Children's Home run by Netheredge Care Limited in Kirklees

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:

 This is a home where young people receive good-quality care in a supportive and homely environment. They view this as a safe place to be. Incidents of unauthorised absence and challenging and offending behaviours have all reduced.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people are gaining the confidence to try new activities and experiences. They feel comfortable with staff and participate in all aspects of the running of the home. They have a say in the decisions made about them.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The manager and staff champion young people's needs and ambitions. They work closely with other professionals to get the best services and resources for young people.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The manager is providing effective leadership and support to a very motivated team. Monitoring in these early days of operation is proving effective in identifying where things need to change to improve further the quality of care for young people.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered persons meet 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 persons must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children's home a statement (‘the statement of purpose’) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. Ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose (Regulation 16(1)(5)). 10 June 2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following 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 home regulations including the quality standards, page 62, paragraph 14.4). Specifically, set clear care planning objectives, with defined timescales for the achievement of those objectives.  The review for monitoring the matters set out in regulation should focus on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact that the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2).

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Information about this children's home

This is a private children's home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Good

The home is caring for two young people who have been at the home for only a very short period. Good information gathering, planning and a warm welcome from staff have enabled young people to make a good start to their time here. As a result, both young people are making measureable progress in all areas of their lives. One young person, who has a lot of experience of being in care, said, 'This is the best home I've lived in.' The quality of young people's lives is improving. They are benefitting from a better diet, proactive support for their educational endeavours, greater emotional nurturing and an interesting and stimulating range of activities. These include horse riding, street dance, bowling and special days out. They are beginning to make friendships outside of the home. For the first time, young people will be holidaying abroad this year. Overall, this is having a very positive impact on young

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Good

people's physical and emotional health, behaviour and well-being. Staff get the balance right between giving young people the advice and guidance that they need, and respecting their views as the emerging young adults that they are. This is proving effective as staff work with young people to maintain engagement in post-16 training, work and education. This has resulted in one young person securing a college place to study engineering, and another electing to re-sit her final examination year. There are signs that young people who find it very hard to engage with adults are beginning to respond to the staff’s efforts to discuss their feelings and emotions. They talk with their key workers about the challenges in their lives, which is the first step towards moving forward and making changes. This will assist them on their journey to greater emotional resilience.

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Good

Young people are encouraged to keep themselves in good health. They eat a wide range of healthy foods and are being encouraged to stop smoking. They take exercise through activities such as ice-skating and street dancing. This gives them the chance to socialise while learning new skills.

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Good

Young people exercise their right to have their voices heard at all levels of decision-making. For example, one young person expressed a preference for different staffing arrangements. The rota has been changed to accommodate this. They also have input into their behaviour management strategies, contact arrangements and statutory reviewing processes. One young person has been supported in their decision to make a complaint to their local authority, and a complaint about a member of staff in the home has been addressed. The young person expressed satisfaction with the process and outcome. Staff maintain regular communication with social workers and family members, and support and facilitate young people’s visits to family members. This enables young people to retain positive links with their home community and those people that are most important to them. Young people are not yet ready for formal independence planning. However, they

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Good

are learning everyday skills for adult life such as cooking, cleaning and generally helping around the home. The home itself is very comfortable, well furnished and, apart from some minor damage, well maintained. Young people take pride in living here and enjoy the material comforts that the home provides.

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Good

Young people feel positive about living here. This is because staff have built very effective relationships with them and hold them in positive regard. Staff are friendly and clearly interested in the young people and their lives.

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Good

Staff view every shift as an opportunity to help young people to overcome their difficulties and to improve their life chances. This is not always easy or straightforward, as young people sometimes resist expectations of acceptable behaviour, or struggle to regulate their emotions. Staff are effective at helping young people to understand their emotional responses and how to modify their behaviour.

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Good

Young people have a say about what works best for them in terms of managing their behaviours. As a result, the number of incidents of challenging behaviour has reduced. On the rare occasions when restraint has been necessary, the techniques have been used appropriately and for the minimum amount of time.

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Good

Young people confirm that they feel safe and protected at the home. Their risk of child exploitation is low and unauthorised absences have significantly decreased. Staff are good at making young people feel wanted. They clearly understand how the potential risks increase if young people feel isolated or disengaged. As a result, young people choose to be around staff and to stay within the home. As the number of difficult incidents continues to reduce, this allows for even more opportunities for reflection and wise decision-making. Young people are protected by safe recruitment procedures. This ensures that only those suitable to work with vulnerable young people are employed at the home.

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Good

The manager gained registration of the home in January 2016. She has extensive experience in managing children's homes. She holds a level 4 qualification and is currently studying for the level 5 diploma in leadership and management. The manager has made an immediate impact by providing effective leadership during the short time that the home has been operating. Her enabling style of management supports staff to deliver good-quality care. This is helping young people to improve their behaviour and social skills, and to reduce their risk-taking behaviour. Staff say that they have good support, training and supervision that underpin their work and professional development. Six members of staff hold the level 3 national vocational qualification. Four members of staff will have completed the equivalent diploma by February 2017. Staff are aware of, and discuss, the home's statement of purpose, which aims to,

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Good

'build positive relationships with young people, secure trusting relationships and provide a secure base'. The home is fulfilling this commitment to young people, providing them with stability and promoting positive attachments to adults on whom they can rely. The statement of purpose does contain some inaccuracies and does not address all the matters that it should. This is an administrative shortfall that has no impact on young people, but may mislead commissioners about the actual services provided.

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Good

The manager and staff are working in partnership with placing authorities, education providers and other agencies to share information appropriately and to advocate for the young people. They also work in partnership with parents and other family members. This supports them in their role and reinforces that everyone around the young people has a shared commitment to supporting them.

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Good

The manager's monitoring processes are building up a picture, in this first six months of operation, of what the home is doing well and the areas that need further development. Two additional aspects were identified for improvement during this inspection.

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Good

Care planning objectives could be more specific with clearer timescales attached. This would help in monitoring the extent to which young people's outcomes are improving and whether or not more could be done. Achieving this would also usefully contribute to the manager's six-monthly evaluation of the impact of staff practice and intervention.

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Good

The draft evaluation report does not focus enough on the experiences of young people living here. This limits the potential to take the kind of actions that will really shape and improve the quality of care offered to young people.

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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 whom 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

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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