Children's Home run by Phoenix Learning & Care Holdings Limited in Plymouth

Unique reference number SC458811 Inspection date 05/03/2014 Inspector Guy Mammatt Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 04/10/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

Compton Vale is a 3 bedroom house located in a residential area of Plymouth. The home provides accommodation for 2 young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is operated by a private provider that has another children's home in close vicinity.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making satisfactory progress .

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Progress

At the full inspection in October 2013 the home was judged as adequate with two requirements and three recommendations made. The home has addressed all of the actions from the last inspection and has maintained the quality of care and outcomes for young people.

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Progress

In response to the requirements made at the last inspection the home now regularly consults with families of the young people as part of their independent monitoring. This ensures that families have the opportunity to contribute their views on the quality of care provided at the home. The provider has also recruited new staff while also promoting certain aspects of the professional development of existing staff. This ensures that there is always a sufficient number of staff working at the home and they are all suitably enrolled on their level 3 Children and Young Peoples Workforce Diploma.

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Progress

In response to the recommendations made at the last inspection the home has significantly reduced its use of sanctions for young people. The home’s ethos is that it aims to reward young people in recognition of their personal targets for development rather than use negative consequences. The home avoids confrontation with young people in areas which they identify as counterproductive. It ensures that any sanctions that are used are educational and meaningful to the young people.

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Progress

Suitable education arrangements are now in place for all young people. These are tailored to their needs and take into account their previous educational circumstances. Outcomes for education range at the home as some young people have excellent attendance while for others engagement is sporadic.

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Progress

The manager now keeps a record of the recruitment and vetting checks for all staff at the home. This ensures that the person in charge of the home has oversight that all of the staff are cleared to work with vulnerable children.

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Progress

The home provides a safe level of care with adequate outcomes for young people. They take part in an extensive range of activities; for example, swimming, quad- biking and Zumba classes. This ensures they remain in good physical health and have many varied opportunities to pursue their own leisure interests. Generally young people engage with staff at the home and have some good relationships. Young people also receive a good amount of opportunities for consultation of their care and to influence the running of the home.

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Progress

The home effectively meets all the medical and health needs of all the young people. Some also have involvement with specialist services to support the psychological development.

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Progress

The home effectively supports all family contact. This ensures that young people remain close to individuals who are important to them and benefit from being involved in a wider support network outside of the home.

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Progress

The home does not always sufficiently challenge the more complex needs of the young people. This is because not enough staff have in-depth knowledge of the specific relevant areas. For example mental health in adolescents and child attachment development. Staff lack specialist training in these areas to enable them to effectively support the young people and sensitively address their needs.

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Progress

The make-up of the team also lacks diversity and a wide age-range to provide a breadth of life experiences. As a result the home finds it difficult to fully appreciate the young people’s background and cultural needs. These shortfalls have not had a direct impact on the well-being and safety of the young people. However, they have the potential to limit the overall progress that the young people will achieve at the home.

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Progress

The home failed to report an allegation of misconduct against a member of staff to the local area designated officer (LADO) in a timely manner. The home manager at the time was unaware of the correct process to follow. The impact of this did not have a significant impact on the safety of young people living at the home as the member of staff that the allegation was against had already left their role in the organisation. The allegation was correctly reported to the LADO four days later and a subsequent referral was made to the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)There is currently no Registered Manager in post. An individual has recently been appointed to manage the home. They are required to complete a Registered Manager application to Ofsted within 28 days of their appointment.

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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

(2001) ensure that all persons employed by the registered person receive appropriate training, supervision and appraisal. (Regulation 27 (4) (a) In particular ensure the skills, knowledge and experience of the team are maximised to fully meet the needs of young people 30/04/2014

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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 that children receive personalised care that promotes all aspects of their individual identity; with particular reference to ensuring that staff promote all of the cultural needs of young people at the home (NMS 2.1)  ensure that the overall number, competence and deployment of staff, both as a staff group and on individual shifts, can fulfil the home's Statement of Purpose and meet the individual needs of all children resident in the home; with particular reference to ensuring that the staff team contains greater diversity and experience (NMS 17.1)  ensure that all staff and volunteers understand what they must do if they receive an allegation or have suspicions that a person may have behaved towards a child in a way that indicates he or she is unsuitable to work with children. (NMS 20.1)

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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 progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection.

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