Children's Home run by Archways Care Limited in Warwickshire

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The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people have developed during their time at the home, decreasing incidents of destructive behaviour, self-harm and going missing. This is down to the resilience of staff who have shown a strong commitment to young people’s achievements.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Care planning is highly individualised and supports staff in providing a good level of care to the young people. Their views are listened to and responses given within young people’s meetings.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people feel safe and well understood safeguarding procedures support them. Behaviour management records are thorough and show a decreasing use of restraints.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Although some young people have developed in their educational abilities, others have refused to engage with education and insufficient placements are available for them to achieve.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The home is not consistently homely, due to ongoing decoration following damaging behaviours. The home does not have a risk assessment of the locality to help support the welfare of the young people.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff are well supported by the management team and a good level of training is provided to promote their development.

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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 (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, with particular reference to the condition of the building, the registered person must: (2)(c) ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to —

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Requirement Due date

(i) meet the needs of each child 31/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the education standard, with particular reference to young people that do not attend education, the responsible person must ensure; (2) (a) that staff—

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Requirement Due date

(viii) help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible 31/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

46: Review of premises The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).(Regulation 46(1)) 31/08/2015

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Information about this children's home

The home is one of four children’s home within a privately run organisation. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people. The home’s Statement of Purpose indicates that the general age range will be between 12 and 17 years of age.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

09/06/2014 CH - Interim Improved effectiveness

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people living in the home are

Young people enjoy being at the home and develop within it. Relationships between young people and staff are highly professional and caring. Staff have completed work on attachment and are also supported by therapists, developing their awareness of the differing needs of the young people and how these are best met. One young person started that they: ‘get on well with the staff, I’ve been to a few places and here is the best staff that I have met.’ Care planning gives staff a good awareness of the likes and dislikes of young people. Staff support contact between young people and their family consistently. It forms a central part of care planning and arrangements are sufficiently flexible to help young people keep in touch with their families and significant friends.

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people living in the home are

Staff ensure that young people attend all regular health appointments. Good links with a variety of health professionals support their physical and mental health needs. Therapists support both the young people and the staff team. They have helped to decrease levels of self-harming, as well as a reduction in violent and destructive behaviours. One young person stated that: ‘they really try to understand how I’m feeling and that helps me to not self-harm because I can start to talk more.’

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people living in the home are

Young people enjoy a range of activities both within the home and externally. They have links with local youth clubs and leisure activities where they are try out new activities or develop skills in areas such as a local ice hockey team. Staff are enthusiastic with getting young people involved with activities supporting a healthy lifestyle.

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people living in the home are

Young people’s successes within education are mixed, with some achieving well and being regular attenders. One personal education plan included a report stating that the young person: ‘has made incredible progress since he joined (the school) and we are extremely impressed by his attitude and determination.’ Others have not consistently achieved and are not attending, despite attempting a range of educational provisions. The home’s education co-ordinator has worked hard to find an appropriate placement, but these have not been successful and resulted in the young person not receiving an adequate education due to both the refusal of the young person and the lack of an appropriate available provision being found.

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people living in the home are

Areas of the house have been heavily damaged by young people and repair work is still underway. Some young people’s bedrooms are in a poor state of repair. Communal areas are comfortable and clean although there are plastered areas that require repainting. Although areas of the home are definitely ‘a work in progress’, there is an acknowledgement that staff have been tenacious in their care of young people who have been highly destructive towards their environment. Such damage is slowly decreasing.

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people living in the home are

Key working sessions and fortnightly house meetings ensure that young people are listened to. Discussions are pertinent to the young people, including planning activities, menus and issues ongoing in the home. Issues raised within house meetings form an agenda item within staff meetings, with responses fed back to young people at their next meeting by staff.

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people living in the home are

No young people are currently of an age to undertake formalised independence skills’ training. Young people do state that they are aware of the reasons that they are in care and are able to discuss the plans that they wish for in the future. Staff are supportive of these and celebrate achievements that young people make in their development. Young people are aware of the complaints procedures, but none have been raised since the last inspection.

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people are helped and protected

Young people feel safe at the home and checks on health and safety areas are effective. Individual risk assessments are thorough and examine differing aspects of the young people’s lives where risks may occur. There is currently no up-to-date risk assessment on the locality, as it is being worked on by senior managers within the organisation. This means that staff do not have a full awareness of possible dangers around the home.

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people are helped and protected

Safeguarding practice and awareness is good. Regular updates of child protection help to develop staffs knowledge of possible concerns that young people may raise. No child protection referrals have been made since the last inspection, but the Registered Manager has been involved with meetings to ensure that young people’s behaviours have not affected the safety of other young people and staff at the home.

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people are helped and protected

Staff respond well to any behaviour that gives rise to safeguarding concerns. There are procedures in place that help to support young people who have gone missing from the home, although such incidents are rare. Health professional work to support young people with self-harming behaviour. No young people state that bullying is a worry with their peers.

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people are helped and protected

Staff use sanctions and rewards to promote positive behaviour. They use behaviour management plans well to help young people manage their own behaviours. Staff say they have developed an awareness of triggers and effective responses to incidents to decrease both instances and intensity of poor behaviours. This has led to a decreasing number of restraints and sanctions and an increase in rewards. Restraint records link to incident reports and give a good picture of the behaviour and response when read together.

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people are helped and protected

Detailed recruitment records show that all necessary checks are completed on staff prior to them working in the home. This helps to support young people’s safety.

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leaders and managers

The Registered Manager has been in post since 2011 and is appropriately qualified at level 5 in health and social care. The management team consistently challenge placing authorities to support the young people and to help to make sure that they develop. They ensure that all necessary meetings take place with social workers and placing authorities. Young people all have placement plans that link directly to the Looked After Children documentation. Plans show a strong awareness of the needs of the young people and how these are to be responded to within the home. Plans are regularly updated and managers have a good knowledge of how the young people are developing though effective meetings with key working staff.

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leaders and managers

The home is effectively monitored both internally by the senior team and through the independent visitor. Where the visitor raises development areas, these are responded to swiftly by the staff team showing eagerness to improve the care of the young people. A development plan is in place to further improve the home and the level of care provided.

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leaders and managers

The staff have good links with a range of external professionals that work together to support the young people, including health, police and social workers. A social worker stated that the home: ‘works really well and the communication is strong, keeping me up to date with everything that is going on.’

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leaders and managers

The home is appropriately staffed, with a good mix of qualifications and experience within the team. Regular staff meetings help to develop the skills and awareness of the staff team in meeting the needs of the young people. Staff are well supported by the management team through regular supervisions and training. All have either completed, or are in the process of finishing, level 3 training. Recent training in attachment theory has helped staff to increase their awareness of differing ways to work with young people with an acknowledgement of their family histories. A staff member states that they: ‘get a good level of training that helps to develop and care for the young people well.’ Annual appraisals also help to support staff in their development.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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