Children's Home run by Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council in Sefton

Unique reference number SC036304 Inspector Nick Veysey Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council Registered person address People Directorate, 9th Floor, Merton House, Stanley BOOTLE Merseyside L20 3JA Responsible individual Marlyn Sheila Banham Registered manager Sally-Ann Eveline Edwards Date of last inspection 14/07/2014 2 of 6 Inspection date 04/02/2015

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Previous inspection adequate Enforcement action since last inspection None

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This inspection

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

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This inspection

The children’s home provides young people with a consistently good standard of care, which is making a positive difference to their lives. They live in a friendly and supportive atmosphere that promotes their welfare and protects them from harm. The house is comfortable and decorated to a good standard. The refurbishment of the bathrooms means that young people now can enjoy their personal care in much more pleasant environment. However, the monitoring of the running of the home by elected members has not improved sufficiently to provide good level of scrutiny.

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This inspection

Staff use good safeguarding practices to identify risk and use protective measures to keep vulnerable children and young people safe. Young people are developing positive and trusting relationships with staff and are more able to talk about their feelings. They are becoming emotionally resilient and dealing with their frustrations more constructively.

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This inspection

Young people’s behaviour is usually good, generally get on together and are protected from bullying. Young people have a clear understand about bullying and its impact. They feel safe and feel able to talk to staff about problems. They feel that staff listen, take them seriously and are interested in their welfare. They recognise that they will not always get along and the importance of sorting things out. A young people said, ‘it’s three teenage girls living together, what do you expect?’ When they do fall out, they are less likely to show aggressive or harmful behaviour. They are more likely to ask staff for help rather than react aggressively. The staff use effective mediation skills to help young people to settle their disagreements by talking about the problem and finding a resolution. This often results in young people being able to accept other people’s points of views and feelings, even if they

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This inspection

do not agree with them. This is helping them to develop good social and communication skills and the ability to negotiate and compromise. Arguments are usually settled without any animosity. 3 of 6 The manager and staff prepare young people well to live in families. Good routines and structure provide young people with the stability and emotional security that enables them to do well. Staff have a detailed knowledge of the young people they work with. Their day-to-day practice recognises young people as individuals with different needs, backgrounds, interests and views. They ensure that young people receive an individual service designed to meet their diverse personal needs. Since the last inspection three young people have successfully moved on to live with foster carers or to return to live with their families. The moves have been well-planned and taken place a pace with which young people are comfortable. The manager and staff

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This inspection

have fully contributed to planning for young people’s futures and play an important part in helping young people to settle in well. They have good working relationships with families, foster carers, social workers, health professionals and schools to promote children and young people’s welfare. Some young people are struggling with their education. The staff are working hard to ensure that they are getting the right opportunities and support to enable them to develop their skills and knowledge and improve their education outcomes.

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This inspection

The manager has a realistic understanding of the strengths of the home and the priorities for development to secure better outcomes young people. Since the last inspection she built staff’s skills and expertise through training in managing challenging behaviour and bullying, which contributed to an improvement in young people’s behaviour and sense of belonging. She has also identified further training and resources for staff in communicating with young people, reflective practice, and how to record and measure young people’s progress and how staff’s practice is making a difference to young people’s lives.

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This inspection

Elected members are now routinely finding out young people’s views about living in the home. But, the quality of the monitoring of the home by elected members continues to be a weakness. They are still not carrying out monitoring visits every month; no monitoring visit was carried out in December 2014. This problem was also identified at our inspections in October 2013 and November 2014. The local authority does not have an effective system to ensure monitoring visits always take place. Consequently there is a lack of appropriate oversight of the running of the home. The quality of the monitoring reports prepared by elected members is not of a consistently high standard. Some reports are comprehensive and identify areas for improvement, but others do not provide a clear picture of young people’s experiences and the quality of the care. Only a minority of reports include consultation with parents or social workers and independent reviewing officers about

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This inspection

the quality of care and support provided. This lack of thoroughness does not assist the manager and leaders to understand the effectiveness of the home’s approaches or to secure improvements and better outcomes for children. 4 of 6

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority children's home provides care and accommodation for up to four children and young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties. The primary task of the home is to provide short- to medium-term care to prepare children and young people to live with their family or in a foster family.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/07/2014 Full adequate 03/03/2014 Interim satisfactory progress 22/10/2013 Full good 19/03/2013 Interim satisfactory 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 that visits by an independent person take place at least once a month and they may be unannounced. (Regulation 33(7)) 28/02/2015

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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 the views of people with an important relationship to the child, including parents, relatives, social workers and independent reviewing officers are routinely gathered and taken into account in monitoring the quality of care and running of the home (NMS 1) 5 of 6  ensure the written report showing the findings of the Regulation 33 monitoring visit is of a consistently high quality to assist the service to secure improvements and better outcomes for children. (Volume 5, statutory guidance, paragraph 3.13) 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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