Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children's Services (2) Limited in Telford and Wrekin

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:

 The matching of new admissions with existing young people is particularly effective.  The views of young people make a significant difference to the home.  Members of staff form meaningful relationships with each young person.  Young people gain in confidence and accumulate important skills. They engage in education and develop realistic ambitions. They make good progress from their starting points.  Young people enjoy an excellent range of activities.  Shortfalls exist in some administerial issues. Also, the security of items and data in the office is not sufficiently robust. Fire safety is not robust. Shift leaders do not always ensure that staff are up-to-date with new information and documents.

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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

In order to meet the protection of children standard to ensure that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe, the registered provider must ensure-

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Requirement Due date

(2) (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. This is with particular regard to the security of the office. 09/11/2015

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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)(b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate. This is with regard to staff keeping up-to-date with any new information about young people. 09/11/2015

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Requirement Due date

Include in the statement of purpose a description of the home’s policy and approach in relation to children’s rights. This is with regard to clearly describing children’s rights. (Regulation 16, schedule 1, section 9(b)) 09/11/2015

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Requirement Due date

Consult with the fire and rescue authority and provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of fire. This is with regard to reviewing the use of wedges in fire doors. (Regulation 25(1)b) 09/11/2015

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Requirement Due date

Keep case records securely in the children’s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is 09/11/2015 accommodated there. This is with regard to storing records securely and with regard to protecting children’s data. (Regulation 36(2)c)

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 Ensure at mealtimes that opportunities to sit together and eat are promoted. This is with regard to consistently making the most of all aspects of these occasions. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 15, paragraph 3.8)

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Recommendations

 Seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. This is with regard to the monitoring of physical interventions in which the manager has been involved. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the manager and his staff engage proactively with the placing authority to contribute fully to the relevant plans for the child’s care on an ongoing basis. This is with regard to making the targets in their placement plans specific, measurable and giving them timescales. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 56, paragraph 11.3)

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Information about this children's home

The home is registered to take up to four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is operated by a large private company.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

20/01/2015 CH - Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

14/03/2014 CH - Interim Satisfactory Progress

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good

Young people enjoy a good home that feels settled despite ongoing changes and developments. Of particular importance is the effective matching and introduction of new residents. Because of good practice in this area, young people get on with each other and with staff. This allows them to progress as well as possible, given their different stages of development. Work is currently underway to improve the evidence of decision-making about new admissions.

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good

It is to the credit of staff that they quickly establish meaningful relationships with young people. This is the basis of their good progress. As a result, young people make sufficient emotional progress to take advantage of the available opportunities. They engage well with the therapeutic team, which addresses their psychological difficulties well. As a result, they gain confidence and look after pets, contribute to formal meetings, and take-up new opportunities. Self-injurious behaviour declines markedly. The young people are particularly well engaged in an excellent range of activities off site. This includes community sports clubs where they experience success and gain friends from outside the care system. Older young people are pursuing career paths.

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good

High levels of consultation between staff and young people are a particular strength of the service. These well-established exercises take a variety of forms but all have a direct impact on the service. This leads to young people valuing both the service and their own views. They contribute meaningfully to their written plans, including their behaviour management plans. Young people have also influenced decisions about new residents. Their views make a difference to the plan for how the service will be improved in the future. As a result, the service benefits from their informed opinions.

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good

All the young people enjoy good health and are involved in healthy outdoor activities. They understand the importance of healthy eating. This includes those who are purchasing and preparing their own meals. Mealtimes are sociable occasions but these opportunities to engage young people are not undertaken at a consistently high standard. This increases the likelihood of young people not learning the importance of involvement, good presentation, and engagement in mealtimes.

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good

Young people have personalised independence plans. They are effectively supported to gain new skills in traveling and looking after themselves. The house is well located for easy access to urban amenities. One young person now has sufficient skills and self-confidence to live in the semi-independent flat on site and another travels long distances independently. Some young people have recently moved away after successfully completing programmes of independence training. Attractive journals show each young person’s progress and are theirs to keep when they leave.

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good

Young people are usually thoroughly involved in school or college because their education is given a high priority. Staff promote education partly by having regular conversations with teaching staff about young people’s progress. Ambitious plans, such as apprenticeships are pursued. The drive to seek higher standards is reflected in the current negotiations about receiving more frequent written reports from school. Staff identify obstacles and implement alternative strategies promptly, including providing young people with direct support in school. Recent improvements by the manager mean that staff are now more up-to-date about young people’s attainments and targets and support them more effectively.

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good

Young people feel safe in the home and their levels of risk-taking behaviour are relatively low. They improve their understanding of keeping safe. They invest in their own bedrooms and learn to do so in the property as a whole. Incidents of them coming home late are the main challenge and are thoroughly reviewed with other professionals. The behaviour management strategies are adjusted accordingly and incidents reduce as a result.

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good

The high level of reward and praise of young people is an important feature of the service. It makes a valuable contribution to the positive atmosphere in the home. Otherwise, high levels of occupation and engagement serve to keep young people busy. One member of staff said, ‘We are debriefed and incidents are discussed in meetings so we can share best practice and support each other.’ This ensures that staff apply boundaries consistently. Other issues that arise, such as the misuse of the internet, are addressed appropriately with suitable consultation with other professionals. Social workers report that staff are good at keeping in touch with them.

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good

Physical intervention is rarely required. A thorough system of review of most incidents is in place that identifies any lessons. This process is compromised slightly by a lack of independent review of those physical interventions undertaken by the manager.

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good

Routine health and safety matters, such as fire safety, are addressed well in most regards and serve to keep staff and young people safe. There is extensive use of wedges to keep fire doors open. This is not identified in the fire safety risk assessment and increases the potential risk to occupants in the event of a fire.

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good

Staff recruitment processes are robust and serve to protect young people from undesirable adults. However, inadequate security of and in the office create potential risks. Confidential information and keys (including keys to the safe, medicine cabinet, and the cars) are not secured. Young people are allowed insufficiently controlled access to the office while keys are accessible, filing cabinets unlocked and private information is displayed. The assessment of risk in this area fails to be sufficiently robust. In other regards, written risk assessments are adequate and show the main challenges faced by each young person. The method of assessing risks is under review by the company.

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good

Because of effective leadership, the service has systematically progressed to a good standard. The manager has been in post since June 2014 and is highly regarded by his team. One team member said, ‘He’s considerate, flexible and fair. I believe that it is down to him that we have a happy and settled team.’ The manager has an appropriate qualification and uses a good range of monitoring tools to improve the service. In particular, he is clear about the progress being made by each young person. He has also addressed the recommendation raised in the last inspection. As a result, the monitoring of each young person’s health is up- to-date. In practice, the service reflects the ethos and procedures outlined in the statement of purpose. The document itself, however, is insufficiently clear about what the rights of children actually are.

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good

The skills of team members are being addressed well. The manager is gradually exposing each member of staff to new responsibilities, which expand their knowledge and effectiveness. The team is relatively new and additional members are still joining. This means that the task of consolidating the expertise of the team is not yet complete. However, each shift has sufficient experienced staff to ensure its smooth operation. There is a high quality and quantity of staff training.

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good

Minor shortfalls in the knowledge of some staff derive from lack of robustness at shift handovers. Shift leaders do not always ensure that all staff are completely up- to-date with changes before they resume working with the young people. The lack of staff signatures on risk assessments, messages, shift handover documents and other records reflects this. This means there is scope for improvements in the consistency of care practices. It also increases the potential risk of staff not knowing something important.

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good

Young people enjoy a spacious property with plenty of rooms for privacy and recreation. It is reasonably well presented throughout although one young person said ‘it looks old’. Consideration is being given to making the reception area more welcoming. Further improvements are planned as part of the service’s development programme. The young people benefit from company cars that are routinely checked and serviced to keep them roadworthy. However, their presentation is poor due to dirt and damage. This creates a poor impression of the service and is a source of some embarrassment to young people. This is under review by the company.

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good

Records show a high level of involvement by young people. This helps them to understand the decisions of staff and commit to their individual targets. As with records such as the development plan and behaviour management plans, however, the targets described in young people’s placement plans are imprecise. As a result, care is less well coordinated than possible and the effects cannot always be clearly tracked.

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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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