Children's Home run by Highfield North East Limited in Redcar and Cleveland

Unique reference number SC476512 Inspector Bill Drumm Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Highfield (North East) Limited Registered person address 37 Emerald Street SALTBURN-BY-THE-SEA Cleveland TS12 1EE Responsible individual William Francis Ashton Registered manager Anthony Steven Wood Date of last inspection N/A 2 of 11 Inspection date 13/01/2015

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Previous inspection N/A Enforcement action since last inspection none

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Overall effectiveness adequate

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

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Overall effectiveness

Overall, the home provides adequate levels of care and support to young people. Staff work hard to develop good positive relationships with all young people in their care and, in the main, they are successful. Staff want all young people at the home to be safe and to develop socially acceptable behaviour. They have had some success in this area with young people developing different coping strategies to use when they feel angry or anxious. This has led to a reduction in the number of occasions when they display aggressive or destructive behaviour. Additionally, the number of times when young people go missing remains consistently low.

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Overall effectiveness

Some young people have completed their formal education and are enrolled onto suitable college courses; others are seeking work or training opportunities. Some young people attend alternatives to mainstream education, such as, special schools. Their attendance at school is inconsistent but there is an improving trend. This is as result of the incentive schemes used within the home to encourage young people to attend regularly and to moderate their behaviour while they are there.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff actively encourage and support young people to achieve their full potential and to have high aspirations for their future. As a result, young people’s self-confidence and self-esteem improves. As a result of the improvements in one young person’s self-confidence they have been able to plan, organise and host a Japanese themed 3 of 11 evening for staff and young people to enjoy within the home.

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Overall effectiveness

Shortfalls highlighted as a result of this inspection are in relation to the home’s risk assessments, particularly in relation to the safe use of the internet and social media, and the recording on each young person’s file of all measures of control, restraint or discipline used on them. Other shortfalls include, ensuring that the results of all statutory reviews are recorded on the young person’s file; ensuring that staff are aware of the contents of each young person’s personal education plan; enabling young people to know and understand the content of their care plan; ensuring all young people who are old enough have a comprehensive pathway plan in place to aid their transition into adulthood; ensuring that the children’s guide is accessible to all children; ensuring that the home has a robust development plan in place; reviewing the home’s missing from home records to ensure they record the location

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Overall effectiveness

where young people are found and ensuring that the evidence from regular monthly monitoring checks carried out by the home’s manager are robustly analysed. None of these shortfalls have a direct impact on the welfare of young people. 4 of 11

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Information about this children’s home

The home is provided by a private company and is registered to care for up to five young people with emotional or behavioural difficulties.

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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) promote and make proper provision for the safeguarding and welfare of children accommodated there (Regulation 11 (1)(a)) 31/03/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) maintain in respect of each child who is accommodated in a children's home a record in permanent form which includes the information, documents and records specified in Schedule 3 relating to that child. (Regulation 28 (1)(a)) 31/03/2015

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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 that the results of all statutory reviews and reviews of placement plans are recorded on the child's file, and individuals responsible for pursuing actions at the home arising from reviews are clearly identified (NMS 25.8)  ensure that staff have up-to-date information about each child's educational progress (NMS 8.7)  ensure that children understand, within their level of understanding, the 5 of 11 purpose and content of their plan and the reasoning behind and decisions about their care (NMS 25.1)  contribute to the development of each child's care plan, including the pathway plan for "eligible" care leavers and works collaboratively with the young person's social worker or personal adviser in implementing the plan (NMS 12.2)  ensure that the child receives the Children's Guide at the point of placement and that the contents of the Children's Guide is explained to the child in a way that is accessible (NMS 13.4)

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Recommendations

 ensure the home has a written development plan, reviewed annually, for the future of the home, either identifying any planned changes in the operation or resources of the service, or confirming the continuation of the home's current operation and resource (NMS 15.2)  monitor, in line with regulations, all records kept by the home to ensure compliance with the homes policies, to identify any concerns about specific incidents and to identify patterns and trends (NMS 21.2)  ensure written records kept by the home when a child goes missing detail action taken by staff, 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. (NMS 5.10) 6 of 11

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people receive support from staff to be healthy and to stay healthy. Generally, their overall health has improved since they moved into the home. They are all able to access primary health care services needed to promote their well-being, such as doctors, dentists and opticians. Additionally and where necessary, young people are supported to attend out-patient appointments with specialist health care practitioners, such as consultant psychiatrists. Staff also provide on-going support and encouragement to young people about healthy eating and the dangers of smoking. Some young people choose not to take their full advice and continue to put their health at risk by, for example, smoking. However, young people do, on occasion, attend smoking cessation clinics and seek advice from pharmacists about what strategies they can use to reduce the amount they smoke or stop smoking completely. One staff member said, ‘One young person seems really keen to give up

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

smoking. We don’t think they’re addicted we think they smoke out of habit. If they stay busy they forget about cigarettes.’ The diet of young people has also improved by living at the home. Meals provided are regular, nutritious and well balanced with fresh fruit being readily available.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Some young people have completed their formal education and regularly attend college. Others have finished their formal education and have yet to decide what they want to do in the future. In the interim, those young people who do not attend college or who have not found a suitable training opportunity are encouraged to undertake manual work in the home’s grounds. This helps to develop their self- confidence and teaches them new skills. Other young people attend special schools because of their challenging behaviour. The attendance of young people at special schools is encouraged by staff who have put incentive schemes in place to encourage their daily attendance and improved behaviour. The use of incentive schemes has had the desired effect and young people’s behaviour and attendance has improved. One staff member said, ‘One young person has attended school every day for the last week and we’ve had no phone calls to ask us to collect them. That’s progress but we

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

know we have a lot more work to do if we are to get them back into a mainstream school.’ Staff encourage all young people to have high aspirations for themselves and to aim to improve their lives through education or employment.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Where appropriate, the relationship between young people and their birth family has developed since moving into the home. Where necessary, staff support and closely supervise contact. For example, parents are invited into the home to share activities such as, jewellery making, with their children and members of staff. This helps to ensure that young people receive the support they need to manage their emotions in a positive manner and that contact is a good experience for all involved.

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Outcomes for children and young people adequate

Young people are encouraged to learn activities for daily living and to develop the 7 of 11 skills that are necessary to successfully move into adulthood. However, some young people who are old enough do not have formal pathway plans, written by their social workers, in place. As a consequence, young people who are nearing adulthood do not know what help and services they can expect to receive as they get older.

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Quality of care good

Staff and young people have a positive, relaxed manner with each other. Staff are also firm and fair when giving instructions and explanations. One young person said, ‘Staff here are alright, I get on with all of them really.’ One member of staff said, ‘Some young people who come here haven’t had anyone to show them they care, they haven’t received a hug when they’ve done something well or when they’re feeling low. We let them know we really care about them and we give them boundaries. We let them know what we expect them to do. I think they appreciate this and it helps them settle in as quickly as possible.’ Staff use their skills, experience and knowledge to create a supportive environment where young people can quickly feel safe and to make progress in their lives. A staff member said, ‘We’re all committed to helping young people achieve as much as they can.’

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Quality of care good

The Registered Manager and staff support young people to have a say in how the home operates by having monthly young people’s meetings and through informal discussions around the dining room table. This helps young people feel listened to. Young people have, for example, been fully involved in plans for the development of the home’s grounds. Developments will include a vegetable patch, greenhouses and an enclosure for chickens.

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Quality of care good

Each young person also has a detailed care plan that shows what their needs are and how they will be met. However, the care plans are not written in plain English or in a manner that all young people, regardless of their age and ability can understand. This means that not all young people understand what their placement at the home is meant to achieve and they are not fully involved in their own care.

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Quality of care good

Staff provide a comfortable, relaxed, warm and friendly environment where young people can take stock of their lives and consider what it is they want to achieve. Opportunities to participate in daily living skills or community based activities such as attending the cinema, going to the gym or meeting friends is encouraged. Members of staff are fully committed to ensuring the young people enjoy a positive experience while living at the home and are able to develop both physically and emotionally. This helps improve young people’s confidence and develops their self-esteem.

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Quality of care good

Attending education for young people prior to living at the home has often been inconsistent. However, staff actively encourage and support education. There are several examples where young people have increased the number of hours they attend each day, have expressed a desire to move from a special school back into mainstream education or commenced a further education college course. However, 8 of 11 not all young people have an up to date personal education plan in place. This means that staff at the home are unable to fully engage and work with schools to support each young person’s education. Young people who have finished their formal education are supported to find work or training opportunities in the local area.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

The home’s manager and staff provide safe care for young people. One young person said, ‘It’s safe here and yes, I feel safe.’

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Restraint or holding young people is seldom, if ever, used. Staff prefer to use diversion techniques to help steer young people away from negative behaviour. In addition, sanctions are rarely used to help promote positive behaviour in young people. The home’s processes and procedures in relation to behaviour management are clear, robust and staff are familiar with these. Positive consequences and praise are more often used as a reward for good behaviour and for demonstrating a good attitude. This helps young people to understand how their behaviour affects others and to take responsibility for their actions.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

Staff have reported young people as missing to the police on a small number of occasions since the home was registered and the trend of young people being missing from the home is reducing. The written records relating to these incidents are clear and they include the specific details of all actions taken by staff in helping to locate young people. However, the location where young people have been found is not recorded. This means that staff are unable to compile a record of locations where young people are regularly found when they go missing.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

The home is safe. Electrical equipment and the equipment used for preventing, detecting and extinguishing fires is regularly inspected and serviced. The home’s manager conducts a regular review of risk assessments relating to hazards that may arise in the home. Additionally, appropriate recruitment arrangements are in place which helps to ensure that staff employed to work with children are suitable. Important information relating to recruitment records are kept in the home which helps improve accountability.

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Keeping children and young people safe adequate

The staff assess the risk of hazards that each young person may face and make a proportionate evaluation about how such risks may be minimised. This takes into account both their age and maturity. There is a recognition that all young people need to experience some degree of appropriate risk as a part of growing up and learning through doing. This helps young people to explore and understand the world around them and to mature into responsible adults. However, all young people at the home have access to, and use, social media as a means of keeping in touch with friends and family. Some electronic gaming equipment used by young people also includes internet access. The home does not have robust procedures in place to ensure the safety and well-being of young people who use social media. This means 9 of 11 that young people are at risk of exploitation and grooming.

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Leadership and management adequate

The Registered Manager has been registered since April 2014 when the home was first registered. He has the appropriate qualifications to be a Registered Manager of a children’s home. This is the first inspection of the home since it was registered.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home meets the aims and objectives set out in its Statement of Purpose. Placing social workers know what the home can offer young people, what the skills of the staff team are and how they can be utilised to help young people achieve their maximum potential. Additionally, the home has a comprehensive and detailed children’s guide in place that explains what it is like for a young person to live there. However, the children’s guide is not written in plain English and provides heavy reading for a young person. Young people are unlikely to read the full document and to fully understand its contents.

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Leadership and management adequate

Information relating to significant events in each young person’s life are not routinely recorded in the young person’s file. For instance, copies of restraints or sanctions used to help young people modify their behaviour are not retained. In addition, files do not always contain the notes from looked after children’s reviews. This means that each young person’s file does not provide an accurate account of their life within the home, they are unable to see how or why decisions may have been made and they are not able to fully participate in the decision making process.

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Leadership and management adequate

Recruitment procedures are robust and help to ensure that young people are kept safe from exploitation or abuse. Additionally, the home’s manager provides regular supervision for staff. This means that staff have their work practice closely monitored and they are fully supported. Staff’s training needs are also effectively identified and met.

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Leadership and management adequate

Monitoring visits from someone independent of the home take place every month. The person undertaking these visits talks, where possible, to staff and young people. In addition, and where possible, the visiting officer talks with the parents or relatives of young people themselves. These visits help to ensure that the home is run properly and that young people are well cared for.

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Leadership and management adequate

Internal monitoring by the home’s manager is detailed and Ofsted is sent regular monitoring reports. Recording mechanisms show the number of incidents that may have occurred, for instance in the number of times a young person has been missing from home or the use of sanctions. However, the reports do not contain an analysis of why specific events have taken place. Analysing the details of specific events 10 of 11 allows the home’s manager to look at trends in behaviour and put strategies in place to address these trends.

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Leadership and management adequate

The home’s manager and staff continue to look at ways to develop the home and to ensure it meets regulations and national minimum standards. The home has a development plan in place to assist in this process. However, the development plan lacks detail and specific targets and review timescales. Additionally, the development plan does not identify any planned changes in the operation of the home or confirm its current operation and resource. This means that the strengths and weaknesses of the home may not be fully known by the staff team and that regular reviews on progress do not take place. 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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