Children's Home, Residential special school run by MacIntyre Care in Buckinghamshire

Unique reference number SC043994 Inspection date 12/09/2011 Inspector Muhammed Harunur Rashid Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 22/02/2011 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 service is a residential special school for young people with severe learning disabilities and is run by a large independent organisation. The school accommodates up to 40 secondary school age young people of either sex, usually on a 52 week placement basis. Due to the length of the young people's stay at the school it is required to be registered and regulated as a children's home under the Care Standards Act 2000.

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Brief description of the service

The accommodation is provided in seven separate houses on the edge of the school site and each young person has their own bedroom. Each house has an office, kitchen, lounge/dining area and activity room as well as outdoor space for young people. There are also sufficient numbers of suitable bathroom facilities for young people.

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Brief description of the service

Ofsted has received some very positive comments from parents relating to the care and welfare of their children. Comments received include; "Staff have children’s welfare as priority", "I am confident and entrust my son’s welfare to them", "His care and welfare is being met at Macintyre School to a high standard" and "My child has settled really well and his needs are met fully."

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are provided with an appropriate environment with adaptations and equipment to meet individual needs. Individual needs are assessed well and clarified into planned care arrangements with input from various health professionals and parents. The school provides a multi-disciplinary approach in order to develop and review care plans. As a result young people's health care needs are met well and educational attainments are comprehensively promoted. Young people are supported to make choices and to access community resources. Short falls are identified in relation to managing records of physical interventions and managing records of staff recruitment.

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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

17B (2001) ensure that the date, time and location, of the use of restraint are recorded in the physical intervention record log. (Regulation 17B (3) (d)) 30/09/2011

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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 all applicants references are checked to assess suitability before taking on responsibilities (NMS 16)  ensure that children and staff are given opportunities to discuss incident of restraints they have been involved in and children's views are recorded where any sanctions, disciplinary measures or restraints are used. (NMS 3.17 and 3.18)

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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 have complex care and educational needs due to their high dependency levels. The school offers residential and educational provision for young people with severe learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorders or who have severe challenging behaviour. Staff have a good understanding of young people's cultural, religious and dietary requirements. Staff communicate through various communication systems with a significant number of young people who are non- verbal.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's health needs are well met. Staff promote healthy eating and also support young people to plan and choose the menus. Staff have developed a very good resource of symbols and pictures of different foods and meals so that young people can communicate their needs and choice. All young people have individual health action plans which focus on their physical and emotional health. These are devised with input from the school nurse, clinical psychologist and psychiatrist. The school nurse reviews health action plans on a regular basis. All young people are registered with a doctor and dentist and staff accompany them to various medical appointments. Staff administer medication to young people and keep records of all medications administered to young people. Staff have attended medication administration and first aid training.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Educational attainments are very well promoted. All young people have personal education plans and they attend an on-site residential special school where life and social skills are seen as being of paramount importance and are developed through real life learning experiences. The school emphasise on essential skills curriculum for all assessments where the young people are and what progress they make and what the next steps will be with their daily living skills. There is a strong focus on core areas in young people’s activities from first thing in the morning to last thing at night. Young people develop work related learning, community engagement and performing arts skills. Young people have opportunities to develop various independent living skills. Staff encourage and support young people with travel training and developing road safety awareness when visiting the local community. At home young people participate in carrying out household tasks. A two years

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Outcomes for children and young people

transition service helps prepare young people for possible best adult placements.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff support and encourage young people to make positive contribution at home and into the wider community. Staff ensure young people access the local community resources including shopping trips, day trips and visits to historical places. School staff and young people take part in the village community events where they run a barbeque.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are encouraged and supported to maintain contact with their family members. Staff welcome young people's family members to visit them. The school offers accommodation to parents where they can stay overnight during their visits. Many of the young people visit their parents from time to time and the school make arrangements for this.

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Quality of care

All young people have individual care plans and these identify their individual holistic needs. Young people have complex health care, educational and emotional needs. Care plans and behaviour support plans are devised with input from a multi- disciplinary team. The school work closely with the local primary care trust and young people have access to various specialist services. Care plans and behaviour support plans are regularly reviewed.

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Quality of care

A significant number of young people are non-verbal. Staff communicate with young people through various communication methods. Relationships between young people and staff are positive. Interaction between staff and young people are very positive. Staff seek advice and support from speech and language therapists and attend total communication training in order to develop knowledge and skills to communicate with young people effectively.

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Quality of care

Young people and parents completed Ofsted surveys stating that staff seek young people's views, wishes and feeling in the service delivery. Young people and their parents are consulted in various way, for example, through the looked after children's reviews. Staff send questionnaires to young people and their family members to seek their views about the service they offer in order to make improvements.

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Quality of care

The 24 hour curriculum complements the development of young people's personal attributes and learning achievements. This also helps young people to pursue their hobbies and interests. Young people participate in a range of after school clubs where they take part in various activities, for example, cookery, rambling, arts and crafts and horticulture activities.

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Quality of care

The service has an appropriate complaint policy and procedure in place. The procedure is made accessible by being displayed in the premises. All complaints are recorded and investigated according to the policy and procedure. The outcomes of the complaints are also recorded.

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Quality of care

The school is located in a small village. Although there are limited resources available close to the school, the school has access to a range of vehicles for transporting young people to access the community and wider facilities for pleasure and interest.

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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 school has a child protection policy and procedure in place. There is an anti- bullying policy also in place. The head of care is the nominated designated safeguarding officer in school. The school have a good working relationship with the local safeguarding team and they support the school with the training of all staff in child protection.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The school employs three behaviour support specialist and they have a key role in developing and the implementation of student behaviour support plans. They support the education and residential teams in the management of those young people whose behaviour poses a challenge. They also support the delivery of physical intervention training. Restraint is used as a last resort. Although staff complete incident forms they do not always record the use of restraint in the 'bound and numbered' log book. All children and staff are not formally given opportunities to discuss incidents of restraints they have been involved in. The staff do not also record the views of children where sanctions, disciplinary measures or restraint were used.

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Safeguarding children and young people

It is unlikely that a young person would go missing from care due to high levels of staff supervision and the security systems in place. However, appropriate policy and procedures are in place to deal with this should the need arise.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There is a system is in place to notify all significant events to relevant agencies including Ofsted. The school ensure that all key stakeholders are made aware of all significant incidents that have occurred and how these were resolved.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Residential and education staff are provided with health and safety and first aid training. The home carries out regular fire alarm testing and regular fire drills. All gas and electric appliances tests are carried out by the relevant professionals. A risk assessment of the premises is conducted. A valid employer's liability insurance certificate is displayed. There is an appropriate recruitment policy and procedure in place. The human resources department carries out all relevant checks on staff including enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks prior to any new staff appointment. A number of applicants complete their application forms on the internet and therefore do not always use the standardised application forms instead they use a variety of application forms and these are not always signed. Referees complete the reference letters and do not always sign these reference letters.

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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 Statement of Purpose clearly highlights the aims and objectives of the service. Each home has a common structure to provide the basic care needs of a group of six young people. There is one head of service, three senior support workers and 10 support workers in addition to a cook. The children's guide provides comprehensive information about the facilities available to young people.

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Leadership and management

The promotion of equality and diversity is good. There is consistent commitment to improving equality and diversity in practice. The school provides a service tailored to meet the specific individual needs of young people that considers all aspects of diversity. Staff support young people to make personal choices and to access community resources. Staff have attended equality and diversity training and have a good understanding of young people’s dietary, religious and cultural needs.

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Leadership and management

Young people benefit from the effective management of the school. The principal, the head of care and the head of the services are qualified with a number of years management experience. Young people have a particularly strong, trusting relationship with the house managers. The management structure is strengthened by three senior residential support workers in each house who provide clear accountability and leadership.

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Leadership and management

There are various systems to monitor the quality of care. The service reviews staffing levels in accordance with the assessed needs of young people. Staffing levels are generally high due to the high dependence levels of young people. Each young person has a permanent, private and secure record of their history, development and progress throughout their childhood. There were no previous actions or recommendations arising from the previous inspection.

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Leadership and management

The home has a commitment for the professional development of their staff. Staff attend various in-house and external training, such as safeguarding and anti-bullying, positive approaches to people who challenge physical intervention training (team teach), total communication, autism and first aid. Sufficient numbers of staff have completed their National Vocational Qualification at level 3 in Caring for Children and Young People. All staff receive regular supervision and annual appraisals from their line manager. Regular staff meetings are held which promote communication between the staff team. The team is supported by administrative staff and other staff such as, cooks, have been employed to prepare and cook meals for young people in each unit. The maintenance is carried out by appropriate people.

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Leadership and management

Three parents are included in the leadership team and they regularly attend meetings and their voices are heard in order to improve the service delivery to the young people.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is good .

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