Children's Home run by Prestige Adolescent Care and Education Limited in Staffordshire

Unique reference number SC420876 Inspection date 18/03/2014 Inspector Christy Wannop Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 31/12/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This is a home that provides accommodation for up to four young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is part of a small group of privately- owned children's homes in the area.

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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

This children’s home was judged good, with outstanding features, at the full inspection in December 2013. This service has established a consistently good quality of care over several years. The manager demonstrates her capacity to improve because she has met the previous recommendation in respect of a six monthly report on the quality of care. There has now been a full review that includes close tracking of patterns and trends in behaviour and incidents in a graph format. Consequently, the manager is able to chart children’s individual progress and can identify any barriers or contributing factors to their wellbeing, as well as share this with placing authorities. The manager has amended the previous format in line with new requirements for more frequent quarterly reports and is making further improvements to better reflect the impact of stakeholder views, including children, on the development of the service.

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Progress

This inspection finds an aspect for further improvement for clarity and economy of records. This relates to the number of records that contribute to a whole picture of missing episodes, the record of physical intervention and the staff duty rota, which does not show surnames. The home keeps records about all aspects of young people’s lives and about staff on duty and has plenty of information to evidence these matters. However, sometimes these records are duplicated, or the complete picture of an event is dispersed across several records. This makes a cohesive overview by external visitors difficult.

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Progress

Young people say they appreciate the support and help they get. They have constructive relationships with staff and get their full attention and plenty of one-to- one time going out and about or spending quality time at the home. Staff support the work of the organisation’s counsellors, and a range of external helping agencies, such as child and adolescent mental health services. Young people join activity groups aimed at increasing self-confidence and building social skills. Staff are skilled at working with families and helping young people to understand their complicated feelings about the past and the reasons they live in care. Some young people want to move into greater independence and ordinary family life in foster care and the staff advocate for, and support them in negotiations with placing authorities so their voice is heard. Where young people go missing from the home, or from school, the

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Progress

staff make a swift response. They work with placing authorities, specialist protective agencies and the police to ensure risks are reduced and young people are better able to keep themselves safe.

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Progress

Key working sessions clearly link to young people’s placement objectives and demonstrate good, child-centred care practice. Issues in young people’s daily lives, such as self-harm or risky behaviour, are promptly picked up and discussed. Records show a wide range of planned topics covered in these enabling sessions from sexual health, to previous risks from sexual exploitation, contact with family, independence and staying in school. One young person described her key worker as ‘wonderful’, saying that he understood her moods and could see when things were not right with her.

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Progress

Improvement is driven by an energetic team of residential staff, led by a resourceful Registered Manager. They continually seek to improve the lives of the young people living in the home above the minimum standards. For example, the manager now reviews any incident to identify learning and improvement. She has been proactive in establishing individually tailored protocols with the local authority designated officer (LADO). There are improved systems for evidencing safe recruitment. The house is well decorated and feels homely. There is a better welcome because there is now a lovely sign on the gatepost for visitors, as for any family home. The manager has secured full-time education for young people not previously receiving this. Staff support young people in educational placements, where they experience difficulty. They take them to school, stay there and see them in break times, so they can respond immediately to any issues. Young people benefit greatly from this positive,

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Progress

Ofsted has been informed of issues and progress at the home through regular monitoring reports. These show a well-managed service that fulfils its purpose extremely well and is responsive to the needs of the young people living there.

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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

 monitor the quality and adequacy of record keeping and take action when needed. This relates to clarity and economy of records to give an entire picture of events. (NMS 22.1)

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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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