Children's Home run by Safe Base Care Limited in Wirral

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

Young people continue to enjoy positive experiences living in this safe and supportive home. The staff are making an important difference to their lives. They are happy and making sustained progress. A young person said: ‘I felt at home as soon as I closed the front door. Everyone was friendly and helped me settle in.’ Another young person said: ‘It was the best decision I’ve made to come to live here. It is like a family home and my friends can visit.’ They are improving their relationships with their parents and working through problems. They manage their feelings constructively and their behaviour is exceptionally good. Importantly, they are making positive choices that have significantly reduced the times they go missing, their involvement in criminal activity and drugs, and enhanced their personal safety. They take on board staff’s good advice and keep in touch with them when they are out with their friends.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The manager and staff have created a warm and positive atmosphere where everyone gets on with each other. The young people enjoy trusting relationships with staff. They are made to feel important and valued. A young person said: ‘The staff respect my personal space and I always ask if they can come into my room. Where I used to live the staff just came in without asking.’ Staff listen to their views and actively encourage them to make decisions about their lives. The young people know staff care about them and want what is best for them. The staff are enthusiastic and show a strong commitment to helping the young people to be safe and do well. They have a clear understanding of each young person’s needs, vulnerabilities and interests. They ensure that they get the personalised support and guidance that effectively promotes their welfare. The manager and staff clearly recognise and value importance of education for

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

young people’s future. They enthusiastically encourage young people to learn and develop their knowledge and skills through meaningful education and training courses. They have helped the young people find education programmes suitable to their needs and interests that enhance their career prospects. A young person said: ‘I am interested in becoming a mechanic and they have sorted out a training course for me. At the end of it, I’ll get an apprenticeship.’ Other young people have started a full-time apprenticeship in a children’s nursery, and have been accepted on the level 3 diploma in health and social care to work with older people. Young people’s participation in education and motivation to learn has improved since they moved into the home. The staff also support young people’s education in practical ways, including providing transport to enable a young person to sit her GCSEs. They have also helped young people to build confidence in their skills and

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

employability by providing them with meaningful and structured education activities in the home, including completing online training courses such as first aid, food hygiene, health and safety, fire safety, child sexual exploitation, and safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. The young people have aspirations for their futures and clear plan to achieve what they want out of life. The young people feel safe and feel able talk to staff about their worries. The staff take concerns about young people seriously and respond decisively to reduce any risk of harm to them, including the risks associated with sexual exploitation, drugs and alcohol. This has included preventing a young person from leaving the home because there was an immediate risk that she was going out to meet someone who was sexually exploiting her. They worked collaboratively with social workers, the local designated officer and the police to understand risk and protect this

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

young person. The manager also challenged these other agencies when he was concerned that they were not taking appropriate action to help him protect her. The staff use up-to-date and evolving written risk assessments effectively to develop a clear understanding of risks to individual young people’s safety and to guide them to manage and reduce these risks. The manager has relevant experience and is completing a qualification in leadership and management. Ofsted is currently considering his application to become the registered manager. The management arrangements have strengthened since the last inspection because the manager no longer involved in a management of another children’s home. He now has more time and capacity available to efficiently and effectively manage and develop the home. He has taken positive steps to address the requirements and recommendations for improvements identified at the last inspection. The Statement of Purpose now

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

provides details of the experience and qualifications of the therapists used by the home to support young people’s emotional well-being. The staff now have suitable training opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills about young people’s specific needs around e-safety, behaviour management and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. Permanent staff are receiving suitable practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. However, this is not the case for an agency member of staff. Although she receives good day-to-day guidance and has her work assessed by a manager through observation, she does not have the opportunity to have formal face-to-face discussions about her work and development. The planning for young people’s care now systematically ensures that young people who live a long way from their homes have easy access to health, education, and therapeutic services in the local area. This means that the support

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

young people get is not unnecessarily disrupted when they first move in. The manager has taken steps to ensure that there are suitable arrangements for enough prescribed medication to be available for young people while they are transferring between doctors. Health plans now identify young people’s physical and emotional needs and how their needs should be met, including counselling around bereavement and loss. The manager and staff have developed stronger relationships with the police, virtual heads of schools, health services, and community counselling services to make sure that young people receive the support they need and at the right time. The leaders and managers’ ability to understand the home’s effectiveness and how to secure improvements is impeded by a lack of robust scrutiny. The monitoring by the independent person does not provide a detailed and evaluative assessment of the home's arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

children living in the home. The monitoring reports are descriptive and lack in- depth analysis; for example, about how effectively staff responded when a young person went missing and the quality of the strategies for reducing the risk of this happening again. Likewise, the registered person’s review of the quality of care does not provide a thorough and evaluative assessment of young people’s experiences and views about living in the home, and the impact care is having on their lives. This lack of detailed assessment does not help the manager to identify accurately areas of strength and possible weakness, and identify the actions required to make improvements in the home.

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned children’s home provides care and accommodation for three young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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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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13: The leadership and management standard

In order to meet the leadership standard the registered person must: -

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13: The leadership and management standard

2(h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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13: The leadership and management standard

In particular, the independent person, who carries out visits under Regulation 44, must make a rigorous, detailed and evaluative assessment of the home's arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children living in the home.

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13: The leadership and management standard

Also, the registered person’s review of the quality of care, under Regulation 45, must provide a thorough and evaluative assessment of children's experiences and views about living in the home and the impact care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children; to enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness, and identify any actions required to make improvements in the home. 31/03/2016

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13: The leadership and management standard

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. In particular, relief and agency staff, have supervision and a record of supervision is kept to provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with Regulation 33(4)(b). (Regulation 33(4)(b)) 31/03/2016

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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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