Children's Home run by Dove Adolescent Services Limited in Barnsley

Unique reference number SC064454 Inspection date 23/10/2013 Inspector Simon Morley Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 30/01/2013 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 privately owned children’s home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children and 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

Children and young people live in an excellent home, which has a significantly positive impact on their lives. Staff provide a nurturing and supportive environment making sure that children and young people feel safe and enjoy positive relationships with the staff. Children and young people make good progress compared to their starting points on admission. This includes health, developing social skills and self-esteem, working towards independence and enjoying a good range of leisure activities.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff work exceptionally well in addressing the challenges children and young people present. This includes very effective partnership work with external agencies to protect and promote their welfare. Education is seen as a priority and staff successfully promote attendance and support children and young people's educational achievement.

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Overall effectiveness

Children and young people know their views are taken into account in the day-to-day running of the home as well as their individual care plans. Care practice has a very strong focus on helping children and young people to progress and achieve well. They are regularly rewarded for their individual achievements and personal development.

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Overall effectiveness

The staff team is well led and motivated by an experienced and proactive manager. Established and evolving systems provide very effective monitoring of the home and the welfare of individual children and young people. The staff group is experienced, competent and work exceptionally well together contributing to the consistently high standards of care and ensuring that children and young people live their lives to the full.

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Overall effectiveness

There are no identified areas for improvement.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children and young people achieve good outcomes in comparison with their backgrounds and needs on admission to the home. This is a result of the high quality of leadership and individual care they receive at the home. The staff team have a good track record of helping young people to develop and progress into more independent living arrangements.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children and young people have very good attendance levels at school which improve after admission to the home. Children and young people do achieve well at school, however their behaviour restricts their achievements from being exceptional.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children and young people learn more about their backgrounds, develop their confidence and emotional resilience through the exceptional individual focus work with staff and support from other agencies. Stakeholders are very positive about how well children and young people are able to make progress as a result of the caring and nurturing environment they live in.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children and young people develop their understanding of health issues and how to look after themselves. This includes regular exercise, healthy diets and significant reduction in smoking, alcohol, substance misuse and exploitation. Children and young people benefit from exploring these and other issues safely with staff. This adds another dimension to children and young people's education and helps to develop their positive relationships with staff.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children and young people have an excellent say in what happens in the home, their care and decisions made about them. They make significant improvements in developing their independence. Depending on age and needs this may be learning to spend time on their own away from staff and starting to go to the local park. Older children are able to manage their money, shop, cook independently, make their own appointments and work successfully towards becoming independent young adults. The exceptional approach to supporting individual needs helps children and young people to feel at home. This is reflected in a statement pinned on the home's feelings tree, 'I Love this home'.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

The staff team want the best for children and young people regardless of their needs, backgrounds and challenges. The positive well-being of all individual children young people a central to the high quality of care staff provide. Staff are patient, understanding and take the time to build excellent relationships and rapport with children and young people. As a result children and young people benefit from a very caring, homely, friendly environment that offers safety and stability. One stakeholder commented, 'I am pleasantly surprised at the length of this placement,' and another added, 'I want my child to stay until adulthood'.

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Quality of care

Outstanding standards of care are promoted by detailed in-house care plans. Staff are extremely considerate and thoughtful in the way these plans are followed making sure children and young people's needs are fully met. For example, success is achieved in supporting diverse leisure pursuits including learning to swim, horse riding, theatre groups and cheerleading despite children and young people's challenging social skills and behaviour. Staff are proactive and imaginative in developing ways to help children and young people to improve their behaviour. This includes visual displays on the walls of the dining room, including a 'feelings tree' recently developed with children and young people. Along with other incentives and multi-agency strategies this has had a significant positive impact on helping children and young people explore their feelings and the impact of their behaviour.

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Quality of care

Children and young people are fully involved in writing their plans which are very descriptive in relation to their individual needs, goals and the progress they are making. Diverse needs such as age, culture, personal safety, health, education, careers, interests and independence are all equally promoted. Children and young people plan activities with staff or use their independence to do their own thing depending on their needs and wishes. They are fully involved in the running of the home, shopping, planning meals, cooking, decorating and choosing how to spend their free time. Staff spend plenty of one to one time with children and young people giving them advice, support and consulting them about their care, needs and future. This keeps children and young people at the heart of what goes on in the home. Stakeholders commented 'I was impressed with how much like a family home this is'.

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Quality of care

Children and young people have access to external advocacy as well as staff who speak up for them. Along with extremely strong partnerships with external agencies, the staff ensure that children and young people have access to a range of services including specialist counselling and art therapy. Staff maintain excellent contact and communication with stakeholders and relatives to ensure comprehensive care that meets children and young people's diverse needs. This helps reduce barriers to their progress with: their education, family contact, access to support services and having a range of enjoyable leisure activities. Stakeholders commented, 'the approach to multi-agency work is outstanding'.

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Quality of care

Children and young people keep a memory box full of photographs and memorabilia of themselves, what they have done and their achievements. The home is exceptionally domestic in nature, well presented and maintained. There is convenient access to public transport, local shops and facilities.

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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

Children and young people's safety is given a high priority and they thrive in the excellent nurturing and safe environment staff provide. Children and young people state that they feel safe at the home. Staff strongly pursue and promote the individual safety of children and young people through a wide range of individually focused work with them. This includes the dangers of missing from home, exploitation, substance misuse, internet safety and offending behaviour.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There is a comprehensive, open and transparent approach to reducing risks to children and young people. This approach is tailored to individual needs and risks helping children and young people develop a strong sense of safety. Practice is underpinned by detailed care planning and comprehensive risk assessments, which support children and young people in managing risks safely as part of their growth and development. Risk strategies are regularly reviewed with regard to children and young people's progress and development. This ensures staff know how to support children and young people in their personal development while keeping them safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff work very hard with children and young people to minimise the occasions when they go missing from the home. There is an exceptional track record in reducing this behaviour and promoting individual safety. When such incidents occur staff follow the excellent arrangements they have developed with social workers and police missing person coordinators, to ensure young people return safely.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Behaviour management strategies are very effective with plenty of incentives for children and young people to do well. This keeps the use of sanctions and physical intervention to an exceptionally low level, contributing to the nurturing environment. Children and young people know how to complain but feel they do not need to do so as they are able to discuss any concerns directly with staff and the manager.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Up-to-date policies, procedures, good practice guidance and staff training contribute to the comprehensive understanding staff have of effective safeguarding practice. Any concerns around a child or young person's safety are quickly acted on. The manager and staff work in partnership with the police, the local authority and placing authorities instigating planning and strategy meetings when needed to keep children and young people safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There are robust safety arrangements for dealing with visitors, vetting new staff and maintaining the home to protect the welfare, health and safety of children and young people who live there.

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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

Management of the home is exceptional in promoting high-quality care and positive outcomes for children and young people. The manager is supported by an experienced staff team who together are successful in fostering: mutual respect both in the home and wider community; social awareness and personal development. This is achieved by encouraging a happy and caring atmosphere while maintaining a professional approach and commitment to high standards.

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Leadership and management

The manager ensures a continuous and very effective focus on outcomes for children and young people and their progress. There is extensive internal monitoring of the quality of care which significantly contributes to children and young people's well- being. This includes frequent changes to children and young people's care plans as they develop and their needs change. This is underpinned by a detailed development plan for the home with challenging and realistic targets to improve outcomes for children and young people further.

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Leadership and management

The quality of the registered provider's monitoring of the management of the home has improved. There is a better focus on how well children and young people enjoy and achieve as well as improved commitment to consulting them. This ensures robust and rigorous monitoring remains a crucial part in securing positive outcomes for children and young people. In addition, the senior management team have started a reflective practice initiative to share good practice, ideas and suggestions for meeting children and young people's individual needs.

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Leadership and management

There is a highly effective and supportive team that benefit from regular supervision and good quality training. Staff undertake a wide range of training, achieve relevant qualifications and keep up to date with good practice guidance. Staff have a range of individual skills and strengths which helps to ensure that children and young people receive a high quality service.

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Leadership and management

Staff use their wealth of knowledge about children and young people's needs and care practice to cope with some very challenging and complex situations. The skills, experience and backgrounds of staff are diverse and wide ranging. This contributes to the success of working with children and young people who are vulnerable due to their past experiences and at times require high levels of support. Overall children and young people benefit from a consistent and stable staff team, highly competent in meeting their needs.

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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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