Inspections and Quality Assurance

At Country Care we take the provision of the highest possible quality of service as an imperative; from the inception of the company we have aimed at the Best Value option for placing authorities and especially for the children placed with us. We have always sought to obtain excellent outcomes for children, which are measurable to the Every Child Matters outcomes.  To ensure standards we are inspected in sundry ways.

The current regulatory body for the children’s home is Ofsted. The Meadows was initially registered with Derbyshire Social Services in 1999 and in 2002 this registration transferred to the National Care Standards Commission and subsequently to CSCI in 2004 and subsequently to Ofsted in April 2007. We are subject to unannounced and random bi-annual inspections. Inspection reports are available to placing officers, etc. Our current lead inspector is Jo Vyas.  The Ofsted National Business Unit can be contacted on 08456 404040.

The regulatory body for our school is Ofsted.  We achieved registration as an independent school in August 2006 and in 2008 were rated as outstanding.  We are subject to inspection within the Ofsted framework.

The Meadows is an accredited examination centre for examinations up to and including GCSEs with the AQA scheme. We are inspected annually for an announced inspection and subject to spot checks, particularly during examinations.

Within the home the Deputy Manager takes the lead role for quality assurance; ensuring that standards are met and, indeed, usually exceeded. He or she makes frequent checks of records, systems, etc and compiles reports regarding the quality of service.

The home has an independent visitor appointed in accordance with Regulation 33. Our Regulation 33 visitor is a qualified and experienced person who makes monthly unannounced visits and then provides a report regarding the running of the home, well being of the children, etc. Copies of these reports are available in the home.

The Meadows is a licensed activity centre, licensed by the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority to provide a very wide variety of outdoor education and adventurous activities. The requirements are very stringent and again we are subject to unannounced inspection as well as announced inspections by the regulatory body. The Meadows is also a Duke of Edinburgh Award training unit.

Country Care is the proud holder of the IiP (Investor in People) award, which we gained in record time. We were highly praised at our latest assessment: “The home continues to maintain the standard and represents “a first class model of good practice””. Client Intervention Report, the full report is available to read.

Country Care must be a safe, non-abusive environment for children and staff. We operate to an Aware Culture as described by Ray Wyre. All staff are supervised, supported and trained to ensure that they always operate within the Arena of Safety. There is no point to anything we do, if we cannot create and maintain a safe environment for children. This is the starting point for all our recruitment practices, and for all our operational practices, policies and procedures.

Country Care is a corporate member of the Social Care Association and is bound by the ethos and Code of Conduct of that organisation.

Country Care complies with and promotes the GSCC Code of Practice for employers of social care workers. All staff are issued with their own copy of the GSCC Code of Practice for Social Care Workers and are required to comply with this.