Children's Home run by Appletree Treatment Centre Limited in Westmorland and Furness

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:

 Children benefit from a staff team who are highly committed and motivated to help them progress and develop and to achieve the best for them.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The high level of emotional warmth shown to the children helps them feel loved and cared for which improves their self-image and self-esteem and allows them to believe they are ‘loveable’.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Relationships between children and staff are nurtured and developed to enable children to gain trust and security.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 There is genuine commitment to the ethos of the therapeutic environment which promotes children’s engagement and progress with therapy. Staff benefit from training and consultation with therapists and so have a very good understanding of children’s emotional difficulties.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Children are engaged in a range of activities which allow them to develop skills and relationships outside of the home and school.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Education is provided on site and all children have very good attendance, make good progress and enjoy school.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The children’s health needs are met by a registered nurse working on site and they benefit from good health, a healthy diet and lots of exercise.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Children enjoy regular and positive contact with family members, supported and often supervised by staff at the home. The home ensures that contact arrangements are in the children’s best interests.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Children’s wishes and feelings are considered to be key to the successful running of the children’s home and the wellbeing of the children. Their views are gathered via a number of different forums and contribute to decisions made about the day to day running of the home and their individual placement plans.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff and managers at the home are strong advocates for the children and ensure that their voices are heard by the key professionals responsible for decisions about their care and future plans.

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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

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 ensure -

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Requirement Due date

(2)(d) that the home has sufficient staff to provide care to each child 30/11/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees -

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Requirement Due date

(4)(b) receive practice related supervision by a person with appropriate experience;

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Requirement Due date

(4)(c) have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c) 12/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the health and wellbeing standard the registered person must ensure -

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Requirement Due date

(1)(a) that the health and wellbeing needs of the children are met. Specifically that children on prescribed medication are always given their medication as directed. 08/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

(1)(b) maintain records for each child which are kept up to date. Specifically that health plans contain information about any prescribed medication (Regulation 36(1)(b)) 08/10/2015

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  The registered person must ensure that children are able to maintain and develop their cultural or religious beliefs as far as practicable and where appropriate, through participation and instruction, and by observing religious requirements including dress and diet. (The guide to the quality standards, page 17, 3.22)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are kept which enable the registered person to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (The guide to the standards, page 49, 9.59)

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Information about this children's home

This is a private children’s home registered to provide care and accommodation for up to 12 children of either gender who are experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties. This company also runs a school, registered with the department for education, within the same grounds of the children’s home, where currently all the children attend. 

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

26/02/2015 CH - Interim improved effectiveness

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good

Children are generally happy and settled living in this home. There is a warm and homely atmosphere in which the children thrive and make very good progress from their starting points. One child stated ‘ I am really happy here …happy, happy, happy.’ One placing social worker reported ‘The change in (child) in four weeks is massive, particularly in his trust of adults.’ Where children are less happy this is due to them being ready to move on but their placing authorities not progressing plans in a timely manner for them, the home challenges placing authorities where this occurs and advocates on behalf of the children.

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good

Children develop secure and trusting relationships with adults who genuinely care for them giving them a sense of safety and security. There is an abundance of emotional warmth in the home resulting in the children feeling loved and valued, improving children’s sense of self-worth and giving them a feeling of ‘belonging’. Children who have previously struggled to engage with education make very good progress in their attendance and attainment in education. Some children are exceeding educational expectations and their achievements are celebrated. The school building is separate to the home and this allows the children to have a normal routine of going to school and returning home.

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good

The children benefit from varied and healthy meals prepared by the on-site chef, with one young person stating ‘the food is ten out of ten here’ and ‘I love the food.’

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good

Children participate in a wide range of activities including outdoor pursuits such as fishing, camping out and fell walking. They are also encouraged to join clubs and organised activities in the local area to give them the opportunity to develop social skills and mix with children away from the home environment. One young person stated ‘I like the trips that we go on and I like the way staff treat us.’ Some children are involved in charitable fund raising events which helps develop their understanding and empathy for others. Some children and staff report that having more staff on shift would allow children to go out on more activities.

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good

Children benefit from the services of an on-site nurse who ensures that all of their health needs are met to a good standard. However, children’s health information is not always recorded accurately in their health plans and there has been one occasion where a child was not given prescribed medication.

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good

There is a strong focus on therapy, with a number of different therapies available dependent on children’s individual needs. Staff benefit from very regular communication and consultation with therapists to enhance their understanding of children’s behaviour and emotional presentation which enables them to deliver care in an understanding and sensitive way.

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good

Both the staff and management teams consider it important that the children feel listened to and that their wishes are acted upon in respect of planning their care and the day to day running of the home. Young people’s and community meetings are forums for the children to express their views and they are each encouraged and supported to contribute in an age appropriate way.

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good

The home manages admissions and planned transitions carefully. Some life-story work is completed with children getting ready to move on and this helps them to understand where they are in their journey and what the future plans are for them.

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good

Children develop good awareness of other cultures through educational visits and preparing and sampling food from other cultures but they do not have a good understanding of their own cultural heritage and more could be done to help them in this area.

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good

Family contact is supported and promoted in line with the children’s plans. Staff recognise the impact of contact and the importance of key family members in the children’s lives, sometimes travelling very long distances to ensure that contact takes place. They offer sensitive care to children who are unsettled by family contact and understand that contact may provoke different and sometimes difficult emotions for children.

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good

Children at this home feel safe and are safe. Children who display difficult and dangerous behaviour prior to placement settle quickly and their risks reduce. Children do not run away or go missing which is mainly due to them being settled and secure and in part due to the rural location of the home. There are no children at this home who are at high risk of sexual exploitation.

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good

Restrictive physical intervention is used as a last resort to manage challenging behaviour, although there has been a recent sharp increase in the number of times restraint has been used. Physical intervention is well monitored for patterns and trends to look for ways of decreasing the incidents and very thorough analysis of these took place until the end of July which proved positive. More recent in depth analysis could be effective in identifying causes of increases in restraints for individual children. Staff are all trained in the CALM technique and have yearly refresher training, they are confident in its use. Young people report that staff only hold them when it is needed for their own, or others’, safety.

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good

Children respond well to the routine and boundaries in place and have clear understanding of what is expected and acceptable behaviour. They believe the rules to be fair, and respond well to the sanctions that are imposed for unacceptable behaviour, however, the main focus is on rewarding positive behaviour and this encourages and supports the children to actively respond to, and respect, the boundaries in place. Restorative work undertaken shows that children are helped to understand the impact of their behaviours on others.

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good

Consideration of individual risks is undertaken at the placement planning stage and this is carried forward into dynamic risk assessment during placement. The assessments are detailed and thorough with evidence of regular updates as well as updates specific to new risks being identified.

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good

Bullying is identified as high risk for some young people, staff are therefore vigilant to any power imbalances in the children’s relationships. Any issues that are identified as bullying are dealt with robustly and children feel that staff will always intervene if any bullying takes place. Bullying is actively addressed by the community as a whole through discussion in the community meeting, and children have good knowledge of what behaviours constitute bullying and why people may engage in such behaviours. They know what to do should they experience or witness any bullying.

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good

The children benefit from a safe physical environment with on-site maintenance ensuring that any potential dangers in or around the home are dealt with promptly.

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good

Safe recruitment practices ensure that children only receive care from staff who have been thoroughly vetted for their suitability to work with children.

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requires improvement

The registered manager is suitably qualified and has sufficient experience to run the home. There is a large staff team and the manager could delegate more tasks to his deputy and team leaders to ensure that all management tasks are undertaken and all work completed by staff is reviewed and any omissions identified. Managers in this home have very good understanding of the needs of the children and work hard to ensure these are prioritised. There is a strong focus on monitoring progress that the children make and this helps to ensure that progress is continuous.

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requires improvement

Recruitment of staff has recently proved problematic for the home and as a result the current staff team have had to work extremely hard to cover additional shifts. This has led to them feeling somewhat tired and frustrated, although they fully recognise that consistency and continuity of staffing is important for the children. The children also identify that having more staff would mean that they would get to go out more which is something they would like. Recruitment has now taken place with new staff coming into post over the coming weeks.

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requires improvement

Most staff report receiving regular and constructive supervision and annual appraisal, but on one occasion a staff member had not received supervision for over three months, nor had he had an appraisal since 2013.

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requires improvement

Recording in general is of a good standard, but some errors in recording are not being identified in a timely manner. For example, one young person’s medication was not recorded in his health plan.

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requires improvement

The home has a development plan in place to promote continuous improvement and leaders have vision and drive to develop the service to provide the best possible care for children. Internal and external monitoring systems are in place and most shortfalls are identified and action taken to rectify these.

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requires improvement

Managers and staff work positively and proactively with other agencies, working in a coordinated way to improve outcomes for children. The home also develops good relationships with parents which helps to ensure positive contact and communication and assists children whose plan it is to return to their birth families. The home advocates robustly on behalf of the children with evidence of challenge to placing authorities where plans are not being progressed for children.

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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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