Children's Home run by Liverpool City Council in Liverpool

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:

 Children who have disabilities and complex health needs enjoy exceptionally positive experiences that enrich their lives and provide them with excellent and wide-ranging opportunities for personal growth and development. Exceptionally strong safe care practices protect these vulnerable children from harm.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The extremely high standard of personalised support is making a significant difference to the children’s lives. They are making excellent, and often remarkable, progress in every aspect of their development. Children feel safe and enjoy extremely warm and trusting relationships with the staff. They are increasingly confident spending time away from their families, being around other children, joining in groups more, and taking part in different, interesting and meaningful activities. They have opportunities to make friends and to do things that they may not be able to do with their families. They are more able to express their wishes and to make choices about what they have to eat and how they spend their time. They are less anxious and manage their feelings constructively. They are significantly less likely to show their emotions through aggressive or self-harming behaviour.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Children’s stays are carefully planned in an extremely welcoming, supportive and safe environment. The manager and staff have extremely strong and effective relationships with children, their parents and carers, social workers, schools and health professionals. They work together systematically to ensure that each child receives the best possible support and that continuity of their care is promoted. Parents and carers feel extremely supported by the staff. They enjoy open and trusting relationships and they are confident leaving their children in the staff’s care.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Dynamic leadership and management are delivering sustained and continuous improvements in the home’s effectiveness. Extremely thorough monitoring is driving improvements in the quality of the care provided and the staff’s abilities to meet children’s complex needs. The systematic monitoring of children’s experiences and progress builds a detailed understanding of the impact of the service on their lives and how it can be developed in their best interests.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 Enhance procedures that staff follow if a young person goes missing, by providing details of routes that they may take or people whom they may visit, to improve searches for them (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28).

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the review of the quality of care includes analysis of children's views about the quality of care and support provided by the home, in order to show their experiences of staying there and the impact that the care is having on their lives (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.2).

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the independent person’s reports explicitly show their judgement of the home's arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the home's care (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5).

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Information about this children's home

The children's home is managed by a local authority, providing short-term breaks for up to seven children at any one time. The home cares for children and young people who have learning disabilities and physical disabilities.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

2 February 2016 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

11 November 2014 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Outstanding

Children who have disabilities and complex health needs enjoy exceptionally positive and well-planned short breaks in this children’s home. It is an extremely welcoming, supportive and safe place for them to stay. A child said, ‘I love my short break.’ Parents also confirmed how much their children enjoy staying; ‘My child is always happy and excited when I drop him off.’ and ‘Our son is happy and enjoys his time here, we as parents feel he's safe and all his needs are being met. He gets to socialise and do lots of activities’ and ‘She recognises the house when she arrives and is always laughing. She comes home very happy. She enjoys being around other children.’ Children’s care is sensitively and carefully planned. The manager and staff have built very positive relationships with children’s parents and carers, social workers, school and health professionals. They work together to complete thorough assessments of children’s needs, which form the basis of comprehensive short-

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Outstanding

break plans. The quality of these assessments and plans means that everyone can be confident that children will benefit from short breaks at this home, and the staff are able to meet children’s individual needs safely. Children’s short-break plans clearly pull together each child’s educational, health, social and communications goals. As a result, the arrangements for their care provide a consistent approach to meeting their assessed needs. The staff use the plans and detailed records to measure children’s progress and development, and to contribute to a better understanding of children’s lives. They routinely attend multi-agency education, health, child protection and short-break reviews to ensure that children are continuing to receive the best possible support. A social worker said, ‘Staff attend and contribute to reviews. They provide a clear picture of children’s needs and progress and extra steps needed to support them.’

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Outstanding

The manager and staff ensure that children staying at the same time have compatible needs and interests. They arrange, when possible, for children to stay with the same group to provide opportunities for children to develop friendships. A parent said, ‘He is aware of the other young people who he has his breaks with. Routine and familiarity are very important to him and this helps in his stay.’ Another parent said, ‘It has given him a social life, other than his home and school.’ The home is also sufficiently flexible to accommodate children’s changing needs or short-term emergencies, such as family crisis or illness. At the time of the inspection, the home was providing longer stays for three children. This was providing continuity of care for them in a familiar place with staff that know them extremely well, while more permanent plans are identified. The manager and staff have managed these temporary arrangements effectively. Other children’s routines

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Outstanding

or activities have not been disrupted, and there are always sufficient suitable staff available to ensure that the needs of each child are safely met. The placing authority has now found appropriate long-term placements for the three children, and staff are preparing them to move to their new homes. The manager and staff are working closely with the children’s new staff to help them to get to know and understand their needs and to share good practice about what helps the children to feel safe and to make progress. They have successfully supported other children to move on positively and to settle well in their new homes. The staff are positive, friendly and enthusiastic, and show a genuine interest in the children’s lives and their families. They are ambitious for every child, regardless of the complexity of their needs and disabilities, to get the most out of their stays, to develop and enjoy the same opportunities as other children and to have new

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Outstanding

experiences. A parent said, ‘The staff are always at pains to ensure my son's stay is an enjoyable one.’ They understand children’s individual needs extremely well and provide them with an outstanding standard of care, tailored to meet their individual assessed needs. Children stay in a stable and consistent environment where they feel safe and have a sense of belonging. They have warm and trusting relationships with staff. Parents said, ‘Our son is very relaxed and confident around the staff and gives them big hugs’ and ‘He recognises all the staff, he runs up to them when he gets there and is all smiles.’ The strong and meaningful relationships between children and the staff, and the high-quality personalised care that children receive are contributing to changing children’s lives. They make excellent progress with their communication, social and life skills, building emotional resilience and managing their feelings. They feel

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Outstanding

confident spending time away from their families, being around other children and trying new activities. A grandmother said, ‘He likes it here and mixes with the other kids. His behaviour has improved and he has calmed down at home.’ The staff expertly support and encourage every child, including those who do not communicate verbally, to express their wishes and feelings and to make choices in a meaningful way. A parent said, ‘Our son has limited speech, but the staff learnt to understand his needs and emotions really quickly.’ Children said, ‘We have a talk when I go there about what I want to do’ and ‘Sometimes I just want to stay in the unit when the others go out and they let me.’ Staff have an excellent understanding of how to engage with individual children. The further embedding of augmented communication tools, including signs, symbols and pictures, continues to improve the way in which staff support children’s diverse communication

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Outstanding

abilities. The whole environment is set up to promote better communication, with pictures and symbols freely available for children to pick up and use independently of staff. Staff also carry symbols with them, in plain sight, and encourage children to use them. Children are clearly benefiting from following simple picture schedules that help them to understand what is going to happen and what is expected of them. They are managing their feelings much better when it is time to get ready for school in the morning, move from an activity to have their tea or to go for a shower. As a result, significantly fewer incidents of difficult behaviour are taking place at these times. Children are becoming more confident and skilful at using language to interact positively with other people and to make their wishes known. Some children are making impressive progress in building up their vocabulary and stringing several

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Outstanding

words together in context. They use speech or signs to ask for things, such as a cup of tea, or to let staff know when they need to go to the bathroom. Staff also check with children that they have understood their choices. For example, if a child has indicated that they want to go to the park, staff will use additional sign or symbols to confirm that this is what they want to do. Children stay in a stimulating environment that promotes their learning and development. They have easy access to books, computers, art materials, toys, games and other educational resources. The staff ensure that the daily routine effectively supports participation in education and excellent school attendance. They work very closely with schools to understand children’s specific education targets and agree a common approach to achieving them while they are staying. For example, they consistently say, ‘Ready, steady, go’ to one child, to cue

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Outstanding

activities, and they encourage positive social interaction by saying another child’s name to gain his attention and then wait for him to give eye contact before continuing the conversation. A teacher said, ‘They request copies of pupils' individual education plans so that they can support targets too using the agreed strategies and resources. Staff attend review meetings at school and have an input into plans for individuals. Some staff members have attended joint training sessions here in school, and have met with class teachers to gather as much information about children new to their service as possible.’ The staff ensure that there are plenty of challenging opportunities for children to enjoy and to achieve new things. This plays an important part in children’s informal learning and development of their interests, skills, and experiences of the world around them. They have the chance to do things that they may not be able to do

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Outstanding

with their families. A parent said, ‘My son goes out in the community with the group he is with a lot more than I can do with him.’ Staff ensure that the children’s disabilities are not a barrier to their taking part in leisure and cultural activities in the community. They carefully plan and assess that activities are safe and that children are properly supported, and they make sure that they have fun. Children routinely enjoy youth clubs, trampoline, swimming, food shopping, baking, sensory and soft play, playing football in the garden, going out for meals, to the cinema, for walks in parks and the countryside, and being out and about in the local community. Children love the different activities and get the chance to use their independence, social and communication skills in lots of different environments and to build their confidence. They also have opportunities to develop their skills through experience. They are encouraged to develop their

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Outstanding

independence appropriate to their needs and are making tremendous progress in using the toilet independently, having a shower, washing their hair, cleaning their teeth, getting dressed, and using a fork or spoon to eat independently. Children stay in a healthy environment that actively promotes their physical health and emotional well-being. Children enjoy healthy and varied diets that meet their dietary needs and get plenty of physical exercise. The staff have an excellent understanding of children’s individual health needs. They are suitably trained and competent in managing medication, tube feeding, oxygen therapy and epilepsy. They are very knowledgeable about how to support children when they have seizures, when to administer rescue medication and when additional medical assistance is required. Children have easy access to appropriate community and specialist healthcare. The staff work closely with parents and health professionals

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Outstanding

to ensure that children continue to receive the best possible health support and treatment during their stays. They also ensure that children get suitable emergency medical advice and treatment when they are feeling unwell, and always let parents know. The arrangements for dealing with medication are safe and effective. This means that children always get treatment that they require to promote their health and welfare. The staff have a detailed understanding of the medication procedures, the reasons why children take the medication and the possible adverse effects. They carefully check with parents and doctors that they have the correct information about children’s medication at the start of each stay. They often attend reviews of medication to share information about children’s care and treatment plans. They keep detailed records of the medicines received and stored in the home, the amounts given to children, and the amount returned to parents when children go

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Outstanding

home. Two staff always witness that children have been given the correct medication at the right time. The arrangements for taking medication through gastrostomy sites have improved. Staff now take the medication and equipment to the child’s room and draw up the medication into syringes immediately before administering the medication.

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Outstanding

Children come to stay in an extremely safe and supportive environment. The manager and staff have created a culture of openness and trust. Their exceptional safe care practices ensure that extremely vulnerable children feel safe and have become increasingly safer. This consistently high level of care and support protects children from bullying, abuse, neglect and exploitation. The times when children show their feelings aggressively or self-harm have significantly reduced, and they are involved in considerably fewer accidents. The staff have a comprehensive understanding of the risks to individual children’s safety, including those associated with their disability, level of understanding, communication and health conditions. They use very thorough and up-to-date written risk assessments to guide them successfully to manage and reduce these risks. As a result, children can safely explore new experiences, including being

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Outstanding

away from their family, taking part in activities in the community and making friends, which help to promote their development. The staff are extremely well trained in safeguarding and are alert to any signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect. They are fully aware of the children’s vulnerability to sexual exploitation, resulting from their disabilities. They follow safe care practices, when assisting with personal care, which respect and promote children’s dignity. They listen to children’s worries and take them seriously. They know the children extremely well and quickly pick up when something is wrong, by noticing any injuries or changes in their behaviours, energy levels, moods or health. The manager and staff always take decisive action to protect children and promptly report any concerns about their welfare to the appropriate safeguarding agencies. They work openly and honestly with families, social workers, the police, and local

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Outstanding

designated officer to find out what happened, and to understand and manage risks to the children. Children do not go missing because staff take suitable precautions and ensure that they are always properly supervised and supported. The staff have a clear understanding of what they need to do if children do go missing. They have put together information about children that it is important for people to know when looking for them. This includes a detailed picture of the children’s individual needs and vulnerabilities, means of communication, medication and the impact of their receiving this medication, the places they are likely to go, and the people they may try to visit. However, including information about the routes that children may take will further improve the chances of finding them quickly. The staff’s consistent and well-informed approach to meeting children’s emotional needs has significantly reduced the times when children are upset and use

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Outstanding

aggressive or self-harming behaviour. Children appear happy, relaxed and settled. They are increasingly comfortable being away from their families and being around other children. Many children now spend much more time with other children, sit at the dining table for meals and join in with group activities. Staff are highly skilled at identifying and anticipating when children are struggling with their emotions and intervene effectively to help and reassure them. A child said, ‘If I am upset, the staff make me feel better.’ The level of children’s anxiety about being away from home has dramatically reduced, enabling them to enjoy their stay much more. A child who used to be upset when his parents dropped him off, now comes in smiling and happy. Changes to another child’s bedtime routine have helped him to settle to bed and sleep through the night. The staff’s effective communication helps children to feel less frustrated and anxious. They feel listened to, know that

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Outstanding

the staff understand what they are saying and explain what is going to happen next. They help children to understand and manage their own feelings. For example, some children are able to describe or use pictures to let staff know how they are feeling, and they come and let staff know when they are upset. Another child no longer gets upset when her DVD player runs out of power and patiently waits for staff to replace the battery. Staff now very rarely need to restrain children to keep them safe. The number of times when staff have used restraint has increasingly reduced each year, and restraint has only been used twice in the last six months. The records provide a detailed and reflective account of each incident of restraint and difficult behaviour, including what happened, the action that staff took to support the child, the child’s behaviour and mood following the incident, and an in-depth analysis of the

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Outstanding

effectiveness of the whole incident. The manager and staff use this information to review what happened effectively and to work out how best to support children when they are upset in the future. This detailed and insightful reflective practice is helping to improve children’s experiences and their skills in managing their feelings safely.

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Outstanding

The registered manager is a highly competent and dynamic leader. He has been in charge since April 2013 and is experienced and suitably qualified. He works tirelessly with the staff team and senior managers to develop the effectiveness of the home. Over time, they have made sustained and impressive improvements. They are achieving their vision to provide children who have disabilities, and their families, with an exceedingly high quality of care that helps to improve and enrich their lives. Children enjoy extremely positive experiences that enable them to make significant, measurable progress across all aspects of their development. The manager has high expectations of the staff to develop their knowledge and skills and to provide a high standard of safe care practice. He has made sure that staff have opportunities to develop their expertise and understanding of their roles through relevant high-quality training and opportunities to reflect critically on their

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Outstanding

practice in regular professional supervision and team meetings. This has led to improvements in the quality of care and support that children are receiving, including the quality of communication, support with complex health needs, managing medication, understanding children’s behaviour, and helping children to manage their feelings positively. Also, the manager encourages staff to go back and review their supervision notes and to reflect on their personal development over time. This creative exercise is helping staff to feel confident in their own skills, to recognise their achievements, to see the difference that they are making to children whom they are supporting, and to identify the areas where they need build up their skills. Staff are appropriately qualified and have opportunities to develop their knowledge and expertise. The home currently has three staff vacancies. The manager and leaders intend to

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Outstanding

fill these vacancies once the local authority has completed its service review. In the meantime, the manager is making good use of excellent, knowledgeable and skilled sessional staff to make sure that sufficient staff are always available to meet children’s assessed needs. These staff work alongside permanent and experienced members of staff to form an effective and coherent team. They attend team meetings, receive regular supervision and have the same training opportunities as permanent staff. The children know the sessional staff and the same people support them on a regular basis. Thus, the continuity of care and children’s relationships with the staff are not being disrupted. Staff work collaboratively to share information about children’s needs effectively to ensure that they only receive the best possible support. The manager ensures that people wishing to work at the home go through a rigorous selection procedure and are carefully

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Outstanding

vetted. He makes sure that they have the right experience, skills, values and motivation to work with children who have disabilities and prevents unsuitable people from working at the home. The manager and staff have built exceptionally strong and supportive relationships with children’s parents and carers. They work together extremely well to ensure that children’s needs are met and to provide continuity of care when they come to stay. Parents and carers trust the staff and are confident leaving their child for their stay. They said, ‘I know she can be safe here. I trust all of the staff and know she is in the best of hands. It’s a safe and happy place’ and ‘The staff are lovely and always available when needed. We feel at ease leaving our daughter with them knowing she is well cared for’ and ‘It took a long time for our son to settle, but the staff worked with us to ensure it was as easy as possible for him and us.’

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Outstanding

The staff’s supportive and sensitive approach enables parents and carers to feel fully involved in their children’s care. They are accessible to parents and always keep them very well informed about their children’s time at the home. A grandmother said, ‘The staff are lovely. They do a really good job and help in any way they can. They keep me well informed. I’m always made to feel welcome. I can come for a cup of tea and a chat. They give me helpful advice and reassurance.’ A parent said, ‘The staff are always friendly towards me when I drop off my son's bag and medication. They will always let me know how my child's stay has been via the diary. On the odd occasion that my child has been upset, they will comfort him and make him feel safe so that he can settle.’ Parents also feel confident to raise any concerns they may have and know that they will be taken seriously. They said ‘The staff are approachable and I feel that I

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Outstanding

can ask them anything or address them with any concerns that I may have about my child’ and ‘ I feel comfortable to speak to the staff about my views around the care and support for my child, and I am confident that they continue with this during his visit.’ The manager uses regular, wide-ranging and extremely thorough monitoring to assess and improve the quality of the care provided. He also systematically monitors children’s experiences and progress to understand the impact of the stays on their lives, including an in-depth analysis of children’s behaviour and any concerns about children’s safety. He has developed a detailed and accurate understanding of the home’s strengths and the areas for improvements, which inform realistic and achievable development plans. For example, he is working with the local authority’s social work teams to improve older children’s transition to adult services. Although his review of the quality of care clearly shows how staff find out

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Outstanding

children’s views, it does not show what the children actually said. This information would have provided an excellent source of evidence to help him understand children’s experiences. Independent visitors complete monthly monitoring reports, which provide a reasonably detailed evaluation of the running of the home. However, the reports still do not clearly show the independent visitor’s judgement of the home's arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the home's care.

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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

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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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