Children's Home run by Blandford House (UK) Limited in Hillingdon

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 home is welcoming and provides a homely environment.  It has an experienced manager who has a clear vision of how she wants the service to develop.  Young people make progress across all aspects of their care and development.  Young people engage in education, often doing so after long periods of non- engagement.  Partnership working arrangements are good and getting stronger as staff become more knowledgeable about the theory base behind the project.  Management of the home is child focussed with strong leadership ensuring good quality of care.  Staffing levels, while sufficient for the current number of young people, would need to increase if more children are admitted to the home.  Staff meetings need to be more regular to ensure consistency of care for the young people.  Some paperwork used, such as needs assessments, is not relevant to the current group 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

16: The registered person must compile in relation to the children's home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. The statement of purpose should refer to the current registration and not to previous registrations on the same site. (Regulation 16 (1)) 31/03/2016

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Requirement Due date

45: The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months (Regulation 45(1)) 31/03/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  The home should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than 'institutional' impression. This relates to the middle corridor and the need to make this a more homely environment. (The Guide to the Quality Standards page15, paragraph 3.9)  The home should ensure that it has sufficient suitably trained staff on duty to meet the assessed needs of all children in the home. (The Guide to the Quality Standards page 51, paragraph 10.1)

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Information about this children's home

This private children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to ten children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties and learning difficulties. It was registered in February 2015 and this is its first inspection. It currently operates in partnership with the provider of services for the local council, providing intensive preparation-for-fostering placements lasting 10 weeks.

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Since registration the home has changed its focus in terms of the range and type of young people it intends to care for. The partnership working has been a recent venture and is still in its infancy. At the point of this inspection only two young people had lived in the home as part of this project. Placements in the home last for ten weeks during which time intensive work is undertaken with the young person where staff try to manage and narrow down the difficulties prior to moving the young person on to a foster placement.

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good

Young people live in a warm and nurturing home. Staff provide them with clear consistent boundaries that assist in the transition from their previous placement and onwards to their move to a foster placement. Staff work closely with placing social workers and support staff to ensure that young people receive a package of care that meets their individual needs.

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good

Prior to moving to the home educational attendance for young people was sporadic. During their time at the home young people improve their educational attendance. For some this is a dramatic improvement and is the first time in several years that they have fully engaged in education. Other young people have struggled to maintain their engagement with education but overall have improved their attendance. The home works closely with the head of the virtual school from the placing authority to ensure that educational needs are met and that young people have access to appropriate educational provision.

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good

Young people’s health needs are a high priority in this home. Young people are registered with appropriate health services. Dental and optical check-ups are undertaken for young people during the course of the placement.

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good

Young people are provided with assistance to become better able to manage conflict and aggression. For some young people this results in a reduction in challenging behaviour.

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good

The young people who are placed at the home have had a history of going missing from pervious placements. While staying at this home these missing episodes reduce for all the young people and in one case these episodes have reduced significantly. Care planning processes within the home are detailed and link into the ‘Better by Design’ (BBD) theory which underpins the partnership work. Key work sessions are regular and focus on issues pertinent to the plan for each individual young person. Staff say that they ‘really get the BBD stuff’.

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good

Staff at the home work well with the partner organisation staff to ensure that the move from the home to the next placement causes least disruption for the young person, even if this is a move to accommodation other than the original plan.

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good

Admissions to the home are now decided upon jointly by the partner agency project manager and the homes manager. This ensures better matching and impact risk assessments can be made prior to any new admissions.

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good

The physical environment is maintained to a good standard, however, the middle corridor is institutional in feel. There are four bedrooms along the corridor, all of which are currently unoccupied. The corridor is bare and lacking in warmth. There are no pictures or decorations to soften the area. An alcove section would be improved by the use of soft furnishings to create a more homely atmosphere.

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good

The home has begun to build effective partnership working relationships with the safeguarding team in the host local authority. As the home is in a partnership arrangement with it has also forged links with the two local authorities that the partner provides services for.

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good

Risk management is good in this home. Risks are known and understood by the staff team. Risk assessments are detailed but would benefit from an analysis of what the overall risk is for each young person. Staff work very hard to try and reduce the risks to young people. Young people who have been placed in the home have come from out of area placements. They had been placed in those placements primarily due to risk taking behaviours such as absconding. While placed here the level of absconding has reduced for all young people and for some young people it has reduced significantly. Where missing remains an issue for some young people, the home has been proactive in trying to reduce the frequency of these episodes. There has been some success with this within the confines of the placement structure. Staff actively seek to locate young people who go missing. This has included the responsible individual driving around the local

p.7

good

area trying to locate a young person. When young people return from missing they have return interviews undertaken by an Independent Reviewing Officer. Details of these interviews are clearly recorded in young people’s files.

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good

Positive behaviour within the home is encouraged and promoted via a sanctions and rewards scheme. The use of sanctions within the home is minimal and there have been no restraints since the home has been operating.

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good

Staff are able to access appropriate safeguarding training. Other relevant training tends to occur online. Staff have received training in the Better By Design programme and this has had an impact on how they work with young people. Allegations are investigated fully and referred to the designated officer in the local authority when it is appropriate to do so.

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good

The home has a thorough and rigorous recruitment process. All references are verified and gaps in employment explored at interview. Where staff have prior convictions on their DBS these are explored and risk assessed by the Registered Manager before staff are allowed access to children.

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good

The physical environment of the home is safe and fire drills occur on a regular basis.

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good

The original Registered Manger has recently left this home. He has been replaced by an experienced manager who is currently in the process of applying to Ofsted to be registered. The new manager has been in post just over two months at the time of this inspection. She has managed children’s homes previously and is appropriately qualified and experienced.

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good

The staff team feel supported by the manager and are positive about the changes that have occurred in the home since registration. Supervision is regular and demonstrates evidence of reflective practice. The staff team have had the opportunity to undertake a number of training courses including some linked to the ‘Better By Design’ project. Induction processes for new workers are detailed and provide them with the relevant skills, information and knowledge they require to start work in the home. Appraisals have yet to take place as staff have not been employed in the home for longer than twelve months. The current staff team has experienced a number of changes since the home has opened. The current staffing levels are sufficient to manage the current occupancy levels in the home but would need to increase in order to meet the needs of an expanded resident group.

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good

The manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for development. She is in the process of revising some of the home’s original policies and procedures as these are no longer appropriate given the homes current target group of young people.

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good

The home has robust external monitoring arrangements in place and the monthly reports are then used by the manager to further improve the quality of care in the home. The monthly reports are detailed, analytical and clearly set out recommendations and timescales for improvement. The manager finds them helpful and feels that they are assisting in improving the service.

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good

The manager has yet to complete a quality of care review report as the home has only been fully functional since September. The manager is in the process of compiling this report and will have it completed within the next quarter.

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good

The statement of purpose has been recently revised and links in with the Quality Standards. It needs further revision to specify the registration date and inspection history of the current service.

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good

Staff meetings take place and have detailed minutes and agreed action points. The frequency of these meetings is irregular. With the change of focus of the home and the short term nature of the placements more regular and frequent team meetings would benefit the home in achieving consistency, especially for new staff being recruited.

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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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