Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Middlesbrough

Good

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:

 The home provides a highly personalised service for young people who present particular challenges. This enables them to have worthwhile experiences and make progress.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 A high staffing ratio enables staff to provide close support to young people at all times. Relationships between staff and young people are good. Staff place the well-being of young people at the centre of their practice.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 At times, young people struggle to engage in meaningful education. Staff are proactive in liaising with other professionals to secure a good standard of schooling.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The home keeps young people safe. The number of times when young people go missing has reduced. Staff are good at supporting family contact, supervising it when necessary to protect young people. The home has had particular success in helping young people to reduce risky behaviour such as self-harm.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff adopt a consistent approach to managing challenging behaviour. Their response is considered and planned, and has resulted in fewer violent or aggressive incidents. The use of physical restraint is, commendably, very rare.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 There are some shortfalls in the home’s physical environment, the quality of independent monitoring reports, and training for staff. Otherwise, the quality of management is good and results in positive outcomes for young people.

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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 repairing any damage to the premises promptly the registered person must: (2)(c)(i) ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. 21/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month. The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether - children are effectively safeguarded; and, the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44(1) and (4)(a) and (b)) 21/08/2015

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, in particular to ensure that staff receive training in whatever areas are necessary to support young people who have specific issues arising from their earlier experiences. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 53 paragraph 10.11)

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Information about this children's home

The home provides accommodation for one child with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is operated by a private company.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

17/02/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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good

Young people’s written plans are concise, setting out the placement objectives and how they will be achieved. Staff have a good knowledge of each young person’s needs, and how their background contributes to their current difficulties. This enables staff to provide a highly personalised and bespoke approach to each young person which maximises the chances of success.

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good

Staff develop good relationships with young people. They respond to them with warmth and respect, even when young people are disrespectful themselves. They use humour where appropriate to deal with aggressive or abusive outbursts, and this is usually successful in restoring calm.

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good

Many young people come here with a history of disrupted schooling, and are often some distance from their home area. As a result, there is a sometimes a delay in obtaining suitable education or training for them. Nevertheless, staff work hard in partnership with other agencies to engage young people in appropriate education or training as soon as possible. They instil the importance of education in young people and design bespoke incentive schemes which reward them for attendance. As a result, there have been notable successes. One young person who has left the home to live in the local area has successfully completed an advanced bricklaying course. Another completed pieces of work in-house for which he received formal accreditation. Staff are good at promoting the well-being of young people. They ensure that they have access to local health services and encourage healthy lifestyles. The registered provider has a psychologist in training who provides initial assessment of

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good

young people. This then informs subsequent direct work with young people or consultations with staff to help them improve emotional health. Some staff are adept at using self-soothing techniques with young people. One young person in particular loves this attention. A member of staff said, ‘We have “pamper nights”. These work really well, we do her make-up and nails, give her a head massage, brush her hair, then a warm bath. It really relaxes her, helps her calm right down.’

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good

Because it is a single-bed home, young people have the undivided attention of staff, who encourage them to express their views and make informed choices. There is a high degree of consultation over day-to-day routines such as the menu and leisure activities. Young people have a say in how their bedroom is decorated and furnished, making it their own space. Staff also involve young people as much as possible in their care planning. They encourage them to attend meetings, such as looked after reviews and education reviews, and to express their opinions. Frequent one-to-one sessions with young people enable staff to discuss their placement, what is going right, and what may be causing concern. This approach gives young people a genuine sense that staff value what they say and will advocate on their behalf.

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good

Young people have the opportunity for a wide range of leisure activities, sharing these experiences with staff. Some involve exercise, such as in-house DVD workouts or the gym. Others are purely leisure, such as shopping trips, cinema, or visits to a local bird sanctuary. Staff have already planned the summer holiday programme, which includes trips to seaside resorts, theme parks and a local art gallery. Staff also steer young people towards activities which add to their self-care skills, such as baking, and sowing vegetable seeds in the garden. Staff keep photo diaries of outings and activities. These provide good memories for young people to look back on and help them to build a positive self-image.

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good

Daily life in the home helps to prepare young people for eventual independence. They are expected to keep their room tidy and help out with chores. They go food shopping with staff and so gain some understanding of how to budget. For those young people whose homes are some distance away, staff keep in close touch with placing social workers and parents. They fully support and facilitate contact with family, ensuring that important links are maintained. For young people where contact may be risky, staff work in partnership with social workers to provide supervision of family meetings. They have received training in this and so are able to ensure safety as well as providing useful evaluation of how well each session has gone.

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good

Staff complete detailed risk assessments on young people and keep them updated. They cover all eventualities, and include strategies to manage situations and reduce risk. Where a young person has a history of making allegations against staff, protocols for lone working keep everyone in the home safe. The majority of key worker sessions focus on safety, for example, how young people should behave when out in the community to avoid potentially risky situations. The home’s policy on e-safety is straightforward, understood by young people, and consistently implemented by staff. This ensures that young people can access the internet for education purposes, and use social media to keep in touch with friends and family, without the possibility of being exposed to harm.

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good

Staff have a good awareness of the potential for young people to be sexually exploited, and how to guard against it. There are no current concerns. The number of times when young people have gone missing has reduced. Staff encourage young people to have contact with their friends in their home area but put sensible safeguards around this. They warn them of the temptations that being unsupervised may bring and the possible consequences. While young people are out, they keep in touch with them via mobile phone. They set reasonable times for their return and pick them up at a designated point. Giving young people this kind of trust and encouraging them to act responsibly is largely effective. It ensures that they can keep in touch with their friends in the community and maintain support networks which will continue when they have left care. Staff have expertise in managing self-harm and can demonstrate that what they do

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good

has an impact. A member of staff spoke about one young person who self-harmed, saying, ‘We made a real effort to address this issue. We talked about it as a staff team and knew we had to focus on their mental health, that would be the cornerstone of our work, and that if we got that right her self-esteem would develop. In a two month spell there was only one incident, we thought that was a remarkable change for them.’ Staff expect young people to follow reasonable rules based on mutual respect. Most adhere to these willingly and need little in the way of direction. Some, however, are challenging and occasionally abusive and violent. Staff manage this behaviour calmly, making it clear that while they do not accept such behaviour they will always accept the young person. The approach to behaviour management is tailored to each young person, based on their assessed needs and their previous history. It is agreed in staff meetings so that all staff can respond consistently

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good

when the young person’s mood is heightened. The patient but firm way in which staff deal with difficult behaviour is effective, resolving violent outbursts quickly and without the need for physical intervention. When the young person is calm, staff talk through with them what happened and discuss more appropriate ways in which they could have made their point. A social worker said, ‘Staff use de- escalation techniques effectively, they know that when the young person is in a heightened state they just need to try and bring them down. When they calm is the time when they will engage with staff and when constructive work can be done.’

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good

The Registered Manager is suitably experienced and qualified. He is continuing his professional development through additional training opportunities. For example, he is about to undertake a higher level safeguarding course provided by an external consultant. The Registered Manager is an effective leader, being visible and readily available to staff and young people. He supports staff well through group meetings and individual supervision. The latter is child-focused and enables staff to reflect on their practice. A member of said, ‘Supervision helps us to reflect on decisions we have made and the consequences for young people. It reminds us that we have to be so aware of the impact of every single word you say to a young person.’ Three-monthly monitoring reports provide an overview of the progress that young people make. They take account of the views of young people and other stakeholders, such as parents and social workers. All staff are able to describe how

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good

their practice impacts upon the development of young people. This means that they know when some aspect of practice needs to be re-appraised to make it more effective. The reports of the independent visitor are very detailed, but do not give a sufficiently clear opinion of how well the home is promoting young people’s welfare or keeping them safe. This reduces the value of external monitoring. When staff join the home they undergo a formal in-house induction, in addition to commencing a longer term induction programme if they are not already suitably qualified. The in-house induction has recently been reviewed and has been extended in length. This will prepare staff better for the task of working with young people who have particularly complex needs. A continuous programme of training events keeps staff’s skills and knowledge up to date. Some additional training has taken place to address particular needs that individual young people may have, for

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good

example, eating disorders. Sometimes, however, issues in some young people’s background which are significant have not been promptly identified as training needs. For example, for staff to have training on the impact of bereavement and loss would enable them to offer more effective support to young people affected by this. The Registered Manager and senior staff organise the home well. Staff work effectively as a unit, committing to the home’s ethos and putting it into practice in their daily interactions with young people. The particular remit of the home in offering placements to young people who are in particularly difficult circumstances is well understood by staff. One said about a young person who has since left, ‘Coming here helped him to press the pause button on his life, it gave him a safe and relaxed environment and made for a good outcome for him.’ Staff strive to make the home look welcoming and attractive, and in this they

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good

largely succeed. Occasionally, though, damage is not repaired quickly enough. This gives an unfavourable impression and can lead to further vandalism.

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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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