–

Outstanding

The children's home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed 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:

 Children are strongly supported to make choices, and actively participate in decisions about their lives.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Children’s achievements are celebrated daily, and they begin to have pride in their accomplishments.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Children’s positive behaviour is rewarded every day, and they begin to understand that actions have consequences.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 All children have very regular attendance at school and make some academic progress.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Given their starting points, all children make very good improvements in their emotional and/or physical health and their wider social functioning.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Children are encouraged to get involved in a wide range of activities, and regularly go on adventure holidays.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Children are all encouraged to take part in professional play therapy sessions.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The home and the wider organisation base their practice on research on attachment theory, and the impact of trauma on brain development. Staff receive specialised training on this and receive ongoing clinical support which assists them in working with children with very challenging behaviour.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Staffing patterns at the home, together with clear routines, give children a stable and predictable environment.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Staff know children very well and invest thought and time in ensuring that their welfare is strongly promoted.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Staff vigilance and strong risk assessments help to keep children safe from dangerous behaviour, such as going missing.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Effective links with the local police mean that children’s behaviour is much less likely to result in them being criminalised.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Leaders and managers work as a very effective team, are successful in achieving improved outcomes and are highly ambitious for continuous improvement.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Both internal and external monitoring are very strong and contribute to the delivery of an excellent quality of care.  Some further improvements should be made to allow staff to have appropriate time for recording and administration. The thorough monitoring of medication practice should be routine.

p.3

Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendations:  ensure that staffing levels are sufficient to consistently meet both the needs of children and record-keeping requirements (‘Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.15).  ensure that lessons learned from the medication review are implemented and good practice is sustained (‘Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24).

p.4

Information about this children's home

This privately owned children's home provides care and accommodation for up to 10 pre-teen children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

p.5

Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

Outstanding

Children have opportunities, free from uncertainty, to flourish in this safe and predictable routine, both at home and at school. Within this reliable routine highly personalised care is delivered. For example, children choose their preferred after- school activity, who they want to settle them and how they want to be settled each evening. This combination of stability and individualised care enables children to develop and grow across a range of measures.

p.6

Outstanding

Some children thrive physically, growing in height, putting on weight and having dental and skin problems resolved. Others, who have been in placement longer, achieve better emotional regulation and have reduced their frequency or intensity of emotional outbursts. Some are able to come off medication completely. Many children grow in self-confidence, speaking out in groups and following hobbies externally. All children have virtually full attendance at school, and some are now in mainstream schools. From these children’s starting points, their progress has been exceptional, and their time in the home has enhanced their life chances.

p.6

Outstanding

Key to this growth are the creative relationships staff have with children. Staff seek to minimise fears and anxieties: for example, introducing builders into the home in a structured way and clarifying complexities about court proceedings. The staff respond to the children with emotional warmth, and children confidently come up for cuddles/high fives as they need them. Boundaries are also clear, and children are interested to learn what their daily, individualised points score is. They are generally proud of their achievements and enjoy explaining to visitors how the system works.

p.6

Outstanding

Children are aware of how to complain, and are formally reminded routinely about the process. This is excellent practice and the complaints system is used by the children, who are generally satisfied with the process and outcomes. Children also contribute to daily recording, sometimes just with their signature and sometimes with a comment. Children enjoy choosing which activity they will do each day. In addition, they have regular structured activities, such as football, drama or horse riding. The impact of these measures is to reinforce to children that their needs and wishes are important and to give them as many opportunities as possible to increase their skills and self-esteem.

p.6

Outstanding

Children enjoy the food in the house and contribute enthusiastically to the menu. They help prepare the dining room and serve some of the food and drink. This helps both with life skills and their sense of community. Many children in the home have complex contact arrangements, and some are having their contact arrangements changed by courts. Local authority colleagues confirm that staff manage these complexities well.

p.6

Outstanding

Staff in the home have a good understanding of the risks presented by the particular characteristics of the home’s location. This is summarised in a comprehensive location assessment, which is underpinned by specific risk assessments. These are individualised, clear and regularly updated. These assessments are very well used to support children in taking age-appropriate risks, such as horse riding and adventure style activities.

p.7

Outstanding

On admission to the home, some children did display dangerous behaviour, such as going missing, which put them at risk of serious harm. Such risks are carefully assessed and appropriate measures are put in place, such as knowledge of triggers and additional staff vigilance. These strategies have been very successful in that no children have gone missing since the last full inspection.

p.7

Outstanding

There are very effective relationships with the local police, who routinely visit the home. A new joint protocol has just been completed which covers not only going missing, but measures to reduce the criminalisation of children. Since the last full inspection, the police have not been called to the home to manage behaviour. The new process means that there has to be senior management approval for this to happen, which means that children are at much less risk of being criminalised at a young age.

p.7

Outstanding

Staff take appropriate steps to keep children’s immediate environment safe, including e-safety and on-screen vigilance. They are alert to any suggestions of bullying, for example, holding key work sessions with any child who hints at this. Children also learn to keep themselves safe through key work or community sessions on personal safety. This measured approach allows children to take steps safely towards independence, such as travelling to and from school alone.

p.7

Outstanding

Staff are patient and responsive to children. They quietly pick up signs of distress and seek to de-escalate children’s feelings before a crisis occurs. There is a consistent, daily routine of assessing children’s behaviour based on the promotion of positive behaviour. This is successfully teaching the children the benefits of behaving appropriately, as demonstrated by the children’s enthusiastic engagement and notable progress in various areas. Any sanctions imposed for negative behaviour are restorative in nature, and reflect the infringement. Over time, all children receive significantly more rewards than sanctions. However, some children have had a rise in the number of physical interventions they have had. Managers are aware of this and the reasons behind it. Social workers are also aware and do not have concerns.

p.7

Outstanding

The registered manager has been in post for five years and is appropriately professionally qualified. Together with his deputy manager, they form a highly effective management team. Monitoring systems, both internally and externally, are particularly strong and make a significant contribution to both ensuring children’s continued progress and assuring a high quality of care. For example, because of a recent spike in physical restraints, the management team has audited all such incidents to explore the reasons for this increase. This comprehensive audit has covered such areas as incidents on particular shifts or with particular staff and has enabled a greater understanding of triggers for particular young people. The home has very few complaints from other agencies, but when this does happen, they are robustly dealt with and external colleagues report an improvement thereafter. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the leadership

p.8

Outstanding

The home has recently appropriately notified Ofsted of two incidents involving medication issues. There has been a thorough medication review and appropriate plans are in place for the future. However, the cause of these incidents was a drift from normal processes, so ongoing monitoring had not been sustained.

p.8

Outstanding

Staff feel well supported, both by their teams, and by the opportunities for reflective supervision and practice-based learning. They understand the home’s particular approach to relationship building with children, and although they find it challenging to implement at times, they are appropriately trained, well motivated and implement the approach consistently. Currently, the home has a small number of staff vacancies. There are sound plans to recruit to these, but in the interim some staff are struggling with completing administrative demands while rightly putting children first. The management team is aware of this issue and is seeking to remedy it.

p.8

Outstanding

The management team has produced appropriately ambitious plans for future development. Some improvements to the home environment have already been completed and this has resulted in a very comfortable and spacious home for children. Together with the wider organisation, the registered manager is involved in seeking external accreditation for a behaviour management model based on attachment theory. This demonstrates the strong belief and commitment the team has to improving the lives and experience of children.

p.8

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.10

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.10

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.10

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.11

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.11

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, work- based 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.12

Information about this inspection

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

p.12

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.12

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.12