Children's home in Winchester

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The manager is showing exceptional leadership. She has quickly come to grasp the strengths and weaknesses of the home, and drawn up a comprehensive development plan. She has responded well to the external monitoring by Ofsted and the independent visitor, formulating a robust action plan to tackle any shortfalls within a realistic timeframe.  The manager ensures that her team is well supported and trained. Staff are motivated to deliver high-quality care. They work cohesively, with young people at the centre of their practice.  Staff are relentless in their approach to supporting young people to access education. They are innovative and creative, working extremely well with education professionals.  Staff work tirelessly to keep young people as safe as possible when they are missing from care. They search the local area and other places young people are known to go. There is good practice to ensure that an

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The children's home provision is good because:

independent ‘return interview’ takes place.  The manager works effectively with other safeguarding professionals. She discusses and manages risk, for example by calling for high-risk strategy meetings. She is bringing positive change to safeguard young people further on a daily basis.  Staff provide excellent role models for young people. They are a long- serving, consistent staff team. Young people are able to make attachments. They begin to trust the adults caring for them.  There is excellent pastoral support for young people. Staff consider carefully the underlying emotional or mental health needs related to behaviour. They do all that they can to manage challenging behaviour.  Staff ensure that young people’s health needs are met. They support young people to attend appointments. They debate the benefits for each young person, for example of vaccinations, when they refuse to attend. Staff re-

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The children's home provision is good because:

book appointments immediately so that the next appointment is not overlooked.

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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 meet the quality and purpose of care standard the registered person is required to:

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Requirement Due date

(c) ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that internal doors have thumb-turn locks, where relevant (Regulation 6 (2)(c)(i)). 29 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that medicine that is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child.

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Requirement Due date

This especially applies to assessing the risk when a child refuses to take medication or is unable to do so when missing from care (Regulation 23 (2)(b)). 29 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

Prepare and implement a policy which is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children's home from abuse;

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Requirement Due date

In particular, through social media on personal electronic devices (Regulation 34 (1)(a)). 29 June 2016

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Information about this children's home

This children's home is owned and managed by a local authority. The home provides long-term care for up to six young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The young people currently accommodated are all male. The home uses an established parenting model to work with and measure the progress of each young person. There has been a new manager since January 2016. She has applied for registration with Ofsted.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

22 December 2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

29 January 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.5

Good

Staff do not give up on young people who are struggling to engage with their education. They work closely with education professionals to think of innovative and creative ways to support young people in their learning. This includes exploring apprenticeships, work experience and other training. An education professional said, ‘Staff are very proactive. We have a really good working relationship.’ Staff succeed with some young people, who have excellent education attendance, achievement and ambition. They are on target for good GCSE grades. Other young people find the transition into education too difficult to make. They come from a background of a negative view of school that significant adults in their lives have embedded in them over many years. Even so, staff are ambitious and optimistic that they can still succeed. They provide further opportunities and ideas to engage young people in their interests while learning. Examples are purchasing

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Good

metal detectors to explore a local forest, geocaching and a sailing project.

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Good

Staff work well with health professionals. Young people have easy access to an education psychologist and clinical psychologist. Staff meet the young people’s emotional needs. Staff support young people to attend their routine medical appointments, re-booking them when young people refuse to engage, so they do not lose sight of their physical health needs such as vaccinations. Staff ensure that they offer prescribed medication at the right time and keep accurate records. There is not a written audit system in place to demonstrate the risk assessment process that staff follow when a young person refuses medication or cannot take it because they are missing from the home.

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Good

The experienced staff team has worked in the home for a long time. Having a large proportion of male staff provides a positive role model to adolescent boys. Young people are able to make secure attachments. Relationships are positive and constructive. Young people make good progress, such as asking staff for help to manage their anger. Staff adopt a thoughtful and sensitive approach, for example during a bereavement. They support young people who have difficult and confusing feelings as they come to terms with their loss. A parent said, ‘He has the warmth of the home.’

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Good

Staff ensure that young people are able to see their families and other individuals who are important to them. They make sure that each young person is able to take whatever personal belongings they wish. They problem solve to ensure that contact is a positive experience for all. They advocate for young people to ensure that decisions are made that are in their best interests. Young people have a sense of identity and good care. Staff have an open dialogue with parents and placing social workers, so that they can accommodate requests outside the norm, such as long journeys with their brothers or sisters to particular events.

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Good

Young people have a voice. They are able to make day-to-day decisions as well as bigger choices, such as where to go on holiday. The manager has introduced a regular evening activity, usually associated with food, where young people can relax with staff and tell them what they want. Staff are able to have meaningful conversations with young people, for example by connecting through a mutual interest in particular films. Young people feel that they have a voice and that there is no need for them to access the formal complaints system. There have been no complaints since the last inspection.

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Good

Young people have the opportunity to participate in the unit awards assessment scheme to recognise their ongoing progress in key skills. There has been limited success with this. Recently, the manager has introduced an independent living skills programme.

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Good

There have been no admissions or discharges since the last inspection. The manager has introduced a compatibility placement matrix to assess the dynamics within the home before accepting a placement.

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Good

Staff work well with other professionals to protect young people as much as possible when they are missing from care. A representative from one agency said, ‘I cannot praise the home highly enough for their approach.’ A parent said, ‘They handle it well when they go missing.’ Staff search for young people in the local area and other places they know they may venture. They review each incident and the specific risks. They consult other professionals and convene high-risk strategy meetings to agree future approaches. Of particular note is the ‘return to care’ interview. Staff have fully embraced a local authority initiative to provide a volunteer to conduct such interviews. The volunteer visits the home on a regular basis to build a relationship with the young people. There is success, for example a successful referral to an outside agency, because of recommendations from such an interview.

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Good

Staff are aware of the safeguarding policy that they implement in practice. They ensure that they are available for young people to talk to about any specific concerns, such as cyber-bullying. They take swift action to keep everyone as safe as possible. They educate young people, rather than confiscate electronic devices or limit access to the internet. The use of social media and the adopted strategies are not explicit in the policy. The risk assessment process is strong. Key staff document the known and emerging risks well. They give careful thought to the control measures, to reduce dangers without being risk averse. Transparency in practice, good recording and open communication are successful in establishing positive relationships with other safeguarding professionals. The manager works well with others to keep young people as safe as possible.

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Good

Staff have an empathy for the reasons underlying challenging behaviour. They demonstrate tremendous patience, often adopting de-escalation techniques over a number of hours, during which time there is damage to the environment. They seek to understand the psychological reasons that trigger an incident. They have developed good relationships with key professionals, such as a clinical psychologist and education psychologist. Such professionals visit the home on a regular basis to discuss the needs of each young person. Staff update placement plans and risk assessments to reflect the most up-to-date behaviour management strategies. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of the underlying issues, such as autistic traits. Strategies, such as a positive rewards system, are successful. There is little need for the use of physical intervention. There has been one such incident since the last inspection. Staff recorded this well, meeting the previous requirement

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Good

Staff keep young people emotionally safe. Young people are free to express themselves, without judgement, to a staff team that truly listens. The manager has brought about other improvements to safeguarding, such as forming relationships and exchanging telephone calls with parents of friends of the young people.

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Good

Young people live in a safe home. Staff ensure that all the necessary health and safety checks are complete, including precautions against fire. When young people present with risk-taking behaviour, such as experimenting with fire, staff involve other professionals such as the police and fire service to talk to the young people. They review risk assessments and fire procedures for effectiveness. Such incidents are prevented.

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Good

The manager adopts safer recruitment practice. She only employs adults deemed to be suitable to work with young people.

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Outstanding

The manager is showing outstanding leadership in a period of challenge and change. She is establishing a learning culture, where there is reflection on incidents and enormous effort to prevent recurrence. She has listened to external critique, such as by the independent visitor or through Ofsted inspections. She has drawn up a comprehensive development plan with clear responsibilities and timescales. This is a manager who empowers her staff and puts the young people’s needs at the centre of practice. She delegates effectively, utilising the skill set of her team. Results are remarkable. An example is the independent living skills programme to prepare young people better for adult life.

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Outstanding

The manager has put into place an effective system to cope promptly with repairs needed to the environment because of challenging behaviour. Some locks that do not have thumb-turns on the inside of doors have been replaced. This has the potential to restrict liberty. There was no suggestion or evidence to demonstrate that this is happening in practice.

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Outstanding

The manager welcomes external scrutiny and monitoring. She takes any recommendations for improvement seriously and acts swiftly. She incorporates any longer-term issues into the comprehensive development plan that she has written. There are clear goals against the quality standards. Equally, she ensures that there is robust internal monitoring and sends statutory reports into Ofsted.

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Outstanding

The staff team works together in a cohesive and cooperative way. Morale is high, even in the face of some challenging times with young people as they work through their difficult emotions. Staff are committed to their role. They say that the manager supports them very well, especially through the supervision and appraisal process. The manager ensures that staff have excellent support as they cope with unexpected traumatic events in their own lives.

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Outstanding

Staff speak in the most positive terms of their training and development. They particularly enjoy the model of parenting training that the senior management team has adopted. They are assessed as to their competency and understanding of the programme. A psychologist guides them how to apply the principles in practice.

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Outstanding

The manager ensures that the team has the skills to support and look after the young people in their care. She is developing a library of professional books at the home for staff to access. She arranged for a neuroscientist to come to the team meeting to talk about the physical impact on the brain as the result of emotional trauma. She ensures that further training is provided, such as in autism, to keep staff up to date with professional practice. Staff seek advice from others, when necessary, to ensure that they are adopting the right techniques. A professional said, ‘The lines of communication between us and the home are very good.’

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Outstanding

The manager has responded well to the recommendation made at the previous inspection to strengthen the placement planning. She has introduced a placement planning matrix to assess the compatibility of potential admissions with the young people already living in the home. Evidence was seen that this is now being applied in practice.

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Outstanding

The manager works well with other professionals. She has embraced the strategy of the local authority to provide a trained volunteer for ‘return’ interviews. She provides the forum to nurture the relationships between each young person and the volunteer who comes to the home on a regular basis.

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Outstanding

The manager challenges other professionals, particularly to obtain reports on time, such as personal education plans and statutory review minutes. She makes any necessary amendments to the detailed placement plans. A competent manager leads this home. She is determined to fulfil the aims and objectives in the statement of purpose.

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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’. 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

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What the inspection judgements mean

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 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

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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