New Park Project (The)

Unique reference number SC065046 Inspector Wendy Anderson Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person The Beaufort Projects Limited Registered person address Suite 3 Basepoint, Enterprise Close Hurn CHRISTCHURCH Dorset BH23 6NX Responsible individual Jennifer Lynne Kendall Registered manager Sally Bailey Date of last inspection 27/03/2014 2 of 12 Inspection date 06/11/2014

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Previous inspection good 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 adequate

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Overall effectiveness

Young people make good progress in all aspects of their care. Some young people achieve outstanding progress from their starting point on admission. The staff team are very committed and enthusiastic about their work; which has the young people’s well-being, safety and development at its heart.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff are effective in consulting with young people, parents and fellow professionals on the care they deliver. This enables the staff team to develop comprehensive care plans which lead to improved outcomes for young people. The staff team feel that due to the age of the young people placed consultation with them is key to their transition to independence.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff have very effective relationships with young people. These are based not only on a comprehensive understanding of young people’s individual needs but also on mutual trust and respect. These relationships are supported by comprehensive care planning and practice which is highly individualised.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people said they felt safe at the home and the staff team demonstrated a good understanding of safeguarding process. They feel they are cared for to a high standard. The nurturing environment also provides young people with a sense of security. This enhances the progress young people make. 3 of 12 Behaviour within the home is well managed and includes work with the young people on developing effective self - management strategies. This work is demonstrated in the reduction of anti - social and risk taking behaviours.

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Overall effectiveness

Leaders and managers of the home have appropriate monitoring systems which ensure young people receive a good standard of care. Shortfalls found at this inspection include the need for young people’s plans to specifically identify what actions the staff have taken to address identified needs, evaluation of work undertaken to reduce young people’s drug use, fire records need to record the time of fire drills and a night time fire drill is required, the identity of visitor to the home needs to be established prior to their admittance to the home, Regulation 33 reports need to consistently cover all required areas, the statement of purpose needs to include a statement that the use of bedroom door alarms must be detailed in young people’s placement plans and signed by the placing authority and the registered manager should follow up their requests for information from external agencies in relation to the safe area report.

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is owned and operated by a private company. The home provides care for up to four children and young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/03/2014 Interim good progress 27/08/2013 Full adequate 12/07/2013 Full inadequate 11/12/2012 Interim good 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) ensure the independent person, when carrying out a visit, inspect such of the children’s home’s records, as the independent person requires. In particular these visits should ensure that areas noted within the organisations Regulation report format are routinely covered Regulation 33 (8(b)) 31/01/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that electronic or mechanical monitoring devices for the surveillance of children are not used except for the purpose of safeguarding the child concerned, or other children accommodated in the children’s home, and the child’s placing authority consents to the use of the measure in question and 31/01/2015 5 of 12 it is provided for in the child’s placement plan. (Regulation 22 (1 (a,b)

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that the persons working at the home and, so far as practicable, children accommodated there, are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. In particular ensure that records of fire drills accurately record the time of the fire drill and include a night time fire drill. (NMS 32(1)) 31/01/2015

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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 children understand their health needs, how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to make informed decisions about their own health. In particular health care plans should contains evaluation of work undertaken and its effectiveness. NMS 6.2)  ensure staff meet children's individual needs as set out in the child's placement plan. In particular the young person placement plans should detail how the home will meet the identified needs. . (NMS 2.3)  ensure children's safety and welfare is promoted in the home. In particular the registered manager should continue to seek responses from the relevant agencies and include these in compiling a safe area report for the home. 9NMS 4.1) 6 of 12

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people benefit from living in a stable nurturing environment. The keystone of this is the comprehensive understanding the staff team have of the individual young person’s needs.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Since their starting point on admission young people make from adequate to outstanding progress. They are supported in developing new skills which will assist them when they leave the home and move to independence. These include not only practical skills but also self management skills.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people reported that they are happy at the home and proud of it. Those who have recently left are full of praise for the staff team for ‘sticking with them through some very tough times’. They also said that ‘having been in a number of children’s homes this is how a children’s home should be’.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people are encouraged and supported by staff to maintain a healthy lifestyle including working on their drug issues. This is still work in progress for some young people but they too are engaging with this work and there has been a decrease in their drug use.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people develop and extend their social skills and networks at the home. They develop patience and learn skills about how to live alongside others. The provision of a range of stimulating activities also enhances this aspect of the young people’s development. Due to the age of the young people they may not choose to engage in some activities but they are always provided with the opportunity.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people are consulted on all aspect of their care. This is done via key workers sessions, formal consultation processes and informal discussions. Young people felt staff valued their views and opinions. Some said it was the first time they felt adults really listened to them and acted rather than just asking because they had to.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Young people are supported in their education and work life. All young people have a education or work placement or job. Young people’s engagement in this area range from outstanding to adequate. For those young people who are currently not fully engaging the staff team and working with them and their social workers to address this.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Staff support young people in maintaining contact with their families and other individuals who are important to them. Young people said ‘staff make your friends or partners feel very welcome. They invite them for meals, which is how it should be like a proper home’. 7 of 12 Young people are supported by staff to make very successful transitions into independence. They provide them with ongoing support after they have left the home. This in some cases has continued for a significant period of time. Also some young people are able to access a local authority independence flat for set periods as a trial. Information from the stay at the flat is used to plan the young person’s move and identify any additional support needed. This approach increases the success rate of young people when they do move out to independent living.

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Quality of care good

Young people feel safe at the home. They said the staff are consistently concerned for their welfare and have their wellbeing at the centre of all their practice. Young people make from good to excellent progress from their starting point at admission to the home. The basis for this work is the in depth knowledge the staff team have of the each young person they care for including individual’s needs, vulnerabilities and talents. This in turn enables the staff team to build strong and effective relationships with the young people.

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Quality of care good

Each young person has an individualised care plan which is adhered to in practice. These plans are frequently reviewed evaluated and update to ensure they reflect the current identified needs. These plans vary in content with some not providing consistent evidence what actions the staff will take to meet the young person’s individual needs. This could potentially lead to inconsistency of care practices. Care plans are linked to individual keyworker sessions. As well as providing regular opportunities for staff to carry out one to one work with young people these sessions also provide a forum for young people to express their views opinions and ideas. Further consultation with young people is evident throughout the plans for the young people, through daily conversations, over meal times as well as young people being supported to attend formal meetings such as Looked After Children Reviews. The staff team feel this is an important are of their work particularly with the age range

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Quality of care good

of young people they work with who are about to move on to independence.

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Quality of care good

The staff team have developed very effective working relationships with fellow professionals and ensure the young people receive input from any external service they may require. This can be on an individual or group basis and cover areas such as drug use. At the time of inspection a sexual health professional was visiting the home to meet with the young people. This work links with the young people health care plans which are frequently reviewed and updated. These plans do lack evidence of evaluation or the work the staff have undertaken so as to identify what work has been effective and what has not. In spite of this there has been effective work with young people on decreasing their drug use.

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Quality of care good

Medication with the home is effectively managed. This includes enabling the young people to safety administer their own medications as part of their independence work. 8 of 12 The staff team have been particularly successful in their transition work with young people. This has included young people moving into various forms of independence. Young people who were just going through this transition process were full of praised for the staff team. One said ‘they never give up on you. Kids in care find it difficult to trust people but the staff here stick with you even when things get difficult’. Young people said that the team take the transition work at a pace that suits the individual. Young people said this has included the home acting as advocates for them and ‘standing up to social workers about timescales for moving’. Young people also said they ‘believe that any young person that comes to this home that is ready to start a

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Quality of care good

fresh, this the home and the team to do it with. Couldn’t wish for a better place’.

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Quality of care good

The staff team undertake a significant amount of effective outreach work with young people and in some cases their families who have left the home. Staff see this as part of the work they need to undertake to ensure the young person’s successful transition.

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Quality of care good

Currently some of the young people are at work and some at college. The majority of young people are achieving very well in this area. For some this is still an area of work in progress. Prior to young people leaving school the staff team provided effective support for them in school.

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Quality of care good

The staff team undertake a significant amount of outreach work with young people who have left the home. Staff see this as part of the work they need to undertake to endure the young person’s successful transition.

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Quality of care good

Young people are able to access a wide range of activities. Young people said staff help them not only to maintain their own interests but also to try new activities to broaden their experiences. One young person spoke of a trip to Africa to help disadvantaged children. The process for this included the young person writing a letter containing what they felt they could offer to the children’s and how the trip would help with their own development. They said this was good practice for job applications and interviews.

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Quality of care good

The home provides young people with a welcoming, relaxed and nurturing environment in which to live. It is furnished to a high standard and young people have input to the home's decoration and décor. Young people spoken too are proud of their home and enjoy living there. Young people are encouraged to personalise their bedrooms. Of those bedrooms seen some were of a very high standard. One bedroom, due to the young person’s choices, requires some improvement to be of the same high standard as the rest of the home. Staff interaction with the young people was observed and this was not only very effective but friendly, caring and considerate. 9 of 12

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Young people benefit from living in a safe and nurturing environment. A robust recruitment and vetting policy and procedure for appointing staff is in place adhered to in practice. This ensures young people are protected from unsuitable people who may wish to harm them.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Fire records are maintained within the home. This provides evidence that there are regular checks on all fire fighting equipment. Records of fire drills do not consistently contain evidence of what time the fire drill was held and there was no evidence of a night time fire drill having been held. This could potentially mean staff and young people do not have a thorough understanding of what action to take at different times of day.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

The home has a comprehensive safeguarding policy and procedure that is adhered to in practice. Staff interviewed demonstrated a very clear understanding of this and saw this as the foundation of the work they undertake. This approach is supported by robust training for the staff in all areas of child protection and safer care practices. Staff also demonstrated a working knowledge and understanding of protecting young people from child sexual exploitation. All of this work promotes the safety of young people.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

There are comprehensive and effective policies and procedure in place to address the issue of young people going missing. These have been shared with the Local Authority and Police to ensure they are in line with local policies and procedure. Since the last full inspection there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of young people going missing. This can be attributed to the work the staff have undertaken with young people and fellow professionals. Documents demonstrated where there have been concerns about specific young people the home has requested multi agency meeting to develop additional strategies for the individuals concerned. Records recording missing person events are appropriate and include what strategies the team have developed to reduce recurrence.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Behaviour at the home is very well managed. The main focus of behaviour management is reinforcement of positive behaviours. This is linked to work undertaken to develop the young people’s understanding of their own behaviours and triggers. This then leads to them developing self- management techniques. Individual behavioural plans are in place. These are regularly reviewed to ensure they reflect the young people’s individual situation. Linked to these are comprehensive risk assessments with clear strategies for staff to use to reduce or eliminate risk. Since the last full inspection there has only been one incident of physical restraint. This was appropriate and well recorded. Where sanctions are given, these are low level and well recorded. The evaluation of the effectiveness of all behaviour records informs future practice.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Records within the home demonstrate the effective work the staff undertake relating 10 of 12 to incidents of bullying. These incidents are minimal. Where they have happened staff respond promptly and work effectively with both young people involved. Since the last full inspection there has only been one incident of bullying.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

The home has a robust health and safety policy which is adhered to in practice. This ensures young people live in a safe environment that is free from risk wherever possible. There is a comprehensive risk assessment process which involves details risk assessments which are regularly reviewed and updated in light of any changes.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home has had the same registered manager since October 2011 who has the required qualifications and experience. At the last inspection, which was an interim inspection one requirement and one recommendation was made. The requirement related to the ensuring the independent person who carries out the Regulation 33 visits makes contact with young people’s parents, relatives and persons working at the home to form an opinion about the safeguarding of the young people and the conduct of the home. This is now happening. Information gathered during these consultations are used to develop the home’s practice. The recommendation was for there to be a review of the home’s sanction records so that they identify any trends or issues which the registered manager can then address. This has been done and informed the registered manager’s monitoring processes.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home’s statement of purpose reflects its current practices and provides referring social workers appropriate information when considering making a placement. It does include information on the use of bedroom door alarms should a need be identified to protect young people. It does not state that the use of such alarms must be documented within the young people placement plans and agreed by placing authorities. These door alarms are not currently in use.

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Leadership and management adequate

The independent visitor carries out monthly visits to the home to review the work they undertake. Currently the reports of these visits to not regularly cover all the points required. For example the reports since June 20014 do not contain evidence of placement plans, records of fire drills, rotas, team meeting minutes or risk assessment being monitored by the independent visitor. This reduces the effectiveness of this monitoring process.

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Leadership and management adequate

Since the last inspection the registered manager has been developing a safe area report for the immediate and extended are in which the home is situated. This report is very detailed and informs the home’s safeguarding processes. The registered manager contacted a number of external agencies for their input into this report. This included Police, Local Authority Designated Officer, Ofsted and Probation Service. The only response the registered manager has received has been from Ofsted. There was no evidence of the registered manager making further requests for information from these agencies. 11 of 12 The home’s leaders and mangers effectively communicate their high expectations to the staff team and recognise the need to continually develop and improve. The home’s manager has an understanding of areas for improvement and has clear plans in place to address.

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Leadership and management adequate

The staff team is well-trained and very child-focused. The staff are very passionate about their work and very committed to the young people they care for. This view was supported by the young people and external professionals spoken to. There are appropriate levels of staff on duty to meet the needs of the young people placed. The staff receive a good standard of training which ensure they are kept up to date with current developments and changes to social care practice as well as meeting the needs of the young people.

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Leadership and management adequate

Staff reported that they receive excellent levels of informal and formal support which aids their development. Staff supervision records provide evidence of staff receiving regular formal supervision and annual appraisals. The quality of supervision records range from adequate to comprehensive. This is an area which would benefit from further development. Staff interviewed are very complimentary about the registered manager and their colleagues. Staff said ‘it’s a great team to work in’, ‘we feel our ideas and opinions are valued and respected’, ‘this is the best team I have ever work in’.

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Leadership and management adequate

The staff team work effectively with external agencies to ensure young people receive the best outcomes. This has included the team challenging social workers on plans that they felt were not in the best interests of the young person.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home has an appropriate complaints policy and procedure which is adhered too in practice. Since the last inspection there have been no complaints. The young people said they knew about the complaints process but if they had any concerns they would just talk to staff who would’ sort things out’.

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Leadership and management adequate

There is an appropriate system for notifying the required agencies of events. Since the last inspection there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of notification made. This is due to the work the team have done with young people and their behaviours in particular going missing from care.

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Leadership and management adequate

There are appropriate monitoring systems in place which cover all the work the home undertakes. These systems enable the manager to evaluate the home’s work and practice of the staff team. The finding of the manager’s monitoring is then used to enhance the homes practice.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home maintains all the required records. These are securely stored and maintained to a good standard. Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management adequate

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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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