Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children‟s Services (2) Limited in Staffordshire

Unique reference number SC398481 Inspection date 23/08/2012 Inspector Trevor Hall Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 23/01/2012 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 part of a range of children's services within a private care organisation. It is registered to accommodate four young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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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

The staff team fully fulfils its responsibility to provide care and protection which, in turn, helps young people to feel and stay safe. The leadership team is ambitious and motivated to improve and decision making is always child-focused. Close rigorous monitoring of the quality of care means managers have a clear understanding of the strengths and the weaknesses within the home. Proactive and imaginative support provides young people with every opportunity to develop and achieve physically, emotionally, vocationally and socially.

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Overall effectiveness

Safeguarding young people's welfare is placed at the highest priority in terms of both the health and safety of the environment and promoting their physical and mental well-being. Very effective internal and external monitoring processes provide continuous quality assurance which helps to maintain the home's outstanding standard of care and assists in promoting the ongoing improvement of the service.

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Overall effectiveness

The excellent, trusting and sincere relationships observed between young people and staff are based on mutual respect and honesty. Young people receive excellent ongoing care and support from a care team that is dedicated, hardworking and committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for them. The home has an energetic, motivated and well-qualified manager, who leads by example and is ambitious to achieve the best possible outcomes for the young people in her care. Rigorous monitoring of care delivery, through well-maintained recording systems ensures that both strengths and weaknesses are identified and effective remedial action is taken.

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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 are making outstanding progress educationally, socially and emotionally because they receive individualised assistance through robust assessments and care plans. For example, young people are fully supported to access social activities both on site and in the local community and skills are developed and valued.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people achieve positive outcomes and are provided with high quality care within a warm, caring, nurturing environment with firm and consistent boundaries. Young people are supported to develop their knowledge, skills and independence through practical and meaningful activities, for example shopping for and preparing meals. These are essential later life skills.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's attendance and educational attainment are excellent, which has done much to improve their self-image and build up their emotional resilience. Staff maximise every opportunity to help young people engage in education. This supportive approach enables young people to build their knowledge and skills. It also helps them to develop the values and skills they need to help them stay fully engaged in their education.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's health, including physical, emotional, and psychological health, is actively supported. Healthy eating is actively encouraged and young people know and understand the benefits of eating vegetables and fruit. Young people are encouraged to help staff prepare meals as part of the work being completed around healthy eating. Young people enjoy working with staff making meals. Young people are encouraged to develop self-awareness about the benefits of good personal hygiene. This helps to increase young people's self-esteem and self-image.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Social diversity is demonstrated well through day-to-day care. Young people are provided with role models that explicitly emphasise the equal value of each individual. This enables young people to develop a positive self-view; they form attachments and develop emotional resilience and knowledge including an understanding of their background.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff have in-depth knowledge and understanding of the complex individual needs of young people in their care. They support young people to make outstanding progress based on their assessed abilities and needs. Each young person is supported by a key worker who supports them from initial assessment through to preparation for adulthood.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The home promotes a positive ethos that fully embraces diversity and difference. As a result, young people begin to truly appreciate the significance of differing values and are actively learning to have respect for each other.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy extremely good relationships with staff, based on honesty and mutual respect, which enable them to form meaningful and sustainable attachments. They clearly benefit from the security and structure that exists within this home. The extremely competent staff team has created a homely, nurturing environment that has well-defined boundaries. These boundaries are consistent and help to give young people a feeling of security without denying each young person's individuality.

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Quality of care

Young people in the home are appropriately placed there. Young people's needs are thoroughly assessed and care plans outline how these needs are met. Care plans contain detailed information which is updated appropriately and includes all relevant information regarding young people’s needs. This ensures that staff can deliver care that focuses on the individual needs of the young person. Young people’s needs and development are reviewed regularly in the light of the care they have received and as a means of acknowledging the progress they have made. Staff, young people and, where appropriate, their families are assisted to contribute effectively to such case reviews. This ensures that all decisions are universally known and understood and can be effectively implemented into the daily care planning arrangements. Young people confirm they are encouraged to contribute to their review and planned care.

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Quality of care

Young people are supported and encouraged to attend and achieve in their education. This approach not only enables young people to build up knowledge and skills, but also helps to develop values and attitudes they need to help them to stay fully engaged in their education. The management and staff promote appropriate pride in this high level of attendance and attainment, recognising the difficulties the young people have experienced in sustaining education placements prior to living at the home. Staff are committed to supporting the young people’s education and liaise regularly with schools to ensure that positive outcomes are achieved. Young people speak positively of their education and the support and encouragement they receive.

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Quality of care

Young people live in an extremely healthy environment where their health needs are identified and services provided to meet them. Files contain health information and details of the child's general practitioner, dentist and optician. Staff support and encourage young people to access external health professionals in line with their individual needs. Records of appointments with health professionals are clearly maintained, ensuring the physical, emotional and mental health needs of young people are met. Young people are supported to understand and take responsibility for maintaining their own physical well-being. Young people are able to learn about healthy eating, including having opportunities to prepare their own meals. Equally, young people are being actively encouraged to participate in a wide range of physical activities, for example walking, football and swimming, to help them sustain a healthy lifestyle.

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Quality of care

The arrangements for dealing with medication are safely and effectively managed to ensure young people receive medication important to their health. Health plans are tailored to individual needs. The staff team implements positive behaviour strategies to support young people in developing skills to manage their emotions and to work in partnership with designated practitioners. Risk assessments are comprehensively developed so that the right level of protection is in place. These are regularly reviewed as risk levels change.

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Quality of care

Staff communicate extremely well with young people which results in them being able to respond effectively; this ensures that their needs and wishes are well known. Young people have regular meetings with their key worker to discuss progress and any issues of concern. They are encouraged and supported to make decisions about their lives in line with their individual needs. As a result, they actively influence the way the home is run. Young people feel valued and take appropriate ownership of their placement. They are very well presented and have appropriate clothing and belongings to fully meet their needs. They receive pocket money and appropriate allowances to help purchase clothing and toiletries.

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Quality of care

Young people live in a light, airy home which provides sufficient space to meet their needs. All parts of the home are decorated to a high standard and young people have good quality furniture in their bedrooms and ample storage for personal clothes and belongings. The home enjoys good links to local facilities and is within easy reach of good transport links. The home also has a vehicle which means that young people have convenient transport for activities, shopping and contact visits with family.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is outstanding at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people experience a safe, positive and encouraging atmosphere which is forged through an excellent relationship between staff and young people. Proactive and creative safeguarding practices are in place and young people confirm they feel safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people confirm that staff use physical interventions only as a last resort and only when absolutely necessary to ensure the safety of all. Young people also confirm that the use of physical interventions is very infrequent. Most issues are resolved by the application of skilful staff support and the sensitive application of conflict resolution techniques. The home’s manager monitors each intervention, ensuring that the intervention is necessary, applied correctly and comprehensively recorded. He also ensures that young people are aware of their right to complain, receive any medical attention if required or requested and that social workers and, where appropriate, parents are fully informed. Young people are encouraged to openly talk about the event in order to debrief with the staff and this is fully documented. Management and staff promote an exceptional culture that ensures young people feel listened to and always respected as individuals. The staff team

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Safeguarding children and young people

does not use sanctions very often with young people. When a sanction is necessary, young people are afforded opportunities to comment in an appropriate log book that links to any imposed sanction. The staff team is fully aware of their duties to safeguard young people and know of the external agencies they can approach independently of the home. The staff team ensures risk assessments are in place for assessing all possible risks faced by young people, especially activities that can involve time spent away from the home. These are comprehensive in their levels of detail and demonstrate that the staff team takes all reasonable steps to manage the risk without compromising growth or development.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff receive regular and wide-ranging training in safeguarding. As a result, they demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the action they should take should they have any concerns about a young person's safety or well-being. Effective working with external partners, such as the Local Authority Designated Officer, means that the staff’s knowledge and understanding of child protection is continually being developed. Young people rarely go missing but, should the need arise, effective procedures that safeguard young people from further harm are well established and known by staff. These include the full recognition of specific areas of needs and vulnerabilities young people have.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has a vigorous health and safety regime, which ensures that all fire precautions, drills and equipment servicing are conducted routinely, consistently and within timescales set by the relevant regulations. Good staffing levels further help to keep young people safe and reduce any risk of harm. The organisation’s effective recruitment procedures ensure the careful selection recruitment and retention of staff. This ensures young people are safe and have a staff team that knows them well. New staff are comprehensively vetted prior to their deployment in the home and before having unsupervised access to any young person. These measures ensure that young people are kept extremely safe.

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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 home's Registered Manager provides excellent leadership and support to the staff group. This means they provide an outstanding quality care tailored to address the individual needs of the young people living in the home. Open and honest dialogue helps young people learn from their mistakes. Consequently, young people make significant changes in the way they react to others and in the choices that they make. The promotion of equality and diversity is exceedingly good. There is strong, visible leadership which promotes high quality care and positive outcomes for young people.

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Leadership and management

Staff feel well supported through a clear management structure, which involves them in every stage of the decision making process. This structure is successful at meeting the aims of the service to foster social awareness and mutual respect within the home and wider community. It achieves this by encouraging a happy and caring atmosphere in an extremely professional and motivating environment. Staff report development and training opportunities are varied and readily available. The manager and staff team are very well qualified and sufficient in number to meet the needs of young people.

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Leadership and management

Regular meetings, supervisions and appraisals ensure practice improves further and that the focus remains on young people’s needs and development. Consistent and regular supervision, coupled with team meetings, provide staff with excellent opportunities to discuss their role, their professional development and the impact that working with children with complex needs has upon them.

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Leadership and management

An excellent Statement of Purpose outlines the aims and objectives of the service. The home is operating in line with this statement and the principles are understood by all interested parties. Young people benefit from a consistent, enthusiastic and committed staff team that focuses on their needs and welfare. As a result, young people’s progress is clearly evident and noted by local authorities who use the service. The financial viability of the provider is clearly evidenced in the high level of resources committed to the home. Young people confirm that they are treated with the utmost respect and dignity and are supported by staff to overcome significant and complex issues.

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Leadership and management

All staff members comment positively about the manager’s commitment, child- centred approach, staff support and clear monitoring processes. Clear lines of accountability in the home have enabled a stable, consistent and structured environment to be established. The home has a very good system for dealing effectively with young people’s complaints. Young people confirmed their awareness of the home’s complaints system and stated they would use it with confidence. Since the home was last inspected three complaints have been received.

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Leadership and management

Staff are provided with quality induction and further training, appropriate support and relevant resources to assist them in promoting the developmental needs of young people. The excellent training covers all mandatory areas, such as safeguarding, behaviour management and first aid, as well as any specific training indicated by the needs of individual young people. The staff team works proactively to help young people to achieve positive outcomes, overcome barriers and to enhance their well-being. Good staff communication ensures that staff are consistent in the care they provide, which ensures young people's individual needs are well met. Young people take an active part in the running of the home and they are encouraged to make their views known, through discussions with staff and by attending house meetings. Staff ensure that a safe, secure and nurturing environment is maintained which assists young people to make real progress and to

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Leadership and management

The manager has established rigorous internal quality assurance monitoring systems. It is clear that she checks all reporting systems regularly and comments if any record fails to meet either the home's policies and procedures or national regulations. Regular internal monitoring reports are produced which help the home to develop its practice and ensure that young people are receiving the care and support they need. Regular Regulation 33 visits take place to provide additional quality assurance mechanisms and involve consulting young people wherever possible. The managers have a strong commitment to meeting young people’s needs. The levels of progress young people have made despite their complex needs is a testament to the impact the managers have made.

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Leadership and management

A comprehensive development plan outlines the aims and objectives for the year with clear reviews to chart progress. Key documents, policies and procedures are regularly revisited to ensure practice is current, relevant to young people’s needs and accountable. Records are clear, up to date and stored securely, and would contribute significantly to the young people’s understanding of their life in care, if they choose to access these documents. The registered person notifies the appropriate authorities about all significant events relating to the protection of young people accommodated in the home. There was one recommendation at the home's last inspection. This referred to a tripping hazard and poor decoration in the home's boot room area. Both issues have now been fully resolved, with new flooring having been laid and the area being re-decorated.

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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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