Children's home run by New Horizons NW Limited in Sefton

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:

 Young people are settled and making positive progress in their development, relative to when they arrived.  They have warm and trusting relationships with dedicated staff who actively support their emotional and physical well-being.  Skilled staff understand the underlying issues affecting young people’s abilities to manage their emotions and behaviour, and they work with them to address their difficulties.  Staff effectively keep young people safe and work with them to support them to understand how to keep themselves safe.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that 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 ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes the date, time and location of the use of the measure, a description of the measure and its duration (Regulation 35(3)(a)(iii)(iv)). 30 June 2016

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Information about this children's home

The home is registered to accommodate up to two children, irrespective of gender, aged from 10 to 17 years old. The home specialises in the care of children who present with emotional and behavioural problems and/or a learning disability. It is operated by a private organisation

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

Good

Young people benefit from living in a settled, stable and nurturing environment. They enjoy warm and trusting relationships with the committed, child-focused staff group. The independent reviewing officer for one young person commented, ‘I have seen a positive change and I believe this may be in response to the care afforded to her by [Name] House’. This supports young people’s emotional well- being and social development. One young person is making significant and sustained progress in her education and is taking her GCSE exams. Staff fully support her aspirations to become a hairdresser. A teacher for one young person commented, ‘They've been fantastic for [Name]. She has had an absolute turn around in terms of behaviour and attitude to her studies…..We had a meeting a couple of weeks ago, and mum thanked her care workers saying what a fantastic job they had done as they are now able to rebuild their relationship.’ Young people who are not in full-time

p.6

Good

education engage with staff in a varied range of activities that support their learning and progress towards independence. Staff spend time with them on key skills, for example maths and English. Staff creatively encourage them to visit museums, read the information leaflets and answer written questions about the visit afterwards. Staff effectively encourage young people to engage in craftwork and practical skills like cooking and baking. Committed and caring staff have an in-depth understanding of the reasons behind young people’s difficulties in managing their emotions and behaviour and of the need to address this on all levels. Young people are listened to by skilled staff, who take their concerns seriously. Staff also help young people to prepare for and contribute to their looked-after reviews and education meetings. Staff address difficult issues with young people, including relationships, and they support young

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Good

people to identify with, for example, family contact and discussions about religion. Young people have formed positive relationships between each other and have demonstrated the ability to offer support, for example, in helping each other to do their washing. Young people are happy with their rooms, which they personalise. They are positive about the décor of the home, which is comfortable and homely. Judgement grade

p.6

Good

Experienced staff work effectively with young people to increase their ability to reflect on and make choices about their behaviour. Consequently, they are less likely to engage in harmful behaviours. The number of incidents of young people going missing has decreased. Staff who are trained in safeguarding and child protection ensure that they keep young people safe. When young people are missing or leave the home without authorisation, staff follow them and contact a range of agencies and local people to alert them. Strategies are in place with clear guidelines for staff to follow, to ensure the safety of young people and themselves.Staff work together daily, to assess the moods and needs of young people. They ensure, for example, that it is safe to agree to a request for unsupervised time out in the community with friends. This provides further safeguarding in addition to staff referring to the regularly reviewed and updated

p.7

Good

risk assessments. Staff discuss strategies to keep young people safe, while acknowledging the benefits to young people of allowing them to feel that they are trusted.Young people are involved in their own risk assessments and behaviour management plans. While staff have assessed the young people as being at risk of child sexual exploitation, staff are fully trained and aware of the issue. Key work evidences a wide range or safety issues discussed with young people, including internet safety, bullying, confidentiality, drugs and alcohol, safe sex, trust, smoking and fire evacuation.There are systems in place to help make the home a safe place for young people to live in. For example, there are regular checks of fire safety equipment and fire drills, so that staff and young people would know what to do if there was a fire. Young people speak positively about the home and staff. They feel confident that staff would listen to them and take action if they had a problem

p.7

Good

or wanted to make a complaint. Staff are trained in areas that help them to promote acceptable behaviour and to keep young people safe. This includes areas such as de-escalation and restraint, fire safety, child sexual exploitation and online safety.

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Good

The registered manager has over 11 years’ experience of working as a manager in residential work. She has the level 4 national vocational qualification in working with children and young people and a registered managers’ award. She has managed the home from its registration with Ofsted in June 2015.The registered manager runs a well-organised, settled home, where young people are making progress in all areas of their development. Her strong child focus and organisational ability have supported staff to meet the complex needs of young people effectively. Since the last full inspection, there has been a significant reduction in challenging behaviour from young people. This is due to the registered manager’s skilful impact assessments and matching of the young people in placement. The more settled environment and consequent improved staff morale have enabled the registered manager to achieve the aims and objectives of the

p.7

Good

service set out in the statement of purpose.The registered manager consistently provides the staff group with clear leadership, supportive supervision and relevant training. Staff say that the registered manager is supportive and that they feel well trained to do their job. Supervision is thorough, and staff can bring ideas to discuss. The registered manager leads by example and is not afraid to challenge other professionals when they do not provide young people with the services that they need. Challenging commissioners is an example of this, with the registered manager repeatedly contacting local authorities in order to secure correct information for young people in placement. The registered manager continues to work hard to establish consistency within the team, in particular with regard to behaviour management. Staff do not always complete accurate records following a physical restraint on a young person. This is an area for improvement, for the

p.8

Good

registered manager to address via training and individual supervision.Feedback from childcare professionals is very positive with regard to the work undertaken by the staff team and the registered manager. The social worker for one young person commented that the service ‘works really well’ with her, giving her access to online care records so that she can see how the young person is progressing daily. She is satisfied that the staff address complaints and call her immediately with any concerns. She also commented that the registered manager is very good at prompting the local authority to provide services for the young person. Another social worker echoed these encouraging views.

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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 children looked after 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 that 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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