Children's Home run by Potton Homes Limited in Southend on Sea

Unique reference number SC438764 Inspector Joanna Heller Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Potton Homes Ltd Registered person address 9 Brookway LONDON SE3 9BJ

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Responsible individual Susan Mary Potton Registered manager Thomas Russell Thurlow Date of last inspection 25/06/2014 2 of 7 Inspection date 09/10/2014

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Previous inspection good Enforcement action since last inspection none

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This inspection

This home was judged good at the last full inspection. At this interim inspection Ofsted judge that it has sustained effectiveness .

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This inspection

At the last inspection in June the home was judged as good and no requirements or recommendations were set. Two requirements and two recommendations have been set at this inspection.

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This inspection

Management arrangements are clear and staff and young people benefit from clear leadership and direction. The manager is suitably qualified and experienced. The manager is strong at working in partnership with other agencies to ensure effective safeguarding remains central to the homes practice.

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This inspection

The home provides spacious accommodation which is suitably decorated, however, some particular shortfalls were noted in relation to maintenance. For example, one fire door did not close effectively and another had a missing lock. The manager had made arrangements to rectify these shortfalls, however, this had not occurred by the end of the inspection. Fire arrangements therefore do not robustly protect young people from the risk of fire within the home. Furthermore, one child's bedroom had uneven flooring.

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This inspection

Placements are well planned which minimises the risk of placement breakdown. Staff ensure that all key information about young people's needs is obtained from the placing authority and use this information to develop an individual plan of care. Young people’s risk assessments are comprehensive, and are kept under regular review.

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This inspection

Young people benefit from a stable staff team which enables positive relationships to develop. Staff have good knowledge of young people's individual needs and young people make good progress from their starting points. Young people are positive about their experiences of living at the home, rating the home as okay to excellent. Young people say they have matured and are more able to understand and manage 3 of 7 their emotions as a result of the support provided by staff.

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This inspection

Young people feel safe. Young people are safer, as a direct result of the support and guidance offered by staff. Some young people have made particular progress in making positive choices in order to keep themselves safe. For example, one young person who on admission was extremely high risk of going missing from care has had only two incidents of unauthorised absence in five months and another similarly high risk young person has had none.

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This inspection

Young people are healthy and receive good support and guidance from staff to promote their physical and emotional well-being. Young people’s active participation in the homes' life skills program has helped them reflect on their personal history, and promoted development of self-esteem.

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This inspection

Good quality communication between staff in the home and the on-site school ensures a consistent approach to behaviour management and effective support for children in the classroom. Staff in the home and school work well in partnership to promote good educational outcomes for young people. For example, staff work closely together to develop on-site learning activities to support young people who do not have educational placements. This promotes a positive learning environment where opportunities for learning are utilised.

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This inspection

Staff maintain clear and consistent boundaries, and effective systems are in place to promote positive behaviour. Young people say they have matured and are more able to self-manage their behaviour. Staff are clear on the thresholds for restraint and use this only when young people present a risk to themselves or others. High staffing levels are in place to support young people in the community to minimise risk taking behaviour.

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This inspection

Young people enjoy a good variety of activities, such as, walks along the seafront and crabbing to theme parks and museums. The young people been active members of the community, raising money for a national charity through a summer fayre.

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This inspection

Good quality care plans and case recording means that young people would be able to gain an understanding of their time in the home should they wish to access these records at a later date. There are shortfalls, however, in the quality of the recording of some centrally maintained incident records. For example, the effectiveness of the consequence of two sanctions was not clear; the actual act of aggression or risk presented which led to physical restraint was not clearly recorded in the central log. Furthermore one recording of a missing from care event contained the wrong name and a lack of clarity of the time the young person went missing. Individual incident reports do give clarity where central logs do not, therefore there is little direct impact on young people. However, clarity of recording is key to facilitate effective management overview of significant incidents. The manager has undertaken a

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This inspection

review of the quality of care within the home, however, a copy of the report this review has not been forwarded to Ofsted. The home sustains effectiveness through 4 of 7 continuing to provide good quality individualised care. 5 of 7

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides long-term and task-centred care to a maximum of six male or female young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. This is one of two residential services operated by this privately run organisation, in addition to a school adjacent to this home.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/06/2014 Full good 19/02/2014 Interim satisfactory progress 16/08/2013 Full good 28/12/2012 Interim satisfactory progress

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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) supply to HMCI a report in respect of any review conducted by him for the purposes of monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6 at least once in every 3 months and improving the quality of care provided in the children’s home(Regulation 34 (2) 29/11/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. In particular; take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, ensuring fire doors are well maintained and are kept closed (Regulation 32 (1A)) 27/10/2014

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Recommendations

6 of 7 To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 provide a homely environment which is well maintained. In particular; ensure suitable flooring in young people's bedrooms (NMS 10.3)  ensure that there is a system in place to monitor the quality and adequacy of record keeping and take action when needed. (NMS 22.1) Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Recommendations

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What inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspections we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection.

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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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