Children's home run by Five Rivers Child Care Limited in Wiltshire

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:

 The home provides children and young people with responsive, high quality, individually tailored care, with passion and commitment. The registered manager’s vision for the home is to create a nurturing, homely environment which promotes the children’s and young people’s security, confidence and resilience.  Transitions for young people are exceptionally well planned. One external professional described their young person’s introduction to the home as ‘excellent’.  The staff are skilled and experienced. The registered manager ensures that they have a shared vision, and that everyone adheres to the home’s ethos, as set out in the statement of purpose.  The staff are very well supported through regular, high quality supervision. A clinical psychologist provides regular specialist consultation and training for the staff.  The staff have developed good relationships with external professionals and parents. This helps to ensure that there is a consistent approach to care,

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The children’s home provision is good because:

supported by clearly defined behavioural boundaries.  The home provides high-quality, domestic-style premises with plenty of space for the young people, enhanced by an exceptionally large and adaptable garden. The surrounding rural area provides good opportunities for walking.  The home is an integral part of the local community. Staff and the young people visit the village shop and post office, and use the village hall for team meetings and training. The young people attend local clubs.  The home is very well managed, with a strong team comprising a registered manager, a deputy and two very competent seniors. The company’s senior leaders and managers are visible and highly supportive.

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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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Fitness of workers

32. (1) The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. (2) The registered person may only: (a) employ an individual to work at the children’s home, or (b) 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 that individual to work at the home: if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). (3) The requirements are that: (a) the individual is of integrity and good character (b) the individual has the appropriate experience, qualifications and skills for the work that the individual is to perform (c) the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform (d) full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Fitness of workers

In particular, ensure that staff files contain a good quality, recent photograph of the member of staff and that any gaps in employment history are recorded in writing. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(3) and Schedule 1) 31/8/2016

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Recommendation:

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:

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Recommendation:

 Ensure that the workforce plan is updated to include any continuing professional development needs of staff, including the home’s manager. In particular, ensure that the workforce plan includes additional staff and management training needs, such as self-harm and restorative justice (‘The Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8).

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home is operated by a national company. The provider also operates other children’s services in the same area. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people of either gender, who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

5/1/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/1/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

The children and young people living in this home receive a high standard of individually tailored care to meet their diverse needs. They are treated with sensitivity, dignity and respect, and their welfare and safety is at the centre of all the staff’s activities.

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Good

Both of the children and young people are positive about the home and the staff team. They say that they enjoy activities and the food in the home, and they value their relationships with their key workers and other staff.

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Good

Children and young people enjoy very positive relationships with the staff team and managers. The registered manager ensures that the staff work in a warm, supportive and nurturing way, informed by a therapeutic ethos.

p.6

Good

The children and young people are at different stages in their respective placements. One young person lived in the home alone with the staff team for several months before the other child moved in. This young person made good progress and has gained in confidence since their arrival, but is now having to respond to the challenge of living with another, much younger child. The recently admitted resident is beginning to respond to the staff and has already made progress with his education.

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Good

Although there have been some settling-in problems, the children and young people say that they can speak with their key workers when there are difficulties. The staff are working hard to help them to live harmoniously together. The children and young people understand how to raise a concern with the home’s managers, and one young person has successfully done so. The staff listen to any worries and reassure them when necessary. The children and young people have access to advocacy if they want this, and one child does have an advocate.

p.6

Good

Children and young people are consulted daily about their plans and views. They contribute to their own menus and activity planning through regular house meetings and individual key worker sessions. Some of the young people have recently begun to participate in their own reviews, after a long period when they lacked the confidence to do so. This is a very positive development.

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Good

The children and young people have a clearly structured routine, which supports their basic needs. They enjoy regular meals and are able to exercise some degree of choice over what they eat. Both of the residents need to work on eating more of the right foods, so that they have at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. This is currently achieved approximately 50% of the time. The staff work hard to promote healthy eating, and have made some improvements to the young people’s diets, so no recommendation has been made on this occasion.

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Good

The staff team works closely with education professionals to help promote the young people’s attendance and attainment in education. The young people have access to computers and other equipment necessary to promote their learning. As a result, the children and young people have made good progress in their education. Some of the young people experienced difficulties in previous schools before they arrived in this home, resulting in a loss of confidence. The registered manager has ensured that the education team has been involved with each young person from the point of admission. One young person now receives over five hours of education in vocational subjects each day, and plans to go to college. His attendance is now 95%, which is a major improvement in comparison with his situation before he arrived. Another child has a new, tailor-made timetable, which includes practical sessions at a forest school,

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Good

and equine therapy. Initially, he struggled to cope with more than an hour or two at a time, but he is progressing well and now receives over 22 hours of education per week. This is still being slowly increased. The children and young people are in very good health and have access to all the services that they need. The manager and staff receive regular consultation from a clinical psychologist who is employed by the company to provide specialist professional insight into the young people’s behaviour. The staff were very complimentary about her input and said that they find this extremely beneficial to their practice.

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Good

The young people in the home are learning to understand boundaries. The staff support them with this through reflective conversations, supported by supervision and professional consultation.

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Good

The local area provides many opportunities for the young people to have fun and challenge themselves to try something new. There are national parks and beaches within an easy drive. The children and young people enjoy a wide range of activities within the home and at local attractions.

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Good

The staff promote good health by encouraging physical activity. To this end, the home has a trampoline and a five-a-side pitch in the large garden, with plenty of space to run around and have fun. Some children and young people are now engaging in many more activities than they did before they arrived at the home. This has had a beneficial effect on their health and fitness levels.

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Good

Medication in the home is well managed through a pharmacy-provided, monitored dose system. Medication administration is carefully recorded to promote the young people’s safety.

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Good

The staff team works together very effectively to present consistent messages to the children and young people about expected behaviours. They spend time talking with the children and young people to help them explore their feelings about relationships with others, and the potential barriers that they face due to their life experiences.

p.8

Good

When progress is made, the staff team is quick to respond with congratulations and, when appropriate, more tangible rewards. This helps to reinforce positive behaviour and provides the children and young people with an incentive to improve. Both of the children and young people have been nominated for their local authority’s achievement awards.

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Good

The children and young people in this home are not yet old enough to have formal independence plans, but the staff support them very effectively in learning relevant life skills. One young person said that he really enjoys cooking, and his bedroom is exceptionally tidy. Some young people have been entrusted with carefully managed free time. They have shown that they can be responsible and keep to agreements with staff about staying in touch.

p.8

Good

The home works exceptionally well with children and young people who are moving in. The planning process closely involves the young person, the placing authority and parents when appropriate. Children and young people are introduced to the home at their own pace. External professionals are very pleased with how this is managed.

p.8

Good

The staff support good quality family contact, where this is authorised by the placing authority. Some young people are able to keep in contact with their parents and the staff have helped to re-establish links with family members who were previously estranged. Judgement grade

p.8

Good

The children and young people in this home are safe and benefit from a high- quality, well-maintained environment. The staff have a clear understanding of child protection and receive regularly updated safeguarding training to ensure that they are aware of action to be taken if a child is at risk.

p.9

Good

There have been some recent incidents between the children and young people, resulting in some damage to the home. The staff team responded appropriately to defuse the situation, and the manager has ensured that repairs to the home are under way. Life space (de-brief) interviews have been held after the incidents, to help all concerned to review and learn from what has happened.

p.9

Good

The children and young people are very well able to speak to their key workers, and other adults in the home, if they wish to discuss anything that is worrying them. One young person has felt able to raise a complaint, and the company’s senior managers responded to this positively.

p.9

Good

The home’s risk assessments are reviewed at least monthly, and additionally, in the light of any incidents, to ensure that they are always up to date and relevant. The staff work closely with parents and the placing authority to ensure that all parties are aware of any changes to the children’s and young people’s situations.

p.9

Good

Staff are well able to anticipate potential areas of difficulty, and to take preventative action when required. For example, the children and young people are currently protected by bedroom door alarms, and are encouraged to lock their bedrooms, for which they have their own keys. This affords the children and young people privacy and helps to protect their property. The use of door alarms is described in the home’s statement of purpose, and is suitably risk assessed.

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Good

The children and young people have access to computers and the internet to support their learning and development. The manager and staff are well aware of the dangers to the children and young people posed by potentially abusive behaviour on the internet, and appropriate safeguarding measures are in place. The registered manager has appropriately referred one matter to the local authority designated officer for safeguarding.

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Good

The children and young people benefit from living in a spacious, attractive home with a large garden. The registered manager has ensured that the home is nicely decorated, and one young person is in the process of redecorating his bedroom in colours that he has chosen himself. The other young person has worked hard to make his bedroom personal, with lots of pictures and posters, and two pet fish. The communal rooms are comfortable and attractively presented. The home is within a short drive of a large town, which has a wide range of leisure facilities. There are currently two broken windows in the home, in the lounge and in one young person’s bedroom, and these have been measured for replacement triple glazing units and have been boarded up for safety. This damage occurred within the last few days. There is some paint damage to an exterior wall, which could not be repaired prior to the inspection, due to rainy weather.

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Good

There have been no incidents of going missing or other risk-taking behaviour since the previous inspection. Each young person has a missing-from-home risk assessment to inform staff how they should respond. The home has very positive collaborative relationships with the local police to help inform strategies for keeping children and young people safe. The staff showed great commitment to a previous resident who did go missing frequently, and followed him resolutely, regularly retrieving him from 160 miles distant.

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Good

The home has a clear system of rewards and restorative consequences, which the children and young people understand. Each young person has their own targets and can earn extra pocket money for meeting these. Targets may include eating their five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, helping with looking after the house, and attending education.

p.10

Good

The staff actively promote positive behaviour and are careful to de-escalate potentially challenging situations before they become out of control. As a result, there have been very few physical interventions in the home since the previous inspection.

p.10

Good

All incidents are well recorded and are followed up with an interview with the child or young person to find out how they feel about what has taken place. Through effective monitoring, the registered manager ensures that incidents are responded to appropriately and the police are not called unnecessarily.

p.10

Good

The home has appropriate fire safety systems in place. Fire alarms and other tests are carried out at the recommended intervals. The home’s system of health and safety checks is well organised and records are up to date. There are no health and safety concerns.

p.10

Good

The company has an effective system of staff recruitment, which is managed by the central human resources team. The staff files examined on this inspection are well ordered and contain almost all the required information. The files kept in the home rely on a photocopy of a driving licence or passport for a staff photograph. These photos may be outdated and lack definition, so cannot be seen clearly. In one instance, there was a two month gap in employment history on the application form. The human resources professional explained that this was explored with the applicant, but their explanation was not recorded on the file. This shortfall does not have any impact on the young people’s welfare or safety, but the regulation does state that such information should be on file. A requirement has been made.

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Good

The home is very well led and managed by an experienced, qualified person. She leads by example and sets high and aspirational standards for her staff. The former registered manager left the company on 24 October 2015. The home was empty for a period, and the time was used to refurbish the young people’s bedrooms and communal areas. The new manager, who is a psychology graduate with a level 5 award in leadership and management, arrived in post on 7 December 2015. She was registered with Ofsted on 17 May 2016. The manager has worked as a clinical psychologist in South Africa, and since coming to live in Great Britain, she has managed care and domiciliary services in the private and voluntary sectors. External professionals expressed confidence in the manager, and complimented her on how she had managed one young person’s transition from their previous placement. All the potential risks to the children and young people are carefully evaluated,

p.11

Good

including the impact of new admissions on existing residents. For example, there is a robust compatibility risk assessment, which informed the recent decision to admit a second young person. The registered manager decided against the admission of a number of prospective residents before agreeing to the latest child’s introduction to the home. This shows that there is careful consideration with regard to matching.

p.11

Good

The registered manager ensures that the home is effectively monitored. She is well aware of each young person’s needs and progress. The manager takes swift action to respond to any situation that she believes may be detrimental to a child or young person’s welfare. The home’s Regulation 44 visitor visits monthly. His reports provide an objective and constructive review of the home’s progress. The registered manager responds to any recommendations made to help improve the home. The home had no requirements or recommendations set at the interim inspection, but still had to action a recommendation from the previous full inspection in relation to key working targets. The manager was unable to action this until she had a placement in the home. The staff interviewed during this inspection feel extremely positive about their work and have a full understanding of the home’s ethos. They feel very well supported and report that they receive regular supervision. Staff supervision is well

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Good

recorded to show appropriate challenge and scrutiny. The home is currently short of permanent staff, largely due to team members moving on. The registered manager is well aware of the need for continuity and uses permanent staff, either from her own home or another home within the group, to ensure that all the adults working on shift share the same training and ethos. Agency staff are used only when absolutely necessary. When this occurs, the same personnel are requested to ensure continuity for the young people. The manager said that there is recruitment under way, and there are interviews in the near future for permanent posts. Because the company has acted promptly to recruit more staff and has effective cover arrangements, there is no significant impact on the young people at this time. The home has a good statement of purpose, which meets the requirements of Schedule 1 of the Children’s Homes Regulations 2015. Some minor amendments

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Good

were made to the statement of purpose during the inspection to remove references to the children’s rights director, who has retired. The home has very positive relationships with other agencies, including the police. Police community support officers came to the home to meet one young person recently, and showed him around the police car. He clearly enjoyed this experience and benefited from informal contact with them. The registered manager is well able to challenge other agencies when the need arises, to promote the children’s and young people’s welfare. The home has forged positive links with the local community. The registered manager tries to use local resources, such as the village shop and post office, whenever possible. Staff training is often held in the village hall. Prior to accepting any young people, the registered manager met with residents to reassure them about neighbourhood security and safety. The young people benefit from these

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Good

harmonious relationships within the community. The home’s development plan has not yet been finalised, but the registered manager has clear ideas about areas for further improvement. Her priority at present is to establish a strong and stable staff team to help deliver the home’s vision and move towards accepting a third young person in due course. Plans for the home’s environment include establishing an area of the garden for growing vegetables. The registered manager has a workforce development plan, which includes staffing structure, qualifications, induction and mandatory training and how staff performance is supervised and managed. This document shows that all six of the established staff hold either NVQ or QCF at level 3. There are three trainee residential care workers on the staff team, all of whom are currently undertaking the QCF diploma in health and social care for the children’s and young people’s

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Good

workforce. The workforce development plan does not yet include identified areas for staff development and training, such as restorative justice and working with young people who self-harm. A recommendation has been made.

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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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