Children's Home run by Archways Care Limited in Worcestershire

Unique reference number SC383941 Inspection date 19/04/2011 Inspector Carole Moore Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 18/11/2010 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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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 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the Inspections of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011) and the evaluation schedule for children's homes.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service that exceeds minimum requirements Satisfactory : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Brief description of the service

This is a children's home for four young people between the ages of eight and 17 with emotional and behavioural difficulties. It offers care to children on a medium to long-term basis and provides a nurturing environment in which to develop and prepare the young people for a return to family, foster care or independent living. The home is a detached residence with sufficient car parking space to the side of the house and a large garden at the rear. The home is situated with access to public transport and there is also a wide range of leisure activities in the close vicinity. The house has been tastefully decorated to a high specification, but remains homely.

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Brief description of the service

Three young people were present during the inspection process.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be outstanding .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people make outstanding progress in relation to their starting points and achieve excellent outcomes in all areas of their lives because of the innovative practice of staff and managers in the home. Staff provide high quality support to enable young people to feel safe, to achieve their full potential and to be as healthy as possible. Young people receive excellent support to manage the transition to adulthood successfully and to enjoy their lives, talents and abilities as much as possible. There needs to be an improved recorded measurement of this outcome area but has no impact on the young people.

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Overall effectiveness

Above all, the young people in this home make improvements in all areas of their lives because they are active participants in their own planning and care. This increases their commitment to their plans and to the home. The quality of the relationships between staff and young people is outstanding and young people confirmed wholeheartedly that their views were taken into account in all areas of life in the home.

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Overall effectiveness

The home continues to promote positive outcomes for each young person according to their individual needs.

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Recommendations

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

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Recommendations

 ensure that the home contributes to the development of each child's care plan including the pathway plan particularly measuring the progress of the work being carried out.(NMS12.2)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are outstanding . Young people really benefit from individualised support which helps them make exceptional progress to develop confidence and a positive view of themselves. The link worker system enables young people to focus on their aims and objectives and to talk through any areas of difficulty and to be really involved in their care planning. The staff are extremely proactive in helping young people to understand their background and to encourage them to pursue their interests and really understand and discuss their feelings around being looked after. Staff have said, "it is crucial to fully understand a young person's cultural background in order to enable them to feel secure and proud of their identity."

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are encouraged to make full use of their leisure time and staff join in with all activities. Young people engage in a range of community resources and enjoy regular holidays. Young people have said "staff are amazing and really muck in".

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Outcomes for children and young people

The quality of support young people receive to live enjoyable lives and achieve their educational potential is exemplified in the record of achievements and in displays around the home celebrating individual successes. All young people are in some form of education, attendance is excellent and they are all making exceptional progress in line with their needs and aspirations. Staff actively promote education and actively liaise with schools and colleges to support the young people. They keep up to date with young people's progress and support them to meet their educational targets. Some staff have qualifications relating to the teaching of an education programme and this enables them to offer additional teaching and support to young people to supplement that received in schools and colleges. The home has an excellent education room which is well resourced and provides a place to deliver constructive

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Outcomes for children and young people

There is a clear commitment in promoting the overall health needs of the young people from a staff team that is trained and committed to ensuring young people are healthy. Individual health needs are well recorded and services required to meet additional health needs are accessed quickly. Young people are encouraged to take regular exercise and bike riding and walking are part of everyday life.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people confirmed that they were able to contact friends and family whenever they wish. Staff support some very complicated contact arrangements and facilitate these visits well. The home also encourage families to visit the young person within the home if this is appropriate.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people receive excellent support to develop independence skills to equip them into adult life. They have a work experience programme which encourages them to do extra activities with the added bonus of earning extra pocket money. Their independence booklet clearly takes them through the areas they need to develop with pictures of their achievements but there is no clear indication when targets are met.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people really thrive within this nurturing and supportive environment. The Every Child Matters outcome areas form the basis of the home's care planning system. Young people's placement plans are child centred and clearly identify their individualised needs taking into account culture, race, religion and gender. All placement plans are being rewritten with the young person at the forefront using the terminology the young person is familiar with. Comprehensive monitoring evaluates young people's progress over time and this is then used as the basis for statutory reviews and is forwarded to the child's social worker on a regular basis.

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Quality of care

Young people say that they are always listened to and their wishes and feelings are actively sought and that they can very much influence the way the home is run. This takes the form of residents meetings and young people take it in turns to record the events of the meeting. Staff will help young people understand if it is not possible to always act upon their wishes. Young people say "staff are good at explaining things".

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from a competent and enthusiastic staff team who are able to provide innovative care and optimum support in their placement. Relationships between staff and young people are friendly, positive and good natured with lots of humour. There are clear pathways on how to make a complaint and young people are happy with the way staff respond to any areas of concern. Staff implement positive behaviour strategies with a creative reward system and consequences to any inappropriate behaviour is fair.

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Quality of care

The accommodation provides a pleasant, warm and comfortable home that young people enjoy living in. Furnishings and décor are of a high standard and there is an ongoing development plan for further improvements. Young people's bedrooms are personalised to their own tastes and requests for any changes to the accommodation are dealt with promptly. There is a large garden surrounding the property with ample opportunity for outside activities and young people are getting involved in growing their own vegetables and recycling. Young people were extremely positive about the quality of their home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is outstanding at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe. Young people are clearly say they feel safe living in the home. Staff receive safeguarding training at induction and this is then updated periodically. All staff follow a clear procedure for responding to safeguarding concerns. These arrangements ensure staff are sufficiently knowledgeable about keeping young people safe from harm.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people rarely go missing from the home and if they do, they return quickly. The home has clear protocols with the local police and the placing authority and young people are responded to positively on their return. Bullying is not perceived as an issue within the home although staff are quick to identify any areas of concern such as name-calling. Young people said "staff deal with any form of bullying really quickly".

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff communicate clear expectations regarding boundaries which sufficiently help young people to begin to understand consequences for their behaviour. Staff’s approach to behaviour is based on redirection and purposeful intervention to calm the situation quickly. Restraints are only used when felt really necessary to ensure safety. Staff are trained in physical intervention, restraint and de-escalation techniques with regular refresher training. The home has individual behaviour management plans for young people who present challenging behaviours, identifying details about the behaviours, how they are to be prevented, managed and reviewed. Staff regularly discuss the behaviour approaches and agree as a team how to respond to young people. The imaginative reward systems succeed in helping young people develop and maintain socially acceptable behaviour.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Health and safety is taken very seriously. Regular checks of the premises are carried out. Required risk assessments are in place and regularly reviewed. Suitable public and employee liability insurance is in place and all fire alarm tests, fire safety equipment checks and fire drills are up to date, with written records kept. Young people confirm they have regular fire drills and know the procedures to follow.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There are robust procedures for the recruitment and selection of staff. These ensure that all staff are thoroughly vetted before they start work. All visitors to the home are monitored because they are required to provide evidence of their identity and to sign a visitor’s book. These robust systems protect young people as they ensure that unauthorised individuals are not able to gain access to the home.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are outstanding . Young people live in a home that is exceptionally well managed. The senior team consistently communicate high expectations to staff about sustaining improvement. For example, training has already been undertaken by the staff team on the new national minimum standards and staff have been implementing a variety of changes to the overall paperwork to demonstrate their outstanding practice. The whole staff team are exceptionally enthusiastic about the quality of the service they provide to young people. Staff said " The child is at the centre of our practice."

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Leadership and management

Staff are extremely well supported through individual supervision, appraisals and regular staff meetings. The management value the wide range of knowledge and experience of the staff. There is an extensive range of training made available so that there is continuous development of staff skills and abilities to enhance service delivery and the quality of care provided to young people. The management team are always available and approachable. Staff are encouraged and supported to attain qualifications. They attend a broad range of training to achieve and maintain competency in their care practice.

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Leadership and management

The young people benefit tremendously from the individual care provided by a small, permanent staff group. There is always a sufficient number of staff on each shift to meet the needs of the young people. The staff demonstrate enthusiasm and commitment to providing consistent, stable care in a safe, secure, homely environment for young people.

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Leadership and management

The promotion of equality and diversity is outstanding. Staff understand young people's individual strengths and needs. There are consistent working practices which focus on enhancing young people's quality of life. Young people receive support to take pride in themselves and develop a positive identity.

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Leadership and management

There is an excellent monitoring system in place to maintain quality of care within the home. Quality assurance systems are established that consult young people, staff and relevant others regarding development and improvement to service delivery. The management are open to change and facilitate reflective and innovative practice which benefits service delivery and care provided to young people.

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Leadership and management

Young people’s records are held secure and confidential and cover all matters required in the regulations. Young people make excellent progress because of the strong leadership and effective management systems that are in place.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is outstanding .

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