Children's Home run by PIC Children’s Services in St Helens

Unique reference number SC022438 Inspection date 22/06/2012 Inspector Maria McGranaghan Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 30/01/2012 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 home is one of 11 children's homes that are owned and operated by this private company. The home provides care and accommodation for one young person with emotional and behavioural difficulties, aged eight to 17 years.

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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 live in a caring and supportive environment that enables them to make good progress. Improvements in education, health and behaviour are consistent providing good outcomes for the young people.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are safe and feel protected from significant harm. They are very positive about the care they receive and the relationships they have formed with staff. Young people are extremely settled in a home that provides a nurturing and safe foundation.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people benefit from well planned and personalised care. Placement plans include information that ensures young people are cared for in line with their needs. Staff work together with external services and this ensures young people get the right help, guidance and support they need.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people benefit from extremely good relationships with staff. Dedicated one-to- one support ensures young people receive the care and attention they require in order to have their needs appropriately met. Staff receive training, supervision and support that enables them to have a better understanding of young people’s needs and how they are to be met. One young person said 'I love it here, staff are great I really do love it'.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is managed well with a strong emphasis on providing a good standard of childcare practice. Monitoring systems are in place and ensure that care is reviewed regularly. Where safety is a concern appropriate measures are taken to minimise risk.

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Overall effectiveness

Despite these strengths there are some areas for improvement. Although planning for care is good, it fails to clearly reflect young people’s identity in order to respond effectively to individual need. Likewise, it is clear that young people actively engage in keywork sessions to address individual goals and targets. However, the quality of records held in relation to sessions does not consistently reflect the work being undertaken. Young people benefit from one-to-one support within the home. However, the number of staff employed does not support a required contingency plan, should there be sickness or emergency leave.

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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 suitable contingency plans are in place in the event of a shortfall in staff levels (NMS 17.3)  ensure information about the child is recorded clearly and in a way which will be helpful to the child when they access their files now or in the future. Specifically in relation to the records of keywork sessions (NMS 22.5)  ensure children receive personalised care that promotes all aspects of their individual identity. (NMS 2.1)

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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 are making excellent progress in their education, behaviour and understanding of health matters. A multi-agency approach assists young people to understand their personal circumstances in order to make positive changes in their lives. Likewise regular individual keyworker sessions provide an excellent opportunity for young people to engage in their plan and review their care needs. One young person said, 'I get on really well with my keyworker, we do lots of really good things together, he helps me a lot'. However, records held relating to work undertaken with young people do not capture the dedicated approach of the staff team.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people and their families are consulted about the running of the home. Consultation documents consistently highlight positive views and opinions regarding the care offered in the home and serve as a useful tool in further developing practice. Young people take part in regular meetings and are appropriately supported to have their say. As a result, young people are happy and settled in the home.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff demonstrate a commitment to the educational achievement of young people offering additional support both in school and at home. As a result, young people have 100% attendance and have made remarkable progress. One young person said 'I have moved up two reading groups since living here. I have joined the library and have got a new book. I am really enjoying reading'. A parent said 'he is coming on in leaps and bounds, I am really very pleased'. Young people enjoy good health and are registered with medical practitioners. Health care plans are in place and suitably address individual health care needs.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy a range of suitable activities. Regular visits to the squash court, football pitch and park provide the necessary physical exercise to promote good health and well-being.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from planned and supported contact with family and friends. Staff maintain close links with families and involve them where appropriate in the overall planning of the young people’s care. One parent said 'I am always made to feel very welcome. The staff are great and keep me informed of everything. They are very supportive'. Detailed contact plans ensure that contact only takes place with whom it has been agreed and this is reviewed on a regular basis.

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Quality of care

Young people succeed in a stable, nurturing and supportive environment. Staff display clear warmth for young people and this is evident in the ambitions they hold for them. Young people are genuinely happy and confident in the company of staff.

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Quality of care

Young people’s positive behaviour and their smallest achievement is celebrated within the home. Praise and special rewards are consistently recorded and assist young people to develop an understanding of what is acceptable behaviour and provide a useful tool for addressing some negative behaviour. Similarly, individual behaviour management plans and risk assessments are completed. Triggers for negative behaviour are well monitored and ensure suitable strategies for positive behaviour management are in place. As a result, there have been no sanctions used within the home since the last inspection.

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Quality of care

Young people know how to complain. Information is available in the young people’s guide and notice board within the home and includes contact numbers for external agencies. The positive relationship between staff and young people ensures that the young people’s views are valued and that they feel confident to raise matters. Complaints from external sources are well documented and provide good evidence of the home taking appropriate action to address matters.

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Quality of care

Young people’s placement plans are reviewed by the manager to ensure the care offered is meeting their individual needs. A multi-agency approach assists to highlight the changing needs of young people and this ensures the appropriate steps are taken to address them. Young people benefit from individual targets to assist them in meeting their goals. However, the plans do not clearly address young people’s individual identity which is central to ensuring care practice inspires pride in their identity and heritage.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from a tremendous level of support in order maintain their educational placements. Accordingly, young people excel in educational attainment and achievement.

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Quality of care

Young people live in a homely environment that blends into the residential area. They are encouraged to choose the décor of their bedrooms and personalise it to reflect their personality and interest. Consequently, young people have developed ownership of their home and say it feels like home.

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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 receive a high level of support in order to maintain their overall safety and well-being. They confirm that they feel safe and have excellent relationships with staff in order to report matters of concern. Clear and coordinated risk management assists young people to understand issues regarding risk taking behaviours and personal safety. This process has proved successful in assisting young people to make sustained steps in acknowledging risk factors in their lives. As a result, there have been no young people missing from home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff undertake child protection training in order to respond quickly and efficiently to suspicions or allegations of abuse. Clear and focused risk assessments are in place and encapsulate strategies for the management of individual risk. Likewise, effective communication with external agencies involved in the care of young people ensures a holistic approach to maintaining the safety and well-being of young people. Young people are encouraged to review their progress and comment on the strategies in place. One young person said 'staff are always talking to me about being safe and why I need to be safe. I feel safe here. I am safe here'.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff focus on de-escalation and re-direction techniques in order to defuse situations between young people. This has proven successful. There has been no physical intervention since the last inspection. Comparatively, the home promotes a zero tolerance approach to bullying. Staff receive training to ensure young people are provided with the right information and guidance to protect them from incidents of bullying. Young people confirm that bullying does not take place and feel confident that should the matter arise, staff will take the appropriate action to manage situations in the home. Staff demonstrate they are vigilant in monitoring young people in the home, community and school thus ensuring the continued protection of young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are encouraged to demonstrate socially acceptable behaviour. Methods such as praise and reward encourage participation and have proved to be successful. Where young people display negative behaviour, appropriate measures are in place to assist young people to accept the consequence of their behaviour. Staff promote young people’s ongoing protection by undertaking regular fire drills and service tests making sure that all faults are efficiently addressed. Clear evidence highlights stringent monitoring of all systems within the home including the appropriate storage, administration and recording of medication. Health and safety risk assessments are regularly reviewed and internal checks are consistently undertaken in order to maintain the overall safety of the young people living in the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home employs a robust recruitment procedure that ensures young people are looked after by staff that are appropriately checked in order to work in the home. Visitors are appropriately vetted and this helps to make sure that young people are protected while in their home. However, the present level of staffing in the home does not offer suitable contingency planning in the event of staff sickness. A member of staff said 'we are assessing new staff at the moment and are really looking forward to having more staff'. It is clear that staff demonstrate a commitment to ensuring consistency for young people, ensuring familiar staff only work in the home. However, it is equally clear that the present level of staff is not sufficient.

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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

Young people live in a home that is managed in their best interests. The home meets the aims and objectives of the Statement of Purpose, and young people, social workers and families are clear about the service and support the home provides.

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Leadership and management

Internal and external monitoring systems provide the home with a suitable approach to the overall monitoring of care. Detailed information highlights areas for development and the manager’s action plan details the methods used to enhance the service. The manager makes good use of reflective practice, the views of external services and families are taken into account to ensure young people’s needs are appropriately met.

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Leadership and management

Staff receive suitable support from the manager. Supervision takes place regularly and serves to identify training needs and personal development targets. Staff receive good quality training and this ensures that young people are looked after by the most suitable staff.

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Leadership and management

The home has made good progress in addressing the previous requirement and five recommendations made at the last inspection. Specifically, a procedure for notifying Ofsted of incidents in accordance with Regulation 5 is now in place. Comprehensive risk assessments are completed and regularly reviewed and updated. Staff training records are held within the home and highlight training completed and planned. Young people now enjoy a range of healthy foods and have access to regular physical exercise. The home demonstrates capacity to improve.

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Leadership and management

The manager and staff demonstrate commitment to delivering good childcare practice tailored to the individual and personal needs of the young people they look after. The effectiveness of this approach is measurable in the good progress young people have made such as education and social integration.

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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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