Children's Home run by The Partnership of Care Today in Stoke-on-Trent

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 positive about the care and support they receive and feel safe and comfortable in the home.  All young people in the home are engaged in education or training.  Staff work effectively in partnership with parents, professionals and other agencies.  Young people receive support from a committed, knowledgeable and experienced staff team.  Professionals report that they are satisfied with the quality of care.  Staff promote family contact so that young people stay in touch with important people in their lives.  There is one shortfall, relating to records when young people have been missing from home.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Records must be kept detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home (regulation 36 (schedule 3(14)). This information should be shared with the placing authority and, where appropriate, with the child's parents. Evaluation of missing incidents should be undertaken to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. This evaluation should inform the review of the quality of care. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 45, paragraph 9.31)

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Information about this children's home

The setting is a family-sized home. Care is provided for two young people of either sex who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. A private company owns and operates this setting.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

26/03/2015 CH - Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

08/01/2014 CH - Interim Satisfactory progress

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good

Young people benefit from being cared for by a consistent team of staff who have a good understanding of their individual needs. Staff are committed to ensuring that young people achieve as much as they can in all areas of their lives. Because of this, young people have formed positive and trusting relationships with the staff. One young person reported ‘the staff here are brilliant, you get a lot of freedom which I like, but they are always around to help you’.

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good

Young people make progress in the home relative to their starting points. They have increased in self-esteem and confidence and are now more able to express their views and feelings openly.

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good

Young people enjoy good health because their health needs are identified and services are provided to meet them. They are encouraged and supported to attend routine appointments with dentists, doctors and opticians. Young people are developing awareness of how to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. For example, all the young people are involved in physical activities and understand the benefits of a healthy diet.

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good

All young people engage in either school or college and staff encourage them to aspire.

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good

Young people make a positive contribution to the home. They are well engaged and encouraged to express their views and opinions to staff and the registered manager. Young people share their views through informal conversations and house meetings. This means that young people directly influence their care, activities and the weekly menu.

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good

Young people’s contact arrangements are clearly set out in their care plans and the home effectively supports all family contact. Staff consult families and includes them in all aspects of the young person’s care. This ensures improved communication and understanding between all parties, which is in young people’s best interests.

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good

Young people maximise their spare time and are encouraged by staff to become involved in leisure activities outside of the home. These activities include piano lessons, football and cycling. This provide young people with a range of ways to explore their talents and skills and increase their confidence and self-esteem. Judgement grade

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good

Young people say they are safe and feel safe. Staff fully understand policies and procedures in relation to safeguarding. Clear risk assessments are in place and capture individual risk factors for each young person.

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good

There are few incidents of young people going missing from home. Though these numbers are not high, the reporting is not sufficiently detailed or clear. This hinders staff fully understanding the reasons why the young person was missing.

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good

Staff use their positive relationships with young people to de-escalate challenging behaviours. This has resulted in no physical interventions or sanctions since the last inspection.

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good

Medication is stored safely, and records are maintained on the administration of medication. All staff receive suitable training to support young people’s health and well-being.

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good

Young people say they know how to make a complaint and feel listened to. Young people also have access to independent advocate services if they wish to speak to someone independent outside of the home.

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good

Young people live in a physically safe environment. Regular health and safety checks on all electrical, gas and fire safety help to ensure they remain in good working order. Regular fire drills take place to ensure that young people know what they need to do in the event of a fire.

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good

The staff recruitment and selection process is thorough, requiring a full assessment and checks of all applicants for work. These checks ensure that only suitable people care for young people who live at the home.

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good

The home has an appropriately qualified registered manager in place. The manager has been in post since March 2007 and holds a National Vocational Qualification in leadership health and social care level 4.

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good

Staffing levels are appropriate to meet young people's needs. Staff are well supported through regular supervision, annual appraisal and training. This ensures staff keep their skills and knowledge up to date and are competent in looking after young people.

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good

The home uses weekly team meetings to ensure that everyone is up to date about how to promote and protect young people's safety. The home uses a reflective cycle model during team meetings. This enables staff to reflect on any incidents of significance and to learn from them.

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good

The home’s statement of purpose is regularly reviewed to ensure the changing needs of young people are safely met. This means that young people, parents, placing social workers and other professionals are clear about the services and support the home provides.

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good

An independent visitor visits the home every month to monitor the quality of care provided. The visitor always seeks the views of young people and their parents. They make recommendations where necessary and assess compliance with these at their next visit. This reduces the likelihood that issues of concern or areas for development are overlooked.

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good

The home promotes good working relationships with external professionals. A reviewing officer reported, ‘I must say the communication and care from my perspective has been outstanding’. This collaborative approach means that young people are better protected and all those working with the young person are kept up to date.

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good

The home’s location risk assessment, which reviews the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises, is fully up to date. This means that all potential risks in the local area are assessed against the needs of young people.

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good

There were no requirements or recommendations raised at the last inspection.

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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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