Children's Home run by Step-A-Side Company Limited in Gloucestershire

Unique reference number SC030650 Inspection date 11/08/2011 Inspector Michael Williams Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 21/02/2011 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 children's home is one of two run by the same limited company. It is a five bedroom detached house set in almost an acre of gardens in a rural location. It provides care and accommodation for a maximum of four children and young people of either sex with emotional or behavioural difficulties, or learning disabilities.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

Overall the home provides a good service to young people. The quality of care provided is good and outcomes for young people are also good, as are the leadership and management of the home. The safety of young people and the promotion of equality and diversity are outstanding.

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Overall effectiveness

A placing social worker commented that their young person was 'thriving at the moment due to the support given to him in the placement' and that they have seen 'huge changes' in them for the better. Another young person's parent responded positively to a number of different statements about their child’s care at the home.

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Overall effectiveness

The home provides well-planned care for each young person, taking into account their individual needs and their wishes and feelings, and the views of those significant to them. Young people enjoy strong relationships with staff, partly as a result of the one-to-one staffing that they each receive to meet their needs. Young people at the home are safe and feel safe. When young people make an allegation this is taken seriously and immediately acted upon, which ensures that young people are protected from harm.

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Overall effectiveness

Children's case records are an area for improvement. They do not always include all the information required, such as the most recent review of their placement plan.

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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 the case records of children accommodated in the home include all the information required (Regulation 28, Schedule 3) 30/09/2011

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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

As appropriate to their age and understanding, young people make good progress to develop a positive self-view, emotional resilience and knowledge and understanding of their background. This is because young people receive individualised care from staff, as set out in their placement plans, which promotes all aspects of their individual identity.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's physical, emotional and psychological health is very well promoted and they are able to access services to meet their health needs. A speech and language therapist, physiotherapist and occupational therapist all participated in one young person's recent review. The home employs the services of a senior behaviour management consultant who delivers therapeutic interventions for each young person and promotes their emotional and social development.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have achieved well in the development of their educational potential. For example, one young person has achieved re-integration into a formal schooling environment. Their placing social worker commented that their tutor at the home has 'worked wonders' and that their 'one-to-one support has built his confidence and concentration,' to the point that he can now be re-integrated into a special school.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are making a positive contribution to the home and the wider community through being actively and positively involved in activities in the community. This inspection took place during the school summer holiday when both young people were being supported and encouraged by staff to take part in a range of activities. Some of these, such as horse riding, were part of their leisure needs identified in their placement plans, and others were summer trips. Some of these activities specifically focus on improving the young people's social skills, such as the social skills group run by the behaviour management consultant and the local groups with young people of a similar age.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Appropriate forms of contact are promoted and facilitated for each young person so that they have constructive contact with significant people in their lives. Staff at the home support and encourage young people's contact arrangements with family, friends and significant others in line with their individual placement plans. At the time of this inspection, staff were supporting one young person's shared care arrangement with their family and another young person's restricted contact.

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy strong relationships with staff and mostly behave appropriately. Rewards and sanctions for behaviour are clear, fair and individualised. The reward systems used with young people in the home are effective. Restraints are rarely used and two recent instances involved the same young person and followed the loss of the structure provided by their education. Each young person has an individualised therapeutic support plan, devised by the behaviour management consultant and consistently implemented by staff.

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Quality of care

The views and wishes of young people and where appropriate others with an important relationship with them, such as their parents and social worker, have significantly influenced the running of the home and the delivery of care. For example, one young person was supported to participate, along with their social worker, in their last review meeting at the home. The views of the parents of another young person at the home are always taken into account.

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Quality of care

Since the last inspection, the home has not received any complaints. Young people, and their parents and placing social workers, know how to take up issues appropriately and to complain.

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Quality of care

Young people are cared for in line with their individual placement plans, which are monitored by their key worker at the home and regularly reviewed. Even if young people are not subject to statutory reviews, the Registered Manager ensures that there are regular reviews of their placement plans, for example involving their parents, school and therapists. However, the results of reviews are not always recorded in case files in a timely way.

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Quality of care

The home has good links with health agencies, including specialist services where appropriate, and as a result both young people are either receiving or waiting to receive the range of specific therapies that they need. All permanent and relief staff at the home have a first aid qualification.

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Quality of care

Staff successfully engage and work with schools and the placing local authority to support young people's education. This means that when young people have experienced problems in school they receive appropriate support. This can include specialist tuition in the home followed by support at a pupil referral unit. The outcome of this work has led to reintegration back into formal education.

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Quality of care

Equality and diversity issues with young people in the home are extremely well addressed in both daily living and care planning. One young person's placing social worker commented that staff at the home have worked very hard to get to know their young person and their needs, in order to provide them with individualised care, and that they have helped them develop a sense of community responsibility, through community based activities and education.

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Quality of care

The home is in the process of providing an even more suitable physical environment for young people. This inspection took place at a time of extensive physical alterations to the home, which as one parent commented 'will make a huge difference to the independence skills of the young people within [the home],' as they will make the accommodation more suitable to the particular needs of disabled young people.

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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 feel safe and are safe. They understand how to protect themselves and are protected from significant harm. One parent commented that their child's safety is always given a high priority. Since the last inspection, the home has notified Ofsted about the instigation and outcome of a child protection enquiry. The placing social worker involved in this enquiry commented that 'immediately' after the allegation was made staff at the home contacted all the relevant child protection agencies and 'didn't hide anything'.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Since the last inspection, young people have not gone missing from the home. Should they do so, the home has a missing person procedure to follow. The company is due to update this procedure once they have received approval from the police regarding a protocol for missing children that they have recently discussed with them.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are safeguarded by the management of behaviour at the home, which focuses on supporting their positive behaviour rather than using sanctions or restraint in response to their inappropriate behaviour. Young people and others with an important relationship with them did not identify bullying as a problem at the home. However, one parent raised concern about the compatibility of their child with the other young person in placement. They had already raised this concern with the Registered Manager and he was working to address it with them.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There is extremely careful selection and vetting of staff working with young people in the home. This helps to prevent unsuitable people from having the opportunity to harm the young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people live in a safe home. For example, checks on its electrical installations and its health and safety and fire risk assessments have all been completed and an external company carries out an annual health and safety inspection. The refurbishment work at the home was being managed in a way that minimised risks and disruption for the young people accommodated.

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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

The Registered Manager of the home has the appropriate skills, experience and qualifications to exercise effective leadership of the home's staff and operation and delivers good quality, individualised child care. One young person's parent commented 'We are very happy with the way [the Registered Manager] manages our son's well-being.' However, the Registered Manager’s ability to be in full-time day-to- day charge of the home is comprised by other responsibilities. As a result, an acting manager has just started working at the home alongside the Registered Manager, with a view to taking over this role.

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Leadership and management

The aims and objectives of the home and what services and facilities it provides are stated in its up-to-date Statement of Purpose and young people's information booklet. At the time of this inspection, the home was providing young people with shared care, long-term care and short-break placements. However, these particular ranges of needs were not stated as clearly as they could be in the home's Statement of Purpose; the Registered Manager addressed this during this inspection.

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Leadership and management

The quality of the provision at the home is regularly monitored, both externally and internally, to continually improve it for young people. Monitoring arrangements ensure that young people’s views about the quality of care are obtained and acted upon.

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Leadership and management

The company has a current business development plan with its overall aims and objectives and specific sections on its financial accounts and the home.

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Leadership and management

The needs of the young people at the home are very well met by staff who are sufficient in number, qualifications and experience, and who are very well trained and soundly supported. One young person's parent commented 'The staff team are all very helpful and friendly.'

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Leadership and management

Regular, formal staff supervision and annual staff appraisals are both areas where the Registered Manager identified shortfalls before this inspection. They have reported these in their August 2011 management audit and action plan to handover to the acting manager to address. The Registered Manager has taken action regarding any shortfalls that they have identified before they have been able to have a negative impact on outcomes for young people at the home.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is outstanding .

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