Children's Home run by SureCare Residential Ltd in Essex

Unique reference number SC462729 Inspector Rosie Davie Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Surecare Residential Limited Registered person address 19e North Street, 2nd Floor Bishops Stortford Hertfordshire CM23 2LD Responsible individual Simon Peter Barr Registered manager Mark Michael Lee / POST VACANT Date of last inspection 12/11/2014 2 of 5 Inspection date 03/02/2015

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Previous inspection good Enforcement action since last inspection None

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This inspection

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

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This inspection

This inspection took place twelve weeks after the full inspection, when the home received an overall judgement of good. The full inspection raised no requirements or recommendations.

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This inspection

The home is at full capacity. There have been no young people admitted or discharged. This stability means that there is continuity in the dynamic between the young people.

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This inspection

The manager has the support of the staff team. He has continued to provide effective leadership and together they provide quality care designed to keep young people safe.

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This inspection

Young people do not go missing from this home. One young person said: ‘This is my home and I love living here.’ Staff enable young people to take risks appropriate to their assessed circumstances. They intervene swiftly and effectively to address young people’s safety linked to peer networking. Staff achieve this by combining relationship building, policy, risk assessment, key working and therapeutic support. Internet access is appropriately limited within the home. An area identified for improvement is a revision of the home’s policy on monitoring accessibility of mobile phones.

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This inspection

Staff are skilled. They use a range of alternative strategies to divert and redirect young people. Staff appropriately reward and praise young people for making positive behavioural choices. This means that incidents resulting in physical restraint continue to be extremely rare.

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This inspection

Observations during the inspection and feedback from young people demonstrate the positive relationships between young people and staff. This helps young people 3 of 5 to feel able to talk openly about their concerns.

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This inspection

During this inspection, a young person raised a concern. Ofsted explored this and concluded the matter. Records show that senior leaders met previously with the young person. Managers had shared the issue and outcome with the placing social worker. This evidences a clear and transparent approach to dealing with issues that impact on young people. An area for further development is to ensure that young people are provided with a written response to their complaints.

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This inspection

Young people continue to make progress. All young people attend health, well-being and statutory appointments. Those of school age have sustained their attendance and engagement in education. Older young people continue to receive support with independence planning. Young people have sustained contact with those who are important to them. They receive consistent support from knowledgeable and understanding staff who are genuinely interested in their development.

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This inspection

The manager provides regular supervision and support for staff. The development plan reflects his motivation to work in partnership with the team and stakeholders to deliver high quality care for the young people living in the home. 4 of 5

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Information about this children’s home

This home is one of a small group of homes run by an independent provider. This home offers care for up to four young people assessed to have emotional or behavioural difficulties, mild learning difficulties or autistic spectrum disorders.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/11/2014 Full good 11/12/2013 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

 encourage young people to take appropriate risks as a normal part of growing up. Young people are helped to understand how to keep themselves safe including outside the home and when using the internet or social media with specific reference to boundaries around use of mobile phones (NMS 4.4)  ensure that young people can take up issues in the most appropriate way with support and without fear that this will result in any adverse consequences. Young people receive prompt feedback on any concerns or complaints raised and are kept informed of progress with specific reference to responding in writing to young people. (NMS 1.6) Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Recommendations

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What inspection judgements mean

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

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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Information about this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the framework of inspection for children's homes.

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