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

Unique reference number SC420876 Inspector Sharon Treadwell Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Prestige Adolescent Care And Education Limited Registered person address Genesis Centre, SO8 Unit 18 North Staffs Enterprise Centre, Innovation Way STOKE-ON- TRENT ST6 4BF Responsible individual Andreas Decoza Registered manager Julie Ann Barcroft Date of last inspection 18/03/2014 2 of 10 Inspection date 15/01/2015

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

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Overall effectiveness

Young people make exceptionally good progress from their starting points at the time of admission. The young people develop very positive relationships with staff, which help them to become happier and more confident and to develop social and interactional skills.

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Overall effectiveness

The manager and staff have high expectations of young people in terms of presentation, behaviour and achievement. Young people are provided with high levels of effective support to help them to meet those expectations. Clear and appropriate boundary setting and the establishment of stable routines help young people to feel safe, secure and valued. They generally have good attendance at school and college and staff are proactive in ensuring that they receive input and support from specialist associated professionals to enhance their wellbeing and achievements. Behaviours improve and instances of physical intervention, absence without authority and risk taking behaviours reduce. This enables young people to say: 'I feel safer than when I first came because I trust the staff and I like them too.'

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Overall effectiveness

Placement planning and implementation is individualised and focus well on encouraging young people to grow and develop progressively throughout their placements at this home. Placement records are diligently and comprehensively 3 of 10 retained. The impact of the vast amount of individual work staff undertake with young people, and the often huge progress young people have made because of that work, is not easily extracted from young people's records. Should young people review their records, now or in the future, it is important that their achievements are immediately evident to them.

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Overall effectiveness

When young people go missing from the home records do not always effectively reflect the reasons for this or the action taken to prevent recurrence. The home's safeguarding log should always detail all of the positive action taken by staff, to promote young people's safety and well being, subsequent to any concern being identified.

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Overall effectiveness

These minor shortfalls have resulted in three recommendations. None of the shortfalls identified have an impact on the high quality of care young people are currently receiving or on the very significant progress they are making, which will help to equip them to make more positive transitions into adulthood. 4 of 10

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Information about this children’s home

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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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/03/2014 Interim good progress 31/12/2013 Full good 24/10/2012 Interim good progress 02/05/2012 Full good

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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 that the home’s safeguarding records fully reflect the positive action taken to promote yp’s safety and welfare when they place themselves at risk (NMS 4.1)  ensure that the written records kept by the home when a child goes missing always detail the circumstances of the child’s return, any reasons given by the child for running away from the home and any action taken in light of those reasons to prevent a recurrence (NMS 5.10)  ensure that information about the child is recorded clearly, and in a way which will be helpful to the child when they access their files now or in the future, and specifically that these records help young people to understand and appreciate the progress made whilst at the home and their progressive achievement of their placement objectives. (NMS 22.5) 5 of 10

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

All of the young people and staff enjoyed a meal out together to celebrate Christmas. One young person prepared a written presentation to reflect on the impact, which the home has had on the lives of the young people living there. Her description of the strengths of individual staff members effectively summarises the positivity of young people's relationships with staff and the reasons why young people feel safe and very well cared for in this home. The young person says of one staff member: 'You have been there like a mother for me, in fact you all have and I would like to thank you again for it. I would love to give you a medal for everything you have done for us all.'

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people are relaxed and comfortable in the presence of staff and reflect real confidence in expressing their opinions and views. Through their experience of individualised and consistent care, the young people develop a more positive view of themselves and grow progressively in terms of confidence and self-esteem. Young people receive a high level of individual attention from staff and this provides them with ample opportunity to talk about the things that are important to them and helps them to make sense of their histories and experiences. A young person says: 'I enjoy being with you because you will go further than expected. When it comes to hard situations I know, we all know, we can talk about anything and you would understand.' Those young people who need therapeutic support have very good access to this.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people's friends and families are welcomed at the home and some young people have received the help they need to maintain or rebuild positive relationships with their families. In some instances this is making it possible for young people to work towards returning home, when previously this had seemed impossible.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Some young people were admitted to the home with a long history of poor engagement with education and now have good attendance and are achieving well. For many young people their presenting attitudes and behaviours are a barrier to educational attendance and achievement and they recognise and value the support staff give them to help them to succeed. There are many instances of staff spending time in school, either directly supporting young people or just being on the school site and directly accessible because it is envisaged that issues may arise during the school day. One young person says: 'Staff being in school with me makes it easier for me to do well'. Some young people are now working well towards GCSE examinations and have already applied for college places or apprenticeships to help them to make positive transitions into work. Young people are robustly encouraged and supported to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to enable them to move positively

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

towards independence. Independence programmes are individualised according to young people's level of skill and understanding and this helps young people to grow and develop at their own pace. 6 of 10 Young people are healthier because they are encouraged to eat regular healthy meals and to properly access health services. Young people have their annual health checks and visit the dentist when needed. Where young people need additional support from specialist services, in respect of their emotional, physical or mental health, they are very well supported to take full advantage of services offered.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people, who have demonstrated behaviours which place them at high risk, respond well to clear boundary setting and the high expectations of staff and reduce some of their more challenging behaviours. This means that young people go missing less frequently, their offending reduces, and their challenging behaviour lessens. Young people recognise the real progress they have made whilst living at this home and say: 'I’ve got better here at tidying my room and looking after my things and my behaviour is much better.'

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Quality of care good

The staff team are committed to providing stability, safety and good quality care for young people placed at the home. The staff have a good understanding of the complexities of young people's past histories and the vulnerabilities that put them at risk of serious harm. When young people start living at the home they often have poor coping mechanisms, self-control and challenging behaviours and they quickly become angry, aggressive and destructive. The staff team has high expectations of young people in terms of both behaviour and achievement. Staff establish clear, firm boundaries, which young people see as fair, to encourage the young people to review and refine their potentially unsafe and often challenging behaviours. This approach is generally successful and all young people have made significant progress in reducing their more challenging and risky behaviours whilst living at this home.

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Quality of care good

Whilst the home works closely with placing authorities in determining young people's placement objectives, those placing authorities are not always co-operative in supplying written documents to inform and support the home's placement planning. The manager is extremely pro-active in following up the provision of essential information and in ensuring that all associated professionals fulfil their obligations to young people. The manager and staff are good advocates for young people because they place the safety and well-being of young people at the centre of their own practice and expect the same commitment from the professionals they work alongside. Young people recognise and value this. One young person says of the manager: 'You are an amazing boss at this house. You probably pull the strings more than you should but you do this because you care about us all and that's the best thing about you.'

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Quality of care good

Children and young people’s emotional and physical health are good. In-house therapeutic support is available and widely used by most of the young people. This support is currently helping young people to look at managing their anger and 7 of 10 aggression more successfully, building self-esteem and dealing with recurring nightmares.

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Quality of care good

The home is located in quite an isolated situation but is only a short distance, by car, from several nearby towns and local amenities. Young people like the home's location and say that it does not impact at all on their capacity to see friends or access activities. The high staffing level of the home, ensuring that young people always have one-to-one staffing, means that the young people have very good access to activities of their choice. Young people enjoy bowling, visiting the cinema and playing pool with one young person claiming: 'I can beat all the staff at pool now because I'm the best'. The home is well maintained and is decorated and furnished to a good standard, providing homely, comfortable and welcoming accommodation. An associated professional, who regularly visits the home says: 'The property is well maintained, large and has all that the children require for a good living. The environment is homely and it does not feel like a care home at all.'

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Quality of care good

Young people's placement plans fully reflect the aims and objectives of their placing authority care plans. Placement plans are reviewed each month to reflect on the progress young people have made towards achieving these objectives and they are actively involved in these reviews. At present placement plan recording is not undertaken in language, which makes these records very accessible to young people. Staff are extremely diligent in the records they retain about young people's placements and in sharing this information with young people's placing authorities. The sheer volume of records can make it difficult to extract detail of the impact of the individual work staff undertake with young people or the often huge progress young people have made because of that work. Should a young person wish to access their records, now or in the future, they would struggle to fully appreciate the positive influence this placement has had on their life.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Young people feel and are safe at the home. The home has good policies, procedures and practices with regard to safeguarding. Staff receive regular training in safeguarding and child protection to ensure that they are confident in the action they take should a young person make a disclosure or allegation. The manager consults well with local safeguarding services, the police and young people's placing authorities to create support networks for young people whose behaviours have the potential to place them at risk. The police say: 'Where a young person was at risk of sexual exploitation there were numerous things in place following a risk assessment. The young person was well looked after and very safe whilst at the home.'

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Keeping children and young people safe good

The home accommodates young people who present challenging, potentially unsafe and often aggressive behaviours. Since the previous inspection there have been periods when instances of young people being missing or absent from the home have 8 of 10 been high and when the use of physical restraint and sanctions has increased dramatically. The manager's monitoring very clearly establishes how these periods link to young people settling in to the home's routines or to periods of particular stress for individual young people. The high levels of individualised therapeutic and residential support, provided to young people, help to alleviate their anxieties and, invariably, young people's risky behaviours reduce whilst they are at the home. For some young people there has been a real reduction in the requirement for them to be restrained to prevent harm to themselves, others and property because they have been helped to develop their own self-control mechanisms. Other young people have

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Keeping children and young people safe good

reduced instances of being absent or missing from the home because they feel able to trust and confide in staff. Some young people, who were at potential risk of sexual exploitation, specifically through their inappropriate access to social networking sites, have been afforded protection and been helped to better understand the potential risks involved.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Where young people do go missing the records currently do not always contain sufficient information to demonstrate why the incident occurred and what action staff are taking to prevent a recurrence. This is because return interviews are conducted, quite properly, by an independent organisation and records of these interviews are not being shared with the home in a timely way.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

There have been a small number of allegations made by young people against staff. These have been properly notified to Ofsted, and to local safeguarding professionals. They have been thoroughly investigated and any necessary action has been taken. The home retains a very robust record in respect of safeguarding incidents. There are sometimes incidents, which the home considers place young people at significant risk and are reported to the local authority designated officer but do not meet their thresholds for investigation. In such cases the manager is diligent in ensuring that the home takes action to promote young people's safety but these incidents are not always recorded in the home’s safeguarding log. Young people are fully aware of how to make a complaint and, when they do, are kept fully informed about the action being taken.

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Leadership and management outstanding

The registered manager is appropriately qualified and experienced and has been in post since this home was first registered in October 2010. The home has a sound inspection history, which demonstrates the manager's commitment to developing and maintaining a service of consistent good quality with many outstanding features. Practice within the home is extremely child-centred and reflective and this promotes ongoing development and improvement. The Statement of Purpose is an extremely thorough and comprehensive document providing families, placing authorities and associated professionals with a very clear understanding of the aims, objectives and ethos of the home and a good description of how care is delivered. 9 of 10 Independent monthly monitoring visits to the home and the manager's internal monitoring provide a robust oversight of care practice. The independent visitor conducts a thorough review of recording and care practice and regularly seeks the

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Leadership and management outstanding

views of young people, staff, families and associated professionals regarding the standards of care provided at the home. The manager's oversight of practice is focused and reflective. It enables her to identify any patterns and trends emerging and to utilise her findings to inform realistic and achievable development plans for the home, which are targeted at improving outcomes for young people.

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Leadership and management outstanding

Staff receive regular and effective formal supervision, and have good access to relevant training, to support their personal development and to enhance their skills to work with young people. Staff also feel that informal mutual support systems are particularly good in this home and underpin the consistent delivery of a high standard of care. The manager has high expectations with regard to the level of care and support young people should receive in this home and these expectations are clearly understood by the staff team. Care practice is reflective and the manager and staff consistently learn from incidents that happen and use team meetings well to review their practice as a team. One associated professional says: 'The manager is very firm but fair. This is good as it sets out boundaries for the children. I enjoy visiting. The children are a credit to the hard work of the staff and the manager.'

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Leadership and management outstanding

The manager and staff have sound and effective working relationships with a range of associated professionals. Those professionals say that the home is particularly good at communicating essential information. Placing social workers say that they receive comprehensive weekly reports to update them on young people's progress and are confident in the home's capacity to meet the young people's individual needs and promote their positive development. One social worker says: ' I am very confident in their ability to meet his needs. They pick up on his moods and his daily needs for support. They recognise his strengths well and his areas of difficulty. I can see the progress he has made already. He is beginning to make real attachments.'

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Leadership and management outstanding

The manager demonstrates a determination to ensure that services provided by associated professionals contribute towards enriching and improving young people's lives. She is robust in challenging associated professionals when there are shortfalls in the service they provide, for example where placing authorities fail to provide essential information in a timely way or when education providers fail to meet their responsibilities. This can sometimes put strain on professional working relationships but demonstrates real advocacy for young people placed and reflects the home's determination to support young people to achieve optimum outcomes. Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management outstanding

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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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