Children's Home run by South Tyneside Council in South Tyneside

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 manager is skilled and experienced and leads a strong and committed staff team. The manager and staff team have created a positive culture in the home based on respect for the young people. The staff team rarely employ sanctions but rely on negotiation, praise and incentives. The staff team show persistence and tenacity in their work with the young people.  The home works with young people who are 16 – 18 years old. The home is divided into two parts so that young people have some progression to independence. In the first stage of the home young people have the opportunity to practice life skills and once they have proved themselves they are able to progress to the second stage where they are able to live in semi- independent accommodation before moving to full independence. This arrangement works very well.  Young people are treated like young adults. They are given support but are expected to increasingly start making their own arrangements. Young

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The children's home provision is good because:

people have the opportunity to make mistakes and have other chances. Young people are well supported to make the transition to adult life.  Relationships between the young people and the staff are good. The home is a warm and comfortable place to live and the young people have a good opportunity to take a full part in the day to day running of the home.  Young people are able to access a wide range of services, resources and external professionals to support them as they move to adulthood. The staff team are skilled and practiced at helping young people access these and encourage them to do so.  Young people are able to have continued support once they leave and move on to independent living. Often young people move on to live back with their family in some way and they are fully supported with these appropriate arrangements before, during and after their move.  Young people are encouraged and supported to take up further education,

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The children's home provision is good because:

training and employment options. They are also supported to take up leisure and recreational interests. This involvement with the local community helps young people feel part of their community.

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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

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard with particular reference to ensuring that key work is carried out with young people to reduce missing from home and taking illegal drugs the registered person must ensure that staff: (2)(a)(vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare. 03/02/2016

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Requirement Due date

34: Policies for the protection of children The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ('the missing child policy') setting out- (a) the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission. (Regulation 34 (4)) In particular this relates to ensuring independent return from missing interviews are carried out and reporting procedures are clear. 03/02/2016

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Information about this children's home

The home is run by a local authority and is registered for the care and accommodation of up to nine children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties (EBD)

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

19/03/2015 CH - Interim improved effectiveness

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good

The home provides care for older young people between the ages of sixteen and eighteen and supports them to move on to independent living and their adult lives.

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good

The home does operate according to the statement of purpose. It provides two stages of accommodation in two different parts of the building. Stage one is a more traditional children’s home with shared facilities and high levels of staff support and stage two is a more independent living situation with a range of bedsits and flats where staff support is often a little less. Young people can progress from stage one to two as is appropriate.

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good

The manager is experienced and skilled and has built a team of dedicated and experienced staff who have stayed together for a long time. This means that the staff team are very focussed on the task of moving young people on to adult life, and that they have developed strong work practices which give the young people consistency and familiarity.

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good

The staff have developed a way of working based on respect, being positive and sticking with young people as they get used to living more independently. Staff are clearly tenacious and persistent and go out of their way to support young people through this often difficult time of their lives.

p.6

good

The young people do have very good relationships with the staff. A number commented positively on this including one young person who said the manager was ‘brilliant’. Other young people talking about the home said they ‘loved it’ and ‘really liked it’. One young person said staff ‘have really helped me put things in perspective’. The home has a warm, friendly atmosphere and staff engage well with the young people with plenty of fun and laughter as well as offering more serious times when appropriate. The atmosphere of the home is perhaps summed up by the notices on the manager’s office door. A young person has painted a colourful ‘Boss’ sign and the manager has put bought and put up a sign saying ‘Howay in’. (North Eastern vernacular for come on in).

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good

The young people in this home do make good progress. Most young people arrive during their last year of school or when they have just left school. They are supported to continue their education and to start to start further training or the search for work. Some young people have done really well at GCSE level and one young person had outstanding results that were much better than expected. Others have made the move on to college really well. Young people at the home are studying a number of different options at college, including retail, health and social care and art and design. Some young people have continued to struggle with their education but have found work. One young person returned to the home during the inspection and was proud to have gained a second job in retail. They now have two part time jobs and a college course to attend which is excellent. Other young people also have part time jobs as well as full time college placements

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good

Most young people are making good progress in gaining the skills they are going to need for independent living and adult life. The young people in stage two cook and shop for themselves and learn the skills necessary to access important services resources and activities. Young people often have the opportunity for a second chance if their moves to independence do not work out. One young person has moved out to live with a close family member and their bed has been kept open for several months as a backup plan. This arrangement has worked very well for all concerned.

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good

The staff have contact with a wide range of other professionals who are able to offer a service to the young people. One young person who visits a drugs counsellor regularly is making significant progress in reducing and controlling his mis-use of substances. Another young person who was in a difficult relationship has been accessing counselling around relationships and is now much more confident and much more able to keep themselves safe. Other young people access mental health services on a regular basis. The home has a good relationship with a local community police officer who not only visits regularly but who has very strong relationships with a number of the young people. This is invaluable in terms of helping young people keep themselves safe and is joint working at its best.

p.7

good

Much of the work at the home is about moving on to independence and young people are supported well before, during and after their moves. Staff are used working with families to support moves home or to improve contact and this work makes a big difference to the lives of the young people who often move in with family members or want to re-establish better family relationships.

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good

The young people are actively involved in the running of the home, they get to choose many of the day to day arrangements and also have a big say in what happens at the home. The games room has recently been developed with them and there is a small outdoor gym being developed with them as well. The young people are also very much involved in planning for their independence and are supported and guided well in this by staff. Young people have helped with the Christmas decorations which are lovely.

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good

The home does also offer emergency placements. While it is difficult to judge the outcomes here very accurately the service has not had an adverse effect on the more settled young people at the home. Judgement grade

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requires improvement

The home have been able to keep most of the young people safe most of the time, but there are aspects of safeguarding which require improvement.

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requires improvement

The home offers a service to older young people who are approaching independence and who are going to experiment more with going out and with some risky behaviours.

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requires improvement

A number of the young people have been reported missing from home on a number of occasions. Mostly these are young people coming home late after being out with friends. Some young people have been recorded as absent without permission on a high number of occasions. Both these figures are a little misleading as the missing from home policy is unhelpful and inflexible. A requirement has been made to address this policy issue. However a number of young people have been missing in more concerning circumstances and some missing from home is linked with young people engaging in risky behaviours such as drug taking and drinking alcohol.

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requires improvement

While staff do follow procedures when this happens, a requirement has been made to do more to prevent young people missing from home and more to encourage a reduction in risky behaviour. Missing from home interviews have not happened regularly and this means that an opportunity for young people to talk about the situations is sometimes missed. Some key work sessions are conducted around these issues but more could be done. Also while some efforts are made to help young people engage in healthy activities which might help them reduce their risky behaviours, more could be done.

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requires improvement

Some young people have clearly reduced their missing from home episodes when they have been admitted to this home so that generally the risks are reducing. Staff do understand risks well and do put strategies in place to minimise these risks. Several young people have safety plans in place which contain clear expectations that they will contact staff at agreed intervals through the day or that staff will contact them at agreed intervals. This works well.

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requires improvement

Staff manage challenging behaviour well. The staff team have a clear ethos of keeping things positive. They rarely use physical interventions and almost never use sanctions. They do have a system in place where young people agree to reparations. This is usually to help repair and damage or to contribute towards costs. This is a voluntary scheme and staff say that young people do agree to this, even if it takes a little time. This is a good example of staff being persistent but keeping things positive. Staff clearly offer firm clear boundaries to behaviour and there is a culture in the home of young people challenging peers when some of them behave inappropriately. Young people are also offered a wide range of incentives to achieve results or improved behaviour and this also works well and adds to the ethos of keeping things positive.

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requires improvement

Young people are safe in the home and clearly say they feel safe in the home. However some young people continue to engage in some risky behaviours outside the home and do not keep themselves safe. Staff can do to more to help this situation.

p.9

requires improvement

The home is well maintained and there are no health and safety hazards. Fire checks and precautions are completed on time.

p.9

good

The management of this home has been strong and improving this year. The Registered Manager is experienced and skilled and remains very committed to the young people. The deputy manager is also strong, experienced and committed to the work. Over the past few weeks the Registered Manager has been seconded to manage another home within the authority on a temporary basis and the deputy manager is now acting as manager although the registered manager continues to spend a day a week supporting this home. These arrangements are appropriate in the short term.

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good

Both the Registered Manager and the deputy manager are appropriately qualified. The manager does give the young people a high priority and does ensure that their needs are met well. His monitoring of the care is good, there are good systems in place for recording and care work is planned and carried out well. There is clear evidence that the young people make good progress and that their experience of living in the home is good.

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good

The manager has developed a strong and positive ethos in the home which is supported by a committed staff team. This emphasis on keeping things positive is excellent. It means that young people are treated with respect and that they feel they are being treated like adults. This approach clearly minimises the need for sanctions.

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good

The manager has put in place extensive incentives to encourage young people. There are also very clear, firm boundaries and expectations in place and the young people respond to these most of the time. The manager and staff team provide a very good service which is aimed at helping older young people move to independent living situations and they do this well because they understand the importance of education, training and work and encourage young people to participate in this well. The staff team have also developed well practiced families… Staff say they are well supported by a manager who places a high priority on good quality supervision and this is regular and effective. The training programme is comprehensive and staff have a wide range of core and specialist training to access.

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good

External professionals and parents also commented that staff do a good job and that they work well with the young people.

p.10

good

The manager continues to develop the work of the home and does recognise the strengths and weaknesses of the home. He is able to challenge others well and has done this on a number of recent occasions. This includes asking for the missing from home policy to be amended and updated.

p.10

good

There was one requirement and one recommendation from the previous inspection. A requirement to use the visitors book appropriately has been met and the recommendation to more fully complete the internal monitoring has also been dealt with satisfactorily. Two requirements have been made at this inspection one to amend and update the missing from care policy and one to do more work to prevent young people from going missing and engaging in risky behaviours. This includes ensuring that all return from missing interviews are carried out.

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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.

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Information about this inspection

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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