Children's home run by New Forest Care Limited in Southampton

Outstanding

The children's home provides highly effective services that 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:

 Young people make significant progress in all areas from their starting points particularly in regards to their education and behaviour.  Staff work closely with education professionals and use every opportunity to encourage young people’s learning.  All young people have excellent attendance at school and have made exceptional progress in a variety of subjects.  Staff use creative strategies to support young people’s learning and development around positive behaviour. As a result, there has been a significant reduction in incidents requiring physical intervention.  Staff are highly knowledgeable about the needs and circumstances of each individual young person. As a result, staff engage exceptionally well with them.  Young people have their physical and psychological health needs promoted to an excellent standard.  Young people’s hobbies and interests are a focus of the home and highly promoted. As a result, young people participate in an extensive range of

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

activities at the home and in the local community.  The home is led by a competent and confident manager who ensures it is managed in an efficient and effective way.  The home has a committed staff team, who deliver consistent care enabling young people to make exceptional progress in their behaviour, education and personal development.  Managers have excellent oversight of the progress young people are making. They have sophisticated systems in place, which provide an analysis of young people’s progress over time.

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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

(a) within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— (vii) the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure;

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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 registered persons must ensure that any child who has been restrained should be given the opportunity express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident, taking the age of the child and the circumstances of the restraint into account (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards, April 2015, page 49 paragraph 9.60)   The registered person must ensure that they notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4)(a)-(d) occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious (40(4)(e)) (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards, April

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Information about this children's home

A private company owns and operates this children's home. The home provides care and accommodation for a maximum of four children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

12/08/2015 CH - Interim sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

22/09/2014 CH - Interim sustained effectiveness

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outstanding

Young people live in a supportive home environment, which provides them with consistency, structure and routine. Staff are highly knowledgeable about the needs and circumstances of each individual young person. As a result, staff engage exceptionally well with them. Young people have very positive relationships with staff, which is based on mutual respect, and both staff and young people have fun and share banter. Young people make significant progress in all areas from their starting points particularly in regards to their education and behaviour. Education is valued and promoted within the home. Staff work closely with education professionals and use every opportunity to encourage young people’s learning through supporting with homework or for example promoting their reading through everyday tasks such as cooking and using recipes. All young people have excellent attendance at school and have made exceptional progress in

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outstanding

a variety of subjects. All young people have are working towards or have at working at their expected academic level. The manager is able to monitor their academic attainment through a sophisticated system, which links into the school. This ensure they are able to work with the school to provide additional support to in areas the young people may be struggling in. Staff use creative strategies to support young people’s learning and development around positive behaviour. For example using sanctions that encourage young people to research the risks around a particular behaviour and providing opportunities for them to feedback the consequences to staff. This has supported young people to develop their skills and strategies for managing and regulating their own behaviour and has prevented incidents from reoccurring. Staff use strong and consistent boundaries. As a result, there has been a significant reduction in

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outstanding

incidents requiring physical intervention. Young people have their physical and psychological health needs promoted to an excellent standard. In particular, their emotional and psychological well-being is supported in a holistic fashion that includes direct access to specialist support through the organisations therapists. The emphasis on young people’s emotional health is enabling them to gain a more positive self-view and develop stronger emotional resilience and a better understanding of themselves and their histories. This has resulted in improvements in their behaviour and interactions with others. Staff ensure that young people are provided with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead healthy lifestyles and that they receive specialist guidance and intervention when necessary. Consequently, young people have taken more responsibility for their health needs resulting in significant improvements to their

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outstanding

physical health. Young people’s hobbies and interests are a focus of the home and highly promoted. As a result, young people participate in an extensive range of activities at the home and in the local community. This extends their social experiences, boosts their confidence and supports them to develop skills. Young people are able to have free time in the community and this along with the wide range of sports and clubs they attend has enabled them to develop friendships with peers outside of the home building their self-esteem and making them feel valued. Young people have a voice in the running of the home. The Registered Manager ensures young people’s views are heard through daily conversations, individual work as well as young people’s meetings. This means that young people are at the centre of planning for the home. Young people are making considerable improvement in their daily living and self-care skills. This includes preparing small

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outstanding

meals, budgeting and carrying out chores such as helping with laundry. This enables them to make a positive contribution to the home whilst learning valuable life skills for the future. Where appropriate staff ensure agreements for contact with family members are supported. This allows young people to renew, build and maintain relationships with significant family members providing them with a sense of belonging within their families.

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good

Young people have individual and comprehensive risk-assessments which are regularly updated and shared with young people. These ensure staff are informed of the strategies they should employ to keep young people safe. Staff work proactively to reduce individual risks, whilst supporting young people to develop their understanding and their own skills in risk reduction. As a result, young people are encouraged to take age appropriate risks and be involved in age appropriate activities. Staff are competent, vigilant and suitably trained in safeguarding procedures. They take their duty to safeguard extremely seriously and report concerns appropriately as per the home’s policy. Staff liaise with the other agencies and professionals to promote young people’s safety. Managers take action to ensure all investigations are carried out appropriately and ensure they learn from the findings to improve practice. However, the manager must ensure that the regulator is informed of the

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good

outcome of any safeguarding enquiry as required by regulation. Young people have not left the home without permission since the previous inspection however, there are suitable procedures in place if a missing incident was to occur. The home’s staffing arrangements, ensures that there are high levels of supervision within the home. Staff support young people to reflect on their behaviour and the consequences of their actions. This has enabled young people to regulate themselves and express their feelings more positively. Behaviour management within the home focuses upon praising and rewarding positive behaviour and any behaviour management incidents that do require physical intervention are well managed. Sanctions used by staff are fair and proportionate and recordings of both restraints and sanctions have improved. However, further improvements are required to meet the standard required by regulation. This is because not all records evidence that the restraint or

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good

sanction was evaluated for their effectiveness and young people’s views were not recorded. This was identified at the previous inspection and have yet to be fully addressed. As a result, the requirement and recommendation for these areas remain in place. The manager has a good understanding of safe recruitment procedures. During this inspection evidence of gaps in the employment history of a member of staff, being explored was missing. However, the manager was able to rectify this during the inspection to demonstrates that the home has robust procedures in place to ensure only ‘safe’ adults are employed to work with vulnerable young people.

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good

The home is led by a competent and confident manager who ensures it is managed in an efficient and effective way. He has been the registered manager since 2013 and leads a committed staff team, who deliver consistent care enabling young people to make exceptional progress. The manager have developed effective working relationships with external colleagues, and these have positively contributed to young people's well-being. However when support has not been adequate or forthcoming from other agencies. The manager has taken action to challenge them to ensure that young people are provided with the support they require to progress.

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good

The manager ensures staff receive regular training to ensure they are equipped with the skills and knowledge to meet young people’s needs. Staff receive regular informal supervision and say they feel well supported by management. However, formal supervision at times has not met the home’s policy of monthly supervision. The manager is aware of this and has delegated supervision to team leaders who have had training to fulfil and ensure each member of staff receives monthly supervision. This ensure staff are provided with the opportunity to reflect on their practice, receive feedback and make improvements to the support they provide young people. Managers have excellent oversight of the progress young people are making. They have sophisticated systems in place which provide an analysis of young people’s progress over time. This enables managers to evaluate particular interventions or to identify where additional support is required. This ensures young people receive

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good

highly individualised support enabling them to flourish. Managers use monitoring systems effectively to scrutinise practice to ensure that any shortfalls in practice are identified to drive continuous improvement. The manager completes comprehensive and detailed monthly reports and sends quarterly reports to Ofsted. External monitoring visits take place within required timescales and support the manager in improving the service. The manager has taken action to act on two recommendations made at the previous inspection including improving the quality of the environment. As a result, the environment is more homely. However, one requirement and a recommendation remains unmet form the previous inspection and both remain in place.

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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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