. They have created a family home environment, in which children flourish. They, and staff, are influential in positively changing the lives of the children in their care. The placing authority social worker for one child described the ‘excellent care’ provided to the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staffing arrangements are stable. This supports continuity of care and helps children to build long-term positive relationships with trusted adults. One child who has left the home, continues to keep in touch with the manager and staff, as an adult.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feedback describes a positive working environment. They repeatedly speak about the children with enthusiasm and pride. One staff team member said that they ‘love’ working in the home. There is much positivity and action taken to provide the children with the best possible experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is present in the home at different times to understand the quality of care provided to children. However, case records are variable in quality and do not always demonstrate the nurturing care provided to children. This reduces opportunities for children to look back at their records to recall their care experiences. However, a separate book is kept up to date for children to reflect their achievements and positive life events in photos.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive training that is kept up to date and that broadens their knowledge about children’s specific needs. Additionally, supervision records demonstrate discussions about children’s needs. Following incidents, the manager reflects on practice to consider care approaches to ensure that children are helped and protected. Inspection report children’s home: 1264756 5

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. In particular, relevant safeguarding checks to ensure that arrangements for the child to attend a community club are positive and safe should be checked. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that, in line with the child’s plans, and the ethos of the home, staff provide the child with support and guidance to help them to understand, and where necessary work to change negative behaviours, in key areas of their health and well-being, before incidents occur. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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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: 1264756 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Impact For Change Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Canns Down Press, Beaford, Winkleigh, Devon EX19 8LZ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Nicholas Scribbins

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Inspector

Louise Bacon, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1264756 7 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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