Children's Home run by Sheffield City Council in Sheffield

Unique reference number SC066747 Inspection date 06/01/2011 Inspector Russell Shackford Type of inspection Random

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Date of last inspection 28/09/2010 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 service is a children's home. It provides up to five long-term placements for young people aged between 12 and 18 years.

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Brief description of the service

The accommodation consists of five single bedrooms and spacious communal areas for eating, studying and relaxing. The home is in a residential area approximately four miles from the town centre and is close to public transport and schools.

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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 to check on key standards and related regulations under the Every Child Matters outcome group of staying safe. This is a good service. Young people's privacy is respected and complaints are well handled. Good policies and practice promote and protect young people's welfare. This is an area of outstanding strength.

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Summary

Behaviour management is good. Staff demonstrate a good awareness of the risks to the young people during their known and likely activities. Written risk assessments provide clear detail of the action required to minimise the identified risks and comprehensively promote young people’s safety.

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Summary

All staff are trained in appropriate safety subjects including fire safety, complaints, child protection and physical restraint. Good policies and procedures help to protect young people's physical safety in the event of a fire at the home. Robust staff recruitment policies and checks ensure that people are suitable to work with young people at the home.

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Improvements since the last inspection

There were no actions or recommendations arising from the last inspection.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff demonstrate a very good understanding of facilitating privacy for the young people. The young people confirm that this is done very sensitively and safely. Details about young people's care is recorded and stored appropriately to maintain good levels of confidentiality. Each young person has their own bedroom and a key to lock the door if they wish to. Washing and toilet facilities have good locks to maintain privacy in a safe manner. Young people have access to a private telephone which is free to use for reasonable periods. This ensures that young people’s privacy is respected and the payment method is convenient.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Complaints are well handled. Robust measures are in place to receive and act upon any complaints. The young people confirm that they know how to make a complaint. Staff have explained the procedure and there is also information in the young people’s guide about how to complain. All staff have received training on complaints, to ensure that they know what to do if there is a complaint about the service. Staff are sensitive to young people's behaviour which may indicate that they are unhappy. The young people also have the support of an independent advocate who visits. The complaints records contain the required details.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The young people's welfare is significantly enhanced by the organisation's meticulous approach to child protection. The manager and staff have received child protection training and the provider has a good safeguarding procedure for staff to follow, in the event of any allegation or suspicion of abuse. Staff demonstrate excellent knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding procedures to promote and protect the young people’s safety. There are good links with the Local Safeguarding Children's Board and other child protection agencies. All staff have received anti- bullying and awareness training. A young people's council meet regularly to discuss the views of young people. This is attended by young people from the home. Therefore, the welfare of young people is very well promoted. They are protected from abuse, bullying and unauthorised absence. A robust response is made to any allegation or suspicion of abuse. This is an area of outstanding strength. All

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

significant events at the home have been notified to the relevant authorities including Ofsted.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Behaviour management plans are used. They contain good, individualised details for staff to follow when managing young people's behaviour. Sanctions are relevant and reflect the age and understanding of the young people. They are reviewed regularly for effectiveness. Physical restraint is rarely used to manage behaviour. Staff are trained in the provider’s policy and authorised techniques. The training is designed and delivered in a manner that ensures that as much as possible, incidents are managed without the use of physical intervention.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Consistently high quality written risk assessments are recorded to enable staff to know what action to take to minimise the risk to each young person during their known and likely activities. These are reviewed regularly. The manager takes a very proactive approach to managing risks, ensuring that staff practice and the home environment are as safe as possible. Staff talk in a determined manner about their commitment to ensuring that the young people's welfare is safeguarded. They use local knowledge and contacts to support their efforts. Other agencies are used to support and complement the work of the staff. There is very good evidence that this collaborative approach to minimising risks results in very good outcomes for young people. This is an outstanding strength of the home's practice.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The young people's physical safety from fire in the home is well protected. All staff, regular visitors and young people have been involved in regular fire drills. All staff working at the home have received up-to-date fire safety training, to enable them to minimise the risks to young people in the event of a fire at the home. The fire safety check records are up to date and accurate.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

All staff have been appropriately recruited and undergone suitable Criminal Records Bureau checks to help ensure that they are suitable to work with young people.

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