Children's Home run by Frances House Ltd in Lancashire

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:

 Excellent relationships are developed between young people and individual team members; these relationships are built on shared experiences, trust and consistency. As a result, young people feel valued and well supported living at the home.  Young people comment on the commitment of the staff team to help them build and sustain positive relationships with family members and people who are important to them.  Young people are very well supported to build the life skills they need for living independently in the community.  Young people recognise the positive impact the home has had on their lives, they say they are safe and well cared for by the staff team. They individually recognise the progress they have made to reduce their risk taking behaviour and are focused on making positive choices.  The manager and staff team are extremely passionate about providing high quality care and strive for continuous improvement in the home.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The staff team say they are very well supported in their role by the manager and have regular supervision and team meetings. They participate in regular training. This ensures they are well equipped to meet the individual needs of the young people placed in the home.  The manager works with young people, parents and professionals in partnership to maintain the individual placements, which provides security for young people. As a result they come to recognise the placement as their home and want to remain living there until they are ready for independent living.  The manager, in particular, has developed excellent professional relationships with external agencies to ensure young people receive support they need.

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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 ensure that within 24 hours of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes details of the child's behaviour leading up to the measure and the effectiveness and any consequence of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a) 29/02/2016

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Information about this children's home

The home is operated by a private organisation and is registered to care for up to five young people. The home cares for children with emotional and/ or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

10/03/2015 CH - Interim improved effectiveness

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outstanding

Young people benefit from living in a home where the manager and staff team are committed to providing an outstanding level of care. They offer stability and consistency which means young people live at the home for long periods of time. Young people themselves commented: ‘it’s definitely an outstanding home, it’s much better than my last home and that was good. The staff team could not do anything more than what they do.’

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outstanding

Young people are extremely vocal in expressing how much they enjoy living at the home. They take pride in their home and want to know how well the home is operating. At the end of the inspection young people were very pleased with the verbal feedback; they immediately congratulated the manager and shared with her their pride in obtaining an outstanding judgement. Young people’s investment is because of the very strong relationships which are developed between young people and individual staff members. Young people themselves say the staff team care about them and they feel they create a ‘family home.’

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outstanding

The quality of care provided in the home is outstanding, the whole staff team are dedicated and committed to providing exceptional care and support to ensure young people flourish and make significant progress from their individual starting points. This means through highly individualised care young people make progress in all aspects of their lives, including education, health, emotional well-being and emotional resilience. One health professional commented: ‘the home is very child focused, I have seen the staff team go above and beyond to ensure the young people’s health needs are met. They do not give up on the young people and readily accept other professional’s advice to ensure young people’s needs are met.’

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outstanding

Educationally young people are all at different points in their journey. They have made excellent progress individually, for one young person this means they have returned to education following a substantial period of non - engagement. Staff value education, and support attendance and attainment for each young person. They work with educational professionals to overcome any barriers and support young people to achieve. Educational professionals confirm the commitment demonstrated by the manager and staff team to encourage and support young people to attend and make progress in education.

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outstanding

Young people are supported to pursue their individual interests, they also have the opportunity to try out new activities; this builds self-esteem and provides for new experiences. Given the young people’s age they often prefer to spend time with friends and family away from the home, although they say their friends are made welcome in the home. Young people build positive links in the community and have a sense of pride in their neighbourhood. They have on occasions taken hot meals to elderly neighbours who, with staff, are identified as being vulnerable and on occasion in need of some community support.

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outstanding

All young people are placed within their local authority, as a result they are able to maintain links to their family areas, using public transport. The manager has recognised the need to develop young people’s independent living skills, to effectively prepare them for moving on from the home. This has resulted in all young people engaging in the home’s independent living skills programme. For one young person who has just left the home, this transition was effectively managed, she moved into her own property and remains at college. For her this meant prior to leaving the home she had keys to the front door, which meant she was able to experience the responsibility of managing the security of a home, with the support of staff initially to help her in preparation for getting her own property.

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outstanding

Young people’s views are central to the running of the home and they have a substantial say in the running of it; through day to day discussions, individual sessions and joint meetings. Young people live in a spacious and well maintained home, they are encouraged to and do personalise their own bedrooms.

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outstanding

Young people say they feel very safe living at the home, one young person commented: ‘the staff here make sure we are all safe.’ A view shared by parent and professionals. One parent commented: ‘the staff definitely keep my daughter safe. They know her and understand her; she has never really settled anywhere until she went to live there.’

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outstanding

Young people living at the home benefit from being looked after by a stable staff team who maintain clear and consistent boundaries. As a result of the staff team knowing the individual young people they are confident in managing and de- escalating any negative behaviour. This further promotes young people feeling protected and well cared for. The manager and staff continue to take a reflective and positive approach to behaviour management. Following a change in the group of young people different types of behaviour have been displayed. However, this has been effectively managed. Since the last inspection, there have been occasions of physical restraints, although these have been carried out as a last resort. Young people say they understand why this has been necessary to keep themselves and staff safe. They do engage in discussions with staff to explore these incidents in detail after the incident. Records of these incidents are generally well completed.

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outstanding

However, the manager does not always record in detail the effectiveness of the measure, or the behaviour leading up to the restraint incident. This has not impacted on young people because the manager is constantly reviewing and monitoring all the activities in the house, she meets on a daily basis with young people and is part of the daily handovers.

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outstanding

Young people currently living at the home do not regularly go missing from the home. However, on the rare occasions they have, staff are extremely proactive in trying to locate the young person in order to quickly return them to the home and ensure they are safe. Staff are supported to do this by a detailed risk management plan. The manager has ensured there is no delay in young people having the opportunity to speak to an independent person on their return home.

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outstanding

Despite being a small organisation, with only one home, the manager has ensured the staff team are supported by detailed policies and procedures to safeguard and manage young people. She has established links with the local safeguarding board, which ensure she remains abreast of any training and changes to the local area. She has maintained effective working relationships with the local neighbourhood policing team who regularly call at the home. This helps to develop positive relationships with the staff team and young people.

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outstanding

As a result of the consistent practice young people’s lives have significantly improved. Staff and young people are aware of the individual risk taking behaviour they present with. Over time they have all made significant progress in reducing these behaviours. Young people themselves commented during the inspection on the progress they had made in reducing their risk taking behaviour since living at the home. This means young people are becoming increasingly safe and skilled at making positive choices.

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outstanding

Placing social workers and the manager have not identified any of the current group of young people as being at risk of child sexual exploitation. However she has ensured that the staff team receive training in this area. This means they have the skills and knowledge to safeguard young people should this become an emerging concern.

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outstanding

The manager takes robust action to ensure all significant events are notified in line with regulations. This ensures appropriate scrutiny of the incident and the action taken to support the young person by the different agencies.

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leaders and managers

The Registered Manager has been registered since 2010 and she holds suitable qualifications for this role. She is extremely passionate about the young people who live in this home, she is committed to providing long term placements for young people. She takes an active part in supporting young people and speaks proudly about the individual progress they are making. She is extremely child focused and is aspirational about what she wants them to achieve in the future.

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leaders and managers

Young people are at the centre of the home; consequently their individual needs are identified and prioritised. Effective management ensures the staff team are able to manage and support them providing consistent and nurturing care. Young people are encouraged to reflect on the progress they make through daily discussions. The manager and staff team have been extremely influential in ensuring that young people make excellent progress, for both young people who currently live at the home and for those who have recently moved on. This has made a significant difference to their life chances and expectations. For one person who has recently moved on this has meant she is thriving in her own home and maintaining her training course.

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leaders and managers

The whole team actively promote positive experiences for the young people. As a result, staff members share exceedingly strong relationships with young people. This includes the manager, who for example as a reward for positive behaviour invites young people to have a ‘slumber party’ with her, spending the evening relaxing and enjoying each other’s company, something which the young people say they really enjoy.

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leaders and managers

The team benefit from working in a supportive environment; the manager is approachable, available and is committed to promoting a safe working arena. Existing team members either hold suitable qualifications or are working towards qualification. New staff say they are thoroughly supported and inducted into the role. Staff members say they receive effective supervision and the comprehensive training programme underpins working practice. Since the last inspection, the manager has ensured that she receives professional supervision from an external provider. The manager values this extra supervision and it has contributed to the continued development of the home.

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leaders and managers

Monitoring at the home is regular and effective. As a result the manager has an excellent understanding of the strengths and areas for development. She regularly reviews the development plan to ensure it remains targeted at improvement and is helping the home to maintain an excellent level of care provided for young people. She is imaginative in engaging young people in the development of the service, she recently facilitated a ‘swopping roles day’ this gave the young people an insight into the running of the home and helped them to understand the role of the manager and staff members. The Statement of Purpose is continually reviewed by the manager which ensures the service delivered meets the aims and objectives as set out in it.

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leaders and managers

Excellent professional relationships are developed and maintained by the manager and staff team with all professionals involved in supporting young people; this is because the manager is committed to the maintenance of open and transparent communication. As a result young people benefit from a holistic support package. One professional commented: ‘the manager and team go over and above for X. the placement has provided stability. The manager is very committed to the young people. It’s my go to placement if I need to place a young person.’

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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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