Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Unique reference number SC064735 Inspection date 14/12/2011 Inspector Stella Lovie Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 24/02/2011 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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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 local authority home provides care and accommodation for up to six young people of either gender with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be outstanding .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are making impressive personal achievements since coming to live in this home. This has been considerably assisted by young people's meaningful and secure relationships with the staff in the home. Young people's care is highly personalised and fully involves the young people.

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Overall effectiveness

There is absolute consistency in behaviour management by staff. This helps young people respect and understand boundaries, and respond positively to encouragement. Young people receive exceptional support which encourages them to feel positive about themselves. Small successes are celebrated and this builds young people's confidence to go on to greater achievements. Young people feel safe and secure in this home. Clear messages are given about fresh starts which help young people to move on and make progress in their lives.

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Overall effectiveness

The staff team are constantly open to feedback from stakeholders and young people. One member of staff commented: ‘if it’s of benefit to the kids, just do it.’

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Overall effectiveness

The Registered Manager shows a deep personal interest in the achievements of all the young people. This helps the young people know that they are valued and inspires them to achieve. The managers and staff team lead by example through an open and honest style with a strong no blame culture. This helps the young people move on from whatever may have happened in the past and feel confident about being able to forge new futures.

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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 are making exceedingly good progress in all areas of their lives. Young people commented that this home has 'completely turned my life around'. The young people benefit from highly personalised and creative care planning that leads to considerable personal achievements for each young person.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people achieve excellent outcomes in terms of education and development of self esteem and confidence. These are celebrated with certificates and highly professional displays of young people's work. Young people speak with pride about how staff have helped them: ' I love it here. If it hadn't been for this home, I would have been a druggie by now.'

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are all encouraged to undertake comprehensive independence skills training. This helps the young people to develop emotional resilience and practical skills which are good preparation for independence. The quality of these individual programmes is exceptionally high. This builds young people's ability to withstand difficulties and setbacks in the future. Many young people from this home have made a successful transition to independence and adult life, and have given written testament to this in the form of cards and letters: 'thank you, I am going to have a better life, also thanks for letting me move in, also for a great 18th birthday.'

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy warm and constructive relationships with staff that help them build self-belief and inspires them to achieve. As one young person said; 'These are good people here.' Staff have high aspirations for the young people in their care. Young people benefit from staff that play the role of a committed parent in supporting education and advocating for the young people in respect of their education. To this end, staff go the extra mile in maintaining a highly creative focus on educational achievement. This means that a wide range of the young people's skills and abilities are recognised through formal academic channels which helps them achieve their goals in further education or work.

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Quality of care

Young people receive impressive nurturing care from an extremely skilled and committed team of experienced staff. As a result, young people feel cherished, and are confident that staff will not give up on them. This is crucial for the young people in building up trust, forming meaningful relationships and in taking responsibility for their actions. It also helps the young people develop tolerance and respect for each other. Young people here feel that they are given an opportunity to move on and make progress with their lives despite what might have happened before. As stakeholders commented:' This is the most friendly approachable home, all the kids I have worked with have wanted to stay here, they see this as a stable influence on their lives, a clean slate approach.'

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Quality of care

Young people participate in a wonderfully wide range of activities from simple home pleasures like jigsaws, to challenging involvement in local charity events. This helps the young people broaden their horizons and encourages them to progress socially. Risk assessments are thorough and are used to support the young people to enjoy a diverse range of experiences.

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Quality of care

Young people exercise considerable choice in the daily life in the home, and are centrally involved in the highly personalised planning and review of their care. This helps young people take responsibility for their behaviour and helps them to feel positive about themselves and their lives. Young people benefit from the home's strong commitment to the promotion of equality and diversity. For example, the local police community support officer is a frequent visitor and has a meaningful relationship with the young people. This helps challenge stereo-typical views both ways, and enables young people to develop a more constructive perception of the police role.

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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 said that they feel safe in this home and in the local community. They are confident that staff would help them with any areas of concern. Staff work in a proactive and creative way with the young people and other professionals to ensure that a collaborative approach to safeguarding is taken. As a result, young people show a strong sense of well-being and a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe. This confidence supports the young people to take appropriate risks as a normal part of growing up.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are encouraged to understand and take responsibility for their behaviour within a context of high expectations. The culture and values of the home promote tolerance and respect with a genuine commitment to equality of opportunity. As a result, young people feel that staff are consistently fair and honest in their dealings with them. This has evidently enabled young people to make very positive and sustained changes in their behaviour and attitude. One young person commented: 'staff think about everyone here. The manager spends a lot of time with us. Staff sit down and talk rather than just punish.' Young people benefit from positive behaviour management strategies that are consistently applied with the result that physical restraint is only used in the most exceptional of circumstances.

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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

The home is extremely well managed. The Registered Manager and the staff provide excellent role models to the young people through communication of high expectations and excellent supportive working relationships. Young people thereby experience the constructive management of conflict and difference which helps them to mature into well rounded adults. The Registered Manager interacts frequently with the young people, while also maintaining a focus on the bigger picture. This helps the young people feel valued and secure.

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Leadership and management

The staff team are enthusiastically ambitious for the young people in their care. Staff take on positions of additional responsibility which demonstrate the staff's commitment to the journey of improvement, and ensures that quality assurance is part of the fabric of the home. That dedication to improvement is consistently communicated to the young people in terms of developing their self-belief and aiming for goals that they might otherwise not have aspired to. The staff team demonstrate to the young people the value of being open to new learning and to always asking what they could do better. Young people are regularly involved in contributing to the monitoring of the home, and their views are seriously taken into account. Again this promotes young people's self-confidence and helps them to feel proud of the home they live in. Some young people commented: 'this is the best children's home in the country.'

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Leadership and management

The management team are planning to base their future targets for the development of the service on robust evidence gathered systematically from stakeholders. To this end they have devised a highly professional feedback system which is now being rolled out across the county. The team is considering how they might improve this further by the inclusion of young people's systematic formal feedback.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is outstanding .

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