Children's Home run by Active Ark Limited in Westmorland and Furness

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 are supported to maintain good contact with their families and their friends. They are well supported to learn independence skills and to move on to settled and successful living situations.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people are cared for by a compassionate and committed group of staff who want them to achieve their personal goals. Effective partnership working with parents, carers and the placing authorities ensures consistency of care.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people are being cared for by staff who demonstrate a strong commitment to meeting their individual needs and keeping them safe.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Behaviour is effectively managed. The team use reflection and de-escalation effectively to allow opportunities for learning by both the staff and the young people. As a result young people are clear about the expectations for behaviour and become more aware of the impact of their behaviours on others.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Views of the young people are central to how the home operates with young people being listened to and able to participate in day-to-day decisions as a matter of routine.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Transitions are individualised and adapted to ensure anxieties for young people are reduced.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Parents express confidence in staff and the care they provide for young people. Family relationships have been supported by staff who understand the importance of contact between young people and those who they feel are important to them.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 This service makes a significant difference to young people and their families. Young people make extensive progress in all areas of their development.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 There are significant shortfalls in the quality monitoring of the home’s performance. As a consequence deficits in recording have not be identified and addressed in a timely manner. What does the children's home need to do to improve? 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

12 12: The protection of children standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the quality standard the registered provider must:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(d) ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child's health. In particular risk assessments of the site must be reviewed annually (Regulation 12(2)(d)) 30/09/2015

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Requirement Due date

36 The registered person must maintain records for each child which:

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Requirement Due date

Includes all information listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. In particular this relates to ensuring all records detailed are regularly updated in order to reflect how the assessed needs of the child are being addressed and progress made (Regulation 36 (1) (a)) 30/09/2015

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Requirement Due date

44 The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once per month (Regulation 44(1)) 30/09/2015

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Requirement Due date

45 Establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating, the quality of care provided to children, and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve of maintain the quality of care provided for children, in particular records are consistently well recorded and in sufficient detail (Regulation 45 (2) (a) (c)) 30/09//2015

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Information about this children's home

This children’s home is operated by a private organisation and is registered for one young person. The home is registered to accommodate young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

246/02/2015 CH - Interim Improved effectiveness

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good

Young people placed in this single bedded home make good and at times outstanding progress, enabling them to be re-integrated into their home communities or progress forward in their lives. Staff actively involve young people in the running of the home. The current resident confirms that she is invited to and attends staff meetings. She confirms that staff value her views about all aspects of the care she receives. Being routinely involved in decision making, is enabling her to take control in her life and express her views, wishes and feelings confidently and in a more age appropriate manner.

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good

Contact between the young person and their family is determined at the point of admission and continually assessed as the placement continues. Staff promote these links and help individual young people to develop positive relationships with their families. A social worker said that the home ‘are very supportive with ensuring that contact takes place’. She said that ‘the family respond well to staff advice and support, so much so that a rehabilitation plan to get the young person back home has now been put in place. The young person is benefitting greatly from the 1:1 attention she receives. She gets an incredible amount of professional input, which she feels is quite therapeutic. She speaks very positively about staff and feels this placement is really helping her to turn her life around’.

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good

Young people benefit from close and warm relationships with staff who know them well. There is an emphasis on education and all young people make progress given their starting points. In the case of some young people, who have not been in mainstream education for a significant time, progress has been made in re-engaging them initially in a staff lead education programme. As a result, young people receive the attention and support they need to rebuild self-confidence and help them so that by the end of their placement they either have or are looking to return to mainstream schooling or a new long-term placement. Staff are positive and ambitious for young people, encouraging them to go to engage in education and fulfil their potential. Young people take notice of staff who they respect and consequently, their self-esteem improves.

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good

Young people are supported to lead a healthy and active lifestyle, they receive appropriate support from health professionals and have access to a range of information and advice on health issues. This enables young people to begin to make informed choices and start to develop independence. Judgement grade

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good

Young people live in a safe environment. All risks are kept under regular review and there is good staff liaison with parents and placing authorities following any incident. This ensures young people remain and are protected.

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good

Comprehensive behaviour support plans and individual risk assessments are well documented and available for each young person. They ensure that a consistent and supportive approach is taken to effectively managing challenging behaviours.

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good

Young people benefit from high staffing ratios in accordance with their assessed individual needs. On occasions when previous placed young people have been missing from care staff have worked in partnership with local police to address the behaviours, resulting in a decrease in incidents. All staff are familiar with relevant procedures and action they should take should such an event occur. The young person currently living in the home is settled and involved in planning and earning trust to increasingly have opportunities or free time when is on home leave. When in placement she chooses to engage in activities with staff, whose company she enjoys.

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good

There is a low level of physical intervention used to manage young people’s behaviour. Staff rarely use restraint, although staff are trained to do so. They use de-escalation to help young people manage their anger and upset. Young people are rewarded for positive behaviours and as a result experience additional opportunities to engage in enjoyable activities in the community.

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good

All staff members are trained to recognise, respond and report safeguarding concerns and this training is regularly refreshed. This ensures they are up to date with changes. Child protection concerns are promptly referred to the placing authority and local safeguarding team. Records are kept of all actions taken, and demonstrate that the home communicates with the relevant authorities until the outcome is known. Placement plans are amended to ensure that young people are supported during any investigation that is undertaken.

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good

The home has a safe system of staff recruitment. No new staff have been appointed since the previous inspection. Staff recruitment procedures are sufficiently robust to aim to ensure that unsuitable people do not have the opportunity to work with young people. Judgement grade Good

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requires improvement

The current Registered Manager is in the process of handing over her position to her deputy, who has recently successfully completed his suitable person assessment. Managers and staff are fully committed to prioritising young people’s needs. Addressing young people’s individually identified needs are at the centre of practice and is undoubtedly a strength of this home.

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requires improvement

The home is achieving its aims and objectives as set out in its statement of purpose. One of the key strengths of the home is their partnership work with families and other professionals. The manager leads this approach and co-operative working with the police, schools and health services ensures the best possible all-round support for each young person who is placed at the home.

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requires improvement

Not all of the quality assurance processes that should review the effectiveness of the service and identify patterns and trends have been occurring. Independent visits to monitor the quality of care provided to young people have not occurred since February 2015. The current manager was aware of this but there was no evidence that the Responsible Individual had identified this deficit. As a result records have not been monitored adequately to ensure compliance with the home’s policies, to identify any concerns about specific incidents and to identify trends and patterns.

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requires improvement

The current Registered Manager has undertaken her own monthly monitoring of records and is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the service. She was able to comprehensively relate these but had failed since April to document evidence of her monitoring.

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requires improvement

The home and garden is well maintained and free of health and safety hazards. Fire precautions and other safety checks are completed well. Risk assessments for the home are in place, but have not been reviewed within current guidelines. This issue has not been picked up due to the lack of monitoring of formal monitoring of the home’s performance.

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requires improvement

Young people’s progress and experiences are central to the culture of the service. The manager fully understands young people’s specific needs and sets high expectations for the staff team to promote their personal development and potential. The manager is involved in the review of placement plans taking prompt action to adjust care arrangements and to advocate on behalf of young people when necessary. For example, by contacting placing teams to review and increase contact arrangements in response to changing circumstances, and to advocating for young people’s best interests within education. Weakness in evaluating the progress young people achieve from their time of admission have been identified and the content of the home’s care planning documents are currently being revised to ensure that this occurs. The staff team have a good awareness of the need for careful and individualised transition planning. Work preparing young people moving into and out of the home is

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requires improvement

individualised with young people’s anxieties fully taken into account. This enable’s young people to begin to understand and feel immediately involved in moves that affect their future. Staff are supportive of them and respond to their emotional needs at these times. This promotes positive beginnings and endings for young people..

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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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