Children's Home run by Green View Young People Limited in Barnsley

Unique reference number SC386057 Inspection date 10/03/2011 Inspector Russell Shackford Type of inspection Random

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Date of last inspection 14/12/2010 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 children's home intends to provide care for up-to-two children and young people aged between 11 and 18 years with emotional and behavioural difficulties, or learning disabilities. The house is in a busy community near to the local town. Shops, leisure facilities, education provision and public transport are located nearby.

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Summary

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

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Summary

This is an unannounced interim inspection to check on key standards and related regulations under the Every Child Matters outcome group of staying safe. Also this visit is to check the progress in relation to recommendations made at the last inspection. This is a good service.

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Summary

Young people's privacy is respected and complaints are well handled. Good policies and practice promote and protect young people's welfare.

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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 satisfactory detail of the action required to minimise the identified risks and 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

It was recommended that the registered person make improvements around risk assessments, care plans, staff training and quality assurance systems.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Risk assessments have been reviewed and revised to ensure that the seriousness and likelihood of risk is evaluated and acted upon. The quality assurance processes have been improved to cover a broader range of recording systems and care practices. The care plans have been revised and the staff are exploring different recording formats and styles. However, they do not currently contain sufficient information for new and existing staff to fully appreciate the agreed approaches to supporting young people. Staff are given time and support to complete an National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) but the target of 80% of all care staff completing an NVQ level 3 in the caring for children and young people remains unmet.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people have a key for their bedroom to help them feel they control their private space. Details about young people's care is recorded and stored appropriately to maintain good levels of confidentiality. Young people have access to a private telephone. Young people confirm that privacy is well respected. Staff show good appreciation of the importance of young people's privacy and describe a number of ways in which young people's privacy is respected.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Complaints are well handled. Young people know how to make a complaint because the staff have explained what to do and there is information in the children’s guide about how to complain. Young people have access to an independent advocate. The complaints records contain the required details. All staff have received training on complaints to ensure that they know what to do if a young person complains about the service.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The welfare of young people is very well promoted, they are protected from abuse and bullying and an appropriate response is made to any allegation or suspicion of abuse. The provider has a good safeguarding procedure for staff to follow in the event of any allegation or suspicion of abuse. The manager and staff have received child protection training. Staff demonstrate good knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding procedures to promote and protect the young people's safety. The staff take a robust, proactive approach to keeping the young people safe and working well with other agencies concerned with the protection of children and young people. Staff describe a range of strategies used during some of the good work done with the young people about staying safe in the home and in the community. A programme of safeguarding activities includes cyber-bullying training, meetings with community police, child exploitation, on-line protection training and e-

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

safe training around the use of social networking websites. Anti-bullying training is provided to all staff and the staff collaborate with other agencies to support young people. There is good written guidance for staff to follow in the event of a young person going missing. This is supported by recorded risk assessments for staff to follow. All 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

The sanctions policy is good, promoting the use of praise, encouragement and de- escalation of behaviours. Therefore, young people are assisted to develop socially acceptable behaviour through encouragement of acceptable behaviour and constructive staff response to inappropriate behaviour.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

All staff have received training around the organisation's restraint policy and approved restraint techniques. The manager ensures that the training provided to staff takes account of the organisation's physical intervention policy and current legislation. Staff demonstrate good knowledge of the subject and the associated law.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff are knowledgeable about the risks to individual young people. There is good evidence of the strategies identified to minimise risks being implemented and recorded. Satisfactory 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. Written risk assessments relating to young people being absent without authority have also been completed.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

All staff working at the home have received up-to-date fire safety training to assist them in minimising the risks to young people in the event of a fire at the home. The fire safety check records are well ordered and information is easy to retrieve. The records are up to date. All staff and young people have been involved in a fire drill to ensure that they are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire in the home. Therefore, young people's physical safety from fire in the home is well protected.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

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

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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

 ensure all care plan objectives clearly set out how the objectives will be achieved and records show the progress made by young people to achieve the objectives (NMS 2.1)  ensure that the minimum ratios of 80% of all care staff complete a NVQ level 3 in the caring for children and young people or an equivalent (NMS 29.5)

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