Children's Home run by Keys Education Ltd in Herefordshire

Unique reference number SC062074 Inspection date 17/08/2011 Inspector Dawn Taylor Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 04/01/2011 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

The home is registered to accommodate up to four young people of either gender from 11 to 17 years of age. At the time of the inspection there were four young people accommodated. The service is operated by a private company. The home is a detached property standing in its own grounds in a rural location.

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Brief description of the service

The overall purpose of the service is to provide medium to long-term placements for young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home's stated aim is to provide an environment in which young people can feel safe, cared for, supported and valued as individuals in their own right.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

This service has moved from an overall satisfactory outcome to an overall good outcome at this inspection. Previous actions and recommendations made by Ofsted were met at the last interim inspection. Young people are able to make meaningful contributions to the running of the home because their views and opinions are valued. Outcomes for young people are good. Staff provide support to young people that results in them understanding the principles of leading healthy lifestyles, attending education and becoming more involved in the local community. Arrangements to safeguard young people are good. Staff have a clear understanding of safe working practices and are effective at addressing historic inappropriate behaviour. Leadership and management is good. The Registered Manager provides strong leadership to the staff team, which ensures that the aims and objectives of the home are achieved. It is clear that the young people living at the home are

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Overall effectiveness

relaxed and feel they have positive relationships with staff.

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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 records are clear, up to date and contribute to an understanding of the child's life (NMS 22)  ensure contingency plans are in place in the event of a shortfall in staffing levels. (NMS 17.3)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are good .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make good progress in developing a positive self view. For example, young people understand what leading a healthy lifestyle and keeping themselves safe means. They acknowledge the support they receive from the staff team to achieve this and that it is up to them to put some aspects of this into practice. Young people state 'we eat healthily', 'staff encourage us to give up smoking and would help if any of us wanted to', 'staff make sure we look after ourselves'. Young people eat freshly prepared food and are involved in growing vegetables in the garden. Where appropriate they are encouraged to join local groups and become involved in the local community, such as school football teams, dog walking at a local animal shelter and using the local library.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have a good understanding of the aims of their placement because they meet with their key and link workers on a regular basis and they participate in their reviews. Regular discussions are successful in helping young people talk about and address difficult emotional issues and learn new life skills. A young person stated 'you can talk to all the staff but it is only natural there will be some people you get on with better than others. Those people will often be your key and link workers. You can talk about anything with them and they will find ways to help you'.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are experiencing positive relationships, which develops emotional resilience. They are relaxed in the company of staff and are quick to approach them with any issues they may have. They feel that their views are taken into consideration, for example, planning evening and holiday activities, planning menus and decorating the house and their bedrooms. More recently they have been involved in developing a positive reward scheme and a rota for the use of the game console. They have regular time with their key and link worker and have young people's meetings where they have the opportunity to express their views and influence what is happening in their lives.

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Outcomes for children and young people

All young people attend fulltime education. Even those who have previously not attended now have outstanding attendance and are making good progress. The staff team promote young people learning from discussion and experience. Young people are achieving in vocational studies, work experience placements and in leisure interests, for example, kayaking and mountain biking. Staff promote discussions within the home through notice boards displaying healthy eating and equality and diversity topics that are regularly changed and updated, theme food nights, which have so far looked at America, Spain and Italy and discussions about disability awareness.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people develop independence and life skills appropriate to their age and abilities. This includes looking after their own health and dietary needs, participating around the home with jobs, learning how to cook and building up to managing their own budgets.

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Quality of care

Staff place the wellbeing of individual young people at the centre of their practice irrespective of the challenges they present. Young people live in a healthy environment and their health needs are identified and met. They are supported to lead healthy lives and educated about the principles of healthy lifestyles. For example, a recent notice board display in the kitchen on healthy eating promoted regular discussions over the dining room table. This practice helps young people consider changing unhealthy habits and establish new good habits. A young person stated 'I eat much better since living here. I like the food and enjoy cooking and baking'.

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Quality of care

Staff are knowledgeable about individual's needs and use every opportunity to engage young people in discussions about health, emotional and social issues. This results in improvements to fitness, relationships and community involvement. All young people are registered with doctors, dentists and opticians. They also have access to other healthcare professionals including mental health services. Each young person has a health plan as part of their placement plan and this includes medical consent.

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Quality of care

Each young person has a placement plan and risk assessments that are regularly reviewed. These enable staff to meet the individual needs of young people and include positive strategies to support young people to develop skills such as managing conflict and developing positive relationships. For example, arrangements for young people to retain and develop contact with friends and family are clearly stated within their placement plans, in agreement with their placing authority. All progress is monitored through daily and monthly reports, which feed into regular statutory reviews. These reports are shared with social workers.

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Quality of care

A key strength of this service is the positive approach staff have to education and its value for young people. They ensure homework is completed, attend all educational meetings and parents evenings, and forge close working links with school and college staff. This ensures each young person's attendance and educational progress is promoted, supported and celebrated.

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Quality of care

Since the appointment of the current Registered Manager significant work has been undertaken to the home to make it feel more homely and welcoming. Young people have been involved in the process with the help of imaginative staff initiatives. For example, a painting competition, which resulted in each young person painting a canvas that is now displayed in the home. Young people are proud of the home 'the house is cool', 'there's lots of space', 'I feel at home here. I can relax'.

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Quality of care

Young people feel ownership of the environment and learn the skills required to manage a household. Depending upon their age and ability they are encouraged to develop independence skills and are rewarded for their involvement. All young people keep their own bedrooms tidy and play a part in completing household tasks. As they become older they play a greater role in learning other life skills such as cooking and budgeting. Staff work through an independence programme, which allows them to assess individual's skills and identify areas for development.

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Safeguarding children and young people

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

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Safeguarding children and young people

The safety and welfare of young people living at this home is promoted at all times. There are policies and procedures in place that are regularly reviewed and address bullying, managing inappropriate behaviours, making a safeguarding referral, missing persons, staff recruitment, complaints and health and safety. These underpin staff induction and a programme of training. In addition, all young people have risk assessments that link to their placement plans. This results in staff having a good working knowledge of safeguarding and health and safety practices, which enables them to promote individual's growth and development whilst managing risks and keeping them safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people placed at the home have complex emotional and behavioural difficulties and often display challenging behaviours. The staff reinforce positive behaviour and this supports young people to develop self-esteem, self-belief and respect for others. Staff ensure that young people are cared for in ways that meets their needs, takes account of their choices and treats them in a dignified way. Young people understand that staff speak to them respectfully and listen to what they say. Young people are very clear of their rights and feel staff are 'fair'. There are always discussions between young people and staff and if a sanction is given, it is with the involvement of the young person. A newly introduced reparation process ensures young people are supported to develop skills for exploring and managing their emotions and feelings.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people state they feel safe. Records clearly demonstrate the good progress young people are making from the point of admission to becoming a settled member of the household. For example, incidents of young people being absent without authority have decreased and are now minimal. There have been no incidents since March. There are a very low number of physical interventions, three over a seven month period.

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Safeguarding children and young people

A key strength of this service is the partnership work staff undertake with a wide range of agencies. Communication is effective and results in consistent, safe strategies being used between professionals. This is resulting in good outcomes for young people that have not been effective in the past.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are well informed about how they can make a complaint and are appropriately encouraged to do so. Records show that all outcomes of complaints are being systematically evaluated so that improvements and positive outcomes for young people are achieved.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people's safety is promoted by an established health and safety policy, which ensures risks are identified and appropriate action is taken to manage and reduce them. Young people and staff are involved in fire drills and there are regular checks on all fire and electrical equipment to ensure it is in good working order. All staff are appropriately trained in health and safety matters including first aid and fire awareness. Recruitment and staff vetting was not looked at during this inspection. There have been no new staff appointed since the last inspection when the procedures were found to be robust.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

This service was judged as satisfactory at the last interim inspection. No recommendations or actions were made.

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Leadership and management

Since the appointment of the new Registered Manager significant work has been undertaken to ensure this is a good home. The home has a Statement of Purpose and young person's guide, which clearly describe the service provided by the home. There is a static staff team who through effective induction, training, team meetings and supervision are knowledgeable and work consistently with young people.

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Leadership and management

The service is flexibly managed to meet the assessed needs of individual young people. For example, staff numbers have recently been increased during the day to enable young people attend educational facilities that are geographically dispersed.

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Leadership and management

The core group of staff employed does not allow for sickness and annual leave cover. This is undertaken by core staff members working overtime, staff covering from other nearby services within the company or the company's own bank staff. These arrangements do not adequately provide cover in emergencies and staff are not able to finish a shift because there is no one to take over from them.

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Leadership and management

Outcomes for young people are good and the quality of care is good. Records are in place but in some cases do not reflect and evidence this good practice or had not been up dated in a timely manner. This makes it difficult to monitor young people's progress and ensure consistency in staff practice.

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Leadership and management

The service has recently been taken over by Keys Education Limited. The implementation of the new company's policies, procedures and staff training is ongoing.

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Leadership and management

This service has good strengths and where areas for improvement emerge the Registered Manager recognises and manages them well. There are very clear lines of management and communication. Regulation 33 and Regulation 34 visits are well established and valued by staff and management. This internal monitoring and regulation ensures consistent good practice but also addresses shortfalls with an appropriate measure of rigor.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is good .

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