Children's Home run by Esland South Limited in Greenwich

Unique reference number SC386134 Inspection date 17/08/2011 Inspector Diane Thackrah Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 13/01/2011 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

This is a five bedded unit for young people, male and female, between 13 and 17 years of age who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home offers flexible packages of care including long-term care. One bed is for emergency admissions or respite care. The home is privately owned.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be outstanding .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people make excellent progress in this home and thrive as a result of the consistent, supportive and nurturing environment. Young people benefit from well planned and individualised care and their views are central to all aspects of the operation of the home. They are regularly consulted with and their views form part of their care planning. This helps to ensure that individual needs are well met. Staff are committed to providing high quality care and this promotes positive outcomes for young people. Staff have high aspirations for young people and this contributes to young people's positive progress. There is a full, experienced and permanent staff team and this promotes stability for young people. There is strong management and a commitment to providing excellent quality of care and to continuous improvements. Quality assurance is vigorous. The outcomes achieved by young people in all areas of their lives are exceptional. Young people feel safe and are

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Overall effectiveness

highly positive about the care they receive.

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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

Young people make excellent progress in all areas of their lives. Staff demonstrate a thorough understanding of young people's needs. Clear and comprehensive placement plans are in place which support staff in ensuring that young people's needs are well met. One placing social worker said 'Staff go to great lengths to engage with young people.' Staff have high expectations of young people and this helps them to develop confidence and make good progress. A consistent approach from staff and the firm boundaries placed on young people helps them to develop positive behaviour and reduce negative behaviour. Clear and well understood positive behaviour management methods are documented and used. This individualised approach to behaviour management helps young people to improve their behaviour. An example of this is the huge decrease in the levels of young people's offending and risk taking behaviour. Young people are treated with respect and valued and this is

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Outcomes for children and young people

helps them to feel proud of themselves and of the home. Staff positively promote contact between young people and their families. This helps young people to maintain positive links with people who are important to them and to develop an understanding of their backgrounds. Excellent efforts are made to ensure that contact goes ahead positively, such as organising transport for families and inviting parents for meals in the home. A placing social worker said 'Staff go over and above to make sure that contact happens and works.' Close contact with young people's families, where appropriate, and social workers promotes a consistent approach to supporting young people

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are well supported to experience a wide range of leisure activities. Staff are creative and seek out lots of new experiences for young people to enjoy such as power walks, trips to local attractions and holidays. One young person said they were given lots of choices of activities to engage in but prefers watching DVD's with staff. Young people have many opportunities to contribute their views to day to day living and to the running of the home. This helps to build their confidence and to make them feel valued. Young people are well supported to lead healthy lifestyles. They understand that a healthy diet is important and play an active role in planning, shopping for and cooking healthy meals. A smoothie maker has been purchased which has helped to encourage young people's enjoyment of fruit. Young people have also been involved in growing and eating their own vegetables and herbs in the

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Outcomes for children and young people

garden. Wide ranging opportunities are made available for young people to engage in physical exercise. This helps to encourage participation and accommodates young people's differing preferences and abilities.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Education is highly valued and strongly encouraged. Staff have high aspirations of young people and ensure that they are provided with support to help them reach their potential. Current young people are being supported in their transitions from school to college. Staff have supported young people with visits to college open days and have spent time with them discussing the importance of their education. Young people have been further supported in their education by the links made by the home with the local Connextions.

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Outcomes for children and young people

All young people have some level of involvement in meal preparation, laundry and household chores. Older young people have pathway plans and follow well structured and individualised life skills programmes. These measures help young people to make excellent progress in acquiring independence skills at a pace appropriate to their age and development. Careful planning and regular discussions with staff also prepares young people well for their transition to adulthood.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Staff have consistently high aspirations for young people and this helps them thrive in all areas of their lives. Young people have comprehensive care plans that clearly identify their individual needs. There is consistent monitoring of young people's progress and this information is shared with placing social workers in order to promote consistency. Staff positively contribute to statutory reviews and other meetings regarding young people's well-being. They are committed to helping young people achieve positive outcomes. They consistently and effectively challenge barriers to young people's full participation in education. This has resulted in some young people achieving places on further education courses. Young people have been empowered to challenge barriers in education through positive discussions with staff and through access to advocacy services. Staff routinely consult with young people and help to ensure that their rights are upheld. Young people's well-being is

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Quality of care

central to practice in the home. Staff advocate on young people's behalf and are proactive in promoting young people's rights. For example, they have appropriately challenged placing authorities when statutory documentation has not been of high quality. They have also instigated multi-agency meetings in order to address young people's risk taking and absconding behaviour.

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Quality of care

Clear goals are set and young people are supported to meet these. Any needs relating to young people's cultural backgrounds and identity are positively identified and addressed. For example, young people are enabled to maintain positive links with their friends and families in the places that they come from. Clear strategies are in place for staff to follow to help eliminate anti-discriminatory attitudes and this is detailed in placement plans. Young people are well supported to develop a positive understanding of other cultures through the regular cultural evenings that are organised by staff. This has included taking young people to local restaurants to experience food from different countries.

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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

Staff are highly committed to the safe care of young people. They do this through robust and clear risk assessment, aimed at protecting young people, whilst allowing them to take reasonable risks as part of their development. Risks are clearly recorded, kept under review and well known to staff. Regular key work sessions occur in order to address issues such as young people's safety. Excellent arrangements are in place for keeping young people who go missing safe. For example, one young person's regular absconding behaviour has recently stopped. This has been achieved through highly individualised support and a commitment from the Registered Manager to joint working with the young person's family, social worker and the police. The risks posed to another young person when absconding have been removed by inviting health care professionals to visit the home and educate the young person about risks to their health. Bullying is taken very seriously

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Safeguarding children and young people

in the home and staff take a zero tolerance approach. Staff are proactive in addressing issues of bullying and this is effective in reducing any incidents of bullying.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people's welfare is promoted through the creative behaviour management techniques used by staff. Young people feel safe, secure and fairly treated. A young person said 'The staff are lovely.' The positive approach to behaviour management has resulted in improved behaviour in the young people. Young people are rewarded for positive behaviour and are offered opportunities of reparation for negative behaviour. Staff consistently apply firm boundaries and this helps young people to feel safe and secure. The high expectations that staff have for young people helps them to feel valued. High quality key work sessions help young people to understand that they have choices about how to behave. Restraint is used rarely in this home. Young people benefit from living in a safe environment. There are robust systems in place for fire safety such as regular fire drills, checks of the fire safety equipment and fire safety inductions for all new young people and staff.

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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

This is a considerably well managed home. Excellent measures are in place for ensuring that staff are motivated to sustain improvement. These include a professional approach to young people's care, regular team meetings, good quality supervision and an ethos of respect. A high value is placed on learning and development and staff have access to a wide ranging training programme. For example, all staff have recently successfully completed a 14 day training course on equality and diversity at a local college. All staff have achieved a National Vocational Qualification at level three in Children and Young People or are working towards this, and some are now undertaking level four of this qualification. There is a focus on team work and on working in partnership with other professionals in order to promote positive outcomes for young people. A placing social worker said 'Really good professional support is offered to young people' and 'The staff have always

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Leadership and management

been very good at communicating with me.'

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Leadership and management

High quality care in the home is sustained through the rigorous monitoring that occurs. This includes regular regulation 33 and 34 visits, regular health and safety and file audits. Young people's progress is significantly enhanced by building the strengths and target setting in the home. This includes valuing the permanent staff team and investing in their development. Staff bank posts have recently been recruited to in order to eliminate the need for agency staff and thus improve consistency for young people. There is excellent record keeping and young people's files contain all relevant information in good order.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is outstanding .

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