Children's Home run by Benjamin UK Ltd in Buckinghamshire

Unique reference number SC067757 Inspection date 14/06/2012 Inspector Jennie Christopher Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 06/03/2012 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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Brief description of the service

This children’s home is registered to take young people aged 12 up to 18 years and is owned and operated by a private organisation. The home is registered for up to four young people.

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Brief description of the service

The home provides medium- to long-term care for young people who need particular assistance with managing their behaviour, including offending behaviour. Where appropriate, young people are supported in returning home, or supported in managing transitions to more independent settings.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements Adequate : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people achieve good outcomes through living in the home and staff have high aspirations for all young people in their care. Staff have effective relationships with parents, carers, education and mental health professionals, ensuring a cohesive approach to placement, therapeutic and behaviour planning. Young people are positive about their experiences of living in the home and benefit from consistency in approach in a boundaried, caring environment. They say they have ‘really good’ relationships with staff and are ‘grateful’ for their support and encouragement. Young people say they are listened to and feel staff are interested in their progress and future success. Parents describe staff’s caring approach as ‘very genuine’ and say they ‘do a good job’.

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Overall effectiveness

Consultation with young people focuses on aspects of their care and service development through house meetings and individual work. As a result young people enjoy a service that evolves to their changing needs.

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Overall effectiveness

The committed management team guide, support and strengthen the evolving staff team who are in receipt of a comprehensive training programme. As a result young people benefit from quality care from an enthusiastic team. The Registered Manager is continually striving to improve the home, whilst being aware of the current strengths and weaknesses. Requirements and recommendations have been made in regards to aspects of staff records, staff induction and young people’s views on sanctions and notifications.

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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 all records specified in Schedule 4 are kept and up to date, with specific regard to staff (2), staff records (Regulation 29 (1)) 31/07/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure all notifiable persons are made aware of any event as detailed in Schedule 5 without delay. (Regulation 30 (1)) 31/07/2012

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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 young people are encouraged to have their views recorded when disciplinary measures or restraint have been used (NMS 3.18)  ensure new staff undertake the Children's Workforce Development Council's induction standards within 7 working days of starting their employment (NMS 18.3)  ensure the time and length of supervision is recorded. (NMS 19.5)

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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 make good progress in all aspects of their lives and those who have moved on talk positively of their experiences. The extremely individualised support young people receive enables them to improve their confidence, self-esteem and have a sound understanding of their life story. Young people are respected and valued as individuals with staff’s positive regard enabling strong attachments. As a result young people benefit from greater confidence and ability to sustain positive relationships with staff, family and peers. Continued promotion of health and well- being ensures young people are able to understand concerns regarding risk taking behaviours and work positively towards reducing them through staff and specialist support. As a result offending and being missing from care has significantly reduced. All young people’s health needs are addressed with close consultation with medical professionals, encouraging a better understanding of healthy lifestyles and what this

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Outcomes for children and young people

Attendance at school is positive. Support from staff and looked after children’s education services enables young people to progress and achieve in line with their peers, including sitting GCSE examinations. Young people who struggle in mainstream education are supported with creative education packages and courses in the community. Excellent working links with education and careers guidance staff has ensured those reaching post 16 education have secured college placements for the next academic year. Young people have positive relationships in the community through friendships and attending activities such as the local gym and a recent weekend break to a holiday park, which they really enjoyed.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Whilst living in the home, young people develop a wide range of practical skills for independent living. Young people were able to explain about their comprehensive independent living plan, covering all aspects from personal care, laundry, to budgeting for and cooking their own meals. Those who are not at the moving on stage also demonstrated the ability to do household chores and cook simple snacks.

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy positive and supportive relationships with staff in all roles, including maintenance personnel supporting young people to heighten basketball nets. Staff are demonstrably concerned for all aspects of young people’s well-being and development, actively supporting them, for example, through concerns over family contact and during the settling period into their new home. One young person said he ‘would not improve anything at the moment’ and appreciated all the support he gets. Listening to and letting young people express themselves is entrenched in the ethos of the service including routinely consulting young people on areas for improvement through house meetings and individual work sessions. Currently the home is due for redecoration and young people have given their thoughts to colour schemes, as well as planning how they would like to personalise the décor of their bedrooms. Young people are actively encouraged to contribute to their reviews and

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Quality of care

care plans and they are supported through individual and group work to understand when their wishes cannot be acted upon.

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Quality of care

Staff consistently have high aspirations for all young people and thoroughly support their educational placements with strong communication between the home and schools, including supporting phased transitions to new placements. Confusion over school uniform was acted upon promptly to prevent a further barrier to learning. A robust plan has been implemented since the last inspection detailing how to prepare young people for the school day and what actions to take should they be excluded from or refuse to attend school. This includes suggestions for educational activities and a timetable to follow. Young people who are at or approaching school leaving age have been successfully supported into further education to improve their outcomes and life chances. The changing needs of young people are continually monitored and individual plans updated by staff in consultation, where appropriate, with parents, social workers and other professionals.

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy good health with limited use of prescribed medication. Smoking is discouraged and young people did not name this as a concern. Specialist workers support young people with addictions and substance misuse concerns, resulting in young people’s greater awareness of the negative impact this can have on their health. Mental and emotional health specialists work closely with the home including weekly visits for all young people and family therapies. To ensure consistency of approach and to support young people’s emotional well-being, comprehensive therapeutic plans are in place for all young people. Medication is stored appropriately and there is a thorough system to ensure safety when administering. First aid training is booked for all staff to attend in the near future.

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Quality of care

The building is homely with safety in mind, with maintenance an ongoing task. A creative approach to maintenance includes tamperproof screws in door handles to prevent them being removed by young people. The bathroom window and kitchen are both due to be replaced in the near future. Most young people benefit from support from independent advocates and despite no information being displayed they say they know how to make complaints and who to complain to. There are excellent anti-bullying procedures in place with young people saying they do not feel it is an issue.

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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

Young people say they feel safe and that staff keep them as safe as they can. They do not mention bullying as a concern and are confident staff would manage it should it happen. Staff actively promote young people’s welfare and do all they can to protect them from abuse or harm. Staff are confident in processes to follow should they be concerned for a young person’s safety or welfare and are aware of the home's and local child protection procedures. Young people rarely go missing from care and staff are confident what to do should this happen. Individual files contain up-to-date photographs of young people in case of emergency and local police are actively and positively involved with young people and the home. Young people benefit from enhanced staff awareness of exploitation and joint working with external agencies specialising in young people being missing from care. Close working with local police and youth offending teams has supported young people to

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Safeguarding children and young people

consider the impact of their offending behaviour on those involved and their life chances. Consequently, this has led to reduction in incidences of antisocial and offending behaviour.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The highly individualised ‘diversion programme’ promotes and rewards positive behaviour through small monetary rewards and certificates. Staff feel this is really effective as young people are ‘in competition’ with each other to do well. Young people affirmed they liked the system and it did make them think before acting. Sanctions are appropriate and proportionate, although young people are not actively encouraged to reflect on their behaviour and consider how responses could be different. Robust and creative behaviour plans ensure that young people have not required restraint since the last inspection.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are safe from fire and other hazards as a result of thorough checks, evacuations and procedures. The individualised risk assessments are robust and thoughtful to ensure young people are able to enjoy age appropriate activities and take appropriate controlled risks. The company’s recruitment policy is thorough and ensures young people are protected from harm by robust personnel checks, including checks of visiting staff.

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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 provider meets the aims and objectives as set out in the Statement of Purpose and staff understand the ethos of the home and how to care for young people in line with this. Young people say they have received the young people’s guide and that it is easy to understand. The newly revised copy will be made available to young people once professionally printed.

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Leadership and management

The committed manager, who is continually striving to improve the service, effectively runs the home making excellent use of multi-agency working to improve outcomes for young people. The management team actively source external support such as looked after children’s education and addiction specialists, to ensure the best possible care and outcomes for young people. They promote positive relationships in the community through timely responses to complaints and concerns with satisfactory conclusions. Notifications of significant events are not consistently being forwarded to those listed in Schedule 5.

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Leadership and management

Young people benefit from being cared for by an evolving and enthusiastic staff team who are positive about their roles and enjoy their work. An extensive recruitment drive has sourced new staff who are currently undergoing high quality and comprehensive training, along with existing staff. The manager is developing an induction programme that is organisation specific that will be implemented alongside the Children’s Workforce Development Councils’ induction package. However, one member of staff has not yet received a formal induction. Staff receive quality and evaluative supervision and appraisals and lapses in performance are professionally challenged. The time and length of supervision is not recorded, however, and staff files do not contain all the information required.

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Leadership and management

The management team have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home through effective and evaluative monthly monitoring which demonstrate a reduction in offending and risk taking behaviours, for example. Alongside this the manager is evaluating the service in line with the Evaluation Schedule and Grade Descriptors to inform the development plan. The manager has in place a system to seek the views of young people, their families and other stakeholders via questionnaires and a new round of consultation is due to ensure young people continue to benefit from an improving service.

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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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