Children's Home run by Castle Homes Limited in Bromley

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:

 Young people live a friendly nurturing environment where they receive good care and support. They are highly valued by staff who have created a warm family atmosphere.  Young people have made good progress since their admission to the home. In particular, engaging in education, increasing their confidence and self-esteem and decreasing challenging behaviour.  Relationships are a positive strength. Young people speak well of the staff. They report that staff care and support them to progress in all aspects of their development.  Highest priority given to young people’s safety means staff identify potential safeguarding concerns and take robust action to keep young people safe.  Staff provide an environment where young people can express themselves on all aspects of their care and personal development.  Clear risk assessments and behaviour management plans help young people understand and manage their behaviours and anxieties in a safe

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The children's home provision is good because:

environment. Regular reviews of plans ensure there continuing effectiveness.  The manager is child focused, proactive and prioritises the needs of young people. She is a good leader, focused on driving improvement to ensure young people have effective individual care and support.  The management team work positively with placing authorities and relevant professionals, to enable young people to have a holistic care package in line with individual plans.  This inspection identified some shortfalls and areas for improvements. These are in relation to risk assessments shortfalls and planning of young people’s activities. These matters are not currently having an impact on the safety and well-being of young people.

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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:

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Requirement Due date

2 In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular reference to the matching process for admitting new young people into the home to, the registered person must ensure-

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Requirement Due date

(a) that staff- (i) assess whether each child is at risk of harm taking into account information in the child's relevant plans, and if necessary, make arrangements to reduce risk of any harm to the child. This is with particular regard to pre-admission risk assessments. 29/01/2016

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Requirement Due date

12. The protection of children standard:

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Requirement Due date

(2) In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular reference to the suitability of premises the registered person must ensure-

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Requirement Due date

(c) that the premises used for the purpose of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded. This is with particular regard to the identification of any risks and strategies for managing these. 29/01/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation:  Ensure that children are given opportunities to develop themselves in accordance with their wishes and feelings. Selection of activities should be individualised and based on their personal preferences, talents and abilities, so far as is reasonable. Staff should also support children to try activities that are 'new' for them, where appropriate. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 31, paragraph, 6.4)

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to four children and young people who may be experiencing emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home has a registered school on site which is available to children and young people not attending an external school or alternative education provision.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

11/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Young people live in a warm and nurturing family environment. Maintenance is to a high standard and the home has personal touches throughout with photographs of those who live there. Young people help staff choose the décor for the home and their bedrooms are highly personalised. A young person says, ‘This is just like any other home and l love my room. Even when I visit my family l cannot wait to return home.’

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Good

A focused, competent and enthusiastic staff team, who have good knowledge of the young people’s vulnerabilities and needs, care for them. Young people enjoy good relationships and interact positively with the staff and managers, who are warm and supportive of them. They feel valued because they are encouraged to express their views, feeling and wishes. They feel listened to because key workers and staff make time to talk to them about their interests, concerns and future plans. A young person comments, ‘My key worker never stops trying to make it better for me, even when l want to give up.’

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Good

Young people views and participation are integral in the running of the home and staff provide them with many opportunities to have their say. For example, mealtimes are social occasions when everyone can talk about what they have done, what they want to do and what they think. Regular house meetings provide an open forum for discussion on a range of issues such as drug abuse, keeping safe, social issues and child sexual abuse. Meetings review achievements, give praise and plan for the week ahead.

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Good

Staff value education and training and have high aspirations for their young people. They maintain effective links with education staff and continue to support individual learning needs in the home. As a result, school attendance is 100%. Staff work with community colleges to ensure continuing education. For example, young people access apprenticeships combining functional English and maths. For some young people, this is considerable progress following periods out of mandatory education.

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Good

Young people are encouraged and supported to eat healthily and in line with their individual preferences. They are encouraged to look after their health needs with support. Some young people engage with therapists and counselling groups to support their emotional and psychological needs. The involvement of staff with these professionals ensures that staff who understand their specific needs care for young people. Staff know the young people in their care. They understand how their experiences contribute to their often-complex needs and adopt appropriate responses to manage these effectively. Staff consult with young people, parents and placing authorities to gather detailed information. They use this knowledge to devise individual care plans, risk management procedures and behaviour management plans. These give clarity to staff on how to support young people and reflect positive staff practice. There is good monitoring and reviews of plans with

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Good

professional, parents and young people encouraged to be part of the process.

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Good

Staff provide effective and clear structures for young people. These are meaningful as staff have good knowledge of individual personalities and preferences. This knowledge is key for the management of behaviour and to promote a positive and respectful culture of care. As a result, young people listen to staff and make positive choices leading to increased progress in other areas of their lives. A social worker comments, ‘X’s relationship with the staff has led to better communication with me, where she will now express her wishes and feelings. She responds well to consistent structures and l can see positive change and progress in her.’

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Good

Young people are encouraged to be involved in a range of leisure opportunities, such as horse riding and yoga. However, activities do not always reflect individual talents, interests and preferences, leading to a lack of interest in some planned activities.

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Good

Staff promote and facilitate young people’s engagement to maintain positive relationships. They support regular contact with families and significant others. A parent comments, ‘They are very good and work well with me to support communication and contact with my daughter. Staff make regular contact with me and have fully supported her to travel abroad to visit with me. I am pleased with the home and the care my daughter receives.’

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Good

Young people make progress in developing independent skills, menu planning, food preparation and domestic and self-care skills. They continue to develop these skills in line with their age and ability. This results in them taking more responsibility for themselves, resulting in increased confidence.

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Good

Young people’s safety is central to staff practice and the staff team take their responsibility seriously. Staff that are skilled in identifying young people’s risks and vulnerabilities consistently implement good safeguarding procedures. They support young people to understand the consequences of risk taking behaviour and actively encourage them to engage in positive activities designed to discourage negative influences.

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Good

The quality of the relationship between staff and young people is positive and reinforces the caring and nurturing atmosphere throughout the home. As a result, young people are making better choices about keeping themselves safe and managing their free time positively. This is evident in the reduction in risk taking behaviour such as drug use and going missing. For some young people missing episodes have ceased. A parent comments, ‘I know my daughter is happy and safe in the home. She may not say this, but it is evident through the decrease in her being absent and more importantly she has not been missing for a long time now.’ Effective protocols in place with the police ensures a prompt response should a young person go missing.

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Good

Detailed individual risk assessments and behaviour management plans support and assist young people to better understand and manage their behaviour and anxieties in a safe environment. Effective reviews of strategies ensure these remain current, taking into account the views and experiences of young people. Staff spend time with young people and fully involve them in setting their own goals, targets and rewards for achievement. As a result challenging behaviour significantly decreases. Young people take increased responsibility for their behaviour, reducing the use of sanctions or physical intervention. This supports young people to develop self-esteem, confidence and respect for others.

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Good

Good safer recruitment practices mean that only appropriate staff provide care for the young people. The young people are involved in the recruitment process with suggestions of questions they would like potential staff to answer. Their meaningful involvement enhances the process.

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Good

A robust induction ensures staff receive effective safeguarding training. Individual staff training profiles ensure training has a high priority and is reflective of current social concerns for young people.

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Good

Comprehensive health, safety, and fire safety reviews has resulted in improved risk assessments and fire safety plans and practices. Young people are involved in learning about these topics. This results in helping them to understand and respect the safer protocol and for some a decrease in smoking.

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Good

The home is located in a relatively safe area as reflected in the location risk assessment. However, the risk assessment fails to identify any potential risks or opportunities and strategies for managing these.

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Good

Prompt notifications to Ofsted and external agencies demonstrates management transparency should there be any concerns for safeguarding or young people’s welfare.

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Good

The Registered Manager has been in post since 2009 and holds the level 4 management award. She is a highly motivated and effective leader who has good oversight of all aspects of the home. She is passionate about delivering high quality care and supporting young people to achieve positive outcomes which will enhance their life opportunities. The nurturing, warm and respectful interaction between young people and staff is evident. This is because there are clear policies and procedures, effective organisation of staff and consistent implementation of behaviour and safeguarding strategies.

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Good

Regular meetings between young people and the Registered Manager on a one-to- one basis demonstrate the value she places on their views and opinions. Young people attend and contribute to the organisation’s regional quarterly forum meetings with senior managers.

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Good

A dedicated, experienced and well-established staff team work hard with the manager to provide young people with a high standard of care and support. Staff receive effective and regular supervision focused on professional development and progress for young people. Staff complete mandatory training in line with the organisation’s requirements. Regular team meetings are the forum to share best practice and develop strategies to meet the needs of young people. Staff speak positively of the leadership of the home and the support offered to them.

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Good

The manager uses her excellent knowledge of the young people in the home to inform her planning for the admission of new residents. However, the home has no systematic pre-admissions risk assessment tool in place to analyse and measure the impact on existing residents as well as the home’s ability to meet the assessed needs of new referrals. This can result in the home lacking vital information on their ability to meet assessed needs.

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Good

The statement of purpose describes in detail the ethos of the home and its aims and objectives. A children’s guide to the service sets out what young people can expect and the support provided to them. Child focused practice embedded in the ethos of the home has resulted in young people achieving positive outcomes in many aspects of their lives.

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Good

Care planning is of a good standard and designed to meet the individual needs of each young person. The manager regularly monitors and reviews young people’s progress through their ‘progress and achievement’ tracker as a means of identifying any emerging patterns or trends. She takes action to address any areas of concern to ensure positive outcomes. Staff liaise with external agencies in accordance with the young people’s needs. Professionals comment positively on the communication and professionalism of the staff team.

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Good

External monitoring of the home is robust and highlights areas for improvement. The manager uses this together with the organisation’s internal monitoring systems to identify areas for development and improvement.

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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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