Children's Home run by North Lakes Children’s Service Limited in Cumbria

Unique reference number SC356907 Inspector Anne Bannister Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered manager Shirley Gwendolin Pipes Date of last inspection 14/03/2014 2 of 11 Inspection date 12/10/2014

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Previous inspection good progress Enforcement action since last inspection none

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Overall effectiveness outstanding

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

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are achieving outstanding outcomes in all areas of their development. They receive excellent levels of support and care allowing them to prosper socially, emotionally, physically and educationally. Strong, meaningful relationships are developed, with individual differences accepted and valued both by staff and young people.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people live in an exceptionally supportive environment. They enjoy close, nurturing relationships with staff. They have a strong sense of feeling safe within the home and are very well protected from significant harm. Staff actively and effectively support young people when they experience difficulties and struggle to manage their feelings. As a result young people are increasingly able to moderate their own behaviours without the need of significant staff intervention. They learn to appreciate the impact of negative behaviours on their relationships with other people. Consequently, young people increasingly enjoy spending quality time with those that are most important to them.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people learn about personal responsibility and growing independence. The staff team is committed to providing young people with individualised support, focused on their personal development and individual circumstances. Staff prioritise the work they do with young people in terms of life skills and future plans. As a 3 of 11 consequence young people are able to enjoy positive transitions into future placements, which is achieved by very effective transition planning. 4 of 11

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private provider, who has three other children's homes in the locality. It provides a service to nine young males, between the ages of 10 and 15 years. The home cares for young people who experience emotional and behavioural difficulties. The organisation also operates a school, registered with the Department for Education, providing fully-integrated programmes of care and education.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/03/2014 Interim good progress 18/12/2013 Full outstanding 11/02/2013 Interim good progress 18/10/2012 Full outstanding

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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 the home only carries out searches of a child, their room or their possessions in accordance with the homes guidance (NMS 3.20)  ensure staff effectively demonstrate how they are working with the child's education provider to maximise each child's achievement and minimise underachievement. (NMS 8.4) 5 of 11

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people thrive living in an exceptionally caring and supportive home environment. Each young person's uniqueness is celebrated. Detailed care planning ensures that their self-confidence, resilience and self-esteem increases significantly from their starting point on admission.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Throughout their time living in the home, young people grow in confidence, become more independent and show emotional resilience. Young people are emotionally secure, and as a result there are significant and continuous improvements in their behaviour, health, education and, where appropriate, the quality of relationships with their family.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people are well supported to attend and engage in education. Education arrangements are very individualised to ensure young people's differing range of needs and abilities are well met. Young people are proud of their achievements and believe that their future prospects will be assisted by their ability to leave school with some educational qualifications. They benefit from good communication between the care team and education staff; this ensures any issues affecting young people's welfare are swiftly addressed. However, placement plans fail to demonstrate the very innovative ways staff are achieving this. For example, activities such as baking develop measuring skills, reading skills and budgeting skills and enhance young people's learning. This weakness has been identified in the home's recent quality monitoring and has been incorporated into the development plan as an area for further action. Young people are well motivated and want to develop their

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

educational potential further. This is particularly evident for those young people who have been re-integrated into mainstream education programmes.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people's health needs are comprehensively assessed when they come to live in the home by the company's own health care professional. She takes the lead in ensuring young people are able to access to a full range of healthcare provision which supports both their physical and emotional development. Close liaison with health professionals ensures a consistent response to young people’s changing needs. Young people are given opportunities to improve their lifestyles through diet and exercise. They are provided with information and given every encouragement and practical support to modify certain aspects of their lifestyle, such as the use of tobacco, drugs and alcohol. As a result, young people enjoy improvements in their general health. A social worker said, 'I am really pleased, since being placed in this home he has managed to cease smoking. This was never achieved in previous placements which

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

seemed to condone his smoking. This is a massive achievement.’

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people, families, social workers and independent reviewing officers (IROs) speak very positively about the quality of care and the support their children receive 6 of 11 from the staff. Young people’s needs and views are central to the running of the home. The staff actively encourage all young people to become more involved in making choices and decisions about their lives.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Good staff guidance is available in respect of acknowledging and respecting young people's right to appropriate privacy. The home has a clear policy which details to staff the circumstances under which they may search young people’s bedrooms or belongings. However, during the course of the inspection a staff member was seen to search a young person's bag when he returned to the home. The need for this practice was not included in the young person's individual risk assessment. The young person was not concerned about presenting his bag to the staff member involved but no record was made of the action taken. Staff acknowledged that such practice could infringe the young persons' right to privacy. It is also contrary to the respectful staff practice routinely observed throughout the course of the inspection.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people develop skills that will assist them with the preparation for adulthood. The staff successfully support young people to enhance their life skills by providing opportunities in the home that allow for skills to develop and grow. Cooking, cleaning and shopping are all activities in which young people participate. These are helping to aid their successful transition into young adults and prepare them for future.

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Quality of care outstanding

Young people benefit from the excellent care and support provided by staff and they make exceptionally good progress. Young people are very positive about how well they are being looked after. They feel that the staff are genuinely interested in helping them reach their full potential.

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Quality of care outstanding

Young people enjoy very positive and constructive relationships with staff. Young people say they can talk to staff about anything and know that they will help them resolve any issues that may be concerning them. They make every effort to find out what is important to individual young people, understanding their needs, culture, circumstances, talents and interests. Young people's views are actively sought with regards to the running of the home. Young people feel valued as staff listen to them and take their views seriously. This openness enables staff to purposefully respond to the young people's requests offering explanation when their wishes cannot be acted upon.

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Quality of care outstanding

Young people benefit from having individual placement plans that detail how their needs will be addressed. The staff have a very good understanding of the young people’s needs and backgrounds and care for them in line with their placement plans. Young people play an active role in the development and review of their placement plans. Clear and measureable targets are recorded that help to evaluate the effectiveness of the plans and demonstrate the significant progress being achieved by young people. 7 of 11 Young people's health needs are extremely well assessed and specialist advice sought, where necessary, to ensure that individually identified needs are routinely responded to and met. Young people are given opportunities to improve their lifestyles through diet and regular exercise. They receive information and are given practical support to help them modify certain aspects of their lifestyle, such as

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Quality of care outstanding

tobacco and alcohol consumption and sexual health. As a result, young people enjoy improvements in their general health as risk taking behaviours that have previously impacted on their well-being significantly reduce.

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Quality of care outstanding

The staff actively promote young people’s education and are successful in developing young people’s opportunities to learn and achieve. They ensure that the daily routine supports young people’s attendance and participation in education. Staff emphasise the importance of gaining a good education and encourage educational attainment. They are in close communication with the education staff, at the beginning and end of each day, to ensure any difficulties young people are experiencing are promptly addressed. Such practice ensures young people are well supported and have every opportunity to reach their full potential and achieve positive educational outcomes. A consequence of the progress young people are making is that one young person has recently successfully been re-integrated into main stream school. This is an extremely significant achievement as prior to this placement he was dis-engaged from education.

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Quality of care outstanding

Staff actively encourage young people to develop their life and social skills and they are making significant progress. Young people are successfully taking on more responsibilities and have every opportunity to build confidence in their skills. They routinely plan, shop and cook meals, clean and wash clothes, choose clothes and toiletries. Participation in making these life choices enhances self- esteem and self- confidence.

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Quality of care outstanding

Young people benefit fully from the strong contact arrangements with family members facilitated by the home. As a result, young people maintain important relationships which will sustain them now and in future. A representative from a placing authority stated, 'this is by far the best residential provision that any of the young people I support is placed in. I just wish it was closer to his home area so I could maintain more regular contact. Despite the distance staff are successfully supporting him to re-establish previously damaged relationships with key family members.’ A parent said, ‘the staff team are excellent with him, they are really tuned in to his needs. They help him to make positive choices about things that affect his future. Anything I say happens. For example I initially wanted supervised contact. My request was acted upon and we have now progressed to unsupervised contact. It's a joy to see the progress he is making.'

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

8 of 11 Young people confirm that they feel safe living in this home. They are confident to talk to any member of staff if they are worried. The staff give young people’s safety the highest priority and they are well trained in safeguarding. Additional training is currently being sourced to ensure all staff members are fully aware of the risks presented to young people through the internet and mobile technology. The sourcing of this additional training demonstrates a commitment to ensuring the staff have, and retain, the skills to enable them to protect the young people in their care. The staff work very effectively with young people and safeguarding agencies to promote young people’s safety.

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

Comprehensive risk assessments and plans for young people’s safety are consistently put into practice and fully address young peoples’ needs. Young people are involved in developing the plans and the staff encourage young people to let them know how best to help them feel safe. The staff have a very clear understanding of young people’s particular vulnerabilities relating to their level of understanding and emotional maturity. There is a good staff awareness of the unintentional impact young people can have on each other due to their behaviours. As a result, very thorough attention is given to considering the compatibility of young people at the point of placement. Every effort is consistently made to ensure all young people are safe at home.

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

Young people have clear, consistent boundaries and know what is expected of them and what is unacceptable. Young people receive praise and rewards when they do well. Staff are highly skilled in deploying techniques such as de-escalation and redirection to help young people manage and take responsibility for their behaviours. By utilising these skills, physical intervention is always experienced as a last resort by all involved. The staff support young people to learn to manage their behaviour and solve problems. A social worker said that staff have a ' very strong commitment to the child I work with and the support of him. They have very good understanding of his functioning and behaviours. I think my child has made excellent progress in being able to reflect on behaviours and take responsibility for his action.’ A young person said that 'staff act very well when they have to hold you and they stop you from

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

hurting yourself or breaking things.’ He also said that staff encourage you 'like not to kick off in school or at home and they ask you what has brought this on and settle you down ready to carry on positively with the night.’ Young people say that their behaviours have significantly improved since they were admitted to the home.

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

Bullying is not identified as being an issue for young people. Staff are highly vigilant in monitoring even subtle changes in relationships between young people. Tensions and fall outs between young people are quickly resolved. As a result, young people are confident that if bullying does occur it will be dealt with.

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

Individual risk assessments advise of the likelihood of young people going missing from home. Such incidents are extremely rare as staff are aware of young people’s vulnerability and help them to understand the risks such behaviours may place them at. For some young people this results in a dramatic improvement on past behaviours 9 of 11 evidenced in other placements. A social worker commented 'this placement has brought previously prolific absconding down to zero.’

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

The recruitment and selection of staff is very thorough to make sure young people are protected. The management team carefully ensures that staff have the skills and competencies to meet the needs of individual young people. Visitors are suitably checked and supervised to protect young people.

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Leadership and management outstanding

The Registered Manager leads a strong, child-focused staff team who provide an exceptionally high quality of care. Young people benefit from care by a very competent, experienced and qualified staff team. A child focused training programme ensures that the staff maintain and develop the skills they require to meet young people's assessed needs.

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Leadership and management outstanding

The Statement of Purpose and young person's guide are shared with young people, their families and placing authorities. The Statement of Purpose is well written and informative and provides the reader with information on the care and support provided. All required policies and procedures are in place and implemented effectively so that young people's health and welfare is always appropriately met.

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Leadership and management outstanding

There is a strong leadership and management team who provide staff with clear and consistent guidance and support. Young people are central to all decisions and make clear progress within the service. Managers and staff provide strong and consistent role models for young people. As a result, young people continue to benefit from a well-managed, stable service that is having an outstanding impact on their personal outcomes. There is a very good balance of experience amongst the care staff. Individual members are well qualified and, taken as a whole staff team, they have a range of qualifications, skills and training relevant to their responsibilities and the needs of the young people they care for. All staff receive regular supervision and annual appraisals to ensure their own personal developmental needs are monitored and reviewed. This ensures they have, and maintain, the skills to promote exceptionally high standards of care.

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Leadership and management outstanding

Very effective internal and external quality assurance monitoring processes enable the effective review of the quality of care provided; help to maintain the home's outstanding standard of care; and assist in promoting the on-going development and improvement of the service. The Registered Manager understands the strengths of the service and successfully uses the development plan as a tool to ensure continued improvements to the service.

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Leadership and management outstanding

The home’s written records provide a clear picture of individual young people’s needs, development and progress. Young people’s records are well organised and contain up-to-date information, including the relevant documents from placing 10 of 11 authorities. A social worker said 'the staff team appear to be well managed & supported, which in turn allows them to be able to provide consistent support & boundaries to the young people in their care. They assist the young people to address & understand their problematic behaviours in a sensitive & caring manner.’ Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management outstanding

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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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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