Children's home run by Hopscotch Care Limited in Lancaster

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged Good 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

There is a suitably qualified and experienced manager leading and managing this home. Two deputy managers are in post to support him and ensure the smooth running of the home. As a management team, they work effectively together, drawing on each other’s unique experience and skills. They share a common commitment to improve young people’s life chances and successfully prepare them for future independence.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Three requirements were made at the last full inspection of the home in June 2015. The home has made some positive improvements to address these. Managers have become more challenging of placing authorities practice, insisting that appropriate information is routinely supplied at an early stage to ensure that staff have a comprehensive understanding of young people’s needs when they are placed. Additionally, managers have been proactive in involving other professionals to support young people when unexpected changes are made to their agreed plans. For one young person this has had the positive result of a statutory review being called specifically to ensure that the young person’s voice is heard.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The home has improved fire safety arrangements, increasing its frequency of practice evacuations. This ensures that all young people newly admitted to the home quickly learn of evacuation arrangements. It also confirms that everyone from the home are well rehearsed with what to do should a real emergency occur.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The home has a new electronic system for maintaining young people’s records. This was at an early stage of implementation at the time of the last inspection. Since then, progress has been made in achieving improved clarity and quality in the content of children’s records. There are still some practice issues to refine; these are part of the home’s ongoing development programme.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

In addition, one recommendation from the last inspection related to the home’s practice in relation to those that go missing from the home; this has improved. Agreements have been secured with placing authorities with regard to meeting their obligation to provide an independent return interview following any period when a young person has been missing. For those young people placed at a distance from their home area, local arrangements with suitable organisations ensure that young people will always have access to speak to an independent person other than their social worker.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Overall progress in this home since the last inspection is mixed. For example, one young person has made huge strides, achieving excellent attendance at a local college and making notable progress in learning new skills that will be clearly advantageous moving forward towards adulthood and independence. Consequently, he has achieved greater inclusion in the local community, successfully establishing positive and appropriate peer relationships outside the home. This has resulted in growth, in both confidence and self-esteem enabling the young person to find renewed ambition for his future.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

However, for some young people that have moved on from the home since the last inspection, their progress has been more limited and less encouraging. Despite the home’s good efforts to build positive relationships and bring some stability to their lives, they chose to reject the support offered. For example, for one young person this came at a time when he was able to legally voice his wish to leave the home, making alternative living arrangements..

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The Registered Manager continues to demonstrate care in managing admissions to the home to ensure that young people are well matched and that staff have the necessary skills to meet their needs. However, one young person recently admitted to the home had an incomplete plan for their future education. Although, the young person acknowledged that he has been disengaged from learning for some considerable time, it was accepted that further delay hinders his educational progress and limits his opportunities to establish a social peer group.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Although the home’s management team have acted to support the placing authority in this case by exploring local options, they do not have the expert knowledge or the designated responsibility to effectively plan and co-ordinate educational provision for children they look after. The management team were not confident in their knowledge of the role of the Virtual School Head and had not yet successfully engaged their support to progress plans for this young person.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The home has developed strong partnerships with a range of professionals that are able to assist in supporting and advising young people. These include the police, youth justice professionals and local advocacy services. Overall, the home has maintained a very transparent relationship with Ofsted. Their independent person’s reports continue to demonstrate thorough and robust scrutiny of the home’s operation in promoting young people’s safety and welfare. However, inspection highlighted one occasion when the home omitted to notify Ofsted of a significant event. This made no impact on young people’s safety or welfare but detracted from their usual good standard in keeping Ofsted informed.

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Information about this children's home

 The home is registered to accommodate up to five young people with emotional and behavioural problems  It is operated by a private organisation  The home offers emergency, medium and long term placements for young people

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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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

14. In order to meet the care planning standard with particular reference to paragraph (1) the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(b) (ii) that arrangements are in place to manage and review the placement of each child in the home. This relates specifically to promptly clarifying relevant plans, arrangements and expectations for those children admitted to the home in an emergency. 14/03/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain case records for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. This relates specifically to the date and result of statutory reviews. (Regulation 36(1)(a)) 14/03/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify Ofsted and each other relevant person without delay if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(3)(e)) 14/03/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Seek expert advice from education professionals, such as the Virtual School Head to progress young people's planning, clarifying their education targets and next steps for learning.(The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 28 paragraph 5.11)

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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

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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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