Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Rochdale

Unique reference number SC456419 Inspection date 15/08/2013 Inspector Helen Walker Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 18/02/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This service is a privately run children's home. The home provides care and accommodation for one young person with behavioural and/or emotional difficulties. The home is also registered as a school with the Department for Education.

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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

This is the home's first inspection under new ownership and registration with Ofsted in February 2013. The manager is in the process of registration with Ofsted and has applied to be the Registered Manager of the home. She has substantial relevant management experience and provides effective and strong leadership to the staff team.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people receive good quality care in a homely environment. A caring and experienced staff team are aware of young people's individual needs and provide them with consistency and continuity of care. Young people said they like the staff; they feel safe and consider the home is a good place to live. A social care professional said they consider young people are well looked after and that staff meet their needs.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff actively engage with young people to ensure their education and health needs are well considered and promoted. Young people's school attendance is good and they are encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle. Staff successfully support young people to give up smoking and promote their wellbeing. The home has effective partnership working with a range of professional agencies. Social workers comment on the very positive level of communication with the home.

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Overall effectiveness

The manager is proactive in supporting young people to maintain links with those that are important to them such as contact with family and friends. Young people gain skills for independence whilst at the home which helps them as they move towards adulthood. One recommendation has been made as a result of this inspection to further promote the wellbeing of young people. This relates to young people's information records.

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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 registered person works with the responsible authority to ensure effective sharing of information held in the home's records about the child and information held in the responsible authorities records. With particular regard to obtaining and confirming the accuracy of records obtained from the responsible authority. (NMS 22.7)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people of leaving care age benefit from staff who successfully support them to move from the home to suitable adult accommodation. Young people gain confidence and skills towards adult life. For example, they are able to carry out routine household task, prepare meals and engage in further education.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people currently living at the home have been here for a short period of time but have established positive daily routines. Young people present as settled and said they like living in the home. They also talk about wanting to engage in education at the start of the new school term. Staff are keen to promote young people's school attendance and have effective contact with the provider's education professionals. The manager establishes young people's school history and ensures personal educational plans are developed so that staff know how to support young people's learning.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's sense of identity and belonging is promoted by staff through contact with their families. They benefit from staff who understand the importance of maintaining strong family links. Young people are pleased with the help they receive to maintain this contact. Risk assessments enable staff to manage young people's access to social networking sites to support safe contact with their friends.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Strong links with a range of health agencies means young people have access to good health advice and support. The local looked after children's nurse is available and readily visits the home to undertake young people's specific health assessments and provide health promotion guidance. Young people have good information and access to support anti-smoking and drug and alcohol awareness. This level of contact supports young people to establish sound health care routines. The dangers of smoking are stressed by staff and young people now work towards giving up smoking.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people said they enjoy the activities available to them at the home. They especially enjoy roller skating, ice skating, singing and drama groups. Staff have arranged for young people to attend courses relating to singing, which the young people said they are really looking forward to attending.

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Quality of care

Young people have good relationships with staff. Interaction between staff and young people was seen to be warm and caring. Young people said 'I like it here, love the staff.' Another young person noted staff to be 'the most epic friends, well- mannered and logical.'

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Quality of care

Staff listen to young people so that their views are heard and acted on. For example, young people's request for a small pet to be kept in the home was fully considered and an agreement reached that enabled this to happen. Staff are proactive to ensure young people have access to an independent advocate. An advocate talked very positively about their contact with the young people and staff at the home. Young people said they are aware of the complaints process and feel confident to use this if necessary.

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Quality of care

Staff are successful to promote young people's educational achievement. The majority of young people receive education within the home's school provision. Their attendance is excellent which assists them to undertake national exams with predicted grades of good or better. This level of participation means young people benefit from learning and preparation for working life or further education.

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Quality of care

Young people's placement plans take account of their assessed and individual needs. Plans are prepared with the involvement of the young people and their social worker. This means staff have a clear understanding of their role to promote young people's wellbeing. Young people's more specific needs in relation to religion, their beliefs and interests are fully taken account of. Staff are proactive to seek out young people's choice of worship and establish routines for their attendance.

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Quality of care

Staff use individual behaviour management plans to help young people develop acceptable behaviours and positive relationships. There is regular and on-going contact with in-house psychology professionals who visit the home and help staff develop strategies to manage young people's behaviour positively.

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Quality of care

Young people live in a home that is well maintained and comfortably furnished. It is located in a residential area with easy access to local amenities such as schools, shops and leisure facilities. A social worker said, ‘a real positive of the home is the atmosphere and that is just like a family home.'

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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 said they feel safe and well cared for at the home. Staff are confident about their safeguarding responsibilities and understand the action to take should a safeguarding situation arise. Staff undertake child protection training, including training relating to child sexual exploitation. This helps to keep staff well informed and assists them to protect and promote young people's welfare. Professionals are confident in staff's ability to keep young people safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There have been no episodes of young people missing from home. Should this happen then staff follow the local police protocol for young people missing from care. Good partnership relationships with safeguarding agencies include regular contact with local police officers. Staff work with the agencies to implement preventative strategies to support young people's wellbeing.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people benefit from staff who are positive role models and support them to develop self-respect and respect for others. Young people's behaviour is managed in a positive way and there has been no use of physical intervention or the need for sanctions. Young people's negative behaviour is quickly addressed and discussion takes place at the time of the event or in key work session. This helps young people to understand why this behaviour is unacceptable. Staff are familiar with young people's placement plans and risk assessments so that they provide care to meet their needs.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The provider adopts a robust procedure to employing new staff and use safer recruitment practice. This ensures, as far as possible, that young people who come to live at the home are looked after by suitable people. Good health and safety arrangements enable staff to maintain a safe, pleasant and secure family type home for 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

This is the first inspection of this home since its registration with Ofsted under new company ownership. As a newly registered home there are no previous recommendations or requirements from previous inspections.

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Leadership and management

The manager has responsibilities for this home and two other single occupancy homes owned by this company. They have applied to Ofsted to be the Registered Manager of this and the other two homes. The manager is suitably qualified and very experienced in her role and this assists her to provide good leadership and effective management of the home. To support the manager, an experienced first-line manager deputises in her absence.

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Leadership and management

Young people benefit from a stable and experienced staff team and the majority have an appropriate childcare qualification. Therefore, young people have consistency and continuity of care from staff who understand their needs. Staff said they feel well supported by the management team and they receive regular supervision and training relevant to the needs of young people. A range of training is provided and this includes a restorative approach, sexual health and engaging young people.

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Leadership and management

The staff team are energetic, motivated and their efforts enable young people to make good progress at the home. Young people present as being happy and readily engage with responsive staff. Young people are given firm but fair boundaries which help them to develop their relationships with the staff. Young people said, 'I like it here.' There is successful inter-agency working and placing authorities are very positive about the level of communication and information from the home. The manager ensures any significant events concerning young people are promptly notified to Ofsted as required by regulation.

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Leadership and management

The home maintains detailed records about the care and welfare of young people. Young people have staff support to engage and contribute to their file records so that they have an understanding about their care and time spent at the home. However, accurate background history including a chronology is not routinely obtained from placing authorities. Therefore, staff are not always aware of young people's past experiences and how they impact on the care they receive.

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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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