Children's home run by The National Autistic Society

Requires improvement

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 New developments have not been embedded. The organisation is still incorporating the regulatory framework for a children’s home into its practice, after moving to provide a 52-week service.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 The home has not had the opportunity to develop due to staffing issues. This has had an impact on activities, study leave and the ability to maintain necessary records and to record progress.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 All staff must be trained in managing behaviour and physical interventions. Restraint records do not detail all the required regulatory information.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 Staff must reinforce, praise and encourage positive behaviour. They must also challenge and discuss unacceptable behaviour.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 Fire safety records were unavailable for inspection. The home could not show evidence that regular alarm tests had taken place and that staff had undertaken drills, although records were seen that engineers have confirmed the safety of the fire systems.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 The disciplinary procedure was also unavailable. This must include the provision that the failure of an employee to report an incident of abuse, or suspected abuse, whether past or present, is a ground on which disciplinary proceedings may be instituted.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 Staff must benefit from regular supervision and appraisals. Records must be available of these meetings.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 The statement of purpose must be updated to include the management and staffing structure. There must be clear lines of accountability to provide consistent guidance and direction for staff.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 The quality of care review has not been completed within the required six- monthly intervals. The home must be evaluated and be focused on continual improvement.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 Some of the staff do not have the appropriate level 3 qualification as required.

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The children’s home strengths

 Because the home is part of a school, there is good continuity of care and an efficient understanding of children’s diverse needs. Shared school targets enable children to work consistently on their goals, giving a uniformity to care practices.

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The children’s home strengths

 There is good promotion of independent skills, and the home has introduced accredited vocational outcomes. This will enhance the children’s range of qualifications.

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The children’s home strengths

 Children enjoy their residential experience, which positively enriches their quality of life. Children are calmer, growing in confidence and independence.

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The children’s home strengths

 Children are taking responsibility for daily living tasks. They help to bake, set the table and wash up dishes. They assist with making their beds, cleaning their rooms, running their baths and attending to their personal care. The teaching kitchen enables them to practise their culinary skills regularly.

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The children’s home strengths

 Staff are implementing the principles of the quality standards, focusing on being aspirational and promoting positive outcomes. Children benefit from good, person-centred care plans.

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The children’s home strengths

 Children are safe. Parents and professionals are generally satisfied with the service. Children have positive relationships with staff and are comfortable in their surroundings.

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The children’s home strengths

 Children enjoy the facilities available to them. These include a music room, a multi-sensory room, use of a computer and a games console. They are also able to ride bikes, and play football or basketball in the garden.

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The children’s home strengths

 The skill-set within the leadership and management team is extensive. Their knowledge-base provides a sound foundation for the service to flourish. There is a good capacity to improve further.

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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 within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

11 The positive relationships standard: (2) In order to meet the positive relationships standard, the registered person is required to: (a) ensure that staff help each child to develop socially aware behaviour. 1 August 2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

13 The leadership and management standard: (2) In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person is required to: (d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff. 1 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile, in relation to the children’s home, a statement of purpose which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1, with specific regard to the management and staffing structure of the home. (Regulation 16 (1)) 1 August 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff have the appropriate level 3 qualification. (Regulation 32 (4)) 31 March 2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must operate a disciplinary procedure which, in particular: provides that the failure of an employee to report an incident of abuse, or suspected abuse, whether past or present, in relation to a child is grounds on which disciplinary proceedings may be instituted. (Regulation 33 (2)(b)) 1 August 2016 35: Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 48 hours of the use of a restraint the registered person, or a person authorised by them, has spoken to the staff member about the measure and within five days that they have spoken to the child. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i) and (c)) 1 August 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain the records in Schedule 4, with specific regard to a record of every fire drill and fire alarm test. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)) 1 August 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a quality of care review at least once every six months. (Regulation 45 (1)) 1 August 2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure that children’s positive behaviour is reinforced, praised and encouraged. Poor behaviour should be challenged and discussed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff continually and actively assess risk. This specifically relates to reviewing children’s individual risk assessments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that all staff are adequately trained in the principles of restraint and any restraint techniques appropriate to the needs of the children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.57)

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Recommendations

 Compile a workforce development plan. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that there are clear lines of accountability, with specific regard to the management. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)  Ensure that a record is kept of supervision and that both parties have a copy of the record. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3 and 13.4)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff have their performance appraised at least once annually. This should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member and children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)

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Information about this children’s home

This is a large children’s home run by a national charity. It provides care and accommodation for young people who have a primary diagnosis of autism. It provides care and accommodation for no more than 17 young people. Of these young people, up to nine are cared for under short-break arrangements.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

10 March 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

13 October 2015 Full Requires improvement

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Requires improvement

Children enjoy their residential experience, which positively enriches their quality of life. Children are calmer, growing in confidence and independence. Staff shortages are having an impact on the ability to provide suitable activities. This is especially apparent at weekends. Insufficient levels of staffing also impact on recording systems. Staff do not have appropriate time to keep records up to date and to provide evidence of the life-enhancing work that they are undertaking with children.

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Requires improvement

Staff are implementing the principles of the quality standards, focusing on being aspirational and promoting positive outcomes. A series of documents comprehensively define children’s respective needs. These provide a clear overview of starting points, which enables staff to measure progress. Person-centred care plans gives children a voice. They clearly express their individuality and preferences. Shared school targets enable them to work consistently on their goals, giving a uniformity to care practices. Staff are currently standardising information to ensure that all children benefit from robust care planning.

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Requires improvement

Parents are generally satisfied with the service. They say that their child is ‘happy’ and ‘well cared for’. A professional says that children are ‘settled’ and ‘feel relaxed here’. Children have positive relationships with staff. A child highlights their key worker as being their ‘favourite’ person. Pictorial aids help children to express their moods and choices of activities. They also provide children with key information in regard to their own risk assessments, policies and procedures. Pictorial aids also help children to become familiar with rooms within the building, with the staff on duty and with daily activities.

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Requires improvement

Children engage in an appropriate level of activities within their local community. They regularly enjoy eating out, going to the park, bowling and going out shopping. A healthy lifestyle is encouraged through diet and exercise. Activities include yoga, going for walks and using the home’s exercise bike. Children enjoy the facilities available to them, and leisure time is spent pursuing their interests. They enjoy using the computer, especially watching their favourite programmes on the internet. A games console is also available for interactive fun. Children have the opportunity to express their creativity in a music room, where they can play the drums or guitar. The multi-sensory room provides a valuable combination of peacefulness and stimulation.

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Requires improvement

The home provides a quiet, calm and safe environment for children. The extensive space appropriately meets individual needs. Children have their own bedrooms which they can personalise to reflect their individuality. Some rooms have their artwork on display, which gives children a sense of achievement. The various communal lounges, and comfortable seating throughout the building, promote a relaxing atmosphere. The home is following children’s suggestions and is purchasing a swing and a roundabout for the garden. This will add to their bikes and basketball net as a source of outdoor enjoyment. Staff also highlight that children could benefit from more resources, an example being computerised tablets to enrich their communication and learning. Details of the home’s financial accounts were unavailable in order to examine the budget for resources and activities.

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Requires improvement

The home caters for a diverse range of children from different faiths and ethnic groups. Children are able to follow their traditions and dietary requirements. Examples are following a halal diet and reading religious texts. Staff help children to be proud of who they are. Flags representing their cultural heritage are on display in rooms. Staff suitably focus on children’s abilities and proudly highlight children’s achievements. Staff also help children to understand and recognise their feelings according to their cognitive development.

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Requires improvement

A parent appreciates that their child has ‘the opportunity to experience life away from home and school.’ Parents and staff express great satisfaction that children are becoming more independent, and they are taking responsibility for daily living tasks. They help to bake, set the table and wash up dishes. They assist with making their bed, cleaning their room, running their bath and attending to their personal care. The teaching kitchen is a valuable asset, enabling children to practise their cooking and baking skills routinely. Staff work appropriately with other professionals in relation to transition planning. This enables children to move into adult services.

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Requires improvement

Children maintain contact with their families through telephone calls. There are also plans to introduce an internet-based computer software application for visual communication. Parents also visit the home, and they appreciate spending quality time with their children. Staff readily share their care practices with parents, which subsequently enhances parental confidence in specific areas. One result of this is that social interactions between a child and their parents improve. Coffee mornings also provide an informal opportunity for them to share their views. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

Children benefit from satisfactory health and safety arrangements. Pictorial aids assist them in understanding the importance of personal safety, both in person and online. Children know how to complain and the proposed introduction of a contracted advocacy service will further promote their rights. There are also marked improvements in children’s behaviour. Children have greater patience and tolerance for their peers, scheduled activities and daily routines.

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Requires improvement

There are shortfalls, but these do not have a detrimental impact. These relate to record keeping, documentation and behaviour management. Fire safety records were unavailable for inspection. There was no confirmation that regular fire drills or alarm tests were being undertaken, although the home had regular visits from fire safety personnel and other engineers to verify the safety of the fire systems. Individualised emergency evacuation plans are also useful tools to guide staff. There is also a risk management system, which identifies individual and environmental risks.

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Requires improvement

Staff receive weekly support from a behavioural therapist. This contributes to the monitoring of behaviour and provides a safe space for staff to discuss the impact of incidents. Individual support plans detail children’s key behaviours, triggers and management strategies. These are complemented by risk assessments, although these are not consistently updated after incidents that present new triggers. Examples of triggers are a new face or eye contact. Some children have obsessive behaviour and others present with challenging behaviour. Staff endeavour to manage these, but the actions of children do not always meet socially acceptable norms. An example is locking staff into an office. This does not help a child to learn skills necessary for integration into society.

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Requires improvement

Staff succeed in forming positive relationships with children. Staff do not issue sanctions but occasionally use physical interventions. Incident records do not detail the action taken to help children learn behavioural expectations. Staff do not follow a clear system outlining how they reinforce, praise and encourage positive behaviour. Records do not consistently detail whether staff challenge and discuss unacceptable behaviour. Neither do restraint records detail whether the manager or another authorised person has spoken to the staff members or child involved.

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Requires improvement

The home promotes safe recruitment, and new staff members do not start working at the home until all regulatory checks are in place. Some staff have not benefited from specialist training on de-escalation and physical intervention. This training focuses on developing well-being approaches for a whole range of issues. Models of support adapt to the latest research and provide a clear and coherent approach to reducing restrictive practices. This training will build on staff members’ confidence in managing incidents of challenging behaviour. The home has an adequate range of policies and procedures related to safeguarding children. Staff have a sound understanding of safeguarding and are familiar with the child protection procedure. The home does not have an issue with bullying, sexual exploitation or children going missing from care. There have also been no child protection concerns or notifiable incidents. The home has a whistle-

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Requires improvement

blowing procedure, but the disciplinary procedure could not be found. Regulations specify that the failure of an employee to report an incident of abuse, or suspected abuse, whether past or present, is a ground on which disciplinary proceedings may be instituted. This must be explicit in the disciplinary procedure to safeguard children further.

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Requires improvement

The home provides good care to young people, in spite of the insufficient levels of staffing. The home has not had the opportunity to develop due to staff shortages. Leaders and managers are having to provide practical care support. Staffing issues have an impact on activities, study leave and the ability to maintain the necessary records and to record evidence of progress. New initiatives need to be embedded, as the organisation grows in its experience of running a children’s home. A professional highlights that the home is ‘working towards providing an excellent service for their young people, but that they still have work to do to demonstrate an excellent service.’

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Requires improvement

There is an acknowledgement that practices need to improve and a staff recruitment drive is in progress. The registered manager has recently returned from maternity leave. This individual is suitably experienced and well qualified for the role. In her absence, the highly experienced former school head of care has been managing the home. The skill-set within the leadership and management team is extensive. This knowledge-base provides a sound foundation for the service to flourish. There is good capacity to improve further.

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Requires improvement

The home has an adequate quality assurance scheme. This involves constructive monthly monitoring. Leaders and managers additionally benefit from networking meetings with other providers in their region. The regulation 45 report, which relates to reviewing care practices, is overdue. Regulations highlight that this must be completed at least once every six months. The last report was dated September 2015. There is a sound awareness of the home’s strengths and areas requiring further improvement. The service development plan skilfully incorporates the quality standards. There is an acknowledgment this document could be further improved by including timeframes and having roles assigned to staff.

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Requires improvement

Staff are currently undertaking their vocational qualifications. E-learning opportunities complement the general training programme. A structured induction enables new staff to enhance their skills. Staff do not all receive regular supervision and appraisals. Supervision records were not up to date. Appraisals also do not include wider feedback from children or other professionals. The introduction of reflective supervision is a strength and will enable staff to explore the multi-faceted nature of their work. Staff state that they would like more responsibility, consultation and opportunities for learning. They demonstrate a keen enthusiasm for continual improvement to meet the needs of children.

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Requires improvement

The majority of requirements and recommendations from the last inspection have been addressed. Ofsted regularly receives the independent monthly monitoring reports in accordance with regulation 44. Children receive better protection from the new closed-circuit television policy, from staff being first aid qualified and from the proposed introduction of an advocacy service. The workforce development plan, regular staff supervision and appraisals remains outstanding. The statement of purpose also requires further amendment to comply with regulations.

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Requires improvement

Children benefit from having their own documents, which helps them to make sense of their surroundings and what they can expect from the service. The statement of purpose is a comprehensive document. The only shortfall is that it does not include details relating to the management and staffing structure of the home. There must be clear lines of accountability, to ensure that there is consistent decision-making and direction. Staff must understand who is ultimately responsible for the management of the home.

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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 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

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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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