Children's home run by Worcestershire County Council in Worcester

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:

 Positive relationships with a core group of long-term staff ensure that young people receive a good level of support.  Growing attachments and relationships are seen as central to helping young people come to terms with their previous experiences and to improving their emotional well-being.  Young people’s attendance at school is good in comparison to their previous circumstances.  Young people have made some positive changes in their lives and have reduced their risk-taking behaviours.  Young people like the home’s environment and the fact that they have had a say in how it has been decorated and furnished.  Staff feel very well supported in their daily work with young people. They receive training in a range of core practice areas.  New staff have not completed training that is comprehensively matched to young people’s specific needs.  The manager and staff team are not consistently challenging other professionals

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The children's home provision is good because:

to ensure the best outcomes for young people.  Records of restraints and rewards are not detailed and do not accurately reflect the staff team’s good practice.  There is no induction specific to the needs of newly appointed managers and assistant managers to ensure that they have the skills to effectively undertake the roles.  Records of the manager’s supervisions are not robust and staff appraisal is not happening systematically.

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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

Regulation 5: engaging with the wider system to ensure that each child’s needs are met: In order to meet the engaging with the wider system standard, the registered person must ensure effective partnership working with placing authorities. 5. In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff: (a) seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans (b) seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs (c) if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans (d) seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers appropriate, having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. This specifically refers to the manager challenging other professionals in the best interests of the young people and the service and ensuring there are clear records of challenge. 31 August 13. In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must enable, inspire and lead a culture in relation to the children’s home that— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child (d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to reviewing the staffing structure to ensure it is sufficient to cover periods of annual leave, sickness and staff vacancies. 31 August

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction; receives practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(1) (a) (4) (b) (c)) This specifically relates to new managers and assistant managers receiving appropriate induction and supervision to ensure that they are equipped to achieve the role, for all staff to receive annual appraisal. 31 August

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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 all the points listed in Regulation 35 (3) (a) (b) (c). 31 August

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow 31 August that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (3) (d))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development. This is in relation to specific training in Tourette’s. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)) 31 August

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Information about this children's home

This is a local authority operated home. It provides care and accommodation for three young people 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

3 March 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Young people make good progress in most areas of their lives. They experience placement stability where they are able to make progress against their agreed plans. Staff are focused on providing nurturing care, based on individual needs. Staff have a good insight and understanding of young people’s circumstances and backgrounds. Although young people still struggle sometimes, they have some good relationships with staff who are able to positively influence behaviours and choices.

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Good

Young people build emotional resilience, grow in confidence and build self-esteem. They are encouraged to talk about their life experiences and backgrounds and to reflect on behaviours and decisions that have had a negative impact on their lives. Key workers spend time with individual young people to help them with matters that are important to them. Consequently, young people have a say in how they are looked after and what hobbies and interests they wish to pursue.

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Good

Young people’s physical, emotional and social development is well supported by staff. They are educated and encouraged to have healthy diets and lead healthy lifestyles. When inappropriate or high risk behaviours continue, on-going work is undertaken that promotes opportunities for change.

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Good

Young people are supported and encouraged to overcome their previous difficulties and negative attitudes towards school and education. They have significant histories of poor attendance and attainment and staff work hard to develop approaches and arrangements that encourage progress and improvement. Young people still have some difficulties, but they are always encouraged to attend. One young person has been supported to successfully gain a college placement.

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Good

Young people know how to make a complaint if needed, including the use of external professionals and advocacy services. Overall, they are confident that any complaints they make will be addressed. Young people do not live too far from their home area and are well supported to stay in touch with people who are important to them.

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Good

Young people are supported to develop appropriate friendship networks and their own place in the community. Staff recently took a young person and her friend on holiday. Staff promote the use of independent time away from the home as a way of young people learning about personal responsibility, safety and independence. Staff effectively influence young people and increase their opportunities and horizons. For example, young people participate in new activities, attend sporting events and go on holiday. Young people recognise the progress that they have made. A young person stated, ‘I am now attending education without staff support and I go swimming with staff and fishing with my granddad.’

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Good

Staff help young people to move on and out from the home in line with their plans. Young people learn age-appropriate life skills as part of the home’s normal routine. Young people see this as a normal part of the day. Recently, staff have supported a young person who made an unplanned move out of the home. They continue to be in daily contact with her, listen to her and address her needs. They are also working through a more formal independence tool with a positive view to her future.

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Good

Staff have a clear understanding of how to manage any safeguarding allegations. They receive regular safeguarding training, which covers a range of topics, including children missing from home and awareness raising in relation to child sexual exploitation. There have been no safeguarding concerns or missing from home incidents. When complaints have been raised, the manager has addressed them quickly and to the satisfaction of the complainant.

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Good

Staff understand the risks and vulnerabilities that young people face and they actively work to ensure that everyone is protected. Staff have a positive approach to the management of challenging behaviour. The use of physical intervention is rare. Individualised plans ensure that staff are properly guided in their responses to negative behaviour.

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Good

Young people currently living at the home do not always have positive relationships or views of each other. This has caused some conflict, which staff have managed well. At times they struggle with the ‘fairness’ of staff responses to individuals. On one occasion, this resulted in a young person calling the police to the home. Staff were managing the incident appropriately but the young person was angry and concerned that they were being assaulted by the other young person. This situation was resolved, but the difficult relationships resulted in one young person deciding she can no longer live at the home. Staff discuss behaviours and lessons learned and, within the boundaries of confidentiality, try and help young people understand each other’s differences. Staff continue to support young people to understand the complexities of relationships and living with each other. The system for recording physical interventions has recently been reviewed and is

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Good

now kept electronically. These records do not give detailed enough accounts of incidents and therefore do not safeguard young people or staff.

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Good

The home has effective systems in place to monitor and maintain good standards of health and safety. This includes ensuring that equipment and utilities are checked and serviced regularly, that fire prevention systems are in good working order and practice fire drills are undertaken regularly. Young people live in a home where their health and safety is fully protected.

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Good

The young people and staff have created and are currently re-vamping a very welcoming and personalised home. Any damage is quickly repaired. The young people are actively involved in the decoration and layout of the home and really like their bedrooms.

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Requires improvement

The previous registered manager of this home transferred to manage another children’s home on 1 February 2016. The assistant manager acted up into the role and was successfully appointed as permanent manager on 9th May 2016. She is in the process of applying for registration with Ofsted. She is appropriately experienced and holds the level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare and a nurturing and attachment qualification.

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Requires improvement

Since transferring to the role of manager, she has had to manage a number of staff vacancies. Her priority has been to provide the young people with a consistency of staff while ensuring that the remaining staff within the team do not become tired. This has been creatively managed. Existing staff have worked overtime. The assistant manager post has been filled by a member of staff transferred on a temporary basis from another home. Staff from other homes have covered and there has been minimal use of a small number of agency staff.

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Requires improvement

Due to this being a small service, covering these vacancies in the interim as well as annual leave and staff sickness has been very tiring for the remaining staff. New staff have now been recruited to the remaining vacancies pending them working notice periods. The manager is planning to review the staff structure and cover arrangements with the responsible individual. This is to ensure that they are robust enough in the future so not to put undue stress on the existing team.

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Requires improvement

Since starting in post, the manager has not had a formal induction into being a registered manager. There is also no formal specialist induction for new assistant manager posts. Supervision for the manager is taking place but records are poor and do not evidence a robust process for supporting someone new to the role.

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Requires improvement

Staff are provided with good practical support and guidance, which helps them structure the daily routines and activities for young people. Although there have been some recent changes in the composition of the team, a core group remain who continue to provide continuity within the home. They are supervised and supported by managers and have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Staff feel well supported and meet with their supervisors regularly to discuss their work and the contribution that they are making to young people’s progress and placement aims. Staff appraisals have not been taking place on a regular basis. This has been identified and is being addressed currently by the manager.

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Requires improvement

Most staff are qualified. Those who are unqualified are within regulatory timescales to obtain their qualifications within two years of starting work. Staff are supported to develop their practice through training, clinician-facilitated meetings, structured team meetings and supervision. All of this enables them to reflect on their practice, discuss how well the young people are progressing, and provide challenge. Some longstanding staff have received training that was specifically run to meet the needs of the young people. Newer staff do not have this insight because they have not received such training. The manager’s focus has been to recruit to current vacancies. When all new staff have started in post and she has a full staff team she intends to organise this training.

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Requires improvement

The manager and staff have well-established networks and relationships with a range of agencies and professionals who are involved in meeting the needs of young people. The manager and staff promote young people’s needs and sometimes challenge partners where responses to meeting needs have fallen short of what is required. This challenge is not consistent. For example, some excellent work secured a young person’s school placement. However, when a young person was recently excluded from school without any formal correspondence there was no evidence of the decision being challenged. The manager and staff team are not always confident or well informed enough to make appropriate challenge. When they do challenge other professional’s perceptions or shortfalls, this is not clearly recorded.

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Requires improvement

The manager has established systems to monitor the operation of the home. These systems include regular visits from an independent person through to in-house monitoring and quality assurance activities. Information is clearly available to inform her, the staff team and the local authority about the home’s operation.

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Requires improvement

The local authority employs a safe recruitment procedure that ensures that young people are looked after by staff who have been appropriately checked and vetted. The manager does not have a systematic process for collating the information sent to her by human resources to ensure that all required documentation is in place for agency staff.

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Requires improvement

The service provided by the home is accurately described in the statement of purpose and young people's guides. Young people are well informed about what to expect from the staff team and what is expected from them. The guides provide a good description of the home's commitment to promoting young people's rights and entitlements.

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Requires improvement

Overall, progress is being made to stabilise staffing in this service. The manager is progressing her application to register with Ofsted and staff team are working to sustain and build on young people’s engagement and progress.

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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 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 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, 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

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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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