Children's Home run by Wessex College Limited in Wiltshire

Unique reference number SC037596 Inspection date 11/01/2011 Inspector Jennifer Reed Type of inspection Random

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Date of last inspection 25/08/2010 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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You can obtain copies of The Children Act 2004, Every Child Matters and The National Minimum Standards for Children’s Services from: The Stationery Office (TSO) PO Box 29, St Crispins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1GN. Tel: 0870 600 5522. Online ordering: www.tso.co.uk/bookshop

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000.

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About this inspection

This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004 and the relevant National Minimum Standards for the service.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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Brief description of the service

This home is one of four children's homes operated by the organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for four young people of either sex, aged from 11 to 18 years, with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Brief description of the service

The home is situated in a rural area and offers single room accommodation to each young person. The organisation also runs a school which is registered with Ofsted and provides education for young people accommodated in the company's homes.

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Summary

This is an overview of what the inspector found during the inspection.

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Summary

This was an unannounced interim inspection which looked at the staying safe and economic well-being outcomes for accommodated young people. A proportionate approach to inspection was taken and the outcomes for being healthy, enjoying and achieving, positive contribution and organisation were not looked at. The home was judged as outstanding in these four outcome areas at the last inspection and no actions or good practice recommendations were made for improvement.

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Summary

The home continues to support young people well and deal with challenging behaviour. Young people are making progress and they recognise the positive changes taking place within their daily lives.

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Improvements since the last inspection

No actions or good practice recommendations were made at the previous inspection.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people continue to have sufficient levels of privacy in the home, with each young person having their own bedroom and a key for their bedroom door. All bathrooms and toilets have suitable locks which give young people privacy when using these facilities. The home provides a room for young people to make private telephone calls within; however, at the time of the inspection the pay telephone had been damaged and removed. Nevertheless, young people are able to make calls in private by using the home's hands-free telephone in this room. Confidential matters are adequately managed and staff know how to share information for child protection purposes.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people are safeguarded by knowing how to raise any worry or concern they may have about their care or the operation of the home. Clear information about the home's complaint process is given to young people on admission. All complaints received from young people or neighbours are taken seriously and promptly responded to by the home's management team.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The home has established policies, records and practices in place to contribute to promoting young people's well-being and keeping them safe. For example, dealing with absences without authority and the home's collaborative working practices with placing authorities about how best to protect and promote young people's welfare. Staff have access to the Local Safeguarding Children Board's guidelines and undertake regular safeguarding training, including child protection, bullying awareness, dealing with absences without authority and health and safety matters, to guide them in keeping young people safe. Bullying is not tolerated in the home and staff vigilantly monitor young people's behaviour and relationships to reduce likely or arising problems.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people are helped to develop socially acceptable behaviour, by the home's focus on the positive reinforcement of appropriate behaviour and permissible sanctions given for unacceptable behaviour. The home continues to undertake contract work which is negotiated with each young person to address particular presenting behaviours, providing young people with an opportunity to own and take responsibility for making changes to their behaviour. Young people choose the reward they will gain when they have successfully completed their contract, providing them with a desirable incentive to succeed. The 'traffic light' system of asking, telling and then taking action, provides young people with a clear and known framework for managing behaviour. Restraint is only used as a last resort and staff receive regular training in de-escalation and control and restraint techniques. The number of restraints undertaken have declined over the past four months. All

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

restraints carried out are recorded; however the restraints book shows that staff do not always record sufficient detail about physical interventions within the restraint record. This impacts on the effective monitoring and evaluation processes undertaken by the home's management, the monthly independent visitor and inspectors, which all contribute to safeguarding young people. It is not possible to fully assess the appropriateness of physical interventions from the current level of information provided within this record.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Risk assessment is rigorous and assessments are completed for young people's behaviour, activities and the home's environment. Regular utility, services and fire safety checks and drills are undertaken to contribute to providing staff and young people with a safe living environment. Fire drills are routinely carried out when new young people or staff come into the home, making sure everyone knows how to safely evacuate the home in an emergency.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff files and the home's recruitment and selection procedures were examined at the previous inspection and found to be robust. All necessary checks and processes were being carried out prior to the employment of new staff. Staff files which are kept at the company's head office were not looked at during this inspection.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

The home takes account of young people's individual needs and abilities and helps them to develop their independent living skills as they move towards adulthood. The home provides a semi-independence training programme and young people benefit from opportunities to learn new practical and social skills which will support them to live their lives successfully in the future. Staff take care to work at each young person's pace, making sure that young people make good progress in learning new skills.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

The home supports young people to attend further education colleges by helping young people to identify suitable courses of study. Young people are encouraged and supported to use public transport as part of their independence training.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

The home provides young people with a good standard of accommodation and young people are able to personalise their bedrooms and choose how they are decorated. In contrast, one staff bedroom has been awaiting repairs since the last inspection and it does not provide a good quality domestic environment for staff to stay in overnight.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 record full details of the behaviour requiring the use of restraint and the nature of the restraint within the dedicated bound and numbered restraint book kept by the home (NMS 22.9)  ensure that damage is repaired promptly and the home is maintained in a good state of structural and decorative repair; in particular, with regard to the ground floor staff bedroom. (NMS 24.3)

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