Children's home run by BREAK

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 benefit from many new experiencers and a variety of stimulating activities.  The quality of relationships between young people and staff is very good, and supports their development and progress.  Young people all attend school or college. Staff work in partnership with providers to reduce any barriers to attainment and attendance.  There is a strong partnership working with parents and external professionals. Feedback is positive.  The staff team is experienced and established, providing stability and continuity of care.  The home has been creatively refurbished to provide a stimulating and comfortable environment that reflects young people’s tastes.  Monitoring is good and drives further improvement to the quality of care provided.  The quality and depth of supervision for staff fails to provide enough challenge or accountability.  Safeguarding arrangements are not always implemented by staff within

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The children's home provision is good because:

appropriate timescales.  The risk assessments for the home do not include all associated risk regarding the locality.

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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 ‘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

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered provider must ensure— (2)(b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. This is with particular regard to ensuring that the risks associated with the location are adequately assessed and responded to, and are reflected in associated risk assessments. 31 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered provider must ensure— (2)(e) that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. 31 July 2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Ensure that staff receive supervision of their practice which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Information about this children's home

The home is operated by a charitable organisation and provides care for up to four young people who have a learning difficulty, physical disability or sensory impairment.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

20 March 2016 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

20 March 2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Good

Young people have complex learning and physical difficulties, with very little expressive communication. Staff provide care that meets each young person’s unique needs. They are skilled and resourceful in their understanding of each individual. The staff provide highly individualised care that helps young people to make recognisable progress. The staff group is established and experienced. Young people have formed fundamental relationships based on trust. One parent said: ‘The staff are wonderful. They genuinely love and care for our children. The relationship they have with them is more than a parent could ever wish for.’ The young people’s education attendance and achievement levels are good. Progress is evident. One young person has achieved Level 2 and Level 3 in computing. Staff work with school staff well. One young person has a reduced timetable, and is in college for two days and in school for two days. Progress is

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Good

measured by improvements in conduct and behaviour. The young person has a bespoke curriculum tailored to his individual needs. Access to further education is supported by having consistent teaching staff to alleviate the stress of changing provision. Another young person made good progress in school, but found the transport difficult. Staff have worked very well with the school and transport provider to enable the young person to manage this with a reduced number of incidents. Young people benefit from enriched experiences that can only be provided by an experienced staff team. These include community clubs, swimming, horse riding and going on holiday. Staff work well with external professionals to support young people’s health and emotional well-being. Medication is monitored to ensure that doctors are reviewing this regularly. Resources to reduce barriers and help young people to have increased mobility are sourced by staff who advocate strongly for young people.

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Good

Young people have made significant improvements in weight management by eating a balanced and healthy diet. Staff use picture exchange communications systems and symbols to gauge young people’s views. They have surveyed the new menu options to gauge the preferred choices. Young people have been actively involved in the decor. The dining room’s ‘diner’ style represents all three young people’s tastes and interests incorporated into one theme. There are two television rooms and a young people’s computer room. The Jacuzzi sensory bathroom provides relaxation and visual stimulation to relax and sooth young people who find it difficult to relax. This has impacted positively with behaviour. The staff provide a variety of experiences, both in the home and the local community. These include clubs, using leisure facilities and engaging in work experience. This provides time with peers away from the home. Transition planning is a key strength of the service. Young people are prepared for

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Good

moves that are arranged with parents and social workers. Staff work extremely hard to ensure that potential services to provide support for young adults can meet young people’s needs. They fully recognise the difficulties that are faced by young people and their families during this period. Staff actively support positive contact with families. Families regularly visit the provision. Staff facilitate outings and holidays with family, rebuilding relationships and enabling families to spend quality time with their children.

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Requires improvement

There has been one recent incident where staff failed to follow the safeguarding policy. A disclosure made by a young person to a member of staff was not followed up for two days. The young person could potentially have gone into an abusive situation without a safeguarding referral being made. This was not reported or risk assessed, based on what the young person said. When the manager was informed, she immediately implemented the safeguarding procedure. Although this concern was unsubstantiated in this instance, the safeguarding procedure was not followed by any of the staff on shift. Furthermore, the manager did not address the delayed reporting with the staff. This does not demonstrate a strong response or good safeguarding practice. The location risk assessment has been reviewed, but does not include some of the risks. These include little parking space, dense traffic and the use of home’s entrance by the school opposite at pick-up times. These busy periods are potential

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Requires improvement

hot spots, as young people are collected and dropped off by taxi drivers. The home’s general risk assessment also fails to identify this. There are key times of the day when the car park and road are both very busy, and this poses a risk to young people’s safety. Staff are aware of this, but have not captured it in their risk assessments. Staff are all trained in physical interventions and use these to prevent harm to young people and staff. They provide de-escalation and are consistently alert to potential triggers. Behaviour management plans guide staff. These give a clear strategy and provide simple scripts, ensuring a consistent approach. This provides safe boundaries, helping young people to reduce incidents and build trust in staff. There are no incidents of young people going missing from the home. High levels of supervision are provided and this reduces risks outside the home. There are a few potential bullying incidents, generally when young people irritate or annoy one

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Requires improvement

another. These are recorded and evaluated to help young people to empathise and start to take responsibility for their actions. Hazards in the home are managed well. The immediate environment is carefully maintained. Fire prevention is discussed and mock fire drills are conducted by staff. This ensures that staff are clear about the evacuation procedures in the event of a fire.

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Good

This home is managed very well by an established management team. The manager has been in post for five years and works closely with the deputy manager. They lead a team that is consistently focused on young people’s progress and well-being. The manager is qualified to a level 5. This is a home where young people make extremely good progress in all areas of their development. Placements are long term. Staff work hard to overcome the barriers faced by young people, providing new opportunities and experiences that are equal to those of their peers. Admissions to the home and transitions from the home are planned very well. This ensures that group dynamics are sustainable and provides time for young people to adjust to change. This has resulted in a stable, settled home. The independent visitor reports reflect few incidents and they generate action points that are followed up. These provide an objective overview and an extra

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Good

safeguard to young people. Staff relish working within the supportive team. They benefit from working for a wider organisation that values and promotes training. The team has recently benefited from training on attachment theory. The culture supports staff’s professional development. Staff can access courses to support their understanding and care of young people, enhancing their understanding and improving the quality of care. Staff receive regular supervision from a senior member of staff. Supervision focuses on some practice issues and young people’s progress. The supervision does not consistently address practice concerns or provide enough challenge to staff. This means that opportunities to reflect and learn from mistakes are missed. This is in relation to staff failing to follow the safeguarding procedures on one occasion. The home has an excellent rapport and relationships with social workers and

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Good

parents. The feedback is good. Parents, in particular, are extremely positive about the benefits of young people being at the home. The annual development plan demonstrates a workable and realistic plan to improve the service and the experiences of young people. This highlights the challenges faced by the team and demonstrates a good understanding of what the service does well. The management team and staff advocate strongly on behalf of young people. Staff have gone ‘above and beyond’ to find a new provision for a young person moving to adult services. They have worked hard to ensure that the next provision will meet the young person’s needs and have sourced monies to provide an extra wheelchair base. This means that the young person will not be reliant on waiting for ongoing maintenance repairs, but can exchange bases and continue to be mobile.

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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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