Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Rochdale

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 small staff team are well established in the home, they say they are sufficiently trained and well supported by the management team. Consequently they are motivated and have a commitment to the young people who live in the home.  The whole staff team are skilled at building effective and supportive relationships with young people.  Leaders and managers have a strong presence in the home. They have effective monitoring systems and are committed to securing sustained improvement in the quality of care provided.  The manager ensures everyone has a say in the running of the home, including young people; for example, this means they attend staff team meetings. This supports young people to share their views of the home and they feel listened to and valued.  Young people benefit from being cared for by a nurturing staff team who ensure they have the opportunity to gain and share in positive experiences,

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The children's home provision is good because:

including regular activities and going on holiday.  Individual young people make good progress, given their individual starting points, in all aspects of their lives, including health, education, emotional well-being and social opportunities.  The young person spoken to during the inspection confirmed they felt safe at the home and well cared for. They feel the staff team are there for them and genuinely care about them.  The minor shortfall identified at the inspection has already been acted upon and had not negatively impacted on the young person.

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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

Ensure that the registered person notifies the HMCI of any revisions to the Statement of Purpose and sends a copy of the revised statement within 28 days. (Regulation 3(b)) 30/11/2015

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Information about this children's home

This service is a privately run children's home. The home provides care and accommodation for one young person with behavioural and/or emotional difficulties. The home is also registered as a school with the Department for Education.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

Recent inspection history

25/02/2015 CH - Interim improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

13/02/2014 CH - Interim Satisfactory Progress

p.5

good

All young people who live at the home benefit from highly individualised care. The high staffing ratio and level of support afforded to the young person means that positive relationships are developed and sustained. The manager ensures that the small team is consistent and well matched to the young person.

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good

Young people after settling into the home are encouraged to choose their individual keyworkers. This empowers and supports the young person to identify a member of staff that they feel comfortable with and then develop their individual plans.

p.6

good

The staff team provide a warm and nurturing environment, as a result the young person feels valued and cared for. The young person commented: ‘the best thing about living here is the staff. I would say it’s outstanding definitely 12.5 out of 10. I don’t want anything to change.’

p.6

good

All young people are encouraged and supported to engage in education. They usually access education on site. The current young person is regularly achieving 100% attendance. Education plans have been tailored to support the young person to re-engage in education, after a significant period of none attendance prior to moving into the home.

p.6

good

Young people are well supported with their individual health needs, they register and attend all health appointments. The staff team ensure the young person is administered their medication and where appropriate are supported to engage with specific health professionals, such as in-house clinical psychologists. A parent commented: ‘I can’t believe how quickly they (the staff team) have got him support for his emotional health, I am really pleased he is doing so much better living there.’

p.6

good

The individualised care provides opportunities for the young person to explore their own identities and develop their interests. For example, the young person has joined a local gym and football club. This means they have the opportunity to build links to the local community and socialise with peers of their own age and with similar interests. This is significant given young people admitted to the home are often placed some distance from their families.

p.6

good

Parents, placing social workers and the young person themself all comment on the value placed on supporting and maintaining family relationships by the whole staff team. The young person is able to use the phone to call family members and is supported to attend family visits. A parent commented: ‘I speak to my son everyday on the phone and when the staff brought him to see us they were lovely we all had a good time.’

p.6

good

The staff team work with the young person to develop life skills at a pace which suit the individual young person. This helps the young person build confidence and develop skills for adulthood. Individual behaviour incentives are developed and reviewed to ensure they incorporate targets to prepare for moving on from the home.

p.7

good

The manager and staff team have a very good understanding of the individual risks relating to the young person living at the home. They use effective risk management plans to identify risk and strategies to support the young person. The manager and staff team say they benefit from regular and detailed consultations with the internal clinical team. This offers insight and strategies to support staff to manage and work with the young person to reduce risk taking behaviour, such as self-harm.

p.7

good

Open and regular discussions support the young person to identify inappropriate behaviour and risks. The young person currently living at the home reported that they felt safe living there and wanted to stay living in the home.

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good

Young people benefit from a small and stable staff team who support them with consistent boundaries, routines and expectations. This means that young people know and understand how staff manage their behaviour. Placing social workers comment: ‘I have been really impressed at the number of structured activities X has been engaged in, this has meant the staff group have really started to get to know X and what he needs.’

p.7

good

The manager and staff team are skilled at recognising when young people’s outcomes are not improving by living at the home. They are able to take proactive action to identify increased risks, and effectively plan how to support young people to either remain at the home, or to move on from the placement in a planned and well supported manner. One young person, previously placed at the home identified with staff that they needed to move on from the home. This was due to an increased risk from the local community. The agreed plan included the staff team moving the young person and supporting the young person in the new home as part of the settling period. This well thought out plan was supported by the young person and the placing authority.

p.7

good

The manager and staff have excellent relationships with neighbourhood police officers. One commented: ‘I have no concerns relating to the level of care offered at this home, from what I have seen the staff do everything they can to support whoever is living in the home.’

p.8

good

The organisation has robust recruitment policies and procedures which help to protect young people from unsuitable adults. The home environment is generally safe, however, there has been a number of issues with local youths in the community which has resulted in a number of broken windows. The manager has taken appropriate action to prevent further incidents, which has included meeting with local police to request an increased police presence and securing agreement for CCTV cameras to be installed on the outside of the building.

p.8

good

The manager has recently commenced her role as the home manager. She has several years experience of managing in a children’s home. She has completed her application to be registered. A detailed and comprehensive handover from the previous Registered Manager has ensured a smooth transition in the change of managers. The new manager has already established working relationships with the staff team, they comment positively about her management style and approachability.

p.8

good

The manager and first line manager are committed to providing an environment which prioritises and supports the young person’s individual needs. They lead by example and are passionate about securing positive outcomes. They are skilled at recognising when the placement is not meeting the needs of the individual young people; taking action to address issues and, where appropriate, review the sustainability of the placement.

p.8

good

The management team provides a supportive environment for the small but consistent staff team, who are as passionate as the managers about effectively supporting the young people who live in the home. Regular supervisions, detailed handovers, appraisals and team meetings ensure staff have a good understanding of how to meet the needs of the individual young people. The staff team confirm that they continue to benefit from a regular and varied training package. The manager also ensures that for any emerging areas of behaviour displayed by the young person staff have access to specific training, for example strategies to manage and support young people who self-harm. This has been necessary given a couple of recent incidents of self-harm. This means staff have the skills and understanding to meet the individual needs of the young person living at the home.

p.8

good

Regular internal monitoring and development plans ensure the manager has an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. She uses the development plan as a working document to take effective action to improve the quality of care of the home. The manager makes good use of consultation with parents, professionals and young people to secure improvement in the quality of care provided.

p.9

good

Since taking over her role as manager she has reviewed the Statement of Purpose to ensure the home is achieving the stated aims and objectives. However, she had not updated HMCI of this review and the changes to the staffing structure. The manager did address this at inspection.

p.9

good

Professionals, including placing authorities, parents and the police report of high quality relationships between themselves and the manager and staff team. Consequently young people’s needs are prioritised and central to the development of plans to meet their individual needs. One police officer commented: ‘I am encouraged to build a relationship with the young person living at the home, I try to get to know them. In my experience the staff team do everything they can to support the young person living at the home.’

p.9

good

The manager and staff have addressed the recommendation raised at the last inspection and education attendance has 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

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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