Children's Home run by Leicester City Council in Leicester

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 kept as safe as possible and their lives start to stabilise. Risk-taking activity, such as going missing from care, decreases.  Young people have a voice in their care; they are respected and valued. They are supported in making significant decisions about their future care arrangements.  Young people feel secure in their home. They like the staff team. Staff are confident and nurturing. They are building trusting relationships with young people. The atmosphere in the home is welcoming.  The management team are highly reflective of practice at the home. Regular, conscientious monitoring helps ensure high quality of care. The management team understand the strengths and weaknesses of the home and have clear, realistic plans for continual improvement to the service.  The home is particularly strong at challenging other professionals whose performance or response is deemed poor. Outcomes for young people are

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The children's home provision is good because:

improved because staff advocate for them.  Areas for improvement were identified during the inspection. Some areas of the home require modernisation to provide young people with a pleasant and modern living environment.  Further staff training is recommended to enhance anti-bullying practice within the home.

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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

6: The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

(1) The quality and purpose of care standard requires the registered person to-

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Requirement Due date

(2) (c) ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

(i) meet the needs of each child; and (ii) enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. 19/10/2015

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation:  By provision of additional training, ensure staff have the skills required to intervene, protect and address bullying behaviours effectively. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 39 paragraph 8.16)

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Information about this children's home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to 6 children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. It is owned and managed by a local authority.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

12/02/2015 Interim Sustained Effectiveness

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Good

Young people, with often complex and disadvantaged backgrounds, make good progress in an atmosphere of acceptance and nurturing. When asked how he thought he had changed since coming to live at the home, a young person stated, ‘I was bad, I was getting in trouble with police, I was swearing. I’ve calmed down, I want to settle. I’d like to stay here.’

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Good

Young people benefit from individualised care. They develop trusting relationships with staff and begin to listen to advice and respond to encouragement. Young people are encouraged to make decisions about their lives and influence their own care on a daily basis through informal or structured discussions, access to the children’s rights teams, or through young people’s meetings. A young person stated, ‘Things are going good for me.’ A social worker stated, ‘He gets positive regard from staff which helps him understand he is valued.’

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Good

Young people enjoy being active. Some are part of a looked after children’s football team, others take part in gymnastics. New young people are quickly registered with local primary health care facilities such as the doctor. There is also quick access to specialist health care such as the child and adolescent mental health service where this is needed. As such, young people’s health, emotional and psychological needs are met.

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Good

All young people have education placements and there are high attendance levels. Where young people are not able to attend their education placement, staff and managers are adept at challenging schools, the local authority and virtual head teacher to ensure plans are in place to ensure the young person receives appropriate education, while a permanent placement is secured. This helps ensure young people are not further disadvantaged by gaps in education.

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Good

Young people are well prepared for transition on from the home, for example to semi-independent living or alternative placements. They are encouraged to be part of planning meetings and give their views and opinions. Bespoke packages of care are offered to young people, for example, one young person will transition to semi- independence over a number of months, with the support of outreach from staff at the home. This approach helps ensure young people have the best start to adult life.

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Good

Young people benefit from enriching experiences on a day-to-day basis. For example, over the school holidays, some young people enjoyed holidays to the zoo and to the coast. Memory photo books help them remember and cherish these experiences.

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Good

Safeguarding practice is a high priority at the home. Communication with other professionals is quick and effective should a safeguarding incident arise. Staff competently deal with disclosures, concerns about child sexual exploitation and missing from home incidents. Monitoring and review of incidents by managers is comprehensive, helping to inform young people’s care plans and risk assessments which in turn are effectively implemented by staff. Due to this practice, young people become increasingly safe, for example, with episodes of missing from care decreasing from their starting points at the beginning of placement.

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Good

On occasion there are incidents of bullying within the home. These are isolated incidents as opposed to continuous and young people confirm they do not live in an atmosphere of fear. They confirm staff act immediately if they ever feel intimidated by their peers. Swift action is taken by staff to put appropriate measures in place such as behaviour contracts. Safeguarding or strategy meetings are called to discuss group dynamics and placements are kept under review to ensure the mix of young people is compatible. Due to this, young people are protected as far as possible while alternative arrangements are considered. Staff have not however received recent anti-bullying training meaning they may not have up-to-date knowledge of how to help prevent bullying.

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Good

Young people’s behaviour is generally positive. At times behaviour can escalate and staff effectively implement behaviour management plans, which help young people gain control of their behaviour again. On one occasion, staff action during an incident of poor behaviour was not up to standard, resulting in young people’s behaviour escalating further and police assistance being used. Inconsistencies in practice are immediately picked up and action taken to ensure there is debrief and learning from events to help prevent this happening again. A professional stated: ‘Staff within the home are dedicated to helping the children in their care and want the best for them. They put in place strategies to manage the children and encourage the young people to achieve their potential.’

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Good

There has been a rise in the use of physical intervention by staff to keep young people safe since the last inspection, especially over the Summer school holidays. This rise has been conscientiously monitored, behaviour management plans altered and behaviour reviews conducted with professionals and the young person involved to seek alternative strategies. The frequency of physical intervention has declined since young people returned to education for the new term.

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Good

The manager is experienced and is appropriately qualified for the role holding both a level 4 and social work qualification. He has been in post for a number of years and also undertaking a level 5 qualification in residential management to further enhance his skills. The manager is supported by two assistant managers. Together they create a strong management team who aspire to create an ethos of high outcomes for young people and a well-developed, confident staff team. They continually consider ways to improve the functioning of the home.

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Good

At the last inspection, requirements were made about informing Ofsted of notifiable incidents without delay. This has improved meaning the regulator is promptly informed of important issues affecting young people. Another requirement was made to ensure effective implementation of the safeguarding policy in the event of an allegation or disclosure. Practice has improved and the staff team are clear in their responsibilities of sharing information. Young people are safer as a result.

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Good

There is a specific and time-focused development plan in place. The plan is reflective, focusing both on the home’s strengths and areas for further improvement. A new initiative since the last inspection has included consulting with young people who have previously lived at the home to gather their views and opinions on what it was like living at the home. Consultation purposely takes place a length of time after the young person has left the home, to give them time to settle in to their new placements and to reflect. Managers intend to use this feedback to further enhance current young people’s experiences.

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Good

Relationships with professionals such as social workers, youth offending teams and the police are strong. The home is particularly effective at challenging other professionals where a shortfall in practice is identified, resulting in better outcomes for young people, for example, where young people are out of education.

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Good

Members of staff describe a supportive environment. They are supported through regular personal supervision and keyworkers receive a formal case supervision to help retain focus on young people’s care plans. Staff have access to training opportunities to enhance their care practice. All staff consulted during the inspection spoke of high morale. One member of staff stated, ‘I love working here.’

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Good

Communal areas on the ground floor of the home have recently been redecorated. This project included young people helping staff strip wallpaper, choose colours and soft furnishings. Young people are proud of the lounge they helped decorate and do not damage it. The upstairs of the home requires modernisation. While young people’s bedrooms are personalised and individual, the communal corridor is dark, the carpet is worn and heavily stained and bathrooms require updating. The home have had a plan for this modernisation for over a year and finances have recently been agreed by the local authority. However, this process has taken an extremely long time, and has been out of the control of the manager and responsible individual, despite their efforts to accelerate the process. This means young people have been living in sub-standard accommodation for longer than they should have been.

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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

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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