Children's Home run by Bryn Melyn Care Limited in Shropshire

Unique reference number SC372617 Inspector Michelle Moss Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Bryn Melyn Care Limited Registered person address 2 High Street Dawley Telford Shropshire TF4 2ET

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Responsible individual Melissa Johnson Registered manager Justine Ann Staples Date of last inspection 06/03/2014 2 of 9 Inspection date 07/10/2014

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Previous inspection satisfactory progress Enforcement action since last inspection none

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Overall effectiveness good

Outcomes for children and young people good Quality of care good Keeping children and young people safe good Leadership and management good

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Overall effectiveness

Young people feel safe and happy; they have positive attitudes towards their learning and in staying healthy. The Registered Manager provides strong leadership and is ambitious in improving practice. Self–evaluation is used effectively to drive forward improvement and this starts by having a detailed development plan.

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Overall effectiveness

Relationships between young people and staff are good. There is positive engagement, whereby young people play an active role in decisions that directly affect them.

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Overall effectiveness

Personalisation is part of the home’s culture, with care staff aware of the young people’s social, emotional and learning needs. Young people are nurtured and encouraged to make positive progress, which they utilise to build resilience and confidence.

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Overall effectiveness

There are a few areas of practice that require improvement. These extend to a few care staff lacking familiarity with relevant practice development and national guidance. Sanction records do not always hold all necessary information and lastly, care staff are not always securing up to date care plans from social workers. 3 of 9

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Information about this children’s home

This is a small private children's home catering for one young person who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/03/2014 Interim satisfactory progress 22/05/2013 Full good 15/01/2013 Interim satisfactory progress 24/05/2012 Full good

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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

17B (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any measure of control,restraint or discipline a written record is made in a volume which includes:- the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; that the person authorised by the registered provider to make the record has spoken to the child concerned and the person using the measure (Regulation 17B (3)(f)(h)) 28/11/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure a dated copy is obtained as a result of any review of the placing authority’s plan for the care of the child, or of his placement plan. (Regulation 28(1) Schedule 3.19) 28/11/2014 4 of 9

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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 staff are equipped with the skills required to meet the needs of the children and purpose of the setting, and training keeps them up-to-date with professional, legal and practice developments and reflects the policies and legal obligations. In particular, practice development in areas of missing from care and the links to child sexual exploitation and the Children Act 1989. (NMS 18.1) 5 of 9

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people increase their circle of friends through their excellent school attendance and by participating in social events based around the school community. Young people regularly meet up with friends and are confident in inviting them back to the home to socialise.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people take pride in their own learning journey, including being well motivated to achieve their best.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people have good relationships with their care staff and are both polite and courteous in their interaction. Young people use the positive atmosphere to build up meaningful relationships and in turn began to gain as sense of identity and pride over their lives.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people attend arranged health care appointments. They use the knowledge from each appointment to take responsibilities for maintaining their health and to promote their well-being.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people listen to the guidance and advice of care staff to build up their knowledge, values and attitudes to help keep them safe and better prepared for adult life.

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Quality of care good

Young people have an environment that promotes their emotional well-being. This includes having positive relationships with care staff, who they trust and respect. Young people describe the staff as friendly and nice and recognise the staff do care about their welfare.

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Quality of care good

A tailored plan is secured for each young person at their start of their placement and develops over time. Progress reports form the main sort of evidence to show the level of impact the home is making, especially in areas such as health, learning, welfare and safeguarding. These comprehensive reports reflect the young person’s journey, including formally recognising and celebrating achievements. These reports in turn enable the placing authority to be able to assess the impact the home is making in improving young people’s lives. However, care staff are not always obtaining revised placing authority’s care plans. This means the home is not incorporating the recommendations of the social worker into the home’s care plan. More positively, copies of statutory review reports are obtained and recommendations arising from these meetings are effectively incorporated into the 6 of 9 main plan.

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Quality of care good

Young people are listened to, consulted with and involved in decisions that directly affect them. They are familiar with the complaints procedure, although have not felt it necessary to use.

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Quality of care good

Where young people develop specific interests, care staff encourage the development of new talent. For example, where young people have shown interest in music, the home has helped by purchasing the necessary equipment, such as a drum kit.

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Quality of care good

Arrangements for the storage and safe administration of medication are well established. These measures ensure young people are able to receive prescribed medication in accordance with their doctor’s instructions.

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Quality of care good

Close links with schools and social workers means young people are supported to maximise their learning. As a consequence, young people have excellent school attendance and are working towards achieving qualifications appropriate to their abilities and aspirations, including General Certificates in Secondary Education (GCSEs) and accredited programmes.

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Quality of care good

The home’s accommodation provides young people with a safe and pleasant environment which is well matched against their individual needs.

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Quality of care good

Young people are taught to be independent and confident and to maximise their experiences in the home to be able to face everyday challenges.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Young people feel safe and understand the care staff have their best interest at heart. Care staff equally recognise the need to secure a balance, so that young people are afforded opportunities to manage reasonable levels of responsibility. Through trust and respect, young people are able to develop social networks including being entrusted to have overnight stays with friends.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

There is a consistent approach to behaviour management. The systems employed are successful in developing positive relationships between staff and young people. For example, young people work with care staff to resolve their problems through constructive engagement. As a result, the home has not used at form of physical intervention for over a year and sanctions are rarely used. Nevertheless, on the odd occasion when care staff have needed to impose a sanction, the details recorded miss out on how effective the measure had been. The record also fails to demonstrate staff and young people benefit from having a debriefing session, although in practice, these do take place. These missed details limit the opportunity to formally assess the difference a sanction can make in helping young people to modify their behaviour. 7 of 9 Young people benefit from effective retention of staff which enables them to experience continuity of care. As a result, recruitment of new staff is low.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

The level of young people going missing from care is very low. Nevertheless, care staff remain alert to individual protocols and risk assessments so that young people’s safety remains central to practice. However, a few care staff are not always keeping up to date with relevant practice development and national guidance. For example, they are not fully aware of the links between missing from care and child sexual exploitation. This means their knowledge to these additional risks are is not fully established and not brought into everyday practice.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

The physical environment is safe and takes into account the needs and characteristics of young people. The home has effective arrangements in place to ensure all health and safety issues relating to the accommodation are identified and addressed. These measures enable young people to live in an environment that promotes their health and well-being. Areas of fire precautions are well established and frequent checks and servicing completed.

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Leadership and management good

The Registered Manager has been in post since 2010. They hold a National Vocational Qualification at a level 4 in Care and Management and are currently working towards a therapeutic childcare degree. Their practice takes a therapeutic approach. This helps young people to build up confidence, self-esteem and resilience they need to overcome their difficulties of the past. They equally take a collaborative approach to working with schools and other agencies, so that effective partnership working remains focused on young people’s outcomes.

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Leadership and management good

Care staff are committed to helping young people to make progress to overcome their difficulties. This starts by having good deployment of staff, so that young people receive individualised care and attention. There is a good balance of experience among staff, with individual members holding a range of qualifications, skills and training relevant to their responsibilities. However, there are slight shortfalls in care staffs’ awareness of national guidance and Acts. For example, not all care staff are familiar with the Children Act 1989 and what this means in terms of looked after children. Also, a few care staff are not fully familiar with national and local guidance on children going missing from care.

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Leadership and management good

The Registered Manager ensures the home has a development plan in place with the explicit purpose of improving the quality of care. Other areas of self-evaluation are sufficiently detailed to generate reliable evidence for reporting on the standards and quality of care. This process includes securing the views of young people and other stakeholders and using this intelligence to form an accurate evaluation of their performance against young people’s outcomes. 8 of 9 The home has a clear, accessible and comprehensive Statement of Purpose that sets out its aims and objectives. These objectives are being utilised in everyday practice, inclusive of ensuring young people are being supported to feel safe, protected and well cared for.

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Leadership and management good

Care staff benefit from effective supervision where they receive support and guidance to enable them to be accountable in their work with young people.

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Leadership and management good

At the last inspection one recommendation was raised. This related to ensuring young people had their educational needs secured. This has now been addressed with young people thriving educationally. Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management good

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Judgement Description

Outstanding A service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Good A service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Adequate A service that only meets minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Inadequate A service that does not meet minimum requirements.

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Information 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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Information 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 framework of inspection for children's homes.

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