–

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:

 Adults working in the home have the very best interests of the young people at the heart of their practice.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people have made attachments with the staff which has led to exemplary, open and honest communication. This has enabled young people to feel secure and confident about their futures.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people speak favourably about all aspects of their care. Comments include, ‘This is the best care home I have ever been in’, ‘the staff here have really helped me with stuff, like my behaviour and school’, ‘they listen to what you say and don’t judge you’, ‘things have got better since I came here’ and ’I want to stay for a long time, that’s what my plan is and I’m happy about that.’

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The organisation is very child-focused, and it works well with all other agencies to secure the best outcomes for the young people in its care.

p.3

The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 This home demonstrates exemplary practice, which is worth sharing with other services.

p.3

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.

p.4

Requirement Due date

Ensure that the statement of purpose is kept under review, in particular making it accessible to those outside of the social work profession, for example, some parents (Guide to the Quality Standards, page 13, paragraph 3.5).

p.4

Information about this children's home

The home is registered for three children who are in the category of emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD). The home is privately owned and there is one other home registered with Ofsted by this organisation.

p.5

Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

Recent inspection history

05/02/2015 CH – Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.5

Recent inspection history

03/02/2015 CH – Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.5

Outstanding

The quality of care is outstanding. The home is indistinguishable from surrounding properties, and the young people know the surrounding area and have fostered very positive relationships with the neighbours. Young people benefit from very good day-to-day experiences. They are included in all decisions affecting their lives. These range from decisions about choice of menu’s through to personal preferences regarding choices of activities to undertake. The house is very homely and the young people’s bedrooms are highly personalised. There is very little damage to the home. The young people clearly benefit from living in this home and the positive impact on them and the progress they are making is evident in all areas. Excellent planning has taken place to ensure that young people are enabled to develop confidence and emotional resilience. The home undertakes life-story work in conjunction with specialist services

p.6

Outstanding

and keeps well-documented photographic diaries for the young people. They have detailed care and placement plans that clearly link to direct work undertaken by staff with the young people, all of which are well recorded and presented. Young people have made strong attachments with the staff based on mutual respect. This has led to exemplary, open and honest communication. This has enabled the young people to feel secure and confident about their futures. Young people have been very well supported and have been encouraged to attend health appointments, ensuring all medical checks are up to date. Each child has a detailed health plan in place that offers a comprehensive outline of individual needs. Staff provide good role models to the young people: they ensure that young people understand the importance of maintaining good health and the benefits of healthy eating and following a healthy life style. The educational achievement of young people is exceptional, taking into

p.6

Outstanding

account both their attainment and their progress from their starting points at the time of placement. Staff ensure that young people attend school and they maintain close links with the schools to foster constructive working relationships to further young people’s education. They attend any meetings held by the schools to ensure that they are kept fully up to date with any developments. Young people benefit from excellent contact arrangements, and these are very well documented, which provides for consistency. Relationships between all of the staff and families are very strong. Where young people live a long way from home, the registered manager arranges with parents for overnight stays in nearby hotels. This helps promote and foster positive relationships for young people with those who are important in their lives.

p.6

Outstanding

Specific risk-taking behaviours, such as going missing from care and the risks of child sexual exploitation, are all known and very well understood by staff. There have been a few occasions when young people have been missing, and these have been managed appropriately, following agreed protocols od reporting and looking for young people. Staff consistently place the safety of young people at the centre of their practice, irrespective of the challenges this presents. Young people know that staff care about them, and are very much interested in their welfare.

p.7

Outstanding

Young people benefit from very effective support, help and protection. Staff do their utmost to keep young people safe from harm, which works very well. Risks associated with young people are clearly identified and strategies are in put in place to minimise these risks. There is evidence that these behaviours have significantly decreased. Staff understand that young people’s past experiences, and present feelings and emotions, can be communicated through difficult and unpredictable behaviour. Staff provide young people with appropriate support to help them manage their feelings and behaviours safely. Staff try to anticipate young people’s behaviour and they have an excellent understanding of their needs and vulnerabilities.

p.7

Outstanding

Relationships between the adults and young people are open, friendly and professional. Young people respond well to verbal prompts. Young people speak very favourably about how the home has helped them with their behaviour and they have clearly developed positive attachments to the adults working with them and are confident to report any worries or concerns as they feel they will be listened to.

p.7

Outstanding

The home employs a well-qualified, suitably trained and experienced registered manager who exercises very effective leadership of the home’s operation and has developed a service that is run in the very best interests of the young people. The manager has held the position since 4 February 2015. Staff benefit from excellent support from the registered manager. They receive regular, professional supervision to support them in caring for young people. Staff have all completed induction and mandatory training at the home. The home is managed extremely efficiently and effectively, in a way that improves outcomes for young people. The registered manager routinely reviews young people’s progress at the home. The manager understands the home’s strengths and areas for improvement and development plans are in place. Independent monitoring activities take place each month. Young people, staff and the placing authority are routinely consulted as

p.8

Outstanding

part of this process. Visits are used to form an accurate opinion about the standard and quality of young people’s care. A report is produced for the home following each visit. Combined with the manager’s rigorous monitoring activities, there are effective arrangements in place for reviewing and improving the quality of young people’s care. The home meets the aims and objectives of its statement of purpose and delivers a good quality service for young people and their families. However, this document requires review and updates to some details. It would also benefit from being in plain English. The manager is planning to provide a parents’ guide in the near future. Staff maintain very effective partnerships with other professional agencies in order to meet the specific needs of young people living at the home. They work proactively and positively with other services to secure improved outcomes for young people.

p.8

Outstanding

The manager and staff champion the needs of young people. They know how to escalate concerns and challenge professional decisions if they believe they are not in the best interests of young people. There are very good arrangements for staff training and development. Staff benefit from good quality training, which means that they are suitably and have the right skills and knowledge to meet the diverse needs of young people.

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