Children's Home run by Norfolk County Council in Norfolk

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 live in stable placements and have good relationships with staff.  Managers and staff know young people as individuals, they know their needs and are able to meet them.  Young people do well in education. All of them are in full time education placements. They are doing well based on their starting points and their success is recognised and rewarded.  Staff help young people to prepare for adulthood through the development of practical independence skills and a suitable attitude to work.  Young people’s health needs are met. Staff work closely with health agencies such as drug teams and ensure that young people can get the support and guidance they require.  Young people have confidence that they can speak to staff and that staff will respond to any concerns which they raise. Staff help young people to reduce their risk taking behaviours and to keep themselves safer.  Young people have good opportunities to take part in a range of activities

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The children's home provision is good because:

which they enjoy and will form positive memories of their childhood. Staff keep achievement books which include photographs and comments from these activities as well as their daily lives.  There is good leadership and management in the home. Staff feel they have become a team and that their practice has improved.  A recent very short-term emergency placement was taken. The statement of purpose does not detail the policies and procedures for emergency admissions. The admission had a negative impact on the other young people in placement and for a short period impacted on the set aims of the home to provide a warm, safe and welcoming environment. This aim is met for the rest of the time.  While staff have successfully advocated for young people to get the correct education placement for them, they have not challenged delayed meetings to set the education plan, or to get required paperwork.

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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 compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. This relates specifically to policies and procedures for emergency admissions. (Regulation 16(1)) 30/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. This relates specifically to the result of any review of the placing authority’s plan for the care of the child. (Regulation 36(1)(a)) 13/11/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that if they or staff consider a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, they challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. Regulation (5(c)) 30/10/2015

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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 that emergency admissions are not taken unless the home's statement of purpose and its capacity and support systems mean that it has the capability to care for children admitted at very short notice while continuing to offer high quality care to children already living in the home. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 15, paragraph 3.6)

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Information about this children's home

This home is owned and run by the local authority. The home offers flexible-term care and assessment for up to four 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

16/02/2015 CH - Interim Improved effectiveness

p.5

Good

Young people who live at this home have stable placements and good relationships with staff. Staff know the young people well and are able to respond to meet their individual needs which helps them to make good progress. In a survey before the inspection, one young person said ‘Everyone is honest and upfront with me. The staff seem like they genuinely care and they are always looking to support my best interests.’

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Good

The positive relationships help staff to support young people in their education. All of the young people at the home are in full time education. Staff listen to young people’s views on their education and advocate for them to make sure they get educational placements which meet their needs. One young person has done so well that the virtual school team funded a trip to London for him as a reward. Another young person who was previously at the home went to an award evening to celebrate his return to GCSE studies and the effort he was making. There is a clear recognition of the importance of education for young people. This helps them to achieve more and this in turn will help them in their future studies and employment.

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Good

Staff help young people to learn the skills they will need for a successful adult life. These not only include practical skills such as cooking and shopping, but attitudes that will help young people cope with work. They do this through encouraging voluntary work and where possible part time jobs. In addition staff involve young people in charity events so they learn to understand the need of others and have opportunities to help them and to feel good about themselves.

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Good

Staff recognise and meet young people’s health needs, including any specialist needs. Some young people are more willing to participate in their health appointments as a result of being at the home. A drugs worker has commented in written feedback to the home that staff ensure that the young people they work with are able to access support and guidance. Staff show a good awareness of the emotional issues that will affect young people. They work with young people to help them prepare for and manage these issues. This helps the young people to maintain good emotional health.

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Good

Young people are listened to by staff in their daily lives and through key work sessions and house meetings. Where there are no restrictions on contact staff listen to young people’s views and make child-centred decisions. For example, during the inspection a member of staff and young person were out for a drive, the young person asked if he could see a parent. This was arranged and they both dropped in for a cup of tea. Making such ad-hoc decisions where safe and appropriate helps to avoid young people’s lives being unnecessarily restricted and led by bureaucracy.

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Good

The house meetings are recorded and the registered manager responds in a letter which goes on the noticeboard. Her responses are clear, sensitive and address issues raised by young people. In addition, in a recent response she praises young people for their work to help make a leaving barbeque for a young person go well and thanks them for ‘such a lovely day’. External professionals commented on how nice this event was and how sensitively staff managed the feelings of young people who were not going home. The return home of this young person was positively commented on by several people from outside the home. One wrote to the home saying that they ‘did not give up on the outcome (the young person) wanted to achieve…despite setbacks when others said it could not be done (they) remained focused on (the young person’s) wishes and feelings’. This is a good example of staff listening to a young person, taking their views seriously and working hard to

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Good

Young people get opportunities to take part in a wide range of activities. They have recently attended the Royal Norfolk Show, been to an X factor audition and been on a camping trip. One young person described the camping trip as the best they had been on. Staff keep achievement books for young people to take with them when they leave the home. They put photographs of activities in the books and make positive comments about the activity or the young person’s achievements. These activities will form the basis of young people’s positive childhood memories and the books and photographs will build on this.

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Good

The home provides a safe physical environment for young people to live in. One young person commented in a survey that ‘it’s good, I like the staff team’. There are systems in place to ensure that risk from fire is minimised. Staff have very good awareness of the risks that may impact on young people’s lives and work in a way which reduces these risks. Young people’s involvement in risk taking behaviour such as drug use has reduced while they have been at the home. They learn to understand the risks and even to be concerned for others who may still be at risk. Staff work very well with other agencies that are helping young people to reduce risky behaviours. Workers from one such agency described working with staff as being like ‘a breath of fresh air’. They said that they have never encountered such a reflective staff team and that the work which staff are doing has made a ‘massive difference’ to the young person. They say it has done him the

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Good

world of good. This commitment to joint working and reducing the risky behaviour of young people makes them safer as a result of living in this home.

p.8

Good

There is not a high level of young people going missing from care. When they do go missing staff take appropriate actions to try and find them and keep them safe. Placing social workers undertake return interviews with young people which gives them the opportunity to speak of any concerns they have. While staff are well aware of individual young people’s vulnerabilities there are no current concerns about young people being subject to child sexual exploitation. Young people are able to speak to staff and have confidence that any concerns they raise will be taken seriously. Staff do act on any concerns raised by young people, so that issues they are concerned about get addressed.

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Good

Staff promote positive behaviour by young people. They understand the young people and so can form effective plans to respond to inappropriate behaviour and implement them in practice. This supports young people to make progress in their own behaviour management. In some cases staff work with parents to develop behaviour plans and consider appropriate consequences. This helps to ensure consistent messages to young people about the expectations of their behaviour. In their feedback to the home after they left the placement, one young person said that they had learnt to manage their behaviour better while at the home. Staff avoid the unnecessary criminalisation of young people and work in partnership with the police to promote a restorative approach wherever possible. However, through this joint working they can also identify when matters need to be escalated to provide clear messages to young people. There is a low use of restraint. Records

p.8

Good

are kept of restraints and if these are not clear and full the registered manager picks this up in her monitoring. She then ensures that the records are added to (rather than changed), in order to provide the information required. The effective and open monitoring of these records helps to provide a safeguard for young people as inappropriate or ineffective practice can be identified.

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Good

There is a registered manager in the home. She has been in post for nearly two years, she has suitable professional qualification and is currently working towards her Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare. She provides good leadership of the home. When an emergency placement was made and there were a number of potential issues she worked a week-end shift until she was satisfied that the situation was manageable. This was appreciated by staff, one of whom said: ‘it speaks volumes’. An external professional commented in a written response to the home upon the clear leadership and direction of the manager. They also commented on staff’s commitment, creativity, tenacity and compassion.

p.8

Good

Leaders and managers in the home know the young people well and focus clearly on their needs. This is also evident in staff’s practice. As a result of this, young people make good progress from their staring points in all areas of their lives. Managers encourage and promote effective practice through their supervision of staff. Any issues or concerns are addressed and practice is discussed. Staff describe themselves as having become a team and speak of the improvement over the last year. They say that managers promote training. There is a comprehensive training programme and all staff, including bank staff, have completed the core training. This includes safeguarding, first aid, de-escalation and restraint, medication, preventing bullying, fire and handling complaints. Some staff have also done training in areas such as self-harm, good sex-bad sex, life story work, child exploitation and online protection. Consequently, staff are well informed to

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Good

undertake their work in providing good quality care for young people. For the most part, the home meets its aims and objectives as set out in the statement of purpose. The statement of purpose does not detail the policies and procedures for emergency admissions. Recently an emergency admission was agreed for a week-end. While appropriate resources were put in place to safeguard the young person who moved in, the impact on the existing, settled group was negative. One of the aims set out in the statement of purpose is the creation of a warm, safe and welcoming environment. While this is achieved for most of the time, the recent placement decision did impact on this for a short period. Records are clear and provide suitable information for young people should they wish to read them now or in the future. They contain most of the required information, but in some cases there were no minutes or outcomes of young

p.9

Good

people’s statutory reviews despite the reviews having taken place some months before. Consequently, up to date care planning information to inform practice is not readily available for all young people. Also some young people have waited for some time for education plans to be discussed and agreed on. While staff have been pro-active and robust in ensuring young people get suitable education places, and in some cases have successfully appealed the decisions which have been made, they have not chased outstanding paperwork enough or challenged delays in education planning which should ensure that interim arrangements are as good as they can be. Managers know the strengths and weaknesses of the home and use this information to develop realistic and achievable development plans. This helps to continually improve the quality of care. They also form very effective working relationships with other professionals, agencies and parents. This helps to ensure a

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Good

consistent and effective approach to meeting the young people’s needs.

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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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