Children's Home run by Oracle Care Limited in Central Bedfordshire

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:

 Young people make good progress in all areas of development from the point of moving into this home.  Positive relationships exist between young people and the staff team, these are characterised by trust and respect.  Education is integral to daily lives and staff support young people to identify and work towards individual aspirations.  Young people and staff receive support from an in house therapeutic team; this ensures a consistent and individual approach to care and emotional wellbeing.  Staff promote positive endings and support young people to engage fully in planning for transitions.  Staff endeavour to normalise young people’s experience and actively engage them in a wide range of activities in the home and community.  The manager and staff effectually manage and reduce the risks to young people, enabling them to integrate with peers outside of the home.  Staff consistently balance care and safety; this ensures life experiences are

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The children's home provision is good because:

reflective of young people’s lives outside of the residential childcare system.  In line with care plans, staff and managers promote and strengthen contact with family members.  Some records lack clarity, in particular the outcome of positive and negative consequences is not always evident.  The recording systems in use do not consistently allow for the capture of young people’s views in response to records related to them.  The home does not have a workforce development plan to provide staff with a point of reference in respect of the provision.

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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 staff are familiar with the home's policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

Encourage young people to see the home's records as 'living documents' and support them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 58, paragraph 11.19) 

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Recommendations

Provide a workforce plan, which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs19 and 20). (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Information about this children's home

This home is registered to provide care and accommodation for three young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. A private organisation owns and operates the provision.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

16/03/2015 CH - Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

13/01/2014 CH - Interim Satisfactory Progress

p.5

Good

The home has recently been refurbished, it is a warm and welcoming environment and the presence of young people is evident throughout. The manager and staff encourage young people to personalise the home with photographs, posters and their choice of décor. A parent said: ‘When I go there I get a really nice vibe, it has a nice feel, the atmosphere is really calm.’

p.6

Good

Young people make progress in all areas of their development from the point of moving into this home. There is a consistent approach to care and each young person has an individual intervention strategy. These are planned under the guidance of the in house clinician who works directly with young people and the staff team. A young person said: ‘It feels like home, staff care for me and care about me. The best thing is they actually help me.’

p.6

Good

Education is a priority in this home and the young people are all engaged in formal education. One attends the linked school and two attend college courses in neighbouring towns. One young person has just completed GCSEs in maths, English and triple science. Staff engage young people in homework and education related activities outside of formal education, this expands their learning opportunities.

p.6

Good

Young people in this home experience good physical and improved emotional health. Staff encourage young people to engage with community health provisions and promote attendance at, or self-arrangement, of appointments.

p.6

Good

A new, stable staff team bring a broad spectrum of experience to the care they deliver; this means there are multiple opportunities for young people to identify with staff. Care is dependable and underpinned by robust boundaries and guidance; it is on this basis that young people build trusting relationships with staff. The use of positive consequences is a constant; there are increasing numbers of positive consequences as staff recognise young people’s progress and contribution to the home.

p.6

Good

Young people access a wide range of activities; staff introduce these in line with the young people’s care plans, interests, and needs. Activities are risk assessed and staff encourage young people to take appropriate risks. Staff endeavour to normalise young people’s life experiences in line with those of their peers. Along with young people from other homes, they have recently had the opportunity to visit the houses of parliament. A parent said: ‘He gets lots of days out, educational things, extra-curricular activities, he is also getting a lot of support and therapy. He has the right people around him in this home.’

p.6

Good

The most recent young person to move in was an emergency placement from a sister provision. Staff worked quickly to reassure and stabilise him. Ordinarily the manager and staff thoroughly plan moves into this home. One young person is making a film of all of the homes, which the manager will share with prospective residents as part of an addition to the children’s guide. The young person said: ‘It is going to be really good; other kids can see what the home is like from our perspective not just a paper booklet to read.’

p.7

Good

In line with care plans, staff promote contact with family members and significant people, for example, previous carers. Where young people experience difficulties related to contact, staff are creative at seeking solutions and making this an enjoyable experience for all. The manager and staff effectively communicate their observations about care planning with the relevant professionals. A social worker said: ‘The young person is doing very well in the environment he is in, it is a big wrap around package, staff are really good at sharing their professional assessments with me.’

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Good

The manager promotes the use of positive and negative sanctions as a behaviour management tool. The use of positive sanctions has increased however, the records of the sanctions do not always record the actual sanction or reward offered.

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Good

All staff complete a comprehensive core training program. This includes missing from care, child sexual exploitation, and therapeutic approaches in line with the home’s ethos. Staff underpin their practice with a sound theoretical base and are positive about training that enhances their ability to fulfil their roles.

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Good

Staff are skilled at using their knowledge of young people to engage them in discussions about topics they are less inclined to openly discuss. Regular key work sessions cover a broad range of issues and staff frequently lead focused impromptu conversations with young people.

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Good

The home has effective security systems, which provide an electronic safeguard alongside staff supervision of young people when they are accessing the internet. Young people are not able to access social media from within the home. Staff have put appropriate settings on their electronic devices to prevent access outside of the home.

p.7

Good

Each young person has a comprehensive behaviour and risk assessment and management plan; risk assessments for individual activities support these. In conjunction with the in house clinician and professionals, staff identify and clearly record risks and the actions required by staff in respect of reducing and managing risk. Therapeutic intervention actively engages young people in risk reduction and as a result, risk to themselves and to others significantly declines by the time they move on from this home. A social worker said: ‘I get up to date risk assessments and information including reports. I like it that staff have got the young person into a mainstream youth club; they manage the risks with the young person really well without restricting him too much.’

p.8

Good

Young people and staff work together to plan transitions from this home. All young people have time allocated to work with staff on developing and improving life skills. One young person currently mentors other young people using some of the skills for independence that he has learned. Two young people access an independent visitor to further support them in respect of their disagreement with the local authority’s decision making and one other has been offered access to independent representation. The manager and staff value the role of the independent visitor in the young people’s lives and encourage meetings with the visitors. One young person who is due to move on said: ‘I am pleased to move on but am sad as I will miss everyone and have had such a great time living here.’

p.8

Good

The home implements a robust approach to bullying. The manager and team monitor bullying and record all incidents on a bullying log. They use this to monitor incidents and identify any patterns or triggers. These translate into key work sessions with young people and staff review these in team meetings. Consequently, there has been a reduction in incidents of bullying within the home.

p.8

Good

There have been no missing episodes or physical restraints since the last inspection; this is reflective of the understanding between staff and young people.

p.8

Good

The Registered Manager has managed this home since October 2013; she is appropriately qualified and experienced. She understands the home and the young people. As a result, she is able to effectively identify the provision’s strengths and areas of improvement.

p.8

Good

Since the last full inspection, there has been a focus on recruitment and the home has a stable complement of permanent and bank staff. The staff bring a variety of experience to their roles and young people attune to these. The staff team respond to the leadership within the home and the managing organisation and are complimentary about their management. One member of staff said: ‘I am a qualified primary school teacher, I taught for two years, I feel invested in, and they have been developing me here. I feel like I am valued and am bringing something additional to the home.’

p.8

Good

The manager and staff participate in regular supervision, which offers appropriate challenge to them in terms of their roles. This progresses the service that young people receive and focuses the manager and staff on young people’s experiences. One member of staff said: ‘I know that if I am not doing my best then the manager will pick it up as it affects young people. I also know that I will be supported and offered every opportunity to get it right, we all feel the same.’

p.9

Good

The manager and staff routinely seek feedback from professionals, young people, and family members. The manager uses this to monitor the effectiveness of the provision and identify areas for improvement. Young people take part in regular meetings, which they have named a ‘chill and chat’. One young person describes this as ‘staff asking us how was your week but without asking it outright like a quiz’.

p.9

Good

The home’s recording system depends on individual staff members to ensure that they record young people’s views about their records. This leaves some records with a limited representation of young people’s responses, wishes, and feelings.

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Good

The home does not have a workforce development plan. This leaves staff without a single point of reference, which encompasses the definitive information about the home.

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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. 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.

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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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