Children's Home run by Bryn Melyn Care Limited in Shropshire

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The children's home provides highly effective services 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:

 Young people receive outstanding individual support, guidance and advice that is wholly consistent with their identified needs and agreed plans of care.  Young people who have significant emotional and behavioural difficulties experience an enabling residential culture that has a very positive impact. Young people make excellent progress and experience improving outcomes in many areas of their lives.  Young people stop offending and greatly reduce their anti-social behaviours. This improves their life chances and significantly benefits the community in which they live.  Care and support is planned, coordinated and delivered to a consistently high standard.  Practice and routines are adapted and adjusted quickly in response to changing needs and risks, which makes the service very responsive to each young person’s circumstances.  Young people feel respected, safe and secure in the home and with the

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

people who look after them.  Their views, wishes and feelings are central to how the home operates which shapes the way staff organise themselves on a day-to-day basis.  Professionals are extremely positive about the quality of care and support young people receive and the outcomes being achieved.  The home is soundly managed with experienced, knowledgeable and supportive leadership for staff and young people. This results in the team having a clear focus on the necessary goals and outcomes needed for young people to be successful.  Some aspects of the home’s quality assurance systems are not strong. Feedback from young people is not reflected or evaluated in the registered manager’s quality assurance processes. Monthly monitoring visits are not being undertaken by an independent person.

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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

The registered person must ensure that if the independent person becomes aware of a potential conflict of interest (whether under regulation 43(3) or otherwise) after a visit to the home, the independent person must include in the independent person’s report details of the conflict of interest and the reasons why the independent person did not notify the registered provider of the conflict of interest before the visit (Regulation 44(6)(a)(b)) 31/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for children; the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children (Regulation 45(2)(a)(b)(c)) 31/08/2015

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Information about this children's home

This children's home is registered to provide care and accommodation for one young person with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home 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

20/01/2015 CH - Interim Sustained effectiveness

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people living in the home are

Young people make excellent progress in compassion to their circumstances on arrival. They stop offending; anti-social behaviours reduce significantly; engagement and attendance in education improves and placement stability is achieved and sustained. Young people who have previously experienced chaotic life styles and numerous placement moves now have positive aims and aspirations for themselves. Their commitment to make positive change in their lives is underpinned by a residential culture and ethos that aims high in terms of what can be accomplished.

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people living in the home are

The team provide very personalised care that comprehensively addresses and meets the needs of young people. Consultation is frequent and young people’s views and wishes in planning for their daily routines and personal arrangements are excellent. In addition, young people are very well supported to participate in a range of additional meetings where they can share their views with others who are involved in their care. This ensures that social workers, carers and other professionals are informed and take account of what young people want to achieve from their placement.

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people living in the home are

Staff provide stability and emotional support that creates the right opportunities for young people to progress from the point at which they arrive at the home. Staff practice is positive and proactive when approaching difficulties young people experience or encounter. Young people can still demonstrate some very challenging behaviour but are very positive about how staff work with them to help overcome their difficulties. For example, one member of staff winning an internal annual award for ‘best carer’ following a process that included testimony from a young person.

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people living in the home are

A particular strength of the home is the very effective key worker system. This system of support helps to focus exactly on each young person's needs. Young people receive consistent messages about their behaviour and how to develop new skills and strategies to reduce the harm or risks to themselves or others. The home has an excellent track record in organising its services to ensure staff have a significant and positive impact on the lives of young people irrespective of their difficulties.

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people living in the home are

The registered manager and staff team are tenacious and resilient. The ethos of the home is not to give up and to focus on the gains that young people make and how they can sustain this progress into the future. This means that staff are continually looking ahead and planning for the challenges young people may face as they move towards greater independence.

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people living in the home are

Young people’s diverse needs are positively explored and addressed from the time of their admission. Young people have complex family backgrounds and varied experiences of being looked after. Staff can access an excellent range of information to help them learn about each young person. More importantly, staff listen to young people and what they have to say about their own lives and experiences. For example, their family backgrounds, who they relate to in the wider world, and their general likes and dislikes. This helps staff to understand who young people are, how they want to be looked after and what is important to them. This becomes extremely important when for instance; young people make difficult choices and decisions around family contact and their relationships.

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people living in the home are

Young people participate in an excellent range of leisure and recreational activities that help them enjoy their free time. Staff actively consult young people about what they would like to do and they are instrumental in ensuring young people’s experiences are varied and diverse.

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people living in the home are

Young people are effectively helped through their education because of the strong links between the home and school. Young people who have significant histories of non-attendance overcome their difficulties because of the team’s realistic expectations and very practical support provided. Because of these arrangements young people’s attendance and attainment improves. This has also resulted in young people being able to think ahead in terms of what they want to do when they leave school. They benefit from careers advice and guidance that successfully helps them match their aspirations to vocational and occupational opportunities.

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people are helped and protected

Young people’s safety and well-being has improved significantly since arriving at the home. The registered manager and staff team confidently meet their responsibilities to keep young people safe. They make sure that the quality of care that young people experience is consistent and prioritises their welfare. Young people actively benefit from the home’s well-established routines and procedures that explicitly recognise the need to protect and safeguard everyone. All staff are very aware of intervention strategies that consistently and successfully help young people address and modify risk taking behaviours.

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people are helped and protected

Young people do not go missing from the home despite having significant histories of this kind of behaviour. Staff know what to do if these circumstances occur but their main focus is on working together to prevent these incidents from happening in the first place. Staff have successfully helped young people find alternative and safer ways to behave as well as creating a home environment where young people want to be.

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people are helped and protected

Staff consistently promote and praise positive behaviours. The use of more formal measures of control have not been necessary. Staff use their training to good effect by focusing on the positives and by regularly talking to young people about their behaviour and safety. Young people understand that staff take full account of their difficult past experiences and try to help them make positive changes where necessary. Young people are encouraged to act with consideration for everyone, particularly where staff have been working with others to reduce criminal behaviour.

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people are helped and protected

Young people make considerable progress because they engage in crime reduction programmes, which has helped them to stop offending. This is because of the strong partnerships staff have with key agencies who monitor and supervise community programmes that are aimed at prevention and rehabilitation. Young people sustain their place in the community, reduce their anti-social behaviour and successfully comply with court orders, (as an alternative to custody). Youth justice professionals are extremely positive about how the home works with young people. They highlight the significant contribution made by the registered manager and staff team to help young people stay out of trouble and away from the criminal justice system.

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people are helped and protected

Staff employed in the home are carefully selected and vetted to ensure that young people are properly looked after and effectively safeguarded. Staff understand and use their training to ensure young people’s continued protection is maintained. The home’s environment is physically safe and appropriately secure, taking account of the varying needs and circumstances of young people. Their health and safety is fully supported because maintenance and protective procedures are applied consistently by managers and the staff team.

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leaders and managers

Young people benefit from a service that is effectively and efficiently managed. The long-standing, qualified and very experienced registered manager provides clear leadership that helps shape the child-focused approach of the whole team. Staff are managed in a way that encourages regular reflection of their work and the impact they having on young people’s lives. This approach is part of the registered manager’s wider evaluation and monitoring activity that also includes gaining feedback from professionals who are involved with the service. Recent feedback from individuals is consistently positive, sighting the excellent working relationships, good communication and exceptional outcomes being achieved. The home is organised in a way that consistently channels everyone’s efforts to help young people make the most of their time at the home.

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leaders and managers

Qualified and well supported staff are deployed in the home in sufficient numbers and with the right experience to consistently meet the needs of young people. The stable staff team are very familiar to young people who experience little disruption to their relationships or attachments. Workers who are familiar to the home and young people cover any shortfalls in staffing levels.

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leaders and managers

Staff have access to a good range of quality learning and development opportunities. This helps equip them with the skills, understanding and knowledge required to meet the current needs of young people. Staff feel very well supported in their work and can access practical advice and guidance on a daily basis from a range of sources. The home is effectively supported and monitored by external managers, ensuring its purpose and ethos continues to provide the right environment to meet young people’s needs.

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leaders and managers

The registered manager evaluates the home’s operation to ensure young people’s needs are being met. Quality assurance routines are wide ranging but they do not fully capture the feedback received from professionals, staff or young people about the service. Required monitoring routines are not used to evidence the actions taken as a result of this information being received. Although consultation with young people is high and the service is being shaped around their needs this is not necessarily evidenced through the formal quality assurance processes.

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leaders and managers

Although monthly monitoring visits show a level of scrutiny that helps the service improve, these visits are not being completed by a person who is independent. This is because the person who carries out these visits has other operational responsibilities within the organisation. Although this has been acknowledged by the provider organisation, proposed changes to address this matter are not yet in place. Currently, the central aim of the independent visitor role is undermined because the services that young people are using are not being scrutinised impartiality.

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leaders and managers

The home provides a good range of information in the statement of purpose and children’s guide. These documents describe how the service operates, what to expect and how staff will help young people make the most of their stay. The home is well maintained, comfortably furnished and well-equipped. Young people’s case files are kept securely and contain a comprehensive range of information about their histories and progress to date.

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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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