Children's Home run by Oakley House Children’s Home Limited in Staffordshire

Requires improvement

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 Young people do not have sufficient awareness of how to keep themselves safe as their trust of staff has been compromised through a period of inconsistent staffing.  Barriers to learning are not effectively managed, which disrupts young people’s progress and achievement.  Multi-agency working is not consistent across all services and hinders joint work which enhances the welfare, well-being and health of young people.  Noticeable errors go unchallenged, leaving weaknesses that can compromise young people’s welfare. This includes the care of medication, fire safety and incident reporting.  Young people have not experienced consistent, stable and secure relationships with a committed, trained, experienced and supportive permanent staff team for several months. This has left relationships strained and fragile between staff and each other.  Young people do not feel valued and respected nor their self-esteem

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

promoted.  Not all staff are trained in all aspects of young people’s needs and knowledgeable about how to implement the home’s policy on physical restraint.  Young people do not have all their voiced concerns viewed as potential complaints.  The staffs’ level of alert to the risks young people can face in the community from people prepared to exploit their additional vulnerabilities is not yet robust.  Delays in repairs to young people’s bedrooms reduces their comfort and hinders relationships strengthening as young people feel let down.

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The children's home strengths

 A permanent staff team has just been established which is just beginning to give young people continuity of care.  Consistencies to behaviour management are beginning to occur.  The home has taken all necessary steps to address previous requirements and recommendations made at their last full inspection when the home was judged inadequate.  Recruitment procedures are rigorous and create a high threshold of entry to deter abusers working with children.  Where young people have previously had long periods out of formal education they are now in full time learning and thriving as a result of the opportunities this brings.  Opportunities to experience inclusive activities and pursue hobbies are promoted and supported.

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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

In order to meet the quality and purpose standard with particular reference to the young people's bedrooms the registered person must ensure that staff –

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Requirement Due date

(2)(vii) provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. 30/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

7: The children's views, wishes and feelings standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the children's views, wishes and feeling standard the registered person must ensure that staff –

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Requirement Due date

(2) (iii) help each child to understand how the child's views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

(v) help each child to understand how the child's privacy will be respected and the circumstances when it may have to be limited. 30/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the education standard the registered person must ensure –

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Requirement Due date

(iii) understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers. 30/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the health and well-being standard the 30/10/2015 registered person must ensure –

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Requirement Due date

(i) achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child's relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children's needs are met.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the engaging with the wider system to ensure children's needs are met the registered person must, and must ensure that staff –

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Requirement Due date

(d) seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children's home is to provide care and accommodate. 30/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection standard the registered person must ensure –

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Requirement Due date

(iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. 30/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person must –

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Requirement Due date

(2) (f) understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

(g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on –

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Requirement Due date

(ii) feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints 30/10/2015 received.

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person must –

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Requirement Due date

(2)(c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. 30/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration of medicines received into the children home. (Regulation 23 (1)) 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 the registered person is responsible for ensuring that all their staff have been adequately trained in the principles of restraint and any restraint techniques appropriate to the needs of the children in the home. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 49, paragraph 9.57)

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Information about this children's home

This is a children's home for up to 3 young people, aged between 10 and 17 years, with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and learning disabilities. 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

24/03/2015 CH - Interim Declined in effectiveness

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requires improvement

Young people have experienced a significant period of inconsistency in their care as a result of poor staff retention. This has limited their opportunities to make safe, protective and caring relationships with staff they feel will stay. For example, a young person has found as fast as she has formed any type of trusting relationship with a staff member, they left. This leaves the young person less trusting to make the same relationship again as their past experience shows staff leave on a frequent basis. The absence of trusting relationships impacts on young people’s progress, especially having the skills and confidence to develop appropriate personal and social boundaries and respect for others. This has resulted in one young person entering into more risk taking behaviour by spending long periods late at night out in the community without recognising the dangers they place themselves in. Barriers to learning go unchallenged. One young person does not always feel staff

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requires improvement

are interested in their learning. This is not helped when staff lack the knowledge of their GSCEs subjects and do not respond immediately to academic achievements. This leaves young people without prompt celebration of their achievements and positive reinforcement from staff. Staff also fail to ensure recommendations made at key meetings are actioned such as following up on additional tutor hours to enhance learning. More positively, another young person is making more significant progress in their learning. After a long period out of formal education they are now in college full time. They have achieved 100% attendance and positively share with others their high level of enjoyment by attending college. A core permanent staff team is now established. However, building trust is slow after young people have had a prolonged period of insufficient staffing where they have lost faith due to failed promises. This lack of confidence makes them

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requires improvement

reluctant to contribute towards decisions that affect them and limits their willingness to raise concerns. This compromises the complaints process. When staff focus practice on safeguarding young people, this is blocked by fragile relationships which means young people struggle to accept boundaries including why staff might need to limit their privacy. Some tailored support has still been achieved despite staffing difficulties. This has helped to improve young people’s emotional and physical well-being as they pursue their hobbies, such as bike riding and by being given opportunities to attend placements that focus on this key hobby. This has enabled a young person to learn more about the design of bikes and to play a key role in repairing them. Support systems are in place for ensuring young people sustain meaningful contact with people important to them. This respect to family contact enables young

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requires improvement

people’s heritage to be met. Some professionals acknowledge achievements that have a positive impact on a young person’s life. One social worker reports their young person, ‘has made some good progress whilst at the home, he does bits of ironing and cooking’. ‘He does good behaviour management work with the therapist’. The social worker has also found their young person is very happy at the home and has coped well through the regular changes of staff. Another professional adds, they have been impressed by, ‘the hours of structured and quality activities staff have done with a young person, tailoring these to his interests, such as long bike rides, geocaching etc.’

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requires improvement

Effective safe recruitment helps to safeguard young people. Clear lines of accountability are followed that ensure only suitable adults get to work with young people. As staff commence their employment they are well informed about their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children. This extends to staff receiving safeguarding training at their induction stage. The development of polices in child protection has further strengthened safeguarding with staff better informed about key information. Young people occasionally go missing from care. When this does occur, the home links up with the local police to ensure missing from care protocols are implemented. Despite this collaborative working, when incidents happen these are not quickly escalated and seen as potential risk of harm. This can include young people returning under the influence of possible substance misuse, having bruises and arriving back with money which are all unexplained.

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requires improvement

A more consistent approach to behaviour management is beginning to occur, which in turn is helping to reduce the need for physical intervention and sanctioning. The absence of swift repair to damaged furniture in young people’s bedrooms leaves young people feeling less respected by those entrusted with their care. Judgement grade

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inadequate

A new manager started on 21 September 2015. At the time of the inspection it was the manager’s second day. The manager comes with an extensive experience in residential childcare and holds qualifications suitable to the role and responsibilities. The manager has started the process for registering with Ofsted to become the home’s registered manger. After a long period of staff shortage and high reliance of temporary workers, the home has secured a full staff team. There is a commitment from leaders, managers and staff to getting things right for every young person. This is at a very early stage with no cohesive strategy in place that focuses on delivering positive outcomes. As a result, promoting prevention and early intervention is not yet established and means ongoing errors occur in many areas of practice. For example, recommendations from looked after children’s reviews go unnoticed despite their potential impact on a young person’s health. Staff failed to follow up

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inadequate

on a young person’s immunisations and seek out resources to help discourage smoking. Medication records continue to have errors despite changes in systems to attempt to make them more robust. Staff fail to recognise potential patterns in young people’s behaviour which can be possible signs of child sexual exploitation. Fire drills lack scrutiny to ensure their purpose to safeguard young people and staff is fully met. For example, a fire drill was completed on the morning of the inspection in which one young person did not participate and stayed in bed. The absence of this young person response did not trigger any escalation of concern to leaders and managers. Insufficient attention is given to securing collaborative approaches with multi- agencies to achieve better outcomes for young people. This is noticeable in the lack of communication between the home and the youth offending service, to ensure planned meetings occur and that social workers always receive information

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inadequate

swiftly and regularly. When there is effective multi-disciplinary working through joined up planning a whole system approach is secured. This is most noticeable in work completed with the local police which has helped put steps in place to safeguard a young person. Established systems are in place to check on the quality of care. An independent visitor helps to create challenge to drive forward improvement. For example, monthly visit reports have highlighted concerns over staff retention and the impact this has had on young people and made clear recommendations on achieving consistency of care through better staffing arrangements. A significant change in the staff team has meant the level of competence within the workforce is variable. This results in key areas of staff knowledge having gaps against the specific needs of young people. For example, there are gaps in staff knowledge around learning disabilities and attachment. Also, not all new staff have

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inadequate

received training in the home’s approved method of physical restraint. Although this training is booked, it is not scheduled until November 2015. This means a gap of time exists where staff do not have skills to apply if needed the techniques approved by the home. The home has taken steps to address previous requirements and recommendations. This has resulted in a new detailed workforce plan being introduced and staffing being significantly improved.

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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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