Children's home in Preston

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:

 Young people make excellent progress from their starting points. Their life chances improve significantly through living at the home.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 They learn to manage their emotions and build trusting relationships with staff. Over time, the choices they make become consistently safer and previous concerns regarding their emotional and physical welfare diminish.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people’s emotional and physical health improves significantly as they experience positive and enriching care. Previously harmful experiences are replaced with nurturing responses from a dedicated and experienced staff team.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people receive exceptional individualised care from dedicated staff. They develop confidence to re-engage with education and are encouraged to nurture their talents and aspirations.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people feel safe at the home and feel listened to. Their views influence the care that they receive and they invest in the home.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Managers are clear about their aspirations for young people and they work well with other professionals in securing the services that young people require. They advocate on their behalf and ensure that transition plans are underpinned by thorough planning.

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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 ‘Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating – (a) the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)) 31 May 2016

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Requirement Due date

A notification made under this regulation – (a) must include details of (iii) any action taken by the registered person as a result of the matter. (Regulation 40 (5)(iii)) 31 May 2016

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Requirement Due date

5. In order to meet the engaging with the wider system standard, with particular reference to ensuring that information regarding children is secured from the local authority, the registered person must ensure that- (c) if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority's or a relevant person's performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child's needs are met in accordance with the child's relevant plans 31 May 2016

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Requirement Due date

13. In order to meet the leadership and management standard, with particular reference establishing clear protocols and arrangements for decision making, the registered provider must: (2)(b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate 31 May 2016

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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 importance of understanding who we are and where we come from is recognised in good social work practice, for example through undertaking life story work or other direct work. Staff in children's homes should play a full role in work of this kind (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.14).

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home's policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording… (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4), with particular reference to the completion of documents relating to lone working/direct work.

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Information about this children's home

The home is privately owned and run. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six females with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

16 September 2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

3 March 2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Outstanding

This is the first full inspection since the home was re-registered in November 2014. The excellent care that young people receive is well informed and thoughtful. They make considerable progress from their starting points in attending and achieving in education. This supports their future aspirations and gives structure to their lives, when previously it was absent. This means that young people learn to value and recognise education as being important to their lives. Since the last inspection, in order to further support the young people’s educational progress a weekly homework club has been established. Young people engage fully with this. A particular strength of the home is the trust that is quickly established with young people. The warmth and positive regard they experience helps them to respond to guidance and learn from the positive role models that staff provide. Over time, young people respond well to the advice they are given. Through this

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Outstanding

they learn to manage their emotions and respond to the high expectations that staff communicate. Young people feel that staff genuinely care about them as individuals and make decisions that are in their best interests. They are successfully helped to understand decisions which may not always be their initial wishes. One independent reviewing officer (IRO) commented, ‘This is a very positive placement. From where she was originally, they have exceeded our expectations. They are one of the best young person’s homes that I have ever been involved with.’ Staff value and quickly identify young people’s talents, strengths and interests. These are promoted and enthusiastically supported. For example, one young person has identified a future college art course she wishes to attend in order to pursue her goal to become a tattoo artist. This interest is being individually supported by the staff, in conjunction with the school, to source and provide

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Outstanding

individual weekly art lessons. As a result, her confidence and experience in the subject has grown and developed. This young person has also produced large pieces of scenery for the home’s Christmas pantomime.

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Outstanding

Through high-quality planning and attention to their needs, young people learn the skills to enable them to move successfully into young adulthood. For example, they learn to cook, budget, complete basic household chores and positively manage the relationships that are important to them. They successfully learn to recognise risk and are encouraged to take age-appropriate decisions.

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Outstanding

Young people are fully encouraged to have fun and enjoy their leisure time. These activities not only offer positive experiences, but also support learning in other aspects of their lives, for example cooperating with others and giving up their time to raise money for charities. These occasions also integrate them into the community in which they live. Young people experience activities that are enriching, both emotionally and physically. They learn to share their talents with others, discover new talents and grow in confidence.

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Outstanding

Young people’s backgrounds and previous harmful behaviours are understood by the staff. They are helped to manage the emotions that arise from these experiences and become more resilient in making positive choices in relationships. However, life story work is not currently undertaken by the staff, and such work would contribute further to the current achievements of young people.

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Outstanding

One young person, commenting on the progress she had made while at the home, said, ‘It’s been really good at the home. I was proper badly behaved. If I hadn’t come here I wouldn’t have sat exams. I weren’t going to school, was going missing and stuff.’ When asked what had made the difference to her life, she responded, ‘Staff. They are supportive.’ Another young person commented, ‘I was seriously horrible before. Super stubborn, arguing, heavy into drugs, drinking – anything I could get my hands on. Being here, I’ve had the help I needed and staff have helped me overcome these things.’ An IRO said, ‘They have turned it around and have engaged her beyond our expectations, and she is on track to achieve. They have recognised her additional needs and have catered for this. They have recognised her talent and this has boosted her confidence in other areas of her education.’ Judgement grade

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Good

Through the consistent positive regard they are held in by staff, over time young people learn to recognise their self-worth. This emotional growth and security underpin the positive choices they make, in that they no longer wish to seek out experiences that would damage their emotional or physical health. As a result, drug and alcohol use stops, incidents of self-harm significantly diminish, exposure to child sexual exploitation ceases and missing from home incidents are significantly reduced.

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Good

This progress is supported by robust risk assessments, and by staff thoroughly understanding how risks present themselves for each individual young person. If young people do go missing, there is a consistent active response from staff to keep in touch, locate and return them. Any rise in concerns about young people’s welfare brings a multidisciplinary approach that seeks to address the risks. However, additional measures to ensure that lone working with young people is better recorded and clear are not consistently applied. In addition, the notification of one event was not fully transparent in its description of actions that were taken by managers to address the issues.

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Good

Relationships between the staff, young people and police are positively fostered. This is achieved through local officers calling at the home and having cups of tea with the staff and young people. Young people get to know and trust them as part of their support network.

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Good

Young people say that they feel safe and are safe at the home. Clear routines and consistent boundaries add to their sense of security and the positive changes they achieve. Staff work hard to provide a homely and nurturing environment, and to offer both individual and group activities. This contributes to young people being tolerant of each other, and any disagreements or conflict being quickly resolved.

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Good

Young people are further protected by robust selection and recruitment procedures for staff. This ensures that they are not exposed to adults who may pose a risk to their welfare. Judgement grade

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Good

The manager has been registered for this home since June 2014. She is suitably qualified and was the deputy manager at the home, under the previous registration, prior to being appointed as manager.

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Good

Although the manager was not available during the inspection, this was not detrimental to the inspection process. The deputy manager and team leaders provide effective and clear leadership in the absence of the manager. Staff say that they are very well supported by their immediate supervisors, and this includes regular formal and informal supervision. In order to ensure that there is the correct knowledge base and skills to meet young people’s needs, staff regularly access a variety of training that includes areas such as child sexual exploitation, self-harm and autism.

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Good

However, staff report that decision-making by the registered manager is not clear, on occasion, and that the decisions that the staff make are changed. This can create confusion and undermine confidence in the decisions staff make.

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Good

The managers and staff have a clear understanding of the needs of young people, and their dedicated care ensures that they make sustained improvements in many areas of their lives. There is continuous and thorough appraisal of young people’s progress, and this is clearly documented and updated. However, managers and staff have not robustly pursued some outstanding information from the local authority and, therefore, comprehensive insight into young people’s backgrounds is compromised.

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Good

Care is tailored in line with young people’s individual needs. Staff work hard at keeping these central to their work. For example, great efforts are made to ensure that activities, routines and special events continue to be meaningful, fun and responsive to young people’s requests.

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Good

Other professionals involved in the planning of young people’s care consider the staff and managers to be approachable, prompt with their responses and focused in their work. One IRO commented, ‘They are well staffed and well managed. I’ve been quite impressed with them.’ The good working relationships that are established and maintained ensure that young people’s needs are fully understood, and that there is a comprehensive and shared approach to meeting their needs. The managers have appropriate insight into the strengths and development areas for the home. Overall, there are good systems in place for reviewing the care that is offered to young people, and the home’s development plan is regularly reviewed. However, changes made to the recording of lone working with young people have not been consistently reviewed by managers, therefore have not been embedded into regular recording practice.

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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 ‘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 0300 123 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, 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,

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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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