Children's home run by Warrington Borough Council

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged Outstanding at the full inspection. At this interim inspection Ofsted judge that it has sustained effectiveness .

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people are extremely settled in their long-term placements and they continue to thrive and make exceptional progress in all areas of their lives. This is down to the outstanding care and support provided by a dedicated manager and team.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Education and training continues to be a high priority. The Registered Manager and team have high aspirations for young people and encourage and support them to achieve their very best. Excellent partnership working with schools, colleges and career advisors is helping young people to access the right education and reach their full potential. Consequently, a young person is top of his college class and another has been nominated for a citizenship award.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people benefit from improved physical and emotional health. Close partnership working with child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) is enabling young people to cope with difficult past experiences and develop better coping strategies. In addition to this, CAMHS therapists provide on-going guidance to the manager and the team. Staff therefore have a greater awareness of young people’s emotional well-being. What’s more, they know how to respond sensitively to challenging situations and continue to meet young people’s emotional needs.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff have fostered warm trusting relationships within the home. Young people feel cared for, valued and respected; this is reflected in their positive interactions with staff and each other. A placing social worker said, ‘the home has been a very supportive and nurturing placement for (young person’s name). She appears to have really settled in and issues that were present prior to this placement, such as the risk of CSE (child sexual exploitation) and missing from home have ceased.’

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff are vigilant and competent at keeping everyone safe in the home. Their on- going training on CSE, drug awareness, and missing from home is keeping them up-to-date on recent trends and best practice. High risk behaviours including missing and CSE are therefore effectively tackled by a well-informed team.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people have a strong voice and their views are constantly sought. For example, young people have designed a questionnaire that enables them to feed their views of the team into staff’s individual annual appraisal. So far, the young people’s comments have been extremely positive, including, ‘(staff name) is a lovely caring person and listens when everything goes wrong’ and ‘There is nothing that she needs to do to do the job better, she is one of my favourite members of staff.’ Not only does this demonstrate the home’s proactive approach to meaningful engagement, it reflects warm trusting relationships between young people and their carers.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people enjoy a wide range of activities, such as holidays abroad, voluntary work in a local pet shop, singing and dancing lessons. This is helping young people to develop greater confidence, self-worth, new skills and positive friendships.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The home continues to be led by a dedicated, energetic and extremely child centred Registered Manager. She fully supports her team through on-going training and development opportunities, regular supervision and productive team meetings. She recognises areas for development, including improving the independent monitoring of the home. She has taken steps to address this, which includes commissioning another independent provider to help undertake the monthly monitoring visits alongside further training for current independent visitors.

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Information about this children's home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is run by a local authority.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

18/03/2015 CH - Interim improved effectiveness

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What the inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspection we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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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 focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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Information about this inspection

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 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

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

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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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