Children's Home run by SWAAY Child & Adolescent Services Ltd in Bracknell Forest

Unique reference number SC431803 Inspection date 18/03/2014 Inspector Maire Atherton Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 05/08/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The service is a four-bedded children's home registered for single sex occupancy and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Brief description of the service

The home is owned and operated by a private organisation that specialises in the assessment and treatment of male adolescents who have experienced some form of abuse and have subsequently been involved in perpetrating abusive behaviour themselves.

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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 good progress .

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Progress

At the last full inspection in August 2013 this home was judged to be good and the manager and the staff team have continued to build on this. The one requirement and two recommendations from the last inspection have been met. There is one requirement arising from this inspection.

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Progress

The record of sanctions imposed is maintained in accordance with the regulations. The use of sanctions remains low as young people respond positively to their individual incentive schemes. The young people are fully involved in devising the schemes that reward the achievement of targets. The schemes change regularly to maintain the engagement of the young people. Alongside this is robust management evaluation of the effectiveness of sanctions imposed. The evaluation has resulted in changes to sanctions, which in turn has led to a decrease in undesirable behaviour. The manager is working on the development plan for the next year. As part of this she has actively sought views from stakeholders and is working on implementing changes as a result, in consultation with the education and therapy streams of the provision. For example, the home has reviewed the frequency that summaries are sent to social workers.

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Progress

There is a planned programme of staff induction training. This underpins the Children's Workforce Development Council induction standards and supports staff to complete the workbook within six weeks of starting employment. Staff value this and are well engaged in the process. One member of staff said 'it is easy to link what I'm writing about to what I'm actually doing, it makes sense of it all'. There is also a programme for staff to be enrolled on the level three qualification, once they have completed their probationary period.

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Progress

There is an established core group of staff providing consistent care for the young people. This has enabled new staff to join the team smoothly with good support, effectively ensuring consistency is maintained. The staff complement has been increased and an appointment has been made, the new member of staff starts at the beginning of April. Staff have been allocated administration time to enable them to keep up to date with recording and reporting. There are a number of systems that record who is on duty in the home. These records do not always fully cross reference. This means it is not always possible to determine who has actually worked in the home.

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Progress

There is increased working across remits. A member of the therapy team has been given a new brief for working with home managers across the organisation. For example, they will be able to consult on development plans for the home and individual placement plans for young people. The manager has started to spend a day in school every half term both to provide support to young people and to improve lines of communication.

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Progress

There are very good relationships between the staff and young people. Communication is regular, frank and open with all having equal opportunity of expression. Young people say 'it's easy to complain, staff listen and do something about it'. Young people benefit from support that enables them to make good progress. One social worker commented 'within six to eight months I have noticed a significant improvement in the young person's outlook and engagement'. Another said 'he is making progress in therapy and in his behaviour'. Young people also talk positively about the progress they have made, giving up smoking, for example.

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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 there is a record of the actual rosters worked, to include the times the manager is in the home but not 'on shift' (Regulation 29 (1) Schedule 4 (11) 30/04/2014

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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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