Children's home run by Channels and Choices Kent LLP

Inspection report for children’s home: 2829908 1 Registered provider: Channels and Choices Kent LLP Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned and provides care for up to 4 children who experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, 2 children were living in the home and were present and spoken to during this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

This is the first inspection since the home was registered on 7 May 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted when the home was first registered.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2829908 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make exceptional progress from their starting points through the consistent care and support they receive from staff. For example, one child has come on in leaps and bounds with their reading and moved up several levels in swim class. They now say they feel proud of their achievements. This has enabled them to develop positive self- esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff have children’s best interests at heart. They go over and above to stabilise family- time arrangements. They advocate and provide effective solutions when uncertainty arises around these plans. As a result, children maintain close relationships with their families. Staff have positive relationships with the children’s parents, who recognise the progress their children have made. One parent shared the positive impact that the therapeutic approach has on their child and felt that staff did an amazing job at supporting and understanding their child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff value children’s cultural needs and promote positive connections with their heritage and language. One therapist stated that a child is taken weekly to a local café that cooks their traditional food. This provides conversational opportunities to use their native language in addition to enjoying familiar food.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children have a sense of belonging, and the home environment reflects their individual needs, interests and preferences. Photos on the walls display the fun activities they enjoy. Items such as books, games and video games are reflective of each child’s interests. Children’s bedrooms are decorated to their individual likes. Children take pride in their home and are involved with staff to maintain their individual safe spaces.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff value children’s views and listen to them. Children have daily opportunities at dinner time to chat and to discuss things that matter to them. Children are involved in planning their weekly menu, shopping for food they like and planning activities they enjoy. Interactions between children and staff are extremely positive and demonstrate that children are happy and content in the company of staff and the registered manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Clear plans and records underpin the thoughtful and well-informed support that staff provide to each child. Children are involved and consulted about what support they need, and their voice is captured well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s health needs are well supported. Staff support one child to enhance their language skills with guidance from a speech and language therapist. In addition, children have access to therapeutic support. This has helped improve their emotional health and wellbeing. Children are better equipped to deal with difficult emotions and respond more positively to difficulties, meaning there is a reduction in incidents. Inspection report for children’s home: 2829908 3 Staff support children to engage in activities to raise funds to donate to charity. For example, two children completed a daily step-count challenge to raise money to buy food for a local food bank. These opportunities help children develop empathy and think of others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All children are attending education. Before living in the home, one child attended school 2 to 3 times per week for just a few hours each day, and now they attend school full time. Staff support children to engage in additional curricular activities, such as reading, and they encourage fun vocabulary games such as ‘Word of the Week’. These opportunities enrich children’s learning. This means that children are making excellent progress from their starting points and have improved their school attendance and engagement since living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

When children move into the home, this is well planned. For example, before children move in, the manager and staff visit them to understand their likes and dislikes. In addition, the manager makes sure that they have all the required information to ensure that staff are informed about children’s care needs. This supports children to settle into the home and helps to build trusting relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff hold children in mind when they are away from the home or on leave. For example, When staff go on leave, they send children letters of encouragement and the date they will return, giving assurance they will be back. This helps children to feel connected to staff even when they are not physically around and supports children to sustain positive, secure relationships with them.

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

Children are looked after by a consistent team of staff who know them well. There are consistent boundaries in place to help children to learn positive behaviours. As a result, incidents in the home are of a low level and are few.

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

Staff receive appropriate training and use effective and creative strategies to support children in times of crisis. This helps create a calm, safe space for children and means that physical interventions are seldom required or used.

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

Staff understand the risks to children well within the home. Risk assessments are individual to each child and are regularly reviewed. Children’s individualised safety plans are updated as and when necessary. Staff have daily team debriefs to ensure that they are well informed to provide personalised support to each child.

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

Following incidents, staff speak to children to understand how to better manage difficult moments and to reflect on and learn about what behaviours are acceptable and unacceptable. Staff talk to children about having privacy and respect for their bodies. This helps them understand appropriate boundaries and behaviours in order to keep themselves and others safe. Inspection report for children’s home: 2829908 4 Staff receive a thorough induction, including shadowing experienced staff and having time to read important information. This ensures that staff are confident in their roles to enable them to understand their responsibilities when they begin to care for children.

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

The physical environment is well maintained. Health and safety arrangements in the home are of a good standard. Effective oversight ensures that if any concerns arise, they are resolved without delay.

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

Children do not go missing from home. The staff support children to access and be part of the local community. Staff help children to understand road safety through key-work sessions and practical support when in the community that is appropriate to their age and developmental needs. The home uses door sensors on children’s bedroom doors; however, there is no clear rationale for the necessity of these with the current cohort of children. This runs the risk of detracting from what is otherwise a very homely environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a keen focus on the continued development of their team to ensure that children continue to make excellent progress. They have provided a nurturing environment for staff to continue to grow in confidence in their roles. The manager has high aspirations for children, especially in relation to their educational attainment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a positive emphasis on staff training and development in this home, and managers work hard to embed excellent child-centred care practice. There is a well- thought-out development plan in place, which is specific to the needs of the staff who work in this home. This is regularly monitored to ensure staff develop their knowledge and skills in order to maintain high standards for care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff’s experience of working in this home is positive. They feel well supported by managers and feel valued and recognised for all the care they diligently provide for children. Staff benefit from effective supervision and support. This ensures that they are well equipped to deliver good care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff understand the home’s statement of purpose and are working to the home’s stated aims and objectives. Discussions with staff highlight their knowledge, learning and commitment to their practice. Staff can recognise and celebrate the progress children have made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have developed positive partnerships with external professionals. The manager challenges other professionals when necessary to advocate for children and ensure that their needs are central to care planning. External agencies are very positive in their feedback about communication and the quality of care staff and managers provide. Inspection report for children’s home: 2829908 5 The independent visitor attends the home once per month; however, most of their visits are announced. They also visit at times when there are limited opportunities to see staff with children in order to observe care practice. In addition, their reports lack feedback from stakeholders such as parents and social workers. This means that the reports do not reflect on some of the key areas that require scrutiny to inform service development. Inspection report for children’s home: 2829908 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

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers should review the use of the bedroom door alarm system to establish if it is necessary. 6 March 2026

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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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: 2829908 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Channels and Choices Kent LLP

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 15 West Street, Brighton BN1 2RL

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Inspector

Karen Flanagan de Martinez, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2829908 8 and inspects 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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