Children's home in Arun

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.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Children make impressive progress across all areas of their development. They begin to understand their traumatic backgrounds and the impact that these have on their thoughts and feelings. They are able to develop healthy coping strategies and to change engrained responses, such as challenging behaviour.  The leadership and management team is exceptional. They set high standards and lead by example. They have established a culture that radiates top quality.  The staff team is a community. It supports the children and each member of the team to cope with life’s harrowing events.  Staff are highly skilled in anticipating the emotional response of each child. They support children to express their pain in a safe environment prior to a planned event, thereby avoiding potential incidents. Children are able to enjoy the company of others, having released the emotions that they feel.  The approach to health is exceptional. Staff provide excellent support to

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

children who are terrified of life-changing operations. Staff produce outstanding, child-friendly documents that explain medical procedures very simply. They communicate to health professionals any indicators that such operations are becoming an emergency.  The approach to safeguarding is exceptional. Throughout the organisation, all staff adhere to robust policies to ensure that all are protected and supported. The culture embedded in the home ensures that the children benefit from a robust and rigorous approach that treats the children's emotional and physical safety as paramount.  Monitoring is rigorous. The management team welcomes scrutiny and professional challenge. An experienced professional visits the home monthly and provides an extremely detailed child-centred report. Children, who themselves were once in care, inspect the home and report it as excellent.  All children are in full-time education. Attendance is exceptional. The

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

support given by staff ensures that the children are in an appropriate emotional space and ready to learn on a daily basis.  Record keeping is an exemplar. Detailed therapeutic placement plans guide staff on the hour-by-hour care.

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Information about this children's home

The home is operated by a private company and accommodates children who experience social and emotional difficulties. It provides therapeutic care for up to four children. The home provides education within the company’s community school that is in a nearby village. The home is one of two owned and operated by the organisation.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

11 May 2015 CH – Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

27 October 2014 CH – Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

27 February 2014 CH – Interim Good progress

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Outstanding

Children form trusting relationships with staff. They have a solid base and benefit from the consistent adults in their lives. A child said, ‘Staff are always there for me.’ Another child said, ‘I have built some strong relationships.’ They learn to trust those around them, often for the first time. They are able to live rather than just survive. They have a sense of permanency and belonging. Children stay in this placement longer than they have been able to stay in other settings. They continue to engage with their therapy, including psychotherapy, which they have previously found incredibly painful and difficult. Children build emotional resilience.

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Outstanding

Of particular note is the custom of celebrating each child’s anniversary of their admission date. Staff help, on an emotional level, children who are struggling with their mixed feelings because they are not with their biological families. They help children to work through the emotion prior to the event. They are successful at avoiding potentially challenging behaviour. Former staff, young people from the organisation’s other home and senior managers join the party. Children are able to reflect on the progress that they have made and the relationships that they have formed. They enjoy the celebration, especially the presents to mark the occasion.

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Outstanding

Staff write ‘caring for you’ letters to children who are facing particular difficulties and challenges. They clearly explain the strategies that they are going to adopt as they care for them. Children feel loved and cared for. They are able to display their own affection and emotion, for example by giving a favourite toy to a relative as a way to say goodbye to a peer. They build self-esteem and confidence. A child was able to participate in a public dance show.

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Outstanding

Children make exceptional progress in their emotional well-being. They are able to express their painful emotions and disturbing thoughts in a safe environment. Staff understand the underlying psychological reasons and respond appropriately. Children begin to understand their previous trauma and the link with their current feelings and behaviour. They are able to draw mind maps of their feelings towards themselves and others. They say that they feel safe. They are able to sleep through the night from a starting point of being terrified of sleep. They are able to regulate their emotions and significantly reduce their level of violence. Self- harming behaviour diminishes. Children are able to have objects, such as mirrors, in their bedrooms again as they will no longer use them to hurt themselves.

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Outstanding

Staff understand when children are expressing pain through behaviour. They predict how a child will feel in a planned activity and work through the emotion prior to the activity starting. Children are then able to engage and enjoy events that have huge meaning to them.

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Outstanding

Children have a clear voice. Staff listen to what they say both verbally and through behaviour. They have honest and frank discussions with each child. Children agree strategies with the adults caring for them so that they can modify behaviour. This is successful. For example, children are able to enjoy their food again and thus avoid possible eating disorders. Staff are flexible in their approach so that children can express their view, in the format they choose, at their statutory review. Staff advise the outcome of each request in an extremely good child-friendly letter. Children feel listened to and their views are important. They therefore understand the reasons if a particular request cannot be granted.

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Outstanding

Staff work closely with the school. They ensure that children arrive on time and in an emotionally good space to be able to learn. Attendance is exceptional. Children are improving their life chances by engaging positively with their education.

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Outstanding

The approach to health is exceptional. Staff fully support children who need urgent life-changing surgery. They show an aptitude for explaining complex medical procedures in a child-friendly way. Children, who are terrified of an operation, are able to address their fears. They understand why they need the operation and how it is going to be performed. Staff work extremely well with health professionals to make the process as smooth as possible. There is success. Children are able to have the treatment they need.

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Outstanding

Staff go to great lengths to ensure that children see those individuals who are important to them. Children feel safe and secure as staff stay in nearby hotels to be readily available for advice and support. Children telephone staff to say ‘goodnight’ and are reassured that staff are available if necessary. Staff work with members of the children’s extended families to make contact a positive experience for all. This rounded approach is successful. Children are able to enjoy all the planned contact time from a position of believing that they could only manage a limited amount of time.

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Outstanding

Children are safe. A child said, ‘It just definitely feels safe to be here.’ They form positive attachments to staff. They have a solid base. Children develop self-esteem and begin to see that they are worthy to be loved. They are able to explore their own world and the world around them within a protective psychological shell. Staff support children to think of their painful experiences. Children consider how these affect their behaviour. They are beginning to understand how their past affects their current thinking. Staff support children to develop new thought patterns about themselves. This is successful. For example, self-harming behaviour is significantly diminishing.

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Outstanding

This is an organisation where safeguarding is embedded into practice. Children are safe because of the sensitive and thoughtful care given by staff to protect them. Children are able to express their memories of their past to adults they feel safe with and who will take the proper action. Children are able to make statements to other agencies, such as the police, about events they have never been able to speak of before. Staff share any child protection concerns immediately. They work transparently and collaboratively with other professionals to keep all safe. They follow up referrals and challenge others’ practice, such as pursuing formal minutes from strategy meetings. There have been no allegations about staff. Record keeping around safeguarding is an exemplar.

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Outstanding

Children are able to express their painful emotions and disturbing thoughts, knowing there will be understanding and not judgement. A child said, ‘I can talk about how I am feeling to any staff, literally about anything.’ Staff keep a log of ‘incidents of note’ that provides an emerging picture of each child’s thought pattern and memories. This informs the therapeutic practice. Staff share this with other professionals where necessary.

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Outstanding

Staff are acutely aware of risks such as child sexual exploitation and extremism. Safeguarding professionals train them to look out for any signs of abuse. Children are not at risk. They do not go missing from the home and do not commit criminal offences. Staff keep them safe in the cyber world through close monitoring and support, making full use of the technology available. Staff help children to understand why they have taken action. For example, they deleted an application, that was deemed to pose some risk, from a smartphone.

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Outstanding

The risk assessment process is thorough. Staff communicate effectively with education professionals, to consider any behaviour at school as part of the assessment of risk. Staff keep identified risks under review. They ensure that control measures are in place for emerging risks. They make temporary changes to the environment, such as sensors on doors, to ensure that all feel safe and secure. Staff agree such measures with the placing authority. They write comprehensive safety plans for other pertinent issues. These clearly guide staff as to the strategies to use. Staff produce the strategies into an easy-to-read format for the children. Children understand why there are changes to their placement plans. They feel safe and secure in the knowledge that staff are keeping them as safe as possible and providing excellent support for their ongoing welfare.

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Outstanding

Staff plan for new admissions carefully, taking into account the vulnerability of the child being admitted and the children already in the home. They ensure that there are transition visits and detailed placement plans in place prior to admission. They learn quickly whether a child will be able to accept the therapeutic environment. In one case, senior managers made the decision not to accommodate a child.

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Outstanding

Staff know the solid boundaries they are to follow to enable children to express themselves. Peer support promotes excellent practice. When senior managers are aware of any practice issues, they make swift and robust decisions to maintain the high standards.

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Outstanding

Staff promote positive behaviour. They use the rewards and consequences system effectively. There is no bullying. Children enjoy the relationships with each other. Friendships are formed. Children are able to regulate their emotions and manage their behaviour. The need for staff to intervene physically is significantly reduced. Any such intervention is appropriate and proportionate. Staff document it well and debrief the children. Children are able to write down what was troubling them and how it affected their behaviour. A child said, ‘I like talking about my feelings now. It makes me feel better afterward.’ There is strong management oversight of all intervention and reflection on practice.

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Outstanding

Managers adopt safer recruitment practice. They adopt value-based, behavioural interviewing as part of the selection process. They select suitable staff to work with vulnerable children. Children are involved in the interview process. They give their view on how comfortable they feel with the applicants. Staff take this seriously, and this forms part of the selection decision.

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Outstanding

Effective and efficient leadership by managers, who are confident and inspirational, produces a culture of positivity in the most difficult of circumstances. They provide additional support for children and staff during life’s most painful events. This includes access to psychotherapy and counselling. They lead by example. They are on hand for guidance and advice and provide a physical presence at weekends. Staff speak positively of the support. Staff, who are well supported through the management structure, provide excellent support for the children. There is realistic hope that severely damaged and traumatised children will have a fulfilling and rewarding future.

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Outstanding

Internal and external monitoring is robust. Statutory reports are full of detail and child focused. They clearly demonstrate that the leadership team has a grasp of the strengths and weaknesses. The senior managers welcome professional challenge and independent monitoring. Recently, a young assessors’ report rated the home as excellent. It stated, ‘The home has excelled in its care of all young people.’ The registered manager has arranged to replace the independent visitor by a person of equal calibre and experience during a planned period of extended leave.

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Outstanding

The registered manager has a robust complaints policy in place. He follows this diligently and keeps to timescales. He invites complainants to comment on the outcome. If unhappy, complainants can ask for an independent panel to review the process and outcome.

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Outstanding

The management team deploy staff and resources effectively to meet the needs of the children. Detailed 24-hour therapeutic placement plans clearly show the support that is required throughout the day and night. Staff demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of these. They translate them into child-friendly documents. Children understand their placement plans and the strategies that staff use to keep them safe and to help them develop.

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Outstanding

The management team ensures that staff are well trained. They are able to undertake a diploma in therapeutic childcare. They have other up-to-date training such as on radicalisation and extremism. The registered manager ensures that new staff have a thorough induction. He arranges the shift pattern so that new staff are working with established staff for a number of months. Supervision is excellent. Staff have line management and clinical supervision. Both are meaningful and closely linked. Staff are able to work through any ‘parallel processing’ as they undertake the intense and demanding therapeutic work. Through the care and support they receive themselves, they are able to operate at peak performance. Further professional support is available, such as bereavement counselling.

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Outstanding

Staff work closely and collaboratively with other professionals. They provide fortnightly updates to placing social workers and other interested parties. Such reports are full of detail. They show the therapeutic work that staff are doing and how each child is progressing. All staff follow the agreed plans carefully. They work with education staff, for example, to reintegrate children into school after major operations. Key staff produce further assessment and detail, for example to inform key meetings when professionals are discussing permanency planning. The registered manager notifies significant events promptly to the relevant authorities, including Ofsted.

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Outstanding

Staff work effectively with community groups. Children are able to access youth groups for periods when they are unaccompanied by staff, a scenario once thought to be impossible. Staff listen carefully to the perceptions of the child and take action. For example, one local youth group conducted an anti-bullying course for the whole group following a child’s observations. Children have a sense of belonging, security and purpose in this home and the wider community.

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Outstanding

The registered manager has considerable experience in therapeutic care. He holds the necessary therapeutic qualifications and ensures that the home remains a leader in its field, for example by retaining accreditation with the Royal College of Psychiatry. He has excellent support and supervision including full professional analysis and clinical supervision. There are succession plans, and a competent home manager, with clear plans to undertake the level five management qualification, supports him. There are ambitious but realistic plans to develop the service further.

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Outstanding

No requirements or recommendations are made as a result of this inspection.

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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 children looked after 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 that 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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