Children's Home run by Surrey County Council in Surrey

Unique reference number SC370703 Inspection date 12/07/2012 Inspector Jennie Christopher Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 09/02/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is a detached purpose-built service which offers short breaks for children and young people. The service is currently registered to accommodate twenty children and young people.

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Brief description of the service

The service is designed for young people with a learning disability and specifically for those on the autistic spectrum.

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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 outstanding .

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Overall effectiveness

Staff have extremely high aspirations for all young people in their care and outcomes for young people using the service are excellent. Staff have exceedingly effective relationships with parents, carers, and external professionals, this ensures highly individualised care. This consistent approach informs placement and care planning alongside target setting life skills through the ‘Residential Learning Programme’. Young people enjoy staying at the service and think staff are, ‘helpful’ adding that they feel safe. Those who struggle with transitions are thoroughly supported to manage the new surroundings with introduction programmes tailored to their individual needs. Parents suggest the, ‘incredibly caring and committed staff meet the needs of their children in what are uncertain times for the service’, and they do not feel this has affected the quality care provided.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people have very positive relationships with staff and feel they support them to be as independent as possible. This is achieved through consistency of the staff, the approach through careful planning and liaison with parents. This ensures as smooth as possible transitions between education, the service and home. Young people and their families are actively involved in service development through questionnaires, parent’s forums and observation of young people’s likes and dislikes. Parents feel that staff are, ‘honest’ and approach them with concerns about their child with tact and diplomacy, with the young person’s development and outcomes central to discussions. The manager and senior team are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the service and are continually striving to improve to ensure consistently positive outcomes for young people. Recommendations from the previous inspection have been acted upon and new recommendations concern the organisations policy on

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Overall effectiveness

recruitment and records of sanctions, restraints and supervision.

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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

 record the option has been made available for young people to be examined after a restraint by a registered nurse or medical practitioner (NMS 3.16)  ensure when sanctions or restraints are used, children are encouraged to have their views recorded (NMS 3.18)  ensure the home has a record of at least two references and where possible, a statement from the referee as to their opinion of the person's suitability to work with children, for each person working in the home (NMS 16.3)  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 outstanding .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from highly individualised support enabling them to make exceptional progress in all aspects of their lives. They enjoy improved confidence, self-esteem and an excellent understanding of their abilities. Each young person is unreservedly valued and respected as an individual and targeted support enables young people to challenge themselves, strive for, and achieve greater independence. Active promotion of all aspects of physical and emotional health ensures young people have a thorough understanding of healthy lifestyles and what this means for them. Young people’s health needs are addressed in consultation with parents and where appropriate medical professionals ensuring consistency of care.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Attendance at school is excellent and young people are progressing, and achieving in line with their peers. Those who have reached school leaving age are considering their next steps with personalised support. Transition workshops to empower parents and young people during the moving on process have proved successful. They are a valued resource to ensure as stress free as possible move to independence or adult services.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy socialising with friends where appropriate when using the service and careful consideration is given to groupings of young people. Those who struggle with transitions are supported to manage the change and staff are sensitive to these young people’s particular needs and communicate effectively what is happening and when. Young people are able to access a wide range of activities in line with their individual plan that considers social, emotional and learning needs. While using the service young people develop a wide range of practical skills for independent living, such as cooking meals alongside learning essential self-care and when appropriate social skills. A robust independent living plan supports young people who are moving onto adult placements which far exceeds the requirements and expectations of a short breaks service.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from positive and constructive relationships with staff who are in tune with young people’s individual needs. Extremely comprehensive placement plans detail all aspects of the young person’s care over the whole day. These include individual’s communication style and exact responses staff should give to certain phrases and behaviours. This approach ensures young people benefit from consistent boundaries in a caring environment. Those undertaking the ‘Residential Learning Programme’ benefit from attainable well planned targets and dedicated staff support to achieve them. Progress is documented and celebrated, no matter how small. This can include being able to prepare part of a meal to shopping completely independently. Reviews ensure targets are appropriate and new aims agreed to ensure all young people are encouraged to be as independent as possible. Creative and thorough planning ensures each young person’s stay meets the aims of their

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Quality of care

plans. Careful preparation ensures there are no breaks in the day that can cause distress to young people.

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Quality of care

Staff consistently have very high aspirations for all young people in their care. Staff support educational placements with robust communication between the service and school to form plans and targets. Young people who are at or approaching school leaving age are encouraged into further education to improve their outcomes and life chances. Staff provide young people and their families with the support needed to ensure the transitions are as seamless as possible.

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Quality of care

Medication is stored appropriately and there is a thorough system to ensure safety when administering. Regular contact with health professionals and parents ensure that staff have the most up-to-date medical information for each young person, and they gain permission to administer medication from medical practitioners. In case of emergency, there are several qualified first aiders on site at all times.

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Quality of care

The building is spacious with areas for privacy or group interaction and has accessibility and safety in mind. A homely feel is maintained whilst catering to the learning needs of young people, such as workstations in the kitchen. The soft furnishings in bedrooms are chosen by young people from the ‘pick n mix’ trolley to personalise their space whilst staying. Many have made nameplates for their doors to continue the home from home feel.

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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 while using the service and that staff keep them safe. Staff understand young people’s individual vulnerabilities and do all they can to protect them from abuse and harm whilst enabling independence appropriate to each young person’s needs. Staff are confident in processes to follow should they be concerned for a young person’s safety or welfare and are aware of child protection procedures. Young people very rarely go missing from care but staff are aware what to do should this happen and files contain up-to-date photographs of young people alongside individualised missing from care plans. Thoughtful planning and consultation with parents assesses individuals’ ability to manage personal freedom within the service. This allows those young people who can cope to have key fobs in order to independently access all parts of the building and grounds. Thus ensuring their freedom is not compromised by the need to keep others safe. This alongside

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Safeguarding children and young people

other robust and creative risk assessments ensures young people are able to enjoy age-appropriate and needs led activities.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Highly individualised plans promote and reward positive and appropriate behaviour. Sanctions are not used as young people are encouraged to reflect on their behaviour and consider how responses can be different. Where unwanted behaviour continues this is managed consistently in line with their individual plans. The ‘WOW’ board celebrates the successes, no matter how small, of all young people using the service. Due to comprehensive and consistent behaviour management plans, restraint is very rarely required, and only to protect safety. The volume kept to record restraint and sanctions does not contain all recommended information though. Currently this does not have a negative impact on young people due to the rarity of restraint and that sanctions are not used within the service.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are protected as far as possible from fire and other hazards as a result of thorough checks and procedures, including individual fire risk assessments. Fire escape signs are in different communication formats, reinforcing to young people what to do if the alarm sounds. The organisation’s recruitment policy is thorough and ensures young people are protected from harm by robust personnel checks; however the same level of scrutiny is not applied to internal candidates, as only one new reference is sought and previous information within the organisation on the applicants’ good character relied upon.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are outstanding .

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Leadership and management

The service meets and exceeds the aims and objectives that are set out in the Statement of Purpose and staff fully understand the functions and ethos of the service. The young people’s guide is friendly and appropriate and available in two formats, depending on communication needs. The committed management and senior team are continually striving to improve, and effectively run the service. The service demonstrates excellent multi-agency working and close relationships with parents and carers to improve outcomes for young people. Responses to complaints are prompt and used to improve the service. There is a clear commitment from the management and senior team to improve the service in consultation with parents and carers. This is through many forms, such as, direct communication, questionnaires and the parent’s forum ensuring a needs led service, which listens to the views of its users.

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Leadership and management

Young people benefit from being cared for by a consistent, competent and enthusiastic staff team who are positive about their roles and enjoy their work. The staff team benefit from high quality and comprehensive training with needs identified in yearly appraisals. Staff receive regular challenging and evaluative supervision although the time and length of this is not recorded. The records do indicate however, a wide range of areas are discussed, suggesting supervision is of a suitable length.

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Leadership and management

The management and senior team have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the service through effective and evaluative weekly monitoring of the building and records. There is evidence to show how they have chased records that have not been provided by external agencies. The positive impact the service has on the young people in their care is also considered.

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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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