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

Unique reference number SC476512 Inspector Mark Broomhead Type of inspection Interim 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 13/01/2015 2 of 6 Inspection date 04/03/2015

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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 improved effectiveness .

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This inspection

Staff at the home continue to work with children and young people to increase their emotional resilience and self-confidence and to reduce their levels of anxiety. Because of the time and effort staff put into building relationships with them, this is improving. Young people are trying new experiences that they would not have done previously. An example of this is when one young person left the home with staff to visit Newcastle. The young person was able to take public transport and manoeuvre around a busy city centre to visit the Life Science Centre. This was significant progress for this young person whose confidence has grown considerably since being at the home.

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This inspection

Staff continue to express their concern about children and young people that choose to smoke, and remain steadfast in their attempts to encourage them to reduce their smoking. They have engaged cessation courses, where appropriate, and have involved the looked after child nurse to explain the impact this can have on their health. Generally, the health of children and young people is good. Their diet is balanced and they have requested that the home purchase more fruit for them to eat. In addition, young people are encouraged to exercise; one young person has begun to take regular morning walks along the beach with staff.

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This inspection

Children and young people are supported to attend and achieve at their educational provision. One young person is preparing for GCSEs and is discovering their talents in art. A number of pieces of work are displayed in the home. Another young person has left school and is undertaking online education. In addition, staff at the home have sourced study to improve the young person’s life skills. This provision allows the young person to attend initially for short periods of time with a view to gradually increasing their attendance while building their self-confidence. One young person is currently not attending school due to exclusion. The manager of the home has regular contact with the school and is taking steps to negotiate with the school to 3 of 6 reintroduce their education provision. This is indicative of the whole of the staff’s attitude towards education and their wanting all children and young people to do

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This inspection

Staff at the home have had the necessity to manage anti-social behaviour by a small minority of the residents. They have done this by building relationships with them and taking the time to explain why their behaviour was not appropriate. Staff have engaged the local community support officer to help children and young people understand right from wrong and what is socially acceptable. This has had a positive effect on behaviours within and outside the home.

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This inspection

Children and young people continue to have opportunity to have an impact on the way the home is run. Regular young people’s meetings take place and minutes are prepared so that those that cannot attend can find out what was discussed. They are able to influence what activities they go on, what food is bought and raise concerns about their care. Young people have continued to develop their independence skills by arranging theme nights, preparing and cooking food and celebrating diversity by learning about different cultures. The inspector was able to see on the wall in the dining room the information they had gathered about Indian culture and saw pictures of them eating various foods.

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This inspection

The home implements individual incentive plans for children and young people. This enables them to focus on specific areas that they need to deal with. For example, if a young person succeeds in a combination of brushing their teeth, tidying their room and going to school they receive an incentive reward. This is the method preferred by the home for improving behaviours. Sanctions and restraints continue to be used as a minimum and only when necessary.

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This inspection

The home has taken steps since the last inspection to improve risks posed by electronic equipment that connects to the internet. The manager has improved the home’s policy on internet use and has employed the services of an external company to restrict access to inappropriate content. In addition, when necessary, staff also undertake regular checks on young people’s usage to ensure they remain safe when online.

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This inspection

The manager, and the staff team, are aware that certain incidents require notification to Ofsted and to other agencies. The inspector was able to review one notification that had been submitted since the last inspection. This was recorded and submitted appropriately and detailed the steps taken to reduce risks. The manager was also able to discuss another incident which required notification and was able to identify that appropriate agencies were notified when Ofsted did not require notification.

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This inspection

Incidents of missing from the home remain very low. Only one has been recorded since the last inspection. This was for a brief time and the staff located the young person quickly, who had gone for a walk. Appropriate notification to the relevant 4 of 6 agencies was made.

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This inspection

The Registered Manager has taken steps to improve supervision of staff and is now sharing this responsibility with the duty manager. Both are effective managers, have relevant experience and are competent. Training is up to date and a matrix identifies when refresher training is required.

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This inspection

At the last inspection, two requirements and eight recommendations were raised in the report. These are not due to be completed until 31 March 2015. The inspector was able to review the progress made to date. Action has been taken to improve the recording of information, particularly in relation to keeping information on children’s files. Any actions from a child or young person’s review meeting are now noted and actioned by the home immediately. A process is in place which now ensures that any changes to the care of a child or young person are brought to the attention of staff straightaway. Staff initial when they have seen the changes and the details of those changes stay within the handover log until all staff have seen them. Managers are able to use this system to monitor that staff keep themselves up to date with any changes. The manager has taken steps to reduce risks to children posed by online

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This inspection

access by restricting the content and by introducing regular checks. In addition, the e-safety policy has been updated. At the time of this inspection, the Registered Manager and the deputy manager were reviewing the children’s files to deal with information that was not previously being recorded. This requirement is ongoing and will remain in place until 31 March 2015. The home is making good progress in meeting all the requirements and recommendations that were set at the last inspection. The inspector discussed further improvements that could be made to the format of the report regularly prepared by the manager which reviews the quality of care provided by the home. There was no breach of regulation and so it was not necessary to introduce a new requirement at this inspection.

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This inspection

The home has a very calming atmosphere and is decorated to a good standard. The home employs a person who takes prompt action for any required maintenance. The home is well equipped and has a number of activities such as table tennis, television lounges and computers. In addition, the provider is improving the outdoor space and has planned to use some of the grounds as allotments over the coming months and will introduce chickens and goats. This will encourage children and young people to take responsibility for growing food and for looking after the animals. 5 of 6

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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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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/01/2015 Full adequate Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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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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