Children's Home run by St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council in St Helens

Unique reference number SC063550 Inspector Ceri Evans Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council Registered person address Children & Young Peoples Services Atlas House, 2 Corporation Street ST. HELENS Merseyside WA9 1LD Responsible individual Jennifer Louise Turnross Registered manager Julie Ann Williams Date of last inspection 14/03/2014 2 of 11 Inspection date 22/01/2015

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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 outstanding Keeping children and young people safe good Leadership and management good

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Overall effectiveness

Children and young people living in this home benefit from an experience staff group who demonstrate commitment to meeting their individual needs and keeping them safe. As a result young people are making excellent progress relative to their individual circumstances and their starting points at the time of admission.

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Overall effectiveness

The strong, stable and experience staff group provide a high standard of care and act as excellent role models. They value young people’s identity and nurture their individual personality traits and characters. This helps young people build confidence and make excellent progress in most parts of their lives, in particular their education and improving family relationships. Professionals and parents hold the home in high regard and offer high praise. A parent stated ‘the staff are very welcoming and are very supportive of my child. I know that (name) feels happy, content and is very settled in this home’.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people’s safety is prioritised by the manager and staff. The team demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding practices and are supported by robust procedures to ensure young people’s safety and welfare is promoted. Staff have strong working relationships with other professionals such as specialist police teams, missing from home services, health, education and social care teams. This ensures the holistic needs of young people are fully met. 3 of 11 Young people benefit from effective management in the home. The manager is driven to develop the service and places the welfare and safety of young people at the heart of her practice. Leaders have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses and are committed to maintaining high standards.

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Overall effectiveness

As a result of this inspection some areas for improvement have been identified. These relate to staff appraisals, quality of records, admissions procedure and ensuring that Regulation 33 reports provide details of the care practices within the home. 4 of 11

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a local authority and provides accommodation for up to six young people who have emotional or behavioural difficulties.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/03/2014 Interim good progress 25/10/2013 Full outstanding 11/02/2013 Interim good progress 09/08/2012 Full adequate

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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

 there is a system in place to monitor the quality and adequacy of record keeping. This specifically relates to ensuring that young people's written records including progress reports and independence plans demonstrate staff’s analysis of children’s experiences, progress and support needs. (NMS22.1)  the children's home only provides admission to children whose assessed needs they can reasonable expect to meet. Specifically rates to ensuring the home adheres to in-house matching procedures. (NMS: 11.2)  All staff have their performance individually and formally appraised at least annually and this appraisal takes into account any views of children the service is providing for. (NMS 19.6)  ensure visits carried out under Regulation 33 include a detailed summary and analysis of the care practice in the home (NMS 21.7) 5 of 11 6 of 11

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people are making significant and continuous improvement with regards to their education, health and emotional development. They are growing in confidence, self-esteem and self-respect. They are sociable, friendly and are now more able to take pride in their appearance and their achievements. Young people enjoy living in this home and have achieved stability in their lives. They have excellent relationships with staff who act as influential role models. This has helped them to aspire and improve their lives.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Since living in the home young people have made exceptional progress in their education and have narrowed the gap between their achievements and those of their peers. This is evidenced in the positive examination results young people have achieved. One professional stated ‘(name) is a real success story. He has 99% attendance and is fully engaged in his education. He has been well supported through difficult times and continues to thrive’. This further demonstrates that despite the challenges young people face they are achieving and excellent support is in place for them to meet their full potential.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people’s physical health has improved because they are encouraged and supported to take pride in their appearance, eat healthily and take lots of exercise. The home provides lots of advice regarding their emotional, physical and sexual health needs. When young people have specific health needs action is taken to help address these. For example, regular contact with a sexual health specialist who supports young people to make safer choices with regards to sex and relationships.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people psychological and emotional health is also well met through the unconditional positive regard they receive from staff. Regular involvement with specialist psychological services provide young people with an emotional outlet to help them understand their life story and past experiences. As a result, young people enjoy improved self-esteem and are more willing to trust others. This will undoubtedly enhance their ability to forge healthy relationships in the future.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people benefit from family contact where this is consistent with their care plans. The home has established excellent communication with families and placing authority to ensure that young people develop and sustain those relationships that are most important to them. This has had a positive impact on family dynamics and enabled young people to enjoy relationships and maintain a sense of belonging and identity.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people feel listened to and are involved in decision-making about them. They are also involved in shaping the design and delivery of services. This includes involvement young people’s care council, regular home meetings, individual sessions 7 of 11 with their key worker and access to independent advocacy. As a result young people feel more confident and are learning how to express themselves in mature, more socially acceptable manner.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people are effectively supported to develop independent living skills to prepare them for adulthood. They are encouraged to develop skills in a range of areas, for example preparing meals, managing money and doing household chores. Young people are given praise and incentives to develop their skills and demonstrate their competence. However, this is not fully reflected in their records. This is an administration issue and does not detract from the good the practice that takes place on a daily basis.

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Quality of care outstanding

Staff demonstrate unconditional positive regard for young people who have disruptive attachment patterns and can display harmful behaviour. The team take full account of the underlying trauma and responding effectively to such behaviour. Staff teach young people that making mistakes is a part of life. It is not disastrous and relationship can be sustained during challenging times. The ethos of the home is one of mutual respect, support, care and commitment. The strong relationships between young people and staff are evident and demonstrate the high aspirations and a genuine drive that staff adopt to help young people achieve. This has been confirmed by professional stakeholders who state ‘Staff do an excellent job and are highly supportive of young people. They stick by young people through difficult times and are able to manage challenges as they arise. I have nothing but praise for the Grove, I think they are fantastic’.

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Quality of care outstanding

Staff are very experienced and have considerable skills in managing behaviour and embrace opportunities to help young people to reflect. Positive behaviour is encouraged, acknowledged and rewarded. Young people’s placement plans provide a comprehensive picture of all their personal needs and these are effectively put into practice to ensure their specific needs are met on a day to day basis. Care planning and daily practice by staff recognise young people’s individuality, backgrounds, interests and views. Cultural background, race, sexuality and identity are positively addressed through daily living arrangements and staff promote equality of opportunity for all young people. Staff ensure that young people are not victimised, labelled or discriminated against in any way. Every effort is made to ensue young people are not marginalised. Young people are encouraged to attend their reviews and have a say about the care they receive. This means that young people are fully

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Quality of care outstanding

informed and have the opportunity to contribute to the decisions made about their life.

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Quality of care outstanding

Young people are encouraged to have high expectation of themselves and their abilities. Staff work very effectively with schools and other educational establishments to help young people attain their educational potential. Excellent 8 of 11 communication is maintained between school and the home which allows for achievements to be shared. Furthermore, this also enables professionals to identify potential barriers to learning and make the necessary arrangements to ensure young people continue to thrive. One professional commented, ‘(name) is now a regular school attender and has aspirations for the future. Every effort is made to promote progress and she has the ability to do well’.

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Quality of care outstanding

The team encourage young people’s individual characters, skills and talents through the promotion of community activities. For example, some young people recently participated in a citizenship awards which involved various activities. This enabled young people to learn new skills, build on existing abilities and try new things.

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Quality of care outstanding

Since the last inspection, improvements have been made to the decor of the home and young people have had an active role in choosing colour schemes and soft furnishing. The home is very comfortable, warm and welcoming. Several areas, such as the lounge, education room, dining room and bedrooms have been personalised to the individual tastes of young people. This means that young people can feel a sense of belonging and are able take ownership over aspects their home

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Keeping children and young people safe good

This home provides an environment where young people feel safe and are safe. Social workers and parents are confident that young people are safe within this home. Young people benefit from being cared for by staff who know them well and understand their vulnerabilities. Young people feel comfortable to speak with staff should they have any worries or concerns and are confident that matters would be addressed.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Staff are trained in child protection and are confident in implementing the home’s safeguarding policies and procedures. Effective training ensures that staff understand their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and equips them to provide good support to young people who have suffered trauma. This ensures that young people are supported and their welfare is prioritised.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

As a result of early childhood trauma and disruptive experiences some young people exhibit risk taking behaviour upon admission. Evidence gathered at this inspection highlights that incidents of young people going missing from care has reduced following the departure of young people who were highly involved in this behaviour. This is confirmed by a member of staff who stated that ‘we did have a high level of missing from care, but these mostly related to one young person who has now moved on. Any incident of young people going missing are acted upon immediately and we go above and beyond to find them quickly’. A professional stated ‘staff follow the agreed missing from care protocols when young people have been missing, they attend multi agency meetings and have been a driving force in ensuring that action is taken to keep young people safe. Staff genuinely care for the welfare and wellbeing 9 of 11

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Keeping children and young people safe good

of young people and do their upmost to keep them safe’.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Missing from home records are factual and clear in relation to the action taken by staff when young people go missing. Excellent partnership with the police and specialist services further promotes young people’s safety and protection.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Young people are supported to develop socially acceptable behaviours. This, with the support of individual behaviour management strategies and clear risk assessments underpin staff practice. Most young people have invested in the home's expectations and some have expressed a wish to change their behaviour in order to reach their goals. This is made realistic through consistent routines and boundaries, rewards and incentives, coupled with the positive relationships that young people have formed with staff. Staff are clear that physical intervention is a last resort and only used when absolutely necessary. Staff prefer to use the positive relationship they have with young people to distract and defuse situations. However, on the occasions physical restraint has been used it has been necessary and records provide a good picture of the event and the action taken by staff. Young people and staff are given

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Keeping children and young people safe good

the opportunity to discuss the incidents and comment in the record, this aids reflection and informs future practice.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

The home provides a safe environment for young people to live in. A range of health and safety checks are completed to assess whether there are any hazards which could pose a risk to young people. Young people and staff take part in regular fire drills to ensure they know how to safely evacuate the home in case of an emergency. These measures help ensure that young people continue to live in a safe environment.

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Leadership and management good

The home is effectively and efficiently managed by an experienced Registered Manager who was been registered with Ofsted in 2012. The manager has extensive experience in residential care and other social care settings and has the necessary qualifications for the role. The manager is supported by deputy manager who share the same child-centred goals and both work well together. They are enthusiastic, committed and are passionate about the work they do. Managers have high expectations with regards to the level of care and support young people receive and these expectations are fully understood by the staff team. As a result, the team stimulate their enthusiasm and channel their efforts effectively.

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Leadership and management good

Staff comment that managers are approachable, supportive and lead by example. They demonstrate good leadership and motivational qualities and ensure staff are regularly supervised, well trained and supported to fulfil their specific roles and responsibilities. Staff practice is appraised on an annual basis. However, appraisals do not benefit from young people’s comments. This is an important source of information that would offer a direct insight from young people into care practices 10 of 11 and performance management.

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Leadership and management good

In general, most new admissions are planned and the Registered Manager carefully assesses the suitability of each referral. Impact assessments are detailed and consideration is given to whether the needs of the individual can be met without impacting negatively on others living in the home. However, there has been at least one occasion whereby a young person was placed without a thorough suitability assessment. Leaders and mangers did not follow the agreed admissions process and the placement was not an appropriate match. Immediate action was taken to address this issue and protocols are now in place to ensure that all placements are appropriately match. This further promotes young people’s wellbeing and the stability of the home.

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Leadership and management good

The Registered Manager makes good use of monitoring and quality assurance systems which focus on improved outcomes for young people. Monthly reports provide a detailed overview of the homes progress and identify areas for improvement. Consultation with young people, parents and social workers directly influence the progress of the home. This demonstrates the managers’ commitment to driving the service forward in order to help improve outcomes for young people. Regulation 33 visits are regularly carried out. The reports do not provide detailed evaluation of the care practices within the home. This means that there is no clear overview of the care provided in the home in order to routinely enhance practice.

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Leadership and management good

Significant events are appropriately reported to Ofsted in the required timescales. Information is clear in relation to incident and the action taken by staff. This further demonstrates the manager ability to effectively scrutinise and evaluating safeguarding practices within the home. Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management good

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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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