Children's home run by Derbyshire County Council in Derbyshire Dales

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 young people have made sustained progress from difficult starting points in many aspects of their lives. In particular, attendance and behaviour at school has improved.  Young people are provided with good and nurturing care from a committed and stable staff team.  Staff encourage and support regular contact between the young people and their families. Conversely, the staff are sensitive and understanding towards young people who do not have contact with their family.  Young people receive a good level of care and support in developing independent living skills that prepares them well for later life.  The registered manager and staff understand the emotional and psychological needs of young people and specialist support is provided.  A committed registered manager, well supported by a strong deputy manager, leads the home effectively. They have robust management systems in place to monitor the quality of care provided and to drive

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The children’s home provision is good because:

forward improvements.  There are shortfalls identified in this inspection. Significant improvements are required to the building for the benefit of young people. Improvements are also required to prevent young people from going missing from care or being categorised as absent without authority. Young people’s safeguarding needs are not fully met because there are sometimes insufficient numbers of staff available during the night.

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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 the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must ensure: (2)(d) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished in such a way that: (i) they meet the needs of each child with regard to the physical environment being improved to meet the needs of young people. 15 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure that: (b) if a child is assessed as being at risk of harm, the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep the child safe. Made in respect of the incidence of missing from care and the absences of young people from the home without consent. 15 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture that: (2)(d) ensures that each child receives care from a stable and sufficient workforce that is well supported and provides a consistent approach to care. In respect of sufficient staffing of the home at night to ensure the safety and well-being of young people. 15 July 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 may provide care and accommodation for up to five young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

22 March 2016 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

13 October 2015 Full Requires improvement

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Recent inspection history

19 March 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Young people’s experiences and progress are good. They all benefit from a stable and committed staff group who work hard to ensure that each young person is settled and happy. The young people make sustained progress from difficult starting points in many areas of their lives. Young people regularly attend school, college or training programmes. Young people also receive a good level of support in preparation for leaving care, as well as ongoing support and monitoring from the staff when they have left.

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Good

The young people living in the home present as settled and content. They enjoy their lives, and their self-esteem and confidence improve. They are developing personal skills and making informed decisions about their lives. The young people benefit from staff who implement consistent boundaries and structure. This good practice is fundamental to young people’s welfare. A young person stated, ‘I like the freedom of the home and I like the staff.’

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Good

The registered manager and staff understand the importance and value of education and training. All the young people are either attending school or college; are in training; or have employment. Prior to coming to the home, some young people experienced significant disruption to their education. To their credit, they are improving their attendance at school, their behaviour, and their attitudes towards learning. An education professional stated, ‘The home has supported schools in their work. They are supportive and help young people to make progress’. A social worker supported this view by stating, ‘school attendance has improved, and now he is looking forward to his future and making plans’. The registered manager and staff are aspirational for each young person and praise achievement. Memory books have photos of young people learning at college. Young people are rightly proud of what they achieve.

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Good

Young people’s self-care and independence skills are continually developed. They develop skills in all areas of independent living, budgeting, shopping, cooking food and accessing services. Good pathway plans and independent living skills programmes are bespoke to the young people, taking into account their differing levels of skills and abilities. The registered manager and staff advocate to keep young people with them until they are 18, and sometimes beyond, to best prepare young people to live independently. The registered manager and staff have developed good relationships with supported accommodation providers, and this enables them to continue providing support to young people well after they have left the home. Young people previously resident at the home are regular visitors, calling in for a cup of tea and remaining in contact. This provides testament to the excellent relationships that develop between young people and the staff team.

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Good

Young people’s emotional and psychological needs are met. The provision of therapeutic services to young people is a high priority and the home receives the services of a team of psychologists. Young people receive individual therapy should this be required. Additionally, a psychologist works with the staff team in facilitating a meeting with the staff that is reflective and aimed at both supporting the staff group and ensuring that staff fully appreciate the therapeutic needs of the young people. Consequently, young people’s emotional and therapeutic needs are central to the care practices of staff.

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Good

The relationships between young people and their families remain a key priority for staff. The registered manager and staff facilitate contact arrangements, provide transportation, and monitor arrangements closely. All contact with family and those important to the young people takes place within a clearly defined plan. Regular reviews of contact take place within the children looked after reviews. Levels of contact and other arrangements are adjusted if required. For those young people who are not able to see their families, members of staff empathise, spend time with the young person, and provide nurturing care and reassurance.

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Good

Staff welcome and encourage young people to share their views and ideas. The young people meet regularly for house meetings. These meetings, following the views of young people canvassed, have changed and developed in their format. They now encourage a greater level of talking about things important to the young people and they have moved away from merely discussing the day-to-day running of the home. One young person developed a poster called, ‘It’s your voice’. This provides young people with the opportunity to write down what they think or feel regarding the home for discussion. This means that young people are developing a greater level of autonomy in expressing their views.

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Requires improvement

Young people frequently go missing or are deemed to be absent without authority from the home. The registered manager and staff are not always aware of young people’s whereabouts and do not have clarity on who they are spending time with when they are away from the home. Young people are meeting up with other young people in the community or are having unauthorised contact with family members. One young person had a tattoo while away from the home, unknown to staff. Staff members follow missing from care procedures fully, but this is having minimal impact on reducing the incidence of young people being away from the home without agreement. There is no clear strategy or plan to reduce the occurrence of young people going missing or being away from the home and this renders young people at an increased level of risk.

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Requires improvement

Young people do not benefit from a good physical environment. The building presents as tired and worn and is dilapidated in parts. The registered manager and staff have worked hard to personalise the home to reflect the young people living there. This includes decorating their rooms to the individual tastes of young people. However, such efforts do not diminish from the poor condition of the building. Plans have been drawn up to re-build the home. However, there is no confirmed date for this work to start.

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Requires improvement

Staff do not adequately supervise young people, particularly during the night. Although young people have particular vulnerabilities, staffing on duty during the night are designated as sleeping in only. This results in periods when young people are not receiving adequate supervision. The registered manager has recently had to provide waking night staff, temporarily, following an incident where young people were found in each other’s rooms.

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Requires improvement

Despite this shortfall, the staff manage young people’s behaviour consistently well. An environment exists in which praise and warmth are central to good staff practice. Staff praise achievement, whatever this may be, and they constantly encourage good behaviour. This has resulted in staff not having to resort to the use of discipline, such as sanctions. Physical intervention has also not been required. Should young people behave in a negative manner, the registered manager and staff use restorative practice, meaning that young people are atoning for their behaviour. This is proving beneficial as it raises young people’s awareness of the impact of their behaviour on others.

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Requires improvement

A well-trained and developed staff team better safeguards young people. The staff undertake a wide range of safeguarding training that improves their awareness of issues such as child sexual exploitation, and self-harm. Staff training is regularly reviewed. This means that, should situations occur, staff have the knowledge and skills required to safeguard young people effectively.

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Requires improvement

Sufficiently rigorous recruitment procedures ensure that only suitably vetted people get to work with young people. This includes taking and verifying references, criminal record checks, carrying out identity checks, and checking the full employment history of all new staff. This provides for safe recruitment and helps to keep young people safe.

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Requires improvement

The registered manager has completed a robust location risk assessment. She has worked well with partner agencies, such as the local police, to develop the location assessment. This means that the registered manager and staff are aware of any community risks or concerns and are able to put plans in place to address risks. Risks to young people emanating from the community are understood and action is taken.

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Good

A dedicated and suitably qualified registered manager leads the home effectively. She has considerable experience and has managed the home since April 2011. She is qualified to level 4 NVQ and is waiting to undertake the level 5 diploma in leadership and management. A committed and enthusiastic deputy manager supports her. They work well together, sharing ideas, and implementing improvements.

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Good

The registered manager works in partnership with a wide range of external services. Collaborative relationships exist with placing social workers and independent reviewing officers, which help to support effective communication and coordination of services for the benefit of young people. Additionally, regular meetings held with the police and the safer neighbourhood teams, have enabled the home to integrate better into the local community.

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Good

Staff members receive regular professional supervision, which they report that they enjoy and find helpful to improving their practice. The registered manager has just reviewed the format of supervision sessions and made changes, welcomed by staff. The care practice of staff receives oversight from managers, meaning that staff are accountable for their work. Staff members are either qualified to level 3 NVQ or are undertaking this essential training.

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Good

Young people receive care from a well-coordinated and cohesive team. Regular team meetings take place alongside reflective practice meetings facilitated by a psychologist. Staff members feel that their views matter and that there are mutually respectful relationships between staff members. They care about each other and have developed supportive working relationships.

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Good

The stable and effective management of the home ensures that young people make good progress in their placement. Young people’s progress is monitored through constant assessment and evaluation of the young people’s plans. Changes to young people’s circumstances, behaviours, patterns and trends are quickly identified and their plans are adjusted accordingly.

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Good

The registered manager actively monitors the quality of care provided. An independent visitor completes monthly visits to the home. The visitor identifies both the strengths and areas for development in the home and sets action plans for the manager and staff to drive forward improvements. Additionally, the registered manager uses information from young people, team meetings, other professionals, and stakeholders to identify improvement opportunities. The registered manager completes monthly reviews of the service that feed into a quality of care report. This report is detailed and is currently under review to make it more critically analytical.

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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, but 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 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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after 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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