Children's Home run by Brighton and Hove City Council in Brighton and Hove

Unique reference number SC044880 Inspection date 02/10/2012 Inspector Gaynor Moorey Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 26/03/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

Young people with a learning difficulty stay at this home that is operated by a local authority. Up to seven young people can be accommodated for respite or permanent care placements.

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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

This inspection of the home found that the service provides an outstanding standard of care to young people who have short breaks and shared care packages. Relationships between staff and young people are positive, caring and supportive. Staff are knowledgeable and manage the young people's complex needs and challenging behaviour. Robust and detailed systems are in place to assess, monitor and review care needs ensuring that care delivered is of a very high standard.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are provided a wealth of varied activities which promotes enjoyment and learning in all aspects of their lives. The staff ensure young people are able to calculated risks but are safe during their stays at the home. Staff are well experienced in communication skills enabling young people to have their choices or concerns heard.

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Overall effectiveness

A strong management team ensure the consistent practice at the home. Support to all staff is professional but understanding of the issues staff face. Staff are provided with regular supervision and training in order to provide the young people with a safe and secure environment to both and stay in.

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Overall effectiveness

At the last inspection the home received one recommendation to look at producing and sending Ofsted Regulation 34 monitoring reports. This has been met with a new monitoring system in place.

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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 make excellent progress in many areas of their lives as a result of staying at the service. This is as a result of highly individualised support, which enables them to have improved confidence, self-esteem and a positive understanding of their abilities. Young people are supported to challenge themselves and try new experiences to support greater independence. Promotion of all aspects of health and well-being ensures young people have an understanding of healthy lifestyles and what this means for them. Young people’s health and physical needs are addressed with close consultation with parents and medical professionals ensuring continuity of care and that individual needs are met.

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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. Close working with education staff ensures continuity in social learning, behaviour management and health care while using the service.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy an extensive variety of activities. This includes using the facilities at the home such as the garden where they can cycle, go kart, use play equipment, and within the home learn from the stimulating toys and technology such as the interactive touch screen. Young people also use the local community and attend local clubs, swimming, bowling and horse riding. In holiday time the young people also go on day trips to cultural sites, zoos and farms, theme parks, canoeing, cinema and shopping. Young people also have a camping trip which gives them an excellent opportunity to learn and experience new things. All young people are encouraged to take part in new experiences at their own speed. Young people enjoy strong links with the local community through activities such as going to local cultural event and attending football matches at the local football stadium.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people receive excellent and carefully thought out support to develop their independent living skills in conjunction with their age and understanding. Support offered to young people and families when in transition and preparing to move on to adult services is excellent; with staff finding the right level of support for each individual young person's needs.

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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 outstanding positive relationships with staff who are focused on individual needs. Placement plan detail varies depending on the care package of individual young people and how often they access the service. All include how the young person is to be cared for from arrival to the time they leave. Young people's views and opinions are valued and encouraged regarding their time spent at the home. While some young people may not be able to partake in formal meetings or key-work sessions, the staff have a detailed knowledge of how each young person voices their opinions and feelings and which is their preferred method of communication. The approach to planning is excellent and ensures young people benefit from consistent boundaries in a homely, caring environment. Progress, especially for young people who access the service frequently, is documented and celebrated, no matter how small. Regular reviews ensure care packages and groupings are still

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Quality of care

appropriate and used as a tool to update care plans. Careful planning ensures each young person’s stay is as positive and rewarding as possible.

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Quality of care

All staff have high aspirations and expectations for young people in their care and support educational placements with strong communication between schools and the service. The communication through individual books and regular visits ensures consistency of care and approach, lessening the stresses that transitions can cause.

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Quality of care

Young people are supported with their individual needs, including ethnicity; these are woven through their time spent at the home. Staff and parents/carers work together to ensure time spent at the home meets the young people’s needs and enables them to get the best out of their time spent away from their own family. Excellent provision and facilities and organised activities help this to be achieved.

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Quality of care

Medication is stored appropriately and there is a comprehensive thorough system to ensure safety when receiving medication, administering and disposal. Regular contact with health professionals and parents ensures staff have the most up-to-date medical information and training for each young person’s health and medical requirements. 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 exceptionally well-resourced areas for privacy, play or group interaction. The service has a homely feel with safety and accessibility in mind. The home has continued to develop and improve its facilities to make each stay interesting, educational and comfortable for the young people.

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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

Staff understand young people’s individual needs and vulnerabilities and do all they can to protect them from abuse and harm. Staff are confident in processes to follow should they be concerned for a young person’s safety or welfare and keep comprehensive logs where appropriate. Clear procedures provide a framework for the staff to act on if they need to share concerns with safeguarding agencies. Any issues that have arisen are robustly dealt with and investigated to the highest level to ensure the safety of the young people while staying at the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people do not go missing from care but staff are aware what to do should this happen. The home has clear protocols in place to deal with a young person going missing including profiles of each young person. The staff work with older young people that may have unsupervised time in order to keep the young people safe. Young people may struggle to understand what bullying is, so the staff ensure that behaviour which may cause distress is carefully managed and that all the young people are protected. Clear and careful planning ensures that young people that spend time together have a safe and happy experience.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people have detailed behaviour management plans in place; these identify what strategies should be used to encourage positive behaviour and manage challenging situations. Individualise planning promotes and rewards positive and appropriate behaviour. Staff use sanctions appropriately and help young people understand why they are happening. Staff give young people space and time out in a constructive manner to enable young people space to calm down. This is used as a positive alternative to restraint, which is not always appropriate to use with young people using the service.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people's physical safety is protected by excellent robust risk assessments with regards to the premises, fire and activities. The approach to risk management means that young people are able to take part in activities and outings with the support they need. Young people are supported in taking part in regular fire drills, and fire equipment is checked on a routine basis.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The organisation’s recruitment policy is thorough and ensures young people are protected from harm by robust personnel checks for staff, volunteers and students completing work experience.

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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 consistently meets the aims and objectives as set out in the Statement of Purpose. Staff understand the ethos of the service and keep diversity and anti- discriminatory practice central to their work. The young people’s guide provides clear information in friendly and suitable formats.

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Leadership and management

The management team effectively runs the service and are always seeking to improve. The managers are aware of where improvements can be made and works to implement changes as necessary. The manager's monthly monitoring reflects this and other areas for improvement. The manager seeks the views of young people and their families to consider new ways of improving the service. One parent said 'Thank you for looking after my son so well. I know he is safe, warm, happy, entertained and well fed. The services gives him an experience with his peers that no-one could replicate, you are wonderful warm hearted people.' The service demonstrates strong multi-agency working to improve outcomes and excellent quality care for young people.

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Leadership and management

Young people enjoy being cared for by a consistent and enthusiastic staff team who are well trained. The comprehensive training package includes experiential training from adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, individualised health care training alongside their mandatory training. Further areas for developments are identified through regular supervision and appraisals. New staff benefit from the newly implemented induction package. While other more established staff have recognised qualifications. Staff are positive about their roles and say they ‘really enjoy’ their work, which is reflected in their longevity of service.

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Leadership and management

Young people's records are continuing to be monitored for quality and effectiveness. The management ensure the notifications are sent in and that all relevant parties are notified. All requirements and recommendations from previous inspections have been met.

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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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