Children's Home run by The Serendipity Centre Limited in Hampshire

Unique reference number SC478315 Inspector Maire Atherton Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Residential special school (>295 days/year)

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Registered person The Serendipity Centre Limited Registered person address The Serendipity Centre Limited, Unit 6 Berrywood Business Village, Tollbar Way, Hedge End SOUTHAMPTON SO30 2UN Responsible individual Susan Tinson Registered manager Susan Tinson Date of last inspection N/A 2 of 10 Inspection date 26/02/2015

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Previous inspection N/A Enforcement action since last inspection none

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Overall effectiveness outstanding

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

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Overall effectiveness

There is an exceptionally strong management team in post who challenge each other to ensure that they lead effectively. The robust monitoring and evaluation of the service by the management is used to further improve the quality of care provided. The Registered Manager is the sole Director of the company and plans to resign from day-to-day management and concentrate on strategic management oversight; progress on this is well underway. The organisation makes considerable investment in people and accommodation to provide the young people with an excellent standard of care.

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Overall effectiveness

The well-trained, supported and committed staff team provides highly individualised care which promotes positive outcomes for young people with complex needs. Staff are consistently concerned with the welfare of the young people. They have successfully created a welcoming and nurturing environment in which young people feel safe; a huge achievement given their starting points.

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Overall effectiveness

The working in partnership ethos is embedded in the company, with young people very much included. The management have developed highly effective relationships with a wide range of partner agencies. They describe communication as valuable and of an excellent standard. This ensures that staff work closely with the placing authorities and other external agencies to provide young people with personalised 3 of 10 care that meets their individual needs.

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Overall effectiveness

One recommendation has been made to improve the link between the reason for any sanction and the sanction imposed. Sanctions are used infrequently so this is not considered to have an immediate impact on young people. 4 of 10

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned and registered to provide care and accommodation for four girls with emotional, social and behavioural difficulties. Education may be provided at the organisations independent special school which is approved by the Department for Education. Young people may also access the therapy centre run by the organisation.

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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 sanctions are clear, reasonable and fair and understood by all staff and children, in particular improve the link between the reason for the sanction and the sanction imposed. (NMS 3.7) 5 of 10

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people benefit from warm, trusting relationships with staff that enable them to build secure attachments. A social worker noted, 'She (young person) has a good relationship with her champion.’ The things young people said included, 'We're like a family here,' and 'Staff are very good at looking after me.' This foundation provides young people with a voice and enables them to make significant progress from their starting points. One young person spoke movingly of how her understanding of the impact of her life experiences has developed, so that she can now see a way forward, with staff support. A social worker noted the improvements a young person has made in self-care skills, with associated benefits in terms of health and self-esteem. Young people can see that their wishes are listened to and action taken to achieve these. Examples include access to social media, ownership of a mobile phone and

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

contact with family members, all within a well-understood and robust risk-assessed framework.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people know what a healthy life style looks like. Staff give them the information and support they need to make the right decisions in a range of areas, such as the food they eat and in choices they make, for example in smoking and sexual health. This is a process of continuous learning and development and by their own admission they know the right choices but do not routinely make them. Young people are encouraged to manage their own medication where appropriate and enjoy taking responsibility for this. Young people engage positively in therapy and can see the benefits it brings. A social worker said that a young person 'enjoys attending therapy'.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people actively engage and achieve in education tailored to their individual needs, abilities and interests. Some attend the school run by the organisation, others attend college and some do a mixture of both with proactive support from a responsive staff team. They also support and enable young people to successfully apply for further education placements, with a very good awareness of their potential, aspirations and interests.

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

Young people are involved in the wider community through participation in a range of leisure pursuits. These reflect their individual talents and interests, for example going to a swimming club and music lessons. A social worker said 'Staff have supported her well with developing her leisure opportunities'. This has also successfully promoted contact arrangements. A social worker observed that, 'Staff support her (young person) with contact with her parents monthly, which is helpful in allowing this contact to go ahead in the local community.' Young people benefit from staff's creative and constructive approach to contact. This enables the safe use of social media that the young people enjoy and maintains relationships with people that are important to them. 6 of 10 Young people learn age-appropriate independence skills through daily living activities, such as household chores, shopping, cooking and budgeting. They are using this to

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Outcomes for children and young people outstanding

gain additional qualifications that support courses in school. Young people experience planned endings which provide them with the resources to move on positively.

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Quality of care outstanding

Staff are skilled in providing a warm, nurturing environment that forms a sound basis for young people to establish and maintain excellent relationships with the team and each other. Staff put the welfare of young people at the centre of all they do with them and for them. Staff ensure that the voice of the young people is actively sought, for example through regular house meetings, and that action is taken where possible. The introduction of a 'worry' form, using symbols, has really empowered young people. They are using this to take the initiative in raising any concerns, rather than waiting for staff to notice a change in behaviour. This enables the team to address any issues quickly, which they do, to the satisfaction of the young people. One young person said, 'We have our ups and downs, but that's life and we sort it out'.

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Quality of care outstanding

Staff have a very good understanding of behaviour as a means of communication and work hard with young people to help them find more effective ways of describing how they are feeling. All have easy access to in-house resources to support this work and these are well used. For example in keyworking sessions a young person has learned to express feelings of self-harm safely through the use of an elastic band and a washable red pen.

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Quality of care outstanding

The well-personalised care plans are of a high standard and staff are familiar with these. The young people's individual needs and vulnerabilities are well outlined alongside how these are to be addressed. Young people are involved in the development and review of these plans and their voice is evident, particularly in identifying their desired outcomes. A placing social worker commented on how effective their partnership working is, describing it as, 'joined up working that has really made a difference, working as a team around the young person and including the family in that.’

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Quality of care outstanding

Staff promote the health and well-being of young people exceptionally well. Within the organisation young people have access to a range of therapeutic interventions at the centre attached to the school, whether or not they attend the school. These interventions provide valuable guidance for young people and encourage them to reflect upon their feelings and behaviour with staff. The team have established very effective working relationships with a range of healthcare professionals. This ensures that not only are routine healthcare needs very well met, but specialist needs, such as those relating to mental health are too. Direct links to child and adolescent mental health service workers ensure staff have prompt access and can get the advice they 7 of 10 need to respond very quickly to a young person in distress. This is underpinned by detailed recording so that health care professionals get the information they need to

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Quality of care outstanding

improve outcomes for young people. The systems for the storage and administration of medication are very robust. This ensures that young people get the right medicine at the right time.

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Quality of care outstanding

Staff have high aspirations for the young people in their care and work collaboratively with the educational establishments attended. For some young people this means supporting them one to one in college, for others it is attendance at routine meetings and support with homework. One member of staff suggested working on maths assignments together; another is liaising with the school to draw on a national accreditation scheme, focusing on independent living skills, within a school education programme. The aim is to provide support for the work in school, avoid duplication and reward young people for personal progress and achievements which are often not recognised by more formal qualifications. Young people are enthusiastic about this.

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Quality of care outstanding

Staff are very effective in supporting young people to engage in a range of activities that reflect the interests and abilities of each of them. These include swimming, horse riding, girls’ brigade and participation in a local music group.

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Quality of care outstanding

The house is in a quiet, established residential area with good links to local community facilities. It is maintained to a high standard and provides young people with warm, comfortable and attractive accommodation. The décor of the bedrooms has been chosen by the young people. There is ample communal space and young people are very proud of their main lounge, which they look after very well.

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

Safeguarding is central to the ethos and work of the whole team. There is a designated safeguarding lead for the organisation who has completed a range of relevant training and keeps up to date with developments to equip herself and the staff for their respective roles. She has developed links with independent organisations specialising in safeguarding to share good practice.

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

Young people say they feel safe and are safe. They have a well-developed understanding of why they are living in the home and what that means for them as individuals. These young people have experienced considerable trauma in their past and feeling safe is a considerable achievement while dealing with the impact of this trauma. Young people engage in one-to-one 'Keep Safe' work at the therapy centre. They are learning how to keep themselves safe, for example by developing new ways of expressing pain; 'I will have kind hands with myself'. There have been no instances of young people being absent without permission or missing.

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

Staff are very effective in the promotion of desirable and positive behaviour. They 8 of 10 have a strong emphasis on rewarding desirable behaviour and this is reflected in the individual targets for each young person. They are familiar with these and strive to meet targets to earn the rewards. Staff are skilled at diverting and distracting young people from negative behaviour, in accordance with the approved behaviour management model staff are trained in. There is minimal use of physical intervention, with just one intervention since the home opened eight months ago. Staff rarely impose sanctions. The manager has identified that the few sanctions used do not always fit with the infringement recorded. This has been discussed in supervision. A combination of staff vigilance and the confidence of young people to express concerns ensure that any bullying is dealt with promptly in accordance with the policy

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

and procedure. Any allegations made by young people are taken seriously and promptly referred as required. Where an in-house investigation is necessary these are thorough and well recorded with a clear outcome, action taken and feedback to the person making the allegation.

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Keeping children and young people safe outstanding

Recruitment procedures are robust and serve to ensure that only suitable people are employed to work in the home. The Registered Manager adopts a similarly robust approach to health and safety. She monitors health and safety on a monthly basis and ensures that routine checks, risk assessments and servicing take place as required, are updated when necessary and that safe working practices are promoted. This provides young people with safe environment to live in.

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Leadership and management outstanding

This is the first inspection of this home since registration in June 2014. The current Registered Manager (RM) is also the Responsible Individual (RI)for this home and another home in the organisation. The post holder has the necessary skills, experience and qualifications for the role. There is a very strong management structure across the organisation, which includes a head of care and a head of safeguarding. They work very effectively as a team and have reviewed the management arrangements across the organisation. As part of this there is work underway to submit an application for a new RM for the home, with the aim of enhancing the RI's strategic oversight of the whole organisation.

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Leadership and management outstanding

The management team invest in and effectively promote a culture of continuing improvement. There are robustly applied internal systems, which include consultation with young people, to evaluate the quality of care delivered and the outcomes for young people. This is well evidenced in the management of complaints and actions taken following critical self-evaluation, for example strengthening the admissions process and introducing augmented communication systems. Monitoring reports by the independent visitor are also used to drive improvement. The management team has a development plan that they are actively working to, for example a full-time clinical psychologist is due to start in April 2015 to lead on work addressing the mental health needs of young people and providing in-house training for staff. 9 of 10 The number and skills of staff deployed meet the needs of the young people. There are robust and effective on-call arrangements to provide advice and/or physical

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Leadership and management outstanding

support when the need arises. The stable staff team benefits from a suitable training programme that equips them for their roles. Additional training is sourced where there is an identified need, for example self-harm. Staff are very well supported through regular supervision, team meetings and targeted case discussions with a therapist. This provides them with opportunities for reflection and review of practice to further improve their work with young people. The majority of staff hold the level 3 qualification required, those who do not are enrolled on a relevant course.

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Leadership and management outstanding

The statement of purpose has been updated. Placing authorities express the view that the home operates in accordance with the aims and objectives and provides excellent care for young people with complex needs. The ethos of the organisation in 'working as the we' is particularly valued. This means that information is shared promptly and decision making through regular (at least monthly) network meetings, which may involve young people, is open and also shared. A social worker observed 'I get weekly reports from the home, which are useful and they keep me informed with important developments'.

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Leadership and management outstanding

Records are stored securely, well maintained, detailed and cross reference appropriately. They provide a clear account of young people's time in the home and the progress they have made. The organisation is in the process of moving to a new electronic record keeping system. All significant events are reported to Ofsted as required. 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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