Children's Home run by Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council in Bolton

Unique reference number SC040723 Inspection date 12/04/2013 Inspector Lynn O'Driscoll Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 05/12/2012 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 is a local authority children's home offering care and accommodation for up to four children and young people of either gender 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 good .

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Overall effectiveness

Children and young people's wishes and feelings are ascertained and taken into account in all aspects of their care, and in the development of the service. They enjoy excellent relationships with the staff and their peers. Consequently, they feel and are safe, very happy and settled in this home.

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Overall effectiveness

Children and young people benefit from highly personalised care. The home demonstrates particularly good practice in meeting the needs of children and young people of both genders, different sexual orientations and diverse ages and abilities. An experienced team, good staffing ratios and the provision of a wide range of specialist services enable all the children and young people to realise their full potentials. The majority are, therefore, making extremely good progress behaviourally, socially and educationally despite their difficult past experiences.

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Overall effectiveness

There are also good arrangements in place to safeguard and promote their welfare, including very effective collaborative working with all relevant agencies.

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Overall effectiveness

The managers and staff team are genuinely committed to providing a high standard of care and to significantly improve all the children and young people's life chances. They are particularly strong and effective advocates. This has resulted in, for example, the provision of appropriate education and employment opportunities to meet assessed needs and re-establishing and maintaining positive contact arrangements. Moreover, the children and young people genuinely appreciate this.

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Overall effectiveness

The managers and staff are all very clear about the many strengths of the home and the key areas for development. Timely and appropriate action is taken to continually improve upon the services provided. In particular, they recognise that some of the systems and recording formats currently used do not fully demonstrate some of the excellent practices in place. This is reflected in the two requirements and two recommendations arising from this inspection. For example, the restraint records do not show the wide range of de-escalation techniques staff use to avoid physically intervening. Also, the missing from home records do not detail the highly sensitive discussions which take place with children and young people on their return from going missing.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure every entry in the sanction and restraint books include: details of the child's behaviour leading to the use of the measure; and, details of any methods used to avoid the need to use that measure (Regulation 17B (3)(b) and (4)(b)) 30/04/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) demonstrate that Schedule 6 monitoring includes the staff recruitment files maintained centrally. (Regulation 34, Schedule 6(8)) 30/04/2013

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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 the written records kept by the home when a child goes missing details any reasons given by the child for running away and any action taken in the light of those reasons (NMS 5.10)  ensure young people do not have access to third party information with particular regard to sanction records. (NMS 22.5)

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Outcomes for children and young people

All the children and young people are very happy and settled at this home. They fully participate in day-to-day decisions about their care and their futures. This includes involvement in complex decisions about, for example, contact arrangements. They get on really well with each other and the staff. Comments include, 'I am doing good' and, 'Everything is good here'. They say they trust and feel extremely comfortable discussing any concerns with staff, knowing they will be efficiently addressed. Consequently, they have never needed to make a formal complaint.

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Outcomes for children and young people

They like their personalised bedrooms, the healthy meals on offer and especially the current contact arrangements in place. They are, therefore, gaining a good knowledge of their background and developing a strong sense of identity and emotional resilience.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The daily life within this home enables all children and young people to gain age and ability appropriate practical and social skills needed for future successful independent living. Consequently, they are already competent in a number of relevant areas. They confirm that they are fully involved in planning the menus every week and regularly go with staff to shop for food, cook meals and help with other household chores. They are very involved in maintaining the home and have learned to plaster, paint, wallpaper and garden. They are very proud of their accommodation and have a strong sense of ownership.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The majority of children and young people are actively engaging in tailor made education programmes to suit their individual needs and abilities. Attendance is excellent and they are making good progress, especially given their starting points. Others benefit from a range of highly relevant work experiences to enable them to realise their future ambitions.

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Outcomes for children and young people

For some, offending has ceased and court orders successfully completed. Other significant risk taking behaviours, including those of a sexual nature, smoking and drugs have also ceased in this placement. Moreover, diets, personal hygiene and skin tone have demonstrably improved which increases their confidence and self-esteem. Older young people are now taking more responsibility for their own continued good health and healthy lifestyles. Examples include, making their own doctors appointments and joining local sports teams.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children and young people have positively contributed to their local community by undertaking voluntary work and charitable events. They have also made and sustained positive friendships, which all adds to their genuine sense of belonging.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Their individual interests and talents are actively encouraged and supported which further increases their confidence and competencies. One young person proudly said, 'I still like football and goal keeping and have now joined an adult team. I have also been asked to coach younger players.'

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Outcomes for children and young people

Social workers are impressed with the progress children and young people have made in this particular placement. Comments include, 'This young person is now safe and has made massive progress in the last seven months and now has aspirations for the future. Substance misuse, self harm and going missing has stopped. School attendance and contact with family is now good. Emotional well-being has improved' and, 'This young person was feral and created a lot of criminal damage on admission, but has really settled down and clearly benefits from the structure and a nurturing environment. This young person is now doing well at school too and has made some good friends in the local community.'

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

All the children and young people currently living in this home are extremely positive about the quality of care provided. They are actively involved in producing and reviewing their own placement plans so they positively engage.

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Quality of care

Unless contrary to their best interests, children and young people's wishes and feelings are always taken into account in all aspects of their care and positively acted upon. They have also recently been especially influential in deciding on the décor in the home and in the recruitment of staff across the service. Another development is that children and young people are joining in with the staff team meetings to raise any issues. This reinforces the fact that their opinions genuinely matter and are valued, which in turn increases their self-esteem and confidence.

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Quality of care

All children and young people living at this home are treated and respected as individuals in their own right. They benefit from highly individualised care to address their unique needs and personal preferences. This includes the timely provision of an excellent range of highly relevant specialist services. Moreover, the staff have established extremely effective partnership working to secure good outcomes for children and young people. One social worker wrote, 'The staff team are genuinely committed to providing individualised care and are especially good at exploring each young person's identity and sexuality.'

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Quality of care

Good health and well being is actively promoted in close partnership with the specialist nurse for looked after children. The arrangements for the storage, administration and recording of medicines are safe and effective.

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Quality of care

This service offers a wide range of constructive and stimulating educational and leisure activities every day over every school holiday. Children and young people are currently actively engaged in exploring venues and accommodation for their summer holiday.

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Quality of care

Staff have high aspirations for all the children and young people and actively challenge barriers to ensure their full participation in the local community. They are excellent and highly successful advocates. This has resulted in, for example, children and young people getting places in schools that best meet their assessed needs, school placements being maintained and constructive contact being re-established. All the children and young people's achievements are celebrated and rewarded which increases their feelings of self worth.

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Quality of care

There is excellent partnership working between this home and all the schools the children and young people attend. Feedback from teachers include, 'The staff have actively sought a collaborative approach and have demonstrated a deep understanding of this child's needs. Without the structure of this home and the close communication he would have not have maintained his position within a mainstream school' and, 'There is excellent co-operation with the school. The staff always have time to discuss any issues. They are supportive and caring within fair and appropriate boundaries. This pupil always arrives at school well presented and prepared and eager to tell us about the exciting activities he has been involved in with the staff.'

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Quality of care

Children and young people benefit from a clean, safe and very well maintained environment. An on-going programme of redecoration ensures this home is always maintained at a high standard throughout. Since the last inspection the kitchen has been completely refurbished and the lounge re-decorated. Moreover, the children and young people were actively involved. This shows they genuinely care about their environment and have a strong sense of belonging.

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Quality of care

This home also provides an extremely warm, homely and welcoming atmosphere which is particularly highlighted by visitors. A mental health practitioner commented, 'The children and young people find it an enjoyable place to be both physically and emotionally. It is a home rather than just a place to live.'

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Quality of care

This home offers a wide range of opportunities for young people, their parents and social workers, and other relevant professionals to comment on the quality of care provided. The feedback is consistently highly positive. For example, 'This team genuinely have the best interests of the children and young people at the fore and are true advocates. The management philosophy is always to keep the child achieving and motivating them to make positive decisions. Their energy is endless in their endeavour to prepare them to move on.'

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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

Overall there are good arrangements in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of all the children and young people currently living at this home. Good staffing ratios are maintained at all times and young people benefit from a very stable and experienced staff team. Individual risks are clearly identified and well managed. This enables the most vulnerable children and young people to take reasonable risks as part of their continued development. One young person said, 'The staff have done a lot for me, for example increasing my trust times.'

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Safeguarding children and young people

Children and young people are very happy and settled at this home and feel safe and secure. One young person said, 'I came to live at this home in February 2012 and I would like to say that it is a very nice place to live and I like it. I get on with the staff and the other young people here and I feel very settled'.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The excellent care and support provided to children and young people and the very effective joint arrangements in place with the local police minimises incidents of children and young people going missing. However, the records do not consistently include any reasons given by the young person for going missing and any action taken in the light of those reasons. Consequently, the specific context is unclear. For example, one young person explained, 'I am really happy and settled here and feel safe. It's just that when I am out with my mates I lose the track of time. I then decide to stay over until the next day, but I do keep in contact with the staff and tell them I am safe.'

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Safeguarding children and young people

All the team are trained in safeguarding to ensure they respond appropriately in the event of any disclosures of abuse. They have also recently had specific training on sexual exploitation and its emotional impact. This specialist and independent service praised the staff of this children's home on the innovative work they already do to keep children and young people safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Children and young people enjoy exceptionally sound relationships with the staff. Good behaviour and effort is rewarded and is having the desired effect. One child proudly announced, 'I used to be very naughty when I first came here, but now I am very good.' A social worker wrote, 'This young person previously had a chaotic lifestyle and is now settled largely due to consistent messages. The staff have assisted and supported very positive outcomes.'

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff also have exceptionally good knowledge of the individual children and young people. They are, therefore, able to recognise potential triggers and successfully diffuse challenging behaviours. Consequently, restraints have significantly decreased and are now only used to guide a child away from a unsafe situation.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The relatively few sanctions imposed are always fair, relevant and proportionate to the particular misdemeanour and carefully evaluated for their effectiveness. This is confirmed by children and young people who always have the opportunity to talk through these incidents and record their views. However, the exact behaviours resulting in the use of a sanction are not always clearly recorded nor are any de- escalation techniques used to try to avoid the need to physically intervene.

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Safeguarding children and young people

All the required health and safety certificates are in place and fire checks undertaken at the required frequencies. This ensures the environment is kept physically very safe and secure. Children and young people take part in at least monthly fire drills so they know exactly what to do in the event of a real fire. A recent external building risk assessment concluded, 'A clean bill of health. High standards are maintained throughout the property.' The last quarterly independent fire risk assessment confirmed that, 'The premises are well managed with the fire detection and emergency lighting maintained to a very high standard.'

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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

This staff team is very well respected by a wide range of external agencies. They are described as, 'Professional, child focussed, positive, enthusiastic, caring and supportive.' Comments from professionals include, 'There exists an ethos of warmth and care that is supported and facilitated through strong leadership' and, 'You should feel very proud of your team for their commitment to young people and the excellent working relationships established with other workers.'

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Leadership and management

Staff benefit from strong leadership by an extremely child-focused and passionate management team with an extensive background in social care and education. Moreover, they have a proven ability to drive continuous improvements. They ensure the home is always very well staffed to safeguard and promote the welfare of all the children and young people and to meet their unique needs and personal preferences. They also ensure the rare complaints about the home are efficiently resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant.

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Leadership and management

Children and young people are looked after by very experienced and competent staff who benefit from high quality training. 100 per cent of the staff have completed all the internal mandatory courses and successfully achieved the relevant qualifications required of their respective roles. Moreover, this service continues to fund individuals to secure higher qualifications to enhance their individual skills and further their careers. The workforce development team describe this particular staff group as having, 'An excellent commitment to continued personal development.'

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Leadership and management

This particularly stable staff team benefit from formal individual supervision at least once a month and fortnightly team meetings with very open and honest debates. This results in excellent consistency and continuity of care. Staff also say that managers are very accessible and approachable to discuss any matters at anytime. Moreover, timely annual appraisals are undertaken to fully explore continued personal development and on-going training needs.

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Leadership and management

Effective monitoring systems are in place to ensure that any shortfalls identified are efficiently addressed. However, this does not currently include scrutiny of staff files held centrally to ensure stringent recruitment procedures are always adhered to by their human resources team. This has no direct impact on the safety of children and young people as there have been no new staff in this home for a considerable period of time.

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Leadership and management

The managers are clear about the many strengths of their service and can demonstrate the very positive impact living at this home has on each child or young person. Appropriate plans are in place to address the key areas for further development. In particular, they are continuing to develop their systems to ensure they provide better documentary evidence of all the excellent practices in place.

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Leadership and management

The two recommendations made at the last inspection on 5 December 2012 have been satisfactorily addressed. Consequently, the views of children and young people have actively been sought about the staff to inform their annual appraisals. Their responses are insightful and positive. Examples include, 'Always jolly and interested in us', 'Bubbly. Always on the go' and, 'Loud but really good. She knows her stuff.' A specialist contact service will also be providing the whole staff team with a bespoke course on the 26 June 2013 to ensure they all feel confident to supervise and facilitate contact.

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Leadership and management

The home's Statement of Purpose accurately reflects the current aims, policies, practices and organisational structure. Young people are also given a user friendly and meaningful children's guide during the admission process so they understand the services provided.

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Leadership and management

Children and young people's files are securely stored. They provide an accurate and positive account of their background, progress, achievements and future goals. Children and young people actively contribute to their records and sign to acknowledge their understanding and factual accuracy. However, the entries in the sanctions book are not always on separate pages, so confidentiality is not guaranteed.

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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 and the evaluation schedule for the inspection of children's homes.

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