Children's Home run by Benjamin UK Ltd in Milton Keynes

Unique reference number SC414738 Inspection date 17/08/2011 Inspector Joanne Vyas Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 15/11/2010 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 privately-owned home which is part of an organisation that has other children's homes. It accommodates up to four young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties between the age of 12 and 17 years of age. The home provides a therapeutic approach to care.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be outstanding .

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Overall effectiveness

This home provides an exceptionally high level of individualised care for young people. Innovative and dynamic practice ensures young people make significant progress taking into account their starting point. The consistent and dedicated approach from staff and the Registered Manager will ensure young people will make successful transitions into adulthood. Young people’s needs and views are central to all aspects of how the home operates and develops practice. Young people are happy and relaxed in this home. Overall, practice is of a high level, with only two areas identified as in need of improvement; details of these are listed below.

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Overall effectiveness

A young person said, 'I have dearly and profoundly found the home incredible. A life changing experience.'

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that any events listed in column 1 of the table in Schedule 5 takes place, the registered person shall without delay notify the persons indicated in respect of the event in column 2 of the table (Regulation 30) 31/08/2011

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any restraint in a children's home, the written record made in a volume kept for the purpose includes all the information detailed within this regulation. (Regulation 17(b)(3) 30/09/2011

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are outstanding .

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Outcomes for children and young people

The ethos of this home is centred around each young person as an individual. Young people make exceptional progress in this home, emotionally and educationally. Social workers agreed that the placements are positive and young people have made significant progress. A social worker wrote about the home, 'The level of individual care on offer which is adapted to the specific needs of the child is impressive.' Young people are relaxed, happy and readily approach staff. They present themselves as mature and resourceful. Staff fully engage with young people, enabling them to have a full and active life. This enables young people to build on their emotional resilience and develop a positive self-view subsequently providing for a successful transition into independence and adulthood.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from a comprehensive and innovative package of care incorporating their emotional, physical and psychological health and well-being. Young people are encouraged to eat healthy diets and actively volunteer to cook meals which they enjoy doing and which are often culturally relevant. For example, young people will cook meals related to their country of origin. Young people benefit from regular input from the organisation’s psychotherapist as well as other external bodies, such as drug and alcohol workers, sexual health clinics, providing a holistic healthcare package.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from the home’s therapeutic status which provides opportunities for them to engage with a psychotherapist on a weekly basis. Young people spoke about honesty, trust and respect being very important aspects of the home. They said that staff show them trust, are honest with them and give respect and so they are the same back. Young people like living in this home, appreciate the benefits of living there and are proud to there. An Independent Reviewing Officer also noted that young people are proud of their home.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make clear progress in their education with significantly improved attendance and achievement. Some young people are offered one-to-one support from tutors who visit the home and work closely with the staff team. Some young people have found themselves employment over the summer holidays and others are planning to go to college in September. Young people have high aspirations for the future and staff encourage and support them to achieve these.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people are actively encouraged to make choices and decisions to enable them to take a full and active part in the decisions made about their lives. A social worker stated in a quality assurance survey conducted by the home, what they do particularly well is, 'Listen to the views of the child. Understand the child's needs and want what is best for the child.'

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Quality of care

Young people have positive and constructive relationships with staff. A young person said of the staff, ‘Staff are grand.’ And referred to people in the home as ‘like one big family.’ Another young person felt that the staff and young people work well as a team. A care leaver from the home said what the home does well is, 'being very loving and caring.'

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Quality of care

The Registered Manager and keyworker for each young person meet monthly with the home’s psychotherapist to assess the young person’s progress and set further goals. Innovative and in-depth care planning, which draws on psychotherapy and family input as well as staff observations, ensures young people develop empathy, resilience and a positive self-view. Young people and their families are central to this process ensuring they feel valued and have control over their own lives. Staff communicate effectively and work well as a team to ensure care is delivered consistently and rules and boundaries are firmly in place providing a stable and secure environment in which a child can develop and grow.

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Quality of care

The home provides a family-orientated abode which is centred around the individuals who live there providing a stimulating but homely environment. Each young person has their own highly personalised bedroom. The home is packed full of resources, such as art and craft materials and books. Although the home has a television, this does not take precedence as young people are kept active in the home and in the local and extended community. The home is clean, tidy and well maintained.

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Quality of care

A parent said of the staff, 'Always keep me informed of any change to my son's behaviour.' And when asked what the home could do better they said, ‘Not much as they are already doing an excellent job.'

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is outstanding at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are safe living in this home. A parent said what the home does well is, 'Keeping the children safe and secure.' Staff are competent in their knowledge and practice ensuring young people are safe and protected from harm. Young people who came to the home, persistently running away from previous placements, have significantly reduced this unsafe behaviour. High staffing levels and positive risk assessments promote the safety of young people. Staff effectively assess risks to ensure young people are safe but are not risk averse. For example, young people say they feel trusted and have more freedom than other placements.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Positive behaviour is actively promoted and staff are competent at managing challenging situations. Young people have demonstrated significant progress in managing their own behaviour and developing their emotional resilience. Staff are trained in restraint and de-escalation techniques but restraint is only used as a last resort. However, records site criminal behaviour and bullying as reasons for restraint. These are not legal reasons for restraint for staff but equally young people have only been restrained when a young person is harming themselves or others or causing damage to property. Additionally, the central log for restraint does not clearly state injuries caused to young people or the effectiveness or consequence of the restraint. However, other records clearly state this. Therefore, this has had no impact on outcomes for young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff use a therapeutic approach to help young people develop their skills to manage their anger and frustration. A complex programme of reward and sanction is consistently applied and well understood by the staff and young people. Young people respond well to this approach and it helps them to understand that there are consequences to their actions. Additionally, young people’s achievements are highly celebrated, no matter how small the achievement may appear to be.

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Safeguarding children and young people

New staff are subject to a good vetting system before they start working with young people. Staff have a criminal records bureau check completed at enhanced level, their identification checked and references sought. The home is physically safe and appropriately secure, ensuring young people are safe.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are outstanding .

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Leadership and management

Young people are cared for by an enthusiastic, motivated and dynamic staff team who are qualified, experienced and caring. They are well supported by each other and the Registered Manager. Staff consistently said that they love working in the home with the young people. There is a stable staff team who clearly have the interests of the young people at heart. Staff are well trained in all mandatory areas and in areas that are important to young people, such as self-harm and therapeutic approaches.

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Leadership and management

This is the home’s first inspection since it was registered in November 2010. The Registered Manager can effectively demonstrate a consistent and continuing capacity for improvement, communicating high expectations to staff and challenging weaknesses. A social worker commented, 'The service provided was of a very high standard. I was particularly impressed by the management knowledge, commitment and availability.' However, a number of incidents requiring notification to Ofsted under Schedule 5, have not been sent. The Registered Manager recognised this error and sent further notifications into Ofsted but some were still missing. There is no evidence to show that this has had any impact on outcomes for young people.

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Leadership and management

The Registered Manager makes good use of a range of monitoring activities. This includes external monitoring on an annual basis by The Royal College of Psychiatrists with regards to the home’s therapeutic care. Peer review means that the Registered Manager also has the opportunity to see other services and bring back best practice. Practice in other countries has also been researched and applied where appropriate. Therefore, it is clear that the Registered Manager actively keeps up to date with new legislation and practice developments to improve the quality of the service provided. The Registered Manager effectively and efficiently manages the home.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is outstanding .

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