Children's Home run by Unity Residential Care Services Limited in Stoke-on-Trent

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.

p.2

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people, including those with complex needs, make exceptional progress from their starting point across all areas of their development.  Staff provide outstanding nurturing care which results in sustained progress for young people.  Young people benefit from being cared for by a dedicated staff team who provide consistent boundaries and stability.  The registered manager is inspirational and ambitious for young people, ensuring their outcomes exceed expectations.  Staff spend quality time with young people listening to them. Consequently, they understand them well and are able to respond swiftly to their needs and wishes.  The registered manager and staff are proactive at developing professional relationships resulting in the best possible experiences for young people.  The registered manager and staff are committed to using training and research to improve the quality of care provided to young people.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people feel safe. They become increasingly safe as they develop insight and new strategies to manage their behaviour.  Staff work proactively with the police ensuring a well-coordinated response when young people are missing.  There is one shortfall which relates to the way the company records how young people return from missing. The registered manager had identified this and is in the process of resolving this within her organisation.

p.3

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.

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records for each child which: (a) include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to a child:

p.4

Requirement Due date

(c) are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)) 15/02/2016

p.4

Information about this children's home

The home is registered to provide care for two children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home forms part of a large social care company.

p.5

Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

Recent inspection history

26/03/2015 CH - Interim Improved effectiveness

p.5

Recent inspection history

03/03/2014 CH - Interim Satisfactory Progress

p.5

outstanding

Staff invest considerable time and energy in developing strong and positive relationships with young people. Young people feel a sense of security and permanence. One young person said: ‘….it feels like a little family. The staff spend time with you and don’t just sit in the office.’ Staff have a detailed knowledge of young people’s lives and consequently are able to create highly individualised risk assessments and plans. Young people are confident to talk to staff about what is difficult. They know how to complain and are happy with the outcome and often see immediate changes. Staff ensure all young people have access to services including advocacy, so that all possible avenues for promoting young people’s wishes are explored.

p.6

outstanding

Young people attend education and make exceptional progress. For example, one young person’s attendance has increased from 30%, prior to admission to the home, to 100% within the first term. Staff are proactive in engaging with virtual school head teachers, and schools directly, to ensure that young people are provided with educational placements swiftly following their admission to the home. Staff support young people’s learning in the home, including those whose first language is not English, to maximise their progress. Staff are ambitious for young people. They are creative in engaging young people in learning and consistently work with schools, colleges and interpreters to enhance young people’s opportunities and outcomes. Staff are robust in their challenges to schools and placing authorities to ensure that young people receive appropriate educational assessments to access additional support.

p.6

outstanding

Staff are skilled in encouraging young people to engage in a wide range of activities in the local community including faith-based activities. Staff support young people’s friendships by welcoming their friends into the home. They make good use of their delegated authority to take young people on trips and holidays. Staff are committed to promoting young people’s identities and go to great lengths to ensure young people are able to see their families. Staff are especially sensitive to the needs of young people who are placed a long way from home promoting their identity through face-to-face contact and Skype.

p.6

outstanding

Staff support young people to access services to improve their emotional and physical health. Staff are proactive in ensuring young people’s health needs are met. They recognise their needs and think outside the box to access specialist services quickly when there is a delay in the provision of children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Their detailed local knowledge means that they are able to swiftly identify the best service to improve young people’s outcomes. As a result, young people make exceptional progress in developing skills and strategies to manage their own difficult feelings. For example, one young person told me:’…staff have helped me come on in leaps and bounds. I used to smash everything up but I have learnt to calm down and count to ten. It works!’ Young people develop the practical skills and emotional resilience to move onto independences. Young people become self-confident and learn to budget, cook

p.6

outstanding

fresh food from scratch and take on part-time work. Young people recognise the impact that the staff have on their progress. One young person said: ‘Without the staff I wouldn’t have done any of it.’ Staff are highly trained and experienced. They seek out additional training which improves their understanding of young people’ needs. They make good use of their training and research to improve the outcomes for young people. For example, some staff have completed attachment training. Then adding this knowledge to evidence based research and then disseminate within the team to inform practice. This drives forward the quality of care provided. Staff welcome young people into the home with careful and considered planning. They are highly skilled at recognising the individual needs of young people as they join the home and put considerable effort into sourcing the services which will assist them to settle. For example, identifying the need for a specific interpreter

p.7

outstanding

who was not prejudiced against a young person’s faith. As a result, young people settle quickly. One young person said:’…staff make you feel proper welcome.’ Stakeholders value staff supporting young people to understand why they are in care which significantly improves young people’s ability to engage with staff. A social worker said:’…I was really impressed with how the admission was managed and the staff’s ability to work effectively with the family. They have formed positive relationships with my young person and have helped him understand why he is in care, which has been challenging.’

p.7

good

Young people live in a safe environment and feel safe. Young people feel protected by staff and seek them out appropriately for support in managing risk taking behaviours. For example, young people are able to talk about wanting to self- harm. Staff respond robustly and effectively to ensure young people safe. A social worker said: ‘….staff managed this situation really well. They insisted on speaking to someone immediately to increase staffing levels.’ Young people feel safe. One young person said: ‘This is the only care home I have felt safe in.’

p.7

good

Young people become increasingly safe. Staff understand the risks associated with drug misuse and support young people to engage with specialist services. The outcomes for young people are exceptional with young people completely disengaging from drug misuse. A young person said: ‘…I used to smoke cannabis so staff got T3 in. I stopped with support. Without the staff I wouldn’t have done it.’

p.8

good

Staff provide consistent nurturing care which results in strong positive relationships with young people. They are highly skilled in de-escalation techniques and as a result young people are restrained infrequently. When there are incidents it is appropriately reviewed by the registered manager and reflected on with the young person. Young people develop insight into their behaviour and the frequency of physical intervention reduces and ceases.

p.8

good

Staff understand the procedures for dealing with child protection concerns and allegations. They have developed excellent relationships with the local police and they are involved in training with the staff as well as developing positive relationships with young people. This ensures that young people are not unnecessarily criminalised and staff work in partnership with the police to use restorative justice.

p.8

good

Staff’s positive relationship with the police means there is a well-coordinated response when young people are missing. They work effectively in partnership to understand the risks to young people. Staff ensure that the requirements for safe and well checks and return interviews are always undertaken to maximise their understanding of young people’s behaviour. The recording of what action the staff take to find young people and how they return is not well organised. The registered manager has identified this and action is being taken to rectify this at an organisational level.

p.8

outstanding

The home is managed by a suitably qualified and experienced registered manager who has been in post for five years. She holds the level four National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in leadership and management. She is aspirational and continues to develop her skills through sourcing additional training and research which will improve her development, and the staff team’s, and hence the quality of care provided. The home is conducted in line with the statement of purpose to provide ‘…a high level of nurturing care.’ The registered manager ensures that she maintains a stable and consistent staff team who share her vision of excellence and work together effectively to deliver exceptionally high quality care to young people.

p.8

outstanding

The registered manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. She undertakes regular monitoring and is able to robustly respond to any identified shortfalls to continually improve the experiences of young people. The registered manager influences decisions about young people appropriately through having a thorough understanding of the young people’s needs and plans. This results in outstanding outcomes for young people. A social worker said: ’Due to the dedication of the staff and fantastic leadership we were lucky enough to witness an amazing turnaround in this young person’s presentation. Eventually he moved into a foster placement for a few months and is now living independently.’

p.9

outstanding

The registered manager and staff have developed exceptionally positive relationships with professional stakeholders including the police, schools, colleges, youth offending services, mental health services, substance misuse services and sexual exploitation services. The registered manager is proactive in challenging her partner agencies when young people do not receive the support they need. Placing authorities, and families themselves, value the excellent rapport that the manager and staff develop with families. One parent said: ‘The staff are brilliant. They keep me in the loop and are always welcoming.’ Consequently, through working in partnership, staff are able to secure the best possible outcomes for young people.

p.9

outstanding

The registered manager encourages involvement in the local community and young people have improved self-confidence as a result of engaging with charitable events. For example, young people took part in a 50 mile bike ride to raise money for a local children’s ward.

p.9

outstanding

The registered manager ensures that staff are safely recruited. She is passionate about their development and has good succession plans in place. Staff training and development is effective with all staff actively engaged in their learning through the use of training and research. As a result, young people benefit from being cared for by a highly skilled consistent and stable staff team.

p.9

outstanding

The registered manage always places young people at the centre of her practice. She ensures that young people are actively involved in their case records. This supports their understanding of their situation and plans and enables them to contribute more effectively.

p.9

outstanding

The registered manager prioritises the safety and stability of the existing young people when considering new admissions with a thorough matching process. Her exceptional individual knowledge of young people and their needs and wishes makes this process successful. The registered manager and the staff team support young people practically and emotionally to ensure good transitions. They continue to offer support to young people who have moved on providing them with a permanent base and security; this contributes to young people sustaining their progress into adult life.

p.9

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.

p.11

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

p.11

What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

p.11

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

p.12

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 .

p.12

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,

p.13

Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.13

Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.13

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

p.13