Children's Home run by Keys Educational Services Limited in Lincolnshire

Inspection date 15/07/2015

Previous inspection judgement Improved effectiveness .

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Outstanding

The children's home provides a highly effective service that consistently exceeds the standards of good. The actions of the home contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help protection and care.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The educational progress of young people is excellent given their starting points.  High quality care planning means young people’s needs are met from the start of the placement.  The promotion of young people’s interests and activities is excellent. As a result, they benefit from a range of interesting events outside of the home.  Communication with partner agencies is particularly effective. This means that others who are working with them better understand young people’s care needs and how to keep them safe.  The manager and staff are ambitious and aspirational for the young people’s outcomes.

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Information about this children's home

This children's home, run by a private organisation, provides care and accommodation for up to three young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

09/03/2015 CH - Interim Improved Effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

12/02/2014 CH - Interim Satisfactory Progress

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Outstanding

Young people continue to make exceptional progress because of living in this home, particularly in their education. They participate in education initially through the organisation’s own school. Staff from the home travel with the young people to support them. This provides them with consistency of care, and having a known adult with them supports them in making the daily transition to the school. This support has been so effective it has resulted in some of the young people settling into their education and gaining recognised qualifications and, planning on moving into further education post-16 years of age. Some of the young people have progressed so well at school that they are moving into the local school in the community. This has been particularly positive, as these young people had not been attending mainstream school for some time before they came to this home. This will help them to achieve their educational goals and develop a friendship

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Outstanding

There is extremely effective planning and support for those new to the home. This helps them to settle. For example, the provider changed the staffing rota to include waking night staff. This ensured that those young people who had a history of not settling would have the support to talk through their concerns, and staff simply being with them, reassured them of their safety. A young person commented: ‘I was comfortable as soon as I arrived in the home because of the waking night staff.’ This has shown the young people the staff’s commitment to them, which further supports them in developing good relationships. The outcome of this is that now the young people settle so well that they have no need for the waking night staff currently.

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Outstanding

A young person said: ‘The staff are really good at listening to me, they are able to divide their time between us all and make sure we all get a chance to talk to them.’ This approach is instrumental to the development of the excellent relationships that staff have with the young people.

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Outstanding

Young people develop their own placement plans and contribute to their reviews and risk assessments. Consultation takes place regularly about the care they receive and the progress they have made. This encourages young people to continue to achieve.

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Outstanding

Key-work sessions take place frequently, focusing on the risks of going missing, drug and alcohol misuse, and other risky behaviours. This gives young people the opportunity to understand the issues and make informed decisions about these matters. The complaints process as well as contact details of advocacy organisations are also topics for key-work sessions. These sessions link to their care plans and help the staff to understand how the young people are progressing towards the targets set in these plans

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Outstanding

There are a number of excellent ways that young people have their voices heard. These include residents’ meetings held after Sunday tea, one-to-one key-work sessions and their looked after children’s reviews. For example, the young people wanted to have gym equipment in the home. The registered manager has purchased this and the garage is to be transformed into an on-site gym. Other examples are that young people have chosen the colour scheme for the lounge and are in the process of choosing colours for the dining room. Staff support young people in making and keeping appointments with doctors, dentists and opticians. This helps to keep them in touch with professionals who can help to keep them healthy. Older young people are supported through specific key-work sessions to consider discussions with health professionals to look at sexual health issues such as safe sex and contraception. This supports them in making positive informed

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Outstanding

The staff invest a great deal of time and effort in getting to know the young people’s aspirations and interests. They engage the young people in planning how to achieve and participate in these activities. For example, some young people have shown an interest in horse riding. Staff have located a club where they can not only ride the horses but they can also get involved in stable management, which builds self-management and communication skills. They also have become involved in helping younger, less experienced riders in lessons. This helps develop self-confidence and positive self-esteem. This activity also promotes positive behaviour, and as a result, there has been a reduction in negative behaviours for these young people.

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Outstanding

Staff commitment to the young people is extremely high. They are prepared to work outside of their agreed hours to ensure that the young people are supported. For instance, contact with some families is a long distance away from this home. Staff will drive the young people to contact and, subject to careful risk assessment and planning, stay with them over a long period to make sure that the contact is as positive as possible. Prior to contact, staff hold detailed key-work sessions with young people. These help to identify any concerns that they may have and to develop strategies to manage these issues, again to try to make the contact successful. This is an area of strength for this home and the improvement in contact supports the young people’s knowledge of their background and keeps them in touch with their community.

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Outstanding

Young people say that they feel safe in the home. They say that the fact that they are in this rural location helps them to feel safer: ‘I can sleep better here knowing that I will not get disturbed’, and, ’there is not the stress here that I had so I am happier’, are comments made by them. Each can identify a member of staff who they feel able to talk to, and a social worker commented that the staff, ‘really know the young people’, and, ‘have a great relationship with them’.

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Outstanding

Information is shared with young people about staying safe in the community and on keeping in contact with the home when they are out. This has built on their confidence and independence. Detailed risk assessments are reviewed and monitored with the young people and with multi-agency partners. This enables professionals to work with staff to address behaviours and management of risk. Consequently, there has been a decline in risky behaviours such as self-harming.

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Outstanding

There is very good support for young people who have a history of difficulties with misusing drugs or alcohol. Multi-agency work helps them to learn to manage these issues. Consequently, most young people who live in the home are not now misusing these substances. Some of the young people do continue to smoke; key- work sessions and work with the looked after children’s nurse are in place to try to help these young people end this habit.

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Outstanding

There are very few incidents when young people are absent from the home without permission or reported as missing. If they are absent from the home, staff follow them and all attempts are made to get them to return to the home. If they go missing in the community, staff share information with relevant partner agencies to help to find them. Recently, during an incident, the energy and commitment that the staff displayed, contacting the family and friends of the young person to locate them, were commendable. Because of this, the young person quickly returned and it has led to a closer working relationship with those friends and the family. The provider has excellent relationships with local agencies such as the police. Staff show a detailed awareness of missing from care protocols and procedures. This is also true of their knowledge and understanding of the signs and risks associated with child sexual exploitation. The provider has good

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Outstanding

links with the child sexual exploitation local authorities’ workers and all staff receive training in this area. This helps young people to be increasingly safe.

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Outstanding

Robust safeguarding processes are well embedded, and whistle blowing is on the agenda for all staff in all supervision meetings. As a result, they are happy to talk openly about this issue and have received training in identifying the signs of, and managing, safeguarding issues. There is a positive relationship with the local authority designated officer. Safe recruitment helps to ensure that only those adults who have been vetted work in the home. This keeps young people as safe as possible.

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Outstanding

Although staff are trained to use restraint it is rarely used with the most recent incident being before the last interim inspection. Staff use their positive relationship and extremely effective working knowledge of the young people to see when situations may be starting to escalate. They then use the de-escalation techniques they learn in the training to prevent situations from deteriorating.

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Outstanding

The home has an excellent registered manager who is experienced, qualified, and skilled in leading the team of staff. She is extremely competent in focusing the work of the staff on achieving the very best outcomes for the young people. She has developed a culture of extremely high expectations of the staff and an aspirational attitude for the young people. For example, discussions on future work options include consideration of further and higher educational qualifications and work experience in professional roles.

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Outstanding

The manager has recently undertaken some additional responsibilities that have caused her to be away from the home for short periods. During these times the deputy has managed the home very effectively and the manger has maintained contact, keeping careful observation of the activity within the home.

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Outstanding

Through the delivery of regular, high quality direct work with young people the provider achieves what is set out in their statement of purpose. The document is easy to read, and provides young people, families and placing local authorities with a concise description of the services provided. The registered manager and staff have an excellent working relationship with placing authorities. They provide those authorities with weekly reports, and one social worker describes communication as ‘brilliant’. Each young person has a young person’s guide to the home which is a very useful document, full of helpful information such as contact numbers for various advocacy groups.

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Outstanding

The provider has well-defined monitoring processes to track young people’s progress. When comparing where some of the young people started from, for example, not attending school, along with negative and risky relationships in their community and some offending behaviour, this progress has been exceptional. All of these behaviours have been minimised or have ended since living in this home. As a result, they are more likely to make a positive start to adult life. Regular internal monitoring also highlights the strengths of the home and identifies any shortfalls to be addressed. This ensures there is continual improvement in the care and welfare of young people.

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Outstanding

The manager motivates staff through regular supervision to work consistently to the highest possible standard to continue to engage with young people. This works towards ensuring that the outcomes achieved are excellent. A training pathway for all new and existing staff ensures that staff have the skills to meet the young people’s needs. Staffing levels are appropriate and there is little use of bank or agency staff. This means that the staff group are a consistent presence in the young people’s lives. There are effective handovers that keep the staff focused on caring for the young people on a day-to-day basis. Regular team meetings place an emphasis on sharing information on how the young people are progressing with the wider staff group. Updated risk assessments are also shared in these meetings. This means that the staff have the most recent information to ensure that they meet the young people’s needs in the most effective way.

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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

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

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