Children's Home run by Sheffield City Council in Sheffield

Unique reference number SC066747 Inspection date 12/01/2012 Inspector Russell Shackford Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 06/01/2011 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 owned and run by a local authority. The home is registered to look after a maximum of five young people, male or female, from the ages of 12 to 17 years, who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people living in this home benefit greatly from an experienced staff group who demonstrate enthusiastically their commitment to addressing welfare issues. Outcomes for young people are good because staff are persevering and supportive, creating opportunities for young people to reach their fullest potential. Education attendance and achievement, good health and socialisation are increased whilst criminal activity and anti-social behaviours are equally reduced.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people confirm that their views are genuinely sought and acted upon. The staff encourage them to make decisions about their lives and influence the way that the home is run.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff ensure that young people are looked after in a way that is particular to how they are and want to be. Educational needs are very well met with young people making good progress. The young people benefit greatly from the efforts of the staff to promote the value of education and to encourage good attendance.

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Overall effectiveness

The staff work closely with other services to meet the range of young people's needs. Although staff are clearly aware of young people's assessed needs, the quality of written placement plans is inconsistent and not all of them clearly outline how young people's needs will be met. Community participation is good. The facilitating of contact is done well. Effective support is in place to help young people learn skills that they will need for later in life.

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Overall effectiveness

Good risk assessing and fire safety practices help to keep young people safe. Staff are experienced, well trained and competent. Young people clearly benefit from the good leadership provided by the manager to a cohesive and adaptable team. There is good monitoring to maintain and improve the quality of care in the home. The promotion of equality and diversity is good.

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Overall effectiveness

There is a recommendation for improvement. This is about the quality of the records about young people.

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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 each young person’s placement plan is monitored by a key worker in the home who ensures that the requirements of the plan are implemented. In particular, record the action required to meet young people's needs, the evidence of the staff team’s contributions, and evidence the young people's progress towards independence. (NMS 25.2)

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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's progress and outcomes are good because staff are persevering and supportive, creating opportunities for young people to reach their full potential. Young people benefit from the discussions and stimulating interactive activities that staff use to build relationships with them. As a result, young people gain good knowledge and understanding of their own backgrounds, they adapt well to new situations and their view of themselves is positive.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Organised activities, such as cycling, swimming, dance, basketball and camping, help to keep young people fit and healthy. Young people are encouraged to eat healthy foods and snacks. Young people confirm that they are involved in planning, shopping for and cooking meals. Young people enjoy good health because their health needs are effectively identified and services are provided to meet these. Young people are encouraged and supported to attend routine appointments with dentists, doctors and opticians and, where appropriate, encouraged to take some responsibility for managing their own health needs. Specialist health workers are involved, where appropriate, to promote young people's good health and discourage unhealthy behaviours, such as smoking or poor eating habits.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Educational needs are well met with young people making good progress in attendance and achievement in their education. The staff have worked in a determined manner to ensure that appropriate placements are sourced quickly and, as a result, young people's education is disrupted as little as possible in order that that they can continue to attend and achieve.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are enthusiastic and proud to contribute to their local community in a variety of ways. This includes involvement in voluntary work and charity fund raising.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from clear contact arrangements, understanding when they will see significant people, which helps them settle and enjoy seeing their families. Young people say that staff have, 'helped me to keep in touch with people that are important to me' and that they, 'can have friends and family come to visit them.’

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Outcomes for children and young people

The home has its own life skills plans for young people. These are implemented according to the level of maturity and understanding of the individual. Young people sometimes learn skills through taking part in the tasks of running the home, such as cleaning and cooking. Young people are also given help and support with social skills, laundry, healthy eating, budgeting, clothing care and shopping. Therefore, young people receive care which prepares them well for adulthood. However, the evidence of this activity is poorly recorded and does not, therefore, reflect the efforts and achievements of the staff and young people.

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Quality of care

Young people living in this home benefit greatly from an experienced staff group who demonstrate enthusiastically their commitment to addressing young people's care and safety needs. Staff say, 'the most important thing about my work is being with and around the young people' and, 'seeing to the needs of the young people is very important to me.’ Young people confirm this, saying, 'I get on well with all the staff and everybody supports you' and, 'there is always someone to talk to if you want.’ The staff team are persevering and supportive, innovatively creating opportunities for young people to reach their full potential. Young people enjoy warm relationships with staff in the home and there is good rapport between them. Staff speak in a proud manner about their young people and their achievements.

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Quality of care

Young people confirm that their views are genuinely sought and acted upon. The staff are innovative in the way that they help young people to make decisions about their lives and influence the way that the home is run. Staff provide opportunities for daily group and one-to-one discussions, key worker sessions and visits from independent advocacy services. There are also regular young people's meetings. Quality assurance monitoring by the manager includes opportunities for young people to comment upon the quality of care at the home. Any cases where it is not possible to act upon young people's wishes are carefully explained to them. Young people confirm this saying that, 'staff are fair', highlighting examples, such as no smoking in the home and not allowing age inappropriate DVDs and games.

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Quality of care

Young people say that they are confident to complain and understand how to do so. Any complaints received are clearly recorded to reflect the action taken by the staff and the outcomes.

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Quality of care

Admissions to the home are planned and the young person and their family, where appropriate, are involved in that planning. Young people can visit the home before they move in to meet people and get information about the home. Staff find out about young people's differences, routines, strengths and areas for development, and use different agencies and resources to help them to meet the young people's needs. Although staff are clearly aware of young people's assessed needs, the quality of written placement plans is inconsistent and not all of them clearly outline how young people's needs will be met. Focused one-to-one work provides young people with guidance, advice and support. However, the daily records and one-to-one records do not always reflect the content of the care plan and show the full extent of the action taken by the staff to meet the identified needs of the young person.

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Quality of care

Young people's needs and development are reviewed regularly in the light of their care and progress at the home. Following reviews, placement plans are updated in a timely fashion. The reviewing system includes participation in the statutory reviews, internal reviews of the placement plan and discussions with the young person in key worker sessions. Key workers monitor the placement plans and produce monthly summary reports. Statutory case reviews take place within the required timescales to inform those working at the home and others of progress made by young people.

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Quality of care

The staff appreciate that the individual young people may have needs arising from diversity. The young people receive individualised care and support. Where necessary, staff commission individual support services involved in the health, care and education of the young people. The home has links with a wide range of helping agencies, and very good practice has helped to quickly provide services to suit each individual young person. Young people confirm that staff provide care and support to them in a way that is particular to them. Staff are aided by external professionals in providing good-quality health care in emotional health. These professionals provide support directly to young people and indirectly by advice supplied to the staff team, to aid positive outcomes for the young people. A psychological services team member said, 'the staff have done a very good job of providing nurturing and emotional support to young people and, as a result, young people are more sociable

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Quality of care

and engaging with education.’ Good policies and practice around the storage, handling, administration and disposal of medication safeguards young people's welfare.

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Quality of care

Young people's education and employment is a very high priority and it is promoted vigorously. Staff see it as valuable in itself and as part of the young people's preparation for adulthood. Effective incentive schemes and good staff support, to ensure young people are well prepared for the day, results in good attendance. The staff work closely with education and other agencies to secure good-quality education or work placements. Staff said, 'we have to work hard to keep on top of education placements, I phoned several times a day to make sure we got the right placement for one young person.’ A notable area of strength is the staff’s close communication and support of other professionals working in education or work placements to sustain and increase the young people's time in the provision. Staff achieve this through establishing close working relationships and communicating regularly about progress and individual targets. Staff provide transport and class

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Quality of care

support if needed. Achievements are communicated to parents to ensure that young people's positive behaviour is highlighted to them. Staff promote the additional benefits of being in education or work, such as socialising. There are spaces, resources and facilities at the home to enable the completion of homework or structured home-study programmes. A computer is available for the young people to use for educational purposes and well-monitored internet access is available.

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Quality of care

Young people are able to pursue their particular interests and are supported enthusiastically and encouraged by staff to engage in leisure activities. Staff attempt to enable young people to socialise and to build their esteem and confidence by supporting their individual choices. The staff have established very good links and relationships with community-based activity providers. Examples of organised activities include holidays, parties, go-carting, guitar and dance lessons. There is also a good range of books, DVDs and games available for education and entertainment.

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Quality of care

The young people live in a home that is very well located near to shops, leisure, education and employment opportunities. It is on the main bus route to the nearby city centre. The interior and exterior of the home are in a very good state of structural and decorative repair. There is a good maintenance and repair programme for the building, furniture and equipment, and any damage is repaired promptly. The garden is well maintained and safe. The home is clean and there are homely touches throughout.

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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

A notable area of strength is the ability of staff to engage young people in talking through any identified concerns. Young people say that they are safe and feel safe, confirming that they are supported to learn how to keep themselves safe and learn about risks. Where particular risks are indentified, consistently well-written risk assessments are recorded to help the staff understand what action to take to minimise the identified risks. This develops young people’s understanding and the reasons adults are concerned. As a result, young people's risk-taking behaviours reduce and they feel cared for and protected.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The provider has very good safeguarding systems and procedures for staff to follow in the event of any allegation or suspicion of abuse. The manager and staff have received child protection training which includes elements of child exploitation and on-line protection. Staff demonstrate a good knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding procedures to promote and protect young people’s safety. Anti-bullying training is provided for staff and effective policies and procedures support this. Young people say that bullying is not accepted and that it is always on the agenda of their meetings to make sure everyone is aware of this. There is good written guidance for staff to follow in the event of unauthorised absence. This is supported by individualised risk assessment records.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Sanctions are relevant and reflect the age and understanding of the young people. These are rarely used and are reviewed regularly for appropriateness and effectiveness. Personalised behaviour management plans are used. They contain good, individualised details for staff to follow when managing young people's behaviour. It is very rare that physical restraint is used to manage behaviour at the home. Staff are trained in the provider’s de-escalation policy and authorised intervention techniques. Record keeping is good and there is evidence that it is monitored well to identify patterns or trends that can be used to support young people further.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Regular fire safety checks, general checks and maintenance arrangements ensure the home is physically safe and is kept safe. All staff have received fire safety training to enable them to minimise the risks to young people in the event of a fire at the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

All staff are appropriately recruited and undergo suitable Criminal Records Bureau checks to ensure that they are suitable to work with young people.

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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

A Statement of Purpose is available to inform professionals and members of the public about how care is provided at the home. There is a good children’s guide to this statement which is appropriate to the age and understanding of the young people accommodated. Young people contribute to its content and appearance. Young people receive a copy of it before they come to live at the home so that they know what to expect if they choose to live there.

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Leadership and management

There is a consistent staff team which has a range of skills and experience among its members. New members of staff receive good-quality induction training before commencing work with the young people. Management support and supervision are described as, 'really good' by staff team members who clearly value the beneficial contributions of the manager. One staff member said, 'the manager is really good at making time for us and making sure we keep records up to date.’

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Leadership and management

The young people are receiving care from competent staff that are experienced and appropriately trained to meet their needs. All staff are trained in a wide variety of safety and childcare subjects. An ongoing programme of regular refresher training is provided in a range of subjects to enhance the staff team's competency to meet the needs of the young people.

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Leadership and management

The manager has a system to monitor, report and evaluate the administration systems of the home. The recordings are in good detail to aid in the evaluation of the findings. This is supported by reports from an independent visiting officer. Therefore, there is good monitoring of the quality of care for the young people in the home.

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Leadership and management

Staff ensure that young people are looked after in a way that is particular to how they are and want to be. This is particularly evident around health, safety, culture, diet, leisure and education. All staff have received equality and diversity training and they demonstrate a good understanding of the subject and how they promote it in practice. Young people's cultural and religious needs are taken into account during the care planning and review process. Staff have a good understanding of individual young people's needs and ensure that these are met effectively on a practical and emotional level. Staff also demonstrate good practice around equality and diversity through their attitude towards it. They also provide examples of this in practice, such as the value of education, emotional support and raising aspirations amongst young people. Young people have access to a team that is balanced in terms of race, age,

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Leadership and management

background and gender, and have access to a variety of services in the local and wider community.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is good .

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