Children's home run by New Forest Care Limited in Southampton

The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

children and young people since the most recent full inspection. This home was judged outstanding at the full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has sustained effectiveness . Children continue to make excellent progress in their education, behaviour and social skills. They attend the provider’s school and have excellent attendance. Each child is progressing well in English, mathematics and science, with one child having recently completed the higher paper in GCSE mathematics at the age of 12 years.

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

Children are making significant improvements in their behaviour and are expressing themselves without having to resort to physical aggression. As a result, there has been a substantial reduction in the number of incidents that required physical intervention.

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

Children have access to weekly therapeutic support from the provider’s therapists. This is enabling them to reflect on previous experiences and to develop a more positive self-view. As a result, children are making improvements in their behaviour and interactions with others. Staff work with children to develop children’s knowledge and understanding of their health conditions. Consequently, children are taking more responsibility for their own health needs and they are beginning to manage them independently.

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

Children take part in a range of activities outside of the home. They enjoy fishing, ice hockey and going to the local skate park. These opportunities have allowed children to meet peers their age, develop their social skills and establish friendships. As a result, children are evolving a sense of identity and building on their sense of self-worth.

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

Staff support children to develop their independence skills. One child has recently opened a bank account and has successfully budgeted his pocket money to purchase hockey equipment. Children are expected to carry out chores around the home and have learned to cook small meals. This enables them to develop their daily living skills in preparation for adulthood. To ensure that staff monitor children’s abilities, they carry out an assessment of children’s independence skills. This evidences what children are able or unable to do. However, it is not always evident how staff are supporting children to develop their skills in areas identified as needing more work. This could lead to children not having the necessary skills to support a successful transition into independence. Staff understand the importance of contact with family members and significant others. They have advocated for increased contact and unsupervised visits where

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

this has been appropriate. As a result, children have been able to improve their relationships and maintain a sense of belonging and identity within their families.

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

The ethos of the home is extremely child-centred. Children play an active part in house meetings and their views are extremely valued by staff. Recent meetings to discuss children’s requests for later bedtimes and playing football in the garden were successful, demonstrating that children are effectively involved in the running of the service and able to influence how they are cared for.

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

Children are effectively safeguarded by staff who take their roles and responsibilities to protect children extremely seriously. However, an incident record advises that a child, during a physical intervention, raised concerns regarding the type of physical intervention used, although staff witnessed the intervention and clarified to the child that the intervention used was appropriate. There is no record of this being followed up with the child on whether they wished to pursue a complaint. This could result in children feeling that their concerns are not taken seriously.

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

There has been one incident of a child going missing, which is the first for over a year. Staff acted appropriately and proactively to try to establish the child’s whereabouts. They worked effectively as a team, which enabled the safe return home of the individual. Staff followed policies and procedures and reported appropriately to the police. A return interview from the local authority has been requested. This will support staff in working to prevent further incidents of children going missing in the future.

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

Children’s risk assessments are comprehensive and demonstrate staff’s excellent knowledge of each child’s specific vulnerabilities. However, one risk assessment did not evidence the action that staff are taking to protect children when using their smart phones online. This may result in new staff not being informed of what they must do to safeguard children. Staff encourage children to take responsibility for themselves and to take age-appropriate risks. As a result, they have successfully enabled children to access independent free time in the community.

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

Staff have excellent knowledge of each child, their previous histories and why they behave the way that they do. Staff provide children with time and space to talk about their feelings and support them to reflect on positive ways of managing them constructively without resorting to aggressive outbursts. As a result, there has been a significant reduction in incidents for all children since their admission. Since the previous inspection, managers and staff have made efforts to improve the recording of children’s views after incidents involving physical intervention or after a sanction has been implemented. However, a requirement made at the previous inspection to ensure that all methods of discipline, including sanctions, are evaluated for their effectiveness has not been met. This means that managers are not monitoring the effectiveness of sanctions to ensure that they are successful at addressing unwanted behaviour.

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

All staff throughout the organisation work holistically and have excellent working relationships with each other. These relationships are reinforced through six- weekly care plan meetings, which are attended by all the professionals involved in the children’s care. These meetings provide a forum to jointly discuss and monitor each child’s development and risk assessment to devise collaborative strategies to ensure that the children receive consistent support. Their chances of success are maximised.

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Information about this children's home

A private company owns and operates this children's home. The home provides care and accommodation for a maximum of four children 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

12/08/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

22/09/2014 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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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

The registered person must ensure that— (a) 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— (vii) the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(vii)) 30/07/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  The registered person should evidence how staff help each child to prepare to live independently, and underpin this by a written plan (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27).  The registered person should evidence how staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. In particular, ensuring that risk assessment reflects the protective actions that staff are taking in regards to monitoring children's mobile phones (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5).  The registered person should build a strong safeguarding culture in the home where children are listened to. In particular, evidencing that children's concerns

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Recommendations

have been followed up and addressed (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.8).

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What the inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspection we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the ‘Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection’.

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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 focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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Information about this inspection

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 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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