Children's Home run by PIC Children’s Services in St Helens

Unique reference number SC022438 Inspection date 24/06/2013 Inspector Maria McGranaghan Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 14/02/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is operated by a private company and provides care and accommodation for one young person 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

Young people live in a safe, caring and structured environment that consistently supports progress in all aspects of their lives. Young people achieve outstanding outcomes in education, healthy lifestyles, safety and emotional resilience while making a positive contribution within the community.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are protected in the home. They are positive about the care they receive and have formed good relationships with the dedicated staff team. Young people succeed in a home that provides a safe and nurturing foundation.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people benefit from well planned and individualised care. Staff work together with a range of external services, and this ensures young people get the right help, guidance and support they need to make significant changes in their lives. Likewise, effective placement plans ensure that young people are cared for consistently and in line with their individual needs.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are valued by a dedicated and enthusiastic staff team. Consistent staff supervision and training ensure that the good standards of childcare practice in the home are maintained. The skilled and experienced staff team, which is qualified to National Vocational Qualification at level 3 or above, provides consistent quality of care tailored to the individual needs of young people.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is efficiently managed with a strong emphasis on providing a good standard of child-centred practice. Monitoring systems are in place and ensure that all aspects of the home are suitably scrutinised. Likewise, robust procedures are in place to ensure young people’s safety is suitably managed and their well-being protected at all times. Young people's safety is prioritised within the home.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is currently run by an experienced acting manager. An application to become the home’s permanent manager has been received by Ofsted and is currently being processed.

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Overall effectiveness

Despite these strengths there are areas for improvement. Although the home has recently been fully refurbished there are a few snagging issues to be resolved, such as a sticking door, missing skirting board and a house number. Likewise, some records, such as the placement plan and key-work sessions, do not contain the young people’s views or signature. Consequently, it is not clear how involved young people are in the development and review of their plan and the work undertaken to recognise and meet individual need. As a result two recommendations are made at this inspection.

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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 children and young people are encouraged to read their files, other than confidential third party information, and to correct errors and add personal statements (NMS 22.5)  ensure the home provides a comfortable and homely environment and is well maintained. Specifically all outstanding work as part of the home's refurbishment is fully completed. (NMS 10.3)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for young people are outstanding .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make excellent progress in education, emotional resilience and developing trusting relationships with staff. Residential care plans are developed in partnership with external services and used in order to consistently inform practice. Likewise, regular key-work sessions and consultation meetings ensure young people’s views are listened to and valued by the staff. Consequently, young people receive the right support and guidance to achieve in their day-to-day lives.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from full-time, well planned and supported education. Personal education plans are in place and this outlines the support required to assist young people to achieve their very best. Consequently, mentors and special educational needs coordinators work hand in hand with the home in order to provide young people with individually tailored support packages. As a result, attendance and attainment have excelled and young people are very enthusiastic about their education. Young people benefit from effective and consistent health care. The health care plan provides details from birth to the present day and includes a summary of all practitioner appointments. Regular consultation with health professionals supported by keyworker sessions ensure young people have a good understanding of issues raised and this helps to support them to make informed decisions in their life.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Planned and unplanned activities take place within the home. Young people regularly attend the youth club, the park, friends’ homes, and have days out with staff. Individual interests are promoted and this ensures young people’s personal aspirations are valued and supported.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from exceptionally well-planned contact with friends and family. Staff work hard to develop close links with families who may have previously found contact difficult, and involve them where appropriate in the overall planning of the young people’s care. Detailed placement plans ensure contact only takes place with those with whom it has been agreed and arrangements are reviewed regularly.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff encourage young people to develop independence skills in accordance with their developmental age and abilities. Thorough assessments highlight individual tasks for young people to develop independent skills. Similarly, keyworker sessions help to ensure that appropriate steps are taken to maximise individual potential. This person-centred approach assists young people to prepare for adulthood and equips them with essential life skills.

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Quality of care

Young people thrive in a stable, nurturing and supportive environment. Staff demonstrate a strong commitment to young people and this is evident in the relationships they have established. Young people and staff enjoy appropriate banter and are clearly relaxed in each other’s company.

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Quality of care

Young people know how to complain. Information is provided at a level understandable to young people and this assists them to access the procedure easily. Complaints are well managed. Outcomes are thoroughly recorded and include the comments and opinions of young people. Staff liaise with parents and placing social workers to ensure that any concerns raised by young people are shared and equally evaluated. The transparency in this approach ensures young people’s views and opinions are met with high regard.

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Quality of care

Young people are encouraged to demonstrate socially acceptable behaviour. Individual behaviour management plans supported by risk assessments identify triggers for negative behaviour and effective strategies for positive behaviour management. Methods such as praise and reward encourage young people’s participation and have proved to be successful. As a result, sanctions are appropriately used and assist young people to accept the consequence of their behaviour.

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Quality of care

Young people’s care is well planned. Individual working files provide important information about young people and are an excellent quick reference tool. Likewise, placement plans are in place and recognise young people as individuals with different needs, backgrounds, interests and views. They ensure that young people receive an individual service designed to meet their personal needs, cultural background and personal identity including gender, faith, disability and sexual orientation. Furthermore, regular key-work sessions identify key areas of work to assist young people to understand and come to terms with their life circumstances. However, not all young people routinely review or comment on the work undertaken with them. Encouraging young people to record their views enables them to feel empowered and develop a sense of ownership and control about their individual circumstances.

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Quality of care

Staff effectively address young people’s educational needs through proactive relationships with partner agencies. Young people make progress and this is demonstrated by improved reading and comprehension since their admission to the home. Young people’s accomplishment demonstrates the commitment and effort of a focused and child-centred team.

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Quality of care

Young people live in a spacious home that blends into the residential area and has recently been completely refurbished. Young people are central to making the house into their home and proudly display photographs, drawings and comments around the home. However, as a result of a full refurbishment there are some areas of work which are incomplete, for example, missing skirting board, sticking door and the house number of the home. Consequently, the appearance of the home is compromised by the delay in addressing these issues.

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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’s safety is well managed within the home. Staff receive regular training and supervision in order to suitably manage risk-taking behaviours. Appropriate procedures are in place and ensure where concerns are raised the appropriate action is taken without delay. The staff are vigilant at monitoring young people and clearly record any matters of concern as routine practice. Likewise, risk assessments are undertaken in partnership with parents and placing social workers and clearly encapsulate individual risk factors. This practice ensures that the correct level of supervision and support is made available to young people at all times. Consequently a seamless approach to the management of young people’s safety and welfare is embedded within the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people rarely engage in risk-taking behaviours such as being missing from home. However, clear procedural guidance is in place including a joint protocol with the Local Safeguarding Children Board and parents to ensure immediate action is taken should a young person’s safety become compromised. The proactive practice within the home ensures a highly consistent approach to all safeguarding matters. The staff support a zero-tolerance approach to bullying in the home. Young people are provided with good information and guidance to ensure their safety is maintained at all times. As a result, young people feel confident that should a concern arise, staff will respond quickly and effectively.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff receive appropriate training in order to appropriately manage physical intervention within the home. Robust policies and procedures ensure that staff are clear that physical intervention is only used to prevent a young person harming themselves or others. Techniques such as diversion and redirection are consistently applied and are a preferred method in the home. Consequently, there has been no use of physical intervention within the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home employs a robust recruitment procedure that ensures young people are looked after by staff who are appropriately checked in order to work in the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff promote young people’s on-going protection by undertaking regular fire drills and service tests, making sure that all faults are efficiently addressed. Clear evidence highlights good monitoring of all systems within the home including the appropriate storage, administration and recording of medication. Likewise, staff have received appropriate training to ensure visitors’ identity is suitably verified in order to protect the young people.

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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

Young people live in a home where staff are committed to meeting their individual needs. The home meets the aims and objectives in the Statement of Purpose, and young people, families and social workers are clear about the service and support the home provides.

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Leadership and management

Internal and external monitoring systems are improved and provide the home with a clear approach to the overall monitoring of care. Detailed information highlights areas for development, and the acting manager’s action plan details the methods used to enhance the service. The acting manager makes good use of reflective practice, and the views of external services and families are regularly sought and inform the continued development of the home.

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Leadership and management

The home employs a strong committed staff team who are suitably qualified, having obtained the National Vocational Qualification at level 3. The training of staff at this level ensures that they are suitably qualified in the care and management of young people. Staff receive suitable support from the acting manager. Supervision takes place regularly and serves to identify training needs and personal development targets.

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Leadership and management

The acting manager and staff demonstrate commitment to delivering good childcare practice tailored to the individual and personal needs of the young people they look after. The effectiveness of this approach is measurable in the good progress young people make from their initial starting point.

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Leadership and management

The acting manager is aware of the procedure for notifying Ofsted of relevant incidents and has been consistent in the reporting of all incidents occurring in the home. This practice ensures that information is shared with the regulatory agency in order that the actions and outcomes for young people can be suitably assessed.

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Leadership and management

The home provides good standards of care and shows the capacity to improve. The acting manager and staff demonstrate a commitment to delivering practice that aims to stimulate and assist in the development of young people. The effectiveness of this approach is evident in the achievements young people make.

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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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