Children's Home run by Care and Management Services Ltd in BirminghamOfsted inspection, 8 Jul 2015

home are

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:

 Staff consistently care for young people well. Detailed planning helps to support to provide a good service to the young people. All young people state that they have developed while being in the home in areas such as becoming more independent, education and becoming more healthy.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The staff have worked hard to make sure young people attend education and they promote their achievements.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Good behaviour management, including the use of incentive charts has helped young people to understand their own behaviours, as well as enjoying the rewards.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Good systems make sure young people are safe. Staff are aware of how to respond to child protection issues. Young people who previously went missing now do so less, as they have become aware of the risks regarding this behaviour.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff are preparing young people in readiness for leaving the home. Good links ensure the necessary services are in place to support them after the move.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 There is an experienced and well qualified staff team. They are well supported by the management team and are enthusiastic in continually developing their skills. They have an excellent awareness of the young people and how to work with them.

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Information about this children's home

The home is one of three children’s homes within a privately run organisation. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people. The home’s Statement of Purpose states 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

02/03/2015 CH - Interim Sustained effectiveness

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people living in the home are

Young people enjoy being at the home. They are able to discuss their own development, with one stating they are: ‘a very different person to the one that first came here, I think that I have learnt a lot.’ They enjoy good relationships with the staff team and can highlight individuals that they would talk to if they had a concern. Staff have a strong awareness of the differing likes and dislikes of the young people and talk with enthusiasm of the achievements that they have made while being at the home.

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people living in the home are

Care planning and reports for reviews are child-centred, showing they are involved with their own plans. They attend reviews and having an increased role in the planning of their time at the home. Young people develop an awareness of their backgrounds and identity through their involvement with care planning documentation; as well as increasing their awareness of their own behaviours and how to respond appropriately.

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people living in the home are

Detailed health plans define individuals’ differing support requirements. These show necessary links for young people, with mental health services and additional supportive health services. Additional health advice relating to smoking, alcohol, and drugs is available within the home for young people to examine to promote a healthy lifestyle.

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people living in the home are

Young people are involved with a good range of activities and they are encouraged to be involved with community activities, including local youth clubs. One young person recently won an award for using his computing skills at an I.T. course. Another young person was keen to show the inspector how to feed his pet snake that he has saved his reward and pocket money for. A full plan of activities for the summer holidays is in place, and includes weekly trips out, trips to the cinema, bowling and activities in the home.

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people living in the home are

Staff support young people in meetings with their families and place a high priority on contact arrangements. These arrangements are clear at the point of admission and then updated through the review process, giving the young people an input into the regularity of visits.

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people living in the home are

Young people have had mixed experiences of education since the last inspection. One young person has regularly attended his school and achieved well, developing sufficiently to take exams at the end of the year. Another has not attended and the slow response from the Looked After Children Education Service and their school has resulted in a very limited school curriculum being provided. Although the staff promote an informal educational programme this has been insufficient to respond to the young person’s needs. A new training package was started during the inspection and the young person stated that, ‘I’m really excited to be going out and doing something that I want to do. I hope that it goes OK.’

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people living in the home are

The home is a pleasant and homely environment that the young people and staff look after well. Communal areas have comfortable seating and young people are pleased that the TV recording system is back in operation following recent disruption of its use. Young people personalise their own rooms well with photos and posters to support their feeling of permanence at the home.

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people living in the home are

Young people are listened to through a range of forums, including regular young people’s meetings and key working sessions. Minutes of meetings include staff responses to requests and questions. A good young people’s guide is in place that gives basic information about the home, including rules and expectations of behaviours.

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people living in the home are

Staff work with young people with independent living plans to develop an awareness of life following leaving the home. Those closer to moving have regular meetings to assess their competencies in life skills to develop additional support where necessary. Staff work well to ensure that appropriate adult health services are linked to support those who are due to leave.

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people are helped and protected

Young people feel safe and staff are fully aware of the necessary responses if they have child protection concerns. Risk assessments relate to young people’s specific behaviours and activities. More general risk assessments, such as that relating to the local area, are updated regularly. This ensures that young people’s safety is continually considered. All necessary health and safety checks are completed on a regular basis to further support all those involved with the home’s safety.

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people are helped and protected

Incidents of young people being missing from the home have decreased significantly since the last inspection. A recent meeting, about the police response when young people go missing, has helped to develop staff’s awareness of the reporting processes. They promote positive ways of supporting young people who have been absent without permission. All young people are offered independent support on their return to examine if they can be better helped. Young people develop good behaviours while being at the home due to positive behaviour management strategies. All young people have behaviour support plans to ensure that staff are aware of triggers for specific negative behaviours and how to de-escalate these. The management work alongside health professionals and social workers to examine differing behaviours, and incentive charts are used to reward young people for positive interactions. The use of restraints is low and

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people are helped and protected

records are linked to incident reports to gain a full picture of the events and the need for restraint. Young people and staff talk about incidents and this allows for self-reflection and to consider how things could be different in similar circumstances.

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people are helped and protected

Staff go through a vigorous selection process that includes all necessary recruitment checks. This helps to support the safety of young people.

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leaders and managers

The home is well managed and the staff team are enthusiastic about the care provided. The Registered Manager has been in post since 2010 and is qualified at Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare.

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leaders and managers

The manager and senior team have a good impact on the care of the young people. They have a very good awareness of the young people, their achievements, and issues within their lives. The manager and staff diligently support young people’s development and ensure good links to essential external services to meet their needs.

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leaders and managers

The home’s statement of purpose is up to date and admissions are based on this document. Information on the staff is included within the document and gives a good awareness to their skills and ability to respond to the young people. The young people’s guide has been updated and is now more child friendly with a comic strip style look, giving good information about the home and where to find external support.

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leaders and managers

Staff are well supported by the management team. Supervisions allow staff to reflect on their abilities and discuss where possible training is necessary. Annual appraisals examine their practice, and celebrate achievements from the previous year. Staff report that they feel as though they get a good level of training and that it is: ‘really useful when learning about how to work best with the young people.’ All staff complete mandatory training from the point of their starting working at the home, this then develops with a professional development record. All staff either have completed level three training or are completing the course. Staff are enthusiastic about working with the young people and state that they work well together. Regular team meetings develop a consistent approach to the care provided as well as being a time to review training courses and planning for events such as birthdays and holidays.

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leaders and managers

The registered manager has a good awareness of the need to report significant events to parties such as social workers and Ofsted. Reports are detailed and give a good overview of the events and how the home is responding to the situation. Internal and external monitoring, including effective consultation with children and stakeholders, ensures continual development of the service.

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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

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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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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