Children's Home run by Bryn Melyn Care Limited in Shropshire

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:

 The young person continues to make excellent progress in all areas of his life.  The young person states: „It is an outstanding service. It is outstanding to me. It is my home. They know how I feel about anything residential, and the staff have listened to me and made every effort to make it my home.‟  The young person has important, influential relationships with a consistent, dedicated group of staff.  Staff proactively support the young person to have positive experiences and maintain excellent outcomes.  Staff are proud of the young person‟s personal progress, and celebrate every success.  The young person„s attendance at mainstream school, educational progress and outcomes are outstanding.  The registered manager and staff team confidently and consistently meet their responsibilities to keep the young person safe. He is extremely well informed and supported, and is empowered to manage his personal safety.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Excellent partnership work ensures that the care and support that the young person receives are specific to his individual needs.  The registered manager and deputy provide effective leadership to an experienced and professional staff team.

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Information about this children's home

This children's home is registered to provide care and accommodation for one young person with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is operated by a private company.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

11 March 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

10 February 2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Outstanding

The young person and staff members have resilient, mutually respectful relationships. The young person trusts and values the attributes of each individual. They admire his hard work and determination, and ensure that their work practice enhances all that he sets out to achieve.

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Outstanding

The young person is articulate and knowledgeable. He is proactive in determining and influencing the service that he receives. He is clear of his rights and has strong views on issues such as personal privacy. He is fully involved in decisions affecting his life and his home. The young person stated: „It does not feel like a care home. It feels like a family. Everyone is invested, and it is clear that they care.‟

p.5

Outstanding

The young person continues to make outstanding progress in all areas of his life. For example, he has 100% attendance at mainstream school. His is on track to achieve excellent GCSE grades. His progress is supported and nurtured at all times by the staff team, which has highly effective relationships with teaching staff. Education staff state: „The progress that the young person has made at school can largely be attributed to the support that he receives from the staff at the home, as they ensure that he arrives at school ready to learn.‟

p.5

Outstanding

The young person and staff celebrate all milestones, successes and achievements. This is evident through discussions, memorabilia, and photos in albums and displayed around the house. Staff also successfully promote new experiences, for example holidays, activities, hobbies and walks.

p.5

Outstanding

The young person continues to learn new skills and develop interests. He has recently started to learn to play a musical instrument. With the support of staff he has sourced, and now attends, weekly private lessons. They have purchased an instrument and renovated space into a practice room. He has passed his first grade with distinction and intends to take his next grade after he has completed his GCSEs. This new skill has resulted in him joining a band, collaborating with peers and performing in school and community concerts. His teacher states: „His carers are always reliable and always make an effort to find out how he is getting on, and openly encourage him with his lessons.‟

p.5

Outstanding

The young person has positive aspirations and ambitions for the future, and is developing skills that he will require as an adult. After visiting potential colleges, he has a place to study A levels. His new-found musical interest, as well as research into subject combinations, has helped to inform the subjects that he has chosen to study with a view to progressing to university. With staff, he is now researching suitable voluntary work and work experience. This is with a view to enhancing his university application, as well as increasing his self-esteem, confidence and sense of personal identity.

p.5

Outstanding

Staff ensure that the successful progress and safety of the young person is given absolute priority. The young person is well informed of risk and how to keep himself safe through education, research and discussions with staff.

p.6

Outstanding

The young person is enabled to have the same social experiences as other young people of his age. This includes having free time away from staff with friends, and staying overnight with friends. Staff balance the need for safety effectively, while enabling the young person to take reasonable risks as part of growing up and becoming more independent.

p.6

Outstanding

Staff significantly reduce risks by using agreed strategies. These are continually monitored and reviewed. As a result, the young person has new skills that help him to cope effectively with anxieties.

p.6

Outstanding

Staff know the young person well, and have excellent insight into triggers that might result in a recurrence of a behaviour or an increase in the likelihood that he might not cope with a situation. They provide excellent reassurance and are proactive in breaking patterns of behaviour. His social worker stated: „He remains a very complex young person, although the number of incidents do not evidence this. This is because the staff team is so experienced and know him so well. They support him with any potential anxieties before they occur.‟ Staff manage conflict effectively and skilfully promote peer relationships. Staff continue to increase their knowledge and understanding of the young person, and continually re-evaluate their practice with the support of a clinician. Incidents are addressed through effective management of the environment and regular discussions. Physical intervention is not used. Consequences are very rarely used.

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Outstanding

The registered manager and staff team promote the well-being and safety of the young person at all times. Their working knowledge of safeguarding, missing from care, radicalisation and child sexual exploitation procedures is enhanced by training and research. This ensures that they are able to meet the young person‟s specific needs and work effectively in partnership with other agencies. There have been no complaints, safeguarding concerns or missing from home incidents for a significant period of time. The young person and staff have created and maintain a very welcoming and personalised home. Any damage is quickly repaired. The young person is actively involved in the decoration and layout of his home, and is currently embarking on the garden as a new project. The young person stated: „The house and garden are brilliant. The garden in particular is great for an adventurous spirit like me. We are in an area of natural outstanding beauty, and I love it here.‟

p.6

Outstanding

The home operates in accordance with the aims and objectives of its statement of purpose and children‟s guide. It provides an accurate and comprehensive picture of the home and of the services that it provides. Practice is based on therapeutic and attachment models. It has helped the young person to build up the confidence, self-esteem and resilience that they need to overcome difficult experiences from their past.

p.7

Outstanding

The home is managed by a qualified, skilled and experienced manager who has been in post and registered since 2010. The post-holder also manages another registered children's home, which is close by. The manager‟s time is shared between both homes, depending on the needs, demands and circumstances of each service.

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Outstanding

The registered manager holds a national vocational qualification at level 4 in care and management, and has a therapeutic childcare degree. The home is managed efficiently and successfully. Staff feel well supported by „a brilliant management team‟. The registered manager, deputy and two staff members have dedicated themselves to developing a nurturing, consistent culture and ethos. Communication between team members is excellent, and results in seamless, effective childcare practice.

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Outstanding

The registered manager and staff team monitor the young person‟s progress and the overall impact that the quality of care has on his experiences. They use reflective practice, research and clinical input to challenge their own practice and introduce new strategies to meet the young person‟s needs better. This ensures that they continue to provide an outstanding service.

p.7

Outstanding

Staff are very experienced and well qualified. They continue to enhance their professional development through handovers, structured team meetings with clinical involvement, supervision and appraisals. Regular training is provided for all staff to ensure that they are knowledgeable about their role and have the skills and competencies to fulfil it. The staff team provides the young person with absolute continuity of care. The team is made up of three members. One of the group is currently on long-term sick leave. After discussions, it was decided by the remaining two that, due to this being a significant period in the young person‟s life, they would cover all the third member‟s shifts. This has meant that throughout the young person‟s revision and GCSE exams he has continued to have only staff who know him well to support him.

p.7

Outstanding

The staff team works effectively in partnership with all professionals. As a result, feedback is positive. The young person‟s social worker stated: „The young person will tell you that he loves the home and the staff team. It is his home and his family. The way that the staff team interacts with him, it is as though they are foster carers, not residential workers. He hates being referred to as a “child in care”. The staff team are respectful of this, and ensure that everything is homely. He has special, individual relationships with each staff member. They are 100% outstanding as a service. They go over and above in everything they do. He is surrounded by people who really, genuinely, care for him.‟ The registered manager has an excellent understanding of the strengths of the service and the areas for further development. The registered manager and staff use development plans, and internal and external quality assurance systems to

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Outstanding

monitor and improve the practice and outcomes for the young person.

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Outstanding

Young people‟s records are extremely detailed, and present an excellent overall picture of their experiences and progress to date. Records are maintained to a very high standard, and information is well organised within case files.

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Outstanding

There were no requirements or recommendations made in the last inspection report.

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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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