Children's Home run by Knossington Grange School Limited in Lincolnshire

Unique reference number SC436386 Inspection date 01/05/2012 Inspector Caroline Oldham Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 11/01/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people and usually takes boys. The home caters for young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. This home is owned by an independent provider with a school site nearby; young people may also attend this school.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making good progress.

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Progress

This home had its first inspection in January 2012. The home had only recently begun taking placements. The overall quality rating for the service was judged as satisfactory with no requirements or recommendations for improvement. Since then the home has continued to develop and improve the service they provide. It is establishing a clear ethos; all the staff team are dedicated to the care of the young people and want to provide a high quality service to help young people move on positively.

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Progress

Young people continue to receive highly individualised, well-planned care. Staff make great efforts to establish young people’s likes and dislikes, interests, hobbies, and cultural needs. For example, young people are offered Halal meat. Young people are involved in a broad variety of activities such as horse riding, football, motorcycle maintenance and cooking. This helps young people grow in confidence and helps them to feel valued. Contact arrangements are in place for each young person according to their needs. Staff are diligent at ensuring these arrangements are not breached. When appropriate, and in agreement with staff, young people are encouraged to invite their friends and family to the home. Staff work with young people to find the best educational placements and put together individual packages of care. For example, to build up confidence, there is a mix of school and college placements, or home tuition building up to school attendance. This sensitivity to the

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Progress

specific needs of the young people ensures that they re-engage in education.

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Progress

Staff put appropriate strategies in place to keep young people safe according to the specific issues facing the young person. They have clear policies and procedures for responding to issues of concern and all are aware of what they should do if they are worried about young people’s safety. As a result young people generally keep safe.

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Progress

Staff say that are very well supported in the home and they receive regular supervision and support. No staff have left since the home opened. The staff team have diverse interests and skills and this expertise is utilised to support young people. Staff develop confidence and skills through the training programme and individual coaching.

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Progress

Staff aim to manage young people's behaviour through the relationships they establish with the young people. They are gradually building up levels of trust and respect. Consequently young people's behaviour has improved and negative behaviour has reduced. This is significant given the starting points for some young people. However, opportunities for young people to record their views of sanctions, or restraint are currently not well used.

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Progress

The staff said that they work well together; although opportunities for group discussions are limited, in particular, to review incidents of challenging behaviour and to reflect and learn. On occasions the appropriate authorities have not been notified of significant incidents involving young people. The home does operate reward schemes for individual young people and sanctions are used to address poor behaviour. However, reward schemes are currently predominantly focused on achieving tasks rather than on improving behaviour. Communication systems are generally good, but the handover records lack detailed planning to ensure information is well documented.

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Progress

The manager is making improvements to the home as needed, including redesigning paperwork, rewriting policy documents and changing the use of rooms to provide better facilities. However, the manager does not have a strategic overview to monitor and improve the quality of care, although Regulation 34 reviews are carried out. The organisation does carry out visits to the home to monitor the quality of care on a monthly basis, but these are not always received by Ofsted.

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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 there is a system for improving the quality of care provided in the children's home (Regulation 34 (1) (b)) 18/06/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that a copy of any report made by a visitor under Regulation 33 is sent to Ofsted. (Regulation 33 (5) (a)) 18/06/2012

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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 where any sanction, disciplinary measures or restraint are used, children are encouraged to have their views recorded in the records kept by the home (NMS 3.18)  ensure that staff have the opportunity to review incidents of challenging behaviour, examine trends or issues emerging from this, to enable staff to reflect and learn to inform future practice (NMS 3.21)  ensure that there is a system in place to notify within 24 hours the persons and appropriate authorities of the occurrence of significant events in accordance with Regulation 30 (NMS 24.1)  ensure that handovers include the planning of spending time with individual children (NMS 17.6)  ensure that rewards for good behaviour are clear, reasonable and fair and are understood by all staff and children. (NMS 3.8)

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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 progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011).

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