Children's Home run by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council in Dudley

Outstanding

The children's home provides highly effective services that consistently exceeds the standards of good. The actions of the home contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Children consistently develop while at the home, receiving an exceptionally high level of care from a diligent and enthusiastic staff team.  Children’s health improves due to a tremendous commitment to regular appointments across a range of health services and effective staff support from dedicated psychological services.  Children understand that education is important and respond well to the high expectations of staff. Strong links are in place between schools and the home, ensuring that both parties work in unison, developing positive outcomes for children.  Children are fully involved with consultation relating to their care. Staff’s promotion of key-working, young people’s meetings, and reviews ensure that the child’s voice is central to their time at the home.  Staff have an excellent awareness of how to safeguard children. Behaviour management systems are extremely effective, with all children being aware of expected behaviours and staff promoting these well.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Strong management of the home supports consistent care practices. Staff work exceptionally well together and with a wide range of external professionals to develop positive outcome for all children.  Developments in location and six monthly assessments are necessary as well as minor additions to the children’s guide. These do not affect the high quality of care provided.  The registered manager proactively uses research in enhance staff practice.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  ensure that the manager reviews the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home's location and strategies for managing these (The Guide to the Quality Standards page 64 paragraph 15.1)

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Recommendations

 ensure that the children's guide includes how to contact the Office of the Children's Commissioner (The Guide to the Quality Standards page 24 paragraph 4.22)

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Recommendations

 ensure that every six months the registered manager undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children (The Guide to the Quality Standards page 64 paragraph 15.2)

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Information about this children's home

This home is one of five local authority homes. It is registered for up to four young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties and is situated within an urban area.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

24/03/2015 CH - Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

19/03/2014 CH - Interim Satisfactory progress

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outstanding

Children enjoy consistent positive experiences and as a result make outstanding development. The relationships between children and staff are of an exceptionally high standard. Children enjoy being at the home and highlight that they have progressed while there. One child stated; ‘It’s the kind of place where you don’t really realise that you’re doing well because you’re having fun just getting on with stuff.’ A social worker adds, ‘I think that the staff have worked wonders throughout the time (the child) has been there.’

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outstanding

Children thoroughly enjoy regular activities within the local community, being involved with uniformed organisations and local youth clubs. Thoughtful consideration is given to the needs of children with the promotion of activities, ensuring they have necessary equipment and developing their self-esteem and improving their health. All discuss with enthusiasm day trips out, trips to the circus and meals out, developing their experiences and giving them positive memories of the staff team and their peers at the home. The home is very well resourced with games and outdoor activities that are constantly promoted within the large garden.

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outstanding

Contact arrangements between children and their families are set out from the point of their admission and consistently promoted. Staff work exceptionally well with parents, sharing information and giving guidance relating to relationship building. One parent, when discussing contact stated; ‘I don’t know what I would have done without the staff helping me with really getting to know my son.’

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outstanding

A healthy lifestyle and regular health appointments help to ensure that children’s mental and physical health needs are responded to. Staff have challenged health services and supported children, decreasing their use of medication and also helping others decrease incidents of anxiety linked nosebleeds. Both of these interventions have a positive effect on the lifestyles of the children involved. Strong links are in place with the local child and adolescent mental health team and additional support is given to the home through a psychologist who meets with both children and the staff team. A staff member states that this gives a ‘great chance to bounce ideas off an expert to try to improve the way we work.’

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outstanding

Children’s education is of a high priority and their successes are celebrated through rewards and a new notice board to display certificates. Children attend on a regular basis, and make improvements in their abilities. They are proud to highlight their achievements and discuss how they have improved. Staff work closely with schools, with one head of year stating; ‘ Communication between the home and school is great…I feel as though we work well as a team to make sure that they get the best out of their school experience.’ Staff attend parents evenings, attend school plays, and during the inspection were taking a child to their Christmas fair. This creates excellent links with schools and highlights the importance of education to the children. Staff promote homework and were observed helping a child to rewrite homework from paper with the local authority letter heading, to decrease possible stigmatisation at school.

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outstanding

The home is an extremely pleasant and homely environment and decorated to a high standard. Children are fully supported with the personalisation of their rooms, with key workers working with children to get posters, rugs, and bedding that they prefer. Repairs to the upstairs corridor have decreased concerns relating to cracks and a newly refurbished bathroom area gives children a choice of rooms to use. Additional office space, two lounges and a large dining room gives space for meetings or contact to be completed that does not impact on other’s lives in the home.

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outstanding

Children are consistently consulted about a wide range of areas relating to their care and their lives at the home. Placement planning is highly individualised and children have an input into the review process. Key work sessions are completed regularly, with detailed minutes showing that staff have an excellent awareness of the needs of the child and how to respond to these. Young people meet as a group to discuss issues relating to the home, including planning for trips, sharing thoughts about previous activities and meals. The Registered Manager, highlighting their strong involvement in the lives of the children by responds to all minutes.

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outstanding

Arrangements for the admission of children into the home are strong. The Registered Manager’s influence over admissions includes the examination of the needs of both those in placement as well as those coming into the home. This results in a stable environment, helping to support all children, while not shying away from those displaying challenging behaviours.

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outstanding

Robust measures are in place to ensure that children are safe at the home. Regular health and safety checks are completed and all children state that they think that the staff keep them safe; ‘I feel safe because they are always trying to make sure you are doing the right thing and make sure you are not going to get into trouble.’ Staff manage risk very well. Risks and vulnerabilities are identified clearly at the point of admission allowing the home to develop clear risk management plans. Staff adhere fully to these plans. Consequently, children become significantly safer following admission to the home.

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outstanding

Staff have an excellent understanding of the homes’ safeguarding policy and procedures. This means that they know what to do if they are worried that a child has experienced abuse, or is at risk of harm. The home’s management have completed additional safeguarding training and share this information within the staff team to ensure that there is a consistent approach to child protection concerns. No incidents relating to safeguarding have been raised at the home since the last inspection.

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outstanding

No children have been missing since the last inspection. Procedures for such an event are in place including links with the local authority missing person’s team and police. Staff are diligent with supervision of children throughout times when they are out on activities or contact, helping decrease concerns of missing behaviours. An alarm system is in place throughout the home to increase staff’s awareness of the movement of young people although this does not affect their privacy. One child stated that they liked the alarm; ‘it makes me feel safe to know that no one else could come into my room without the staff knowing about it.’

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outstanding

Very positive behaviour management strategies ensure that children behave well consistently. Behaviour management is a key strength of the home. Staff are highly effective because compassion and understanding is combined with high expectations and aspirations of children’s behaviours. Effective use is made of sanctions and restraint, both of which are only used when necessary, promoting an awareness of the feelings of others in the home, including the staff team. Reflective discussions with children follow all restraints, examining how they could have behaved differently to decrease the need to be held.

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outstanding

Staff respond to conflict between children well, discussing issues within key work meetings and also completing meetings with all parties to raise awareness of differing children’s views and feelings. These are well recorded, showing staff’s ability to empathise with the children as well as giving structured messages relating to expected behaviours.

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outstanding

Staff recruitment records assessed at a previous inspection were found to safeguard children well. No new staff have started at the home since the last inspection highlighting the consistent nature of staffing and care that children experience. Judgement grade

p.8

good

The Registered Manager provides strong leadership. She is dynamic and has a wealth of experience in delivering high quality service to children over the nine years she has been the home’s manager. She is suitably qualified to undertake her role and is in the process of completing her social work degree. The senior management team, who are highly effective in their roles, further strengthen the standard of the home’s leadership.

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good

Monitoring systems are completed well on a monthly basis and the independent visitor gives a good assessment of the home on their visits. Recommendations following from these visits are few and responded to quickly when arise, highlighting the home’s commitment to improvement. The six monthly summary is basic however, and does not fully examine the strengths and weaknesses of the home and how these are being responded to. The home’s location assessment is similarly basic and does not give a clear picture of the risks associated with the home and nearby activities or places children would be involved with. This may affect their well-being.

p.9

good

Four requirements and two recommendations were made at the last inspection, these have been met. A safeguarding policy is clearly available for staff and there is a clarity of the necessary recording systems should such an incident occur. Leisure activities have increased and there is a clear system in place for sending notifications to Ofsted. Restraints are appropriately used and there has been an improvement in monitoring systems.

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good

Senior staff effectively challenge poor practice. One social worker stated, ‘the manager always fights her corner and you have to listen to her view.’ The manager does not allow inappropriate placements at the home. Where possible concerning practice was suspected within one of the children’s schools the manager was observed ensuring that investigations into an event were completed. This diligence helps to support children’s welfare consistently.

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good

The home works well with a wide range of other agencies, including health, police and other social work professionals. Social workers state that communication with them is strong; ’review information is always well prepared and the staff team really know what they are doing. I couldn’t fault them with their record keeping.’

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good

The senior team has a strong awareness of the needs of the children and can discuss how they have developed during their time at the home. The manager and keyworkers are fully involved with care planning and reviews, ensuring that they fully understand children’s progress. Placement plans are based on local authority care planning documentation, ensuring that the home works in line with its statement of purpose. All children are placed from within the local area, so there are no concerns regarding children being far from their families or placing social workers.

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good

The statement of purpose is good, clearly showing it’s role and how the staff team work with the children. Two children’s guides are available, to respond to differing levels of ability, describing the home and some basic rules. Neither of these has information regarding the children’s commissioner.

p.10

good

No complaints have been made at the home since the last inspection either from the children or from external parties. Systems are in place to respond to these should they occur and discussions relating to if children have any concerns are held regularly, helping to support their well-being.

p.10

good

The home is well staffed with enthusiastic staff members, being positive about working at the home and making a difference to the outcomes of children. They feel well supported by the management team. Regular supervisions and annual appraisals help to both support and develop staff, improving their skills and allowing them to be reflective about their working practice. Staff complete mandatory training and some additional courses are completed by pertinent staff, such as safer recruitment and anti-bullying. Staff meetings effectively promote the development of children and the improvement of their welfare. Minutes show constructive discussions regarding the home and practices being brought in, as well as planning for future activities and providing some training opportunities.

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good

The home uses research well to develop their practice. Information is available within the home relating to social pedagogy and the manager is able to discuss differing theoretical models that they have considered with the development of the home.

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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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