Children's Home run by Pilgrims Corner Limited in Kent

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:

 A strong and effective manager delivers high standards of care through consistent and supportive management strategies. Quality assurance is rigorous. Safeguarding and the promotion of welfare is fundamental to care practice.  Young people make good progress in all aspects of their care. They benefit from good relationships with staff and one another. Young people trust the staff to keep them safe and believe that staff act in their best interests.  Young people gain increased self-confidence and awareness of how their behaviour affects others or places them at risk. Staff help young people develop ways of managing their behaviour and take control of their actions.  Effective and meticulous matching ensures that only young people that will benefit from the care provided by this home are placed there. As a result disruptions are rare and young people make progress.  Comprehensive care plans drive progress enabling staff and young people

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The children's home provision is good because:

to target and focus on the areas of greatest need. Young people are active in their care planning enabling them to take control of their lives.  Recruitment is effective in most areas, but increased care needs to be taken to ensure full employment details are provided.

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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 ensure that for all staff that are recruited provide (d) full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (3)(d)) 30/12/2015

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Information about this children's home

 This home privately owned is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children.  The home provides care and accommodation for children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

01/04/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.5

Good

Young people feel supported and well looked after. They have warm and respectful relationships with staff allowing staff to guide and support them. Staff spend time with young people listening to their views and talking about their interests. This helps young people develop a sense of permanence and belonging.

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Good

Careful and sensitive matching takes place prior to any young person moving into the home. Their bedrooms are decorated, favourite meals prepared and hobbies or special interests identified at the time of the move into the home.

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Good

Young people's views are important to the home and they express themselves openly and candidly. Young people are confident that staff will consider their views and explain when their wishes cannot be met. One young person commented ‘I know why the staff said no, because they have sat down with me and explained it clearly, although I am not happy with the decision I understand’.

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Good

Targeted and focussed programmes of support enable young people to develop their skills and confidence in areas such as self-care, cooking and budgeting.

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Good

Carefully planned activities ensure that young people have the opportunities to both learn and enjoy themselves. Staff use young people's interests and hobbies to support them learn and make friends within the wider community. One young person is being supported to build their future career based on their hobby.

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Good

Complaints are rare in this home and young people say that this is because they can talk things through with staff and have no need to make a formal complaint. An effective complaints procedure exists which is open and transparent. All young people are made aware of their rights.

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Good

Good relationships develop between staff and young people through effective behaviour management strategies. Young people learn how to behave acceptably thorough staff guidance; consequences are negotiated. Young people understand the results of difficult or unsafe behaviour enabling them to make positive choices.

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Good

Effective in-house schooling and educational planning engages young people and they make good progress. Where young people have previously refused to engage in learning, ambitious and insightful programmes are put in place. This has resulted in young people having a renewed interest in education. One young person commented ‘I didn't previously like school, but I like school now and I'm interested in learning new things’.

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Good

Young people's day-to-day health needs are effectively promoted. Strong relationships with other agencies ensure young people are supported where more specialist interventions are necessary. Young people understand how their lifestyle choices affect their health and the importance of diet and exercise enabling them to take greater control over their lives.

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Good

Effective matching and placement planning ensures that young people's needs are understood and managed. Where behaviour causes concern or impacts on young people’s safety effective strategies are promptly put into place to safeguard and protect young people.

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Good

Staff help young people understand risk and learn how to minimise risks for themselves. Careful and implemented risk assessments ensures young people are supervised according to their level of understanding and ability.

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Good

Work undertaken by the home has seen a significant reduction in risk taking behaviour such as going missing. Staff have successfully used online material and specialist DVDs to raise young people's awareness of the dangers of social media and exploitation. This has provided young people with increased insights and strategies to keep themselves safe.

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Good

Strong and robust procedures ensure that concerns are responded to effectively and promptly. Staff training and supervision has been successful in raising awareness of safeguarding. One staff member commented ‘training has caused me to understand complex behaviours and reflect on my practice and I have been more successful in engaging with young people that self-harm’.

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Good

Effective behaviour management reduces the need for physical intervention and restorative practices have improved behaviour. Where physical intervention is used it is meticulously recorded and evaluated by the manager. This ensures they are only used to safeguard and promote welfare.

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Good

Behaviour management strategies do not unnecessarily criminalise young people. Decisions to report young people to the police are child-centred and focused on keeping them safe. This approach has built strong relationships with the police and the local authority.

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Good

Recruitment practices demonstrate that appropriate checks are made on all staff members prior to their appointment. Challenging and thorough interview panels ensure that staff’s competence and skills are tested and assessed before they are considered suitable to meet the challenges of their caring role. However, in one case gaps in employment records had not been explained, weakening otherwise thorough practices.

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Good

Local area risk assessment and vulnerability assessments are regularly reviewed with the police. This ensures that emerging behaviour from young people and risks from the community are identified.

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Good

Young people live in a safe environment where risk assessments for fire, health and safety are used to reduce environmental risks and hazards. Prompt and effective action is taken to ensure home maintenance is undertaken as required.

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Good

The Registered Manager is suitably qualified and experienced to manage this home and provides strong and effective leadership. She has high expectations of her staff and the standards of practice. One member of staff described her as ’supportive and motivated, leading by example’. New monthly progress evaluations, staff handover procedures and approaches to restorative practices are all being developed.

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Good

The homes formal development plan is further developing practice within the home creating wider consultation with stakeholders, extending the range of activities and hobbies for the young people and introducing wider opportunities of training for staff.

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Good

Structured staff induction ensures that new staff receive appropriate support. They shadowing shifts enabling them to get to know the young people, the expectations of their role and gain confidence. The manager and senior staff observe practice during this time ensuring that staff have the skills and abilities to successfully meet the needs of the young people.

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Good

Well-managed and focused team meetings enable staff members to work collaboratively and effectively. Structured handovers and good information sharing between staff results in consistent approaches and coherent strategies of support.

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Good

Staff members gain the skills to meet the needs of young people through good supervision and effective training. Supervision helps staff develop their professional practice and staff described the supervision as both challenging and supportive. One staff member commented ‘supervision enables me to reflect, have time to think about what I do and use my manager to think about how to do things better’.

p.9

Good

Staff are competent and confident, they value their training and the insights that they have gained. One staff member commented ‘sometimes children's behaviour is very complex and training helps you understand what is going on to the child’. Staff members spoken to were able to articulate how training had influenced their practice, raised their awareness and increased their confidence. Another staff member commented ‘training has really opened my eyes to how vulnerable young people are from social networking’.

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Good

Placement plans for young people are individual and developed according to historic information and current needs. Staff use 24 hour management plans which provide details of each young person's day, making explicit particular times when they may need more support.

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Good

Young people help develop and design their plans enabling them to influence and shape their objectives. One young person has developed a reward system based on addressing the most salient aspects of their behaviour. Young people are therefore empowered and help to take responsibility for their own progress.

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Good

Rigorous and comprehensive quality assurance by both the Registered Manager and the independent consultant are used to monitor the quality of care provided. Comments and views are evaluated along with the homes records presenting a picture of the standards of care. Prompt and effective action is taken to address any shortfalls. Further oversight of the quality assurance practices are undertaken and evaluated formally by the Responsible Individual providing three layers of scrutiny.

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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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