Children's Home run by Esland South Limited in Hertfordshire

Unique reference number SC425418 Inspection date 26/09/2012 Inspector Martha Nethaway Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 28/02/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This home provides care and accommodation for up to four children. A private organisation owns and operates this setting.

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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

The home is effective because it provides well-planned care and young people’s outcomes are good. Young people are making good progress in all aspects of their lives. They are healthy, achieving well in their education and enjoying a fun time at home. Young people are safe and feel safe.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are consulted and their active participation is well embedded in the home. The home is inclusive in its practice, valuing young people’s opinions, its staff, social workers, teachers and external agencies.

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Overall effectiveness

The quality of the relationships between staff and young people in the home is good. Young people are living in a warm, safe and welcoming environment.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is well managed with a registered manager that inspires and engenders a strong commitment from the staff group. Staff are well supervised and attend regular training.

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Overall effectiveness

As a result of this inspection, there is one recommendation for improvement being made. This relates to implementing a development plan for the home. This is an administrative area for improvement and does not adversely affect the continued good outcomes that young people are achieving.

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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 the home has a written development plan. (NMS 15.2)

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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 are building and forming more secure attachments. This is evident because they are confident in the presence of staff who know them well. They are willing to seek help and comfort when they need it. Young people’s needs are fully met in an understanding way. As a result, this benefits each young person’s personal growth and development.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are living a healthy life. They enjoy a healthy standard of living. One young person commented, ‘I enjoy going to gymnastics and I have fun through learning new routines.’ This helps young people to seize opportunities to become healthy through making healthy choices around their fitness. Another young person commented, ‘I walk to school every day and this is part of my exercise routine.’ In addition, young people are benefiting from doing swimming, bowling and youth clubs. Young people are additionally protected because they have full access to appointments with their doctor, dentist, optician and counsellor. This helps to reduce health inequalities.

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Outcomes for children and young people

All young people are attending school and progressing well in their school environment. Young people with additional needs are benefiting because of the focused support. For example, reading and maths are included as part of their evening routine. This is helping them to succeed further. Young people are able to build on strengths and interests. For instance, using the local library and embedding further their love of reading.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are able to make a positive contribution to the home and their local community. They regularly attend local fundraising events and local community events. Each evening, young people openly discuss their day with staff and share how they can do things differently and suited to the needs of young people. Young people’s views are consistently acted on. For example, young people meet formally with staff on a one-to-one basis. As a result, young people are taking part in decisions that affect their lives. This secures their rights.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are benefiting from appropriate contact with family, friends and people who are important in their lives. Planned contact visits are supported and this is happening as it should. As a result, young people are effectively helped to maintain their support networks.

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Quality of care

Relationships are positive in the home. Young people enjoy positive and constructive relationships with staff and with each other and generally behave appropriately. Staff give a good focus to the development and maintenance of strong interpersonal relationships in the home. One educational professional commented, ‘They have always been reliable and professional and establish fantastic relationships to help the young person to make excellent progress.’

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Quality of care

Complaints are handled correctly. Young people are confident about making complaints to air their grievances. In all cases, complaints are appropriately investigated and fully resolved with a clear outcome. The home is also using the outcome results of complaints as a means for improvement.

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Quality of care

Care planning is good. All young people are cared for in line with their individual placement plan. The home contributes to the care plans positively. As a result, the present and potential future care needs are being addressed. One social worker commented, ‘I get regular updates to the care plan from the home and we work as a team to meet the needs of the young person.’

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Quality of care

The home values diversity and works to ensure that all individuals are treated fairly and with dignity and respect. A strength of the home is that it showcase festivals and celebrations through the arts, music and literature. Staff and young people are actively involved in this. One member of staff commented, ‘We had an Olympics party by celebrating the different countries that athletes came from, their commitment, talent and excellence. This is very inspiring for young people.’

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Quality of care

The home is appropriately located, designed and maintained. All young people benefit from living in an environment that is warm, safe and secure. All young people have their own bedrooms where they can retreat for their own personal space. One young person commented, ‘It’s a nice home to live in, it’s homely and I helped to paint the street art mural on the conservatory wall.’

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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

Safeguarding is good. Young people are safe and feel safe. Staff have access to good policies, procedures and training on safeguarding. This is further underpinned through discussion during staff supervision and in team meetings. Young people are also learning to discuss issues around safety and to take a clear stand against bullying in all its forms. For example, in house meetings and one-t- one talks with staff. Consequently, this helps to foster an open culture in advancing and promoting a safeguarding environment.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Good procedures and practice are in place when young people go missing. The home has helped turnaround young people’s persistent missing from home events. For young people who historically go missing they are protected by the actions taken by the home. Over time the home has decreased the number of missing from home events. At present, no young people are going missing from the home. This is clearly attributed to the effective implementation of the risk management strategy for young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people’s behaviour is well managed. They learn to accept boundaries because they are applied with fairness and in a consistent manner by the staff team. Over time young people’s behaviour improves. This is attributed to the effective use of praise, incentives and positive rewards. Behaviour is continuously monitored and the effectiveness of strategies is reviewed by staff and the social workers.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Recruitment and selection of staff is good. In all cases the home follows safe recruitment practice. This helps to promote safeguarding and promotes the welfare of young people living in the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Health and safety is given a good priority by staff and the home. The home takes appropriate precautions. For example, risk assessments are regularly reviewed which meets acceptable good practice. This helps to protect young people and staff alike and allows them to undertake their activities without harm to their health, safety and welfare. Young people are further protected because they regularly participate in fire evacuations so that they know what to do in the event of emergency.

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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 home is effectively and efficiently managed including the permanent employment of a suitable registered manager. The home is well managed and led by a well-qualified social worker. At an organisational level it is well supported by an effective external line manager who is in regular contact with the home.

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Leadership and management

The registered manager reviews the performance of the home. Young people’s progress and development is reviewed on a monthly basis. This encompasses the home’s internal monitoring to track progress in relation to heath, education and welfare. At an organisational level, the home has a clear development plan. However, the development plan does not specifically address any planned changes or the home’s current operation and resources. This results in staff not being provided with an opportunity to contribute to further development. Similarly, young people are not involved in defining outcomes and setting standards.

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Leadership and management

Since the last inspection, no complaints have been received about the home.

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Leadership and management

The home has updated its statement of purpose and the practice at the home reflects the provider’s aims and objectives. The home is able to provide good outcomes for young people through encouraging confidence in their ability and fostering achievement. Young people are able to build up their self-reliance.

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Leadership and management

Staffing arrangements are sufficient to meet the needs of the young people. Many of the staff have recently completed their probation period. Staff are emerging as a strong and competent team. The home pays good attention to team work, staff supervision and training. For example, all staff have completed their mandatory training. All staff are now enrolled on a course for their formal qualification. Some of the staff are qualified to degree level with relevant work experience in care.

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Leadership and management

Young people’s records are well managed and reflect accurately the level of support provided. Young people are being successfully prepared for the next stage in their lives.

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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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