Children's Home run by Peterborough City Council in Peterborough

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 home is warm and welcoming, it is equipped to meet the needs of all of the children who stay here without presenting as institutionalised.  Children enjoy new life experiences and activities during stays in this home, all of which enhance their development whilst encompassing their individual needs.  Introductions to this home are well planned and led in a timely way by children’s needs.  The management and staff team in the home is stable, there is no use of temporary staff. This allows children to form trusting relationships with familiar care givers.  Very strong links exist between the home and family members. Views of families inform all decision making and staff are creative at gauging children’s views.  Care is dependable and consistent, children can predict staff responses to them and feel safe here.  Staff support families and children to move on from this home, this key contribution is not formalised with recognition in the pathway planning

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The children's home provision is good because:

process.  Case records do not always record children’s linguistic background and staff do not maximise their opportunities to encompass and promote children’s cultural and religious heritage.  Records vary in quality, children’s views are not consistently recorded and their contribution not at all times clear.  Staff and managers do not receive supervision at the frequency determined by the home’s policy. Some supervision adds limited value to staff practice and children’s experience.

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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 maintain records ("case records") for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)) 07/01/2016

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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

 Children’s homes staff have a valuable contribution to make to the pathway planning process. They should actively seek to make the fullest contribution, working with other relevant persons. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 17 paragraph 3.28)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that children are encouraged to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, Page 58 paragraph 11.19)

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child and family. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 62 paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 Children should be 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 paragraph 3.22)

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Recommendations

 As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 61 paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 61 paragraph 13.2)

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Information about this children's home

The home is owned by a local authority, it provides care and support for children and young people with severe and complex learning and physical disabilities including sensory impairment. The home is accessed by children up to the age of eighteen years.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

06/02/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Good

The home presents as warm and welcoming, bedrooms contain personal items and there are photographs of staff and children around the home. The nature of children’s additional needs necessitates use of equipment in some areas of the home, staff integrate this without creating an institutionalised feel. Staff build trusting relationships with children and children’s responses to staff indicate they are comfortable with familiar care givers. A parent said: ‘The staff are like an extended family, they care and want the best for my son.’

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Good

Children enjoy new experiences when they stay in this home. Staff support them to engage in community visits and activities which enhance their social development and allow them to interact with wider society. Children experience living with their peers and appropriate interaction promotes inclusion of all children. One parent said: ‘Words cannot describe how good things are for our son, we are trying to get more independence, he makes different friends here and he does new things. He loves the music sessions. They try and improve everything for him.’

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Good

Many of the children are non-verbal, this requires staff to attune to children’s unique needs. They do this successfully and deliver consistent care matched to children’s differing presentations. The home is well equipped and staff training is comprehensive. This ensures that staff understand children’s complex health needs and how to meet those needs.

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Good

All children attend the linked school provision and attendance levels are high. Children expect to attend school when they stay in this home. School and home staff work closely to promote achievement. They share daily updates which means each can prepare appropriately for their time with the children based on their changing daily presentations.

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Good

Staff meet children’s health needs in line with advice from health professionals. Nursing staff visit the home and staff receive training in the administration of medication and in undertaking medical procedures. This ensures children’s health and wellbeing is promoted whilst they stay in this home.

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Good

Manager’s and staff offer support to families and children during times of transition. They appreciate the destabilising impact of change and staff endeavour to minimise impact of this on the children. This intervention is not formally recognised in children’s plans. This can lead to the blurring and undervaluing of the role of the home at this critical time. Records in the home are of a variable quality and do not reflect the extent of children’s experiences. Staff seek children’s views in a number of ways appropriate to their needs, this again is not reflected in files. This limits the contribution files can make to build a picture of children’s life when staying in this home. Children’s ethnicity, cultural heritage and religious identities are not always evident in recordings and staff do not currently maximise opportunities to incorporate these into daily life in the home. As a result children are not always encouraged to

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Good

celebrate and embrace their differences.

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Good

Children’s understanding of risk is limited by their additional needs, they depend on staff to keep them safe. Staff maintain open communication with professionals and family members to identify and respond to risk and provide safe care in a non- oppressive way. Using a cohesive approach ensures that responses to risk are dynamic and meet children’s changing needs. A parent said: ‘I do not have to worry when my son is there, they keep him safe, they contact me if there are any concerns.’

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Good

Staff use a comprehensive behaviour management policy to underpin their practice. They receive receive training in de-escalation and appropriate use of physical intervention. This endeavours to prevent children harming themselves or others. Where physical intervention is used, records are clear and the manager reviews staff actions in detail.

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Good

Where staff identify concerns about a child, they share information in a timely and appropriate way with professionals, and where appropriate with family members. This transparent practice promotes early identification of issues and leads to effective safeguarding of children. A social worker said: ‘Where staff identify a concern that they deem a non-immediate concern, they will address this directly with the family and share it with me, where the concerns relate to child protection and welfare they refer to me for guidance on how to proceed.’

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Good

Missing is not an issue in this home, however, where children are mobile there are stringent risk assessments that focus on their potential to separate themselves from staff when outside of the home. Staff understand these assessments and know what action to take in the event of a child leaving the home or group. Judgement grade

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Good

The managers and staff deliver care in line with their statement of purpose. Staff recently reviewed this and informed managers in respect of how this may help or hinder family member’s understanding of the home. Feedback in respect of this is positive. One family member said: ‘We received all of the information we needed before we visited the home, it helped us understand what we could expect from the home. Our son received a DVD to watch before he visited too.’ Managers within the school understand the unique individual needs of the children they provide care for. This understanding enables them to lead the staff team to promote and enable children to progress. They routinely monitor progress and celebrate successes. A parent said: ‘I do not think my son would get the care he gets here anywhere else, the manager comes to meetings and she supports us to share our views, she represents our son.’ Staff describe supportive management who work openly and transparently with

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Good

them. This promotes a harmonious working environment and contributes to stability in the staff team. The managers seek feedback from professionals and family members and appreciate the challenges staff, families and children face. They use this knowledge to inform and develop plans for the service. One of the primary focuses at present is to improve the experience for children when they reach eighteen and move on from here to adult services A centrally devised training program provides staff with the opportunity to expand and review their learning. Where the need arises, staff access additional training specific to individual children’s needs. Staff underpin their practice with a solid learning base and apply their theoretical understanding to the care they deliver.

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Good

Manager’s promote multi agency working and build strong links with families to inform individual introductions to the home. A progressive introduction ensures the setting is appropriate to meet children’s additional needs. On-going reviews of care are at the forefront of practice here. A comprehensive approach to managing and reviewing care leads to early identification of issues and joined up responses. As a result, children are afforded appropriate levels of protection from the destabilising impact of unsuitable and uncoordinated care. Recently, with parental consent staff began to film children in the home, these mini films are shown at review meetings to share children’s experiences with professionals. A parent said: ‘They keep us informed, they are flexible, they keep up to date with everything that is happening, the most important thing is they listen, they understand and they want the best for

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Good

Staff and managers engage in regular informal supervision, however, managers do not currently deliver or receive formal supervision in line with the home’s policies and guidance. The frequency and variable quality of supervision means that managers are not able to fully explore and develop staff practice and review the care that staff deliver.

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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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