Children's Home run by Green View Young People Limited in Barnsley

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 the consistent and good-quality care that they receive from staff. They make steady progress in key areas of their lives from their starting point on admission to the home.  There is a significant reduction in the risk to young people of sexual exploitation. ‘Missing from home’ incidents have also reduced and criminal behaviour has stopped completely.  Young people get good support to move on from the home in a planned way. Staff work particularly well to help young people move on to foster care. This has helped the placement get off to a good start.  Young people experience one-to-one quality time with staff. This is because staffing ratios are good. In addition, staff bring considerable skill and expertise to their relationships with young people.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (‘the independent person’s report’) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

(a) children are effectively safeguarded; and (b) the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff.

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Recommendations

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

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Recommendations

 The registered person should help each child to prepare for leaving the home, both practically and emotionally. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.9) Specifically, the registered person should ensure that planning for independence sets more challenging targets that link directly to young people’s specific needs.  The registered person’s review should focus on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)

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Information about this children’s home

This is a private children’s home. It is registered to care for two 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

09/03/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Good

Young people benefit from good-quality care provided by staff who are ambitious for them to do well. This supports them to make good progress from very challenging starting points and with every prospect of doing well in the future.

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Good

Staff develop positive and friendly relationships with young people. Staff are good at getting to know their views, and they make sure that they are included in decisions made about them. This helps them to gain a good understanding of what young people are like as individuals and what will work best for them. Along with consistency in practice and the nurturing approach of staff, this all combines to have a favourable impact on young people’s outcomes across all areas of their development.

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Good

Improvements in young people’s emotional health provide the basis for them to achieve success in other areas of their lives. This is evident in their motivation to do well in their education, in their care and empathy for others and in the ability, in one case, to move successfully to foster care.

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Good

Young people make good progress in their education. One young person has completed her examinations and is now actively exploring options to further her education. This reflects her ambition to do well and improve her employment prospects.

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Good

Young people’s overall health has improved since being at the home. All their basic health needs are met, supplemented by support to maintain a sensible, healthy diet and to keep as fit and as healthy as possible.

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Good

Young people are of an age where they can competently manage the majority of their own health needs, supplemented by specialist services when they require it. Taking more responsibility for this aspect of their lives is part of their journey to independence.

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Good

Completing household tasks, budgeting and taking some responsibility for some decision-making are also part of the preparation for adult life. This process could be improved by setting more ambitious targets, based on their individual needs, to deal with the more complex areas of life.

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Good

One young person has made a successful transition to foster care, with staff supporting her to meet her new foster carers. Staff established good relationships with foster carers and provided them with key information. This helped to lay the foundations for the young person to settle in with her new carers and get the placement off to a positive start.

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Good

Young people live in a comfortable, spacious and well-maintained home. There is ample space for both communal activity and privacy. The building is situated in an area convenient for public transport, which means that young people can exercise their independence in getting out and about to see family and friends.

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Good

Staff take the right action to protect young people. This includes helping them to manage their behaviour, recognise risk and to reduce criminal behaviours.

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Good

Young people are learning how to protect themselves, and the number of missing from home incidents has significantly reduced, along with potential exposure to child exploitation. When these situations do emerge, prompt action is taken so that young people are quickly located and returned to the home safely.

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Good

Young people’s behaviour improves over time as a result of the way they are looked after. Staff are effective at helping young people manage their emotions so that differences and disagreements are approached in a mature way.

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Good

Staff are good at helping young people develop their independence, which carries inherent risks, while at the same time supporting them to stay safe and keep to agreed boundaries. This helps young people to take a considered approach to their decision-making and think about the impact of their choices.

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Good

The registered manager holds a level 5 management diploma, and has managed the home since 2008. He is also the responsible individual of the service. He ensures that the home fulfils its commitments to young people, as outlined in the Statement of Purpose. The majority of requirements set at the last inspection are largely met. The home’s Statement of Purpose has been sent in to Ofsted and improvements have been made to the manager’s six-monthly monitoring report.

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Good

A further requirement is set for the provider to include and evaluate the ample consultation that takes place with young people, their families and other professionals. A recommendation is also set to further improve the report so that it really focuses on the quality of care being provided for young people.

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Good

A requirement for the independent visitor to clearly form an opinion about whether young people are safeguarded and their welfare promoted has not been met. This has no impact on the safety or quality of care that young people experience but must be addressed to comply with the regulations.

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Good

The manager is very ‘hands-on’, and takes a direct interest in young people living at the home. He is ideally placed, therefore, to monitor exactly what is happening on a day-to-day basis for each young person. As the responsible individual, he can quickly take decisions to fine-tune and adapt his service to meet the needs of young people.

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Good

For example, the manager is in no hurry to fill the current vacancy. This is giving the remaining young person some ‘breathing space’, and reflects the view that getting the right match is more important than securing maximum occupancy.

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Good

The manager presides over a team that is well established, very competent and suitably qualified. Staffing ratios are good and allow young people to spend quality time with their key workers. This is supplemented by very effective partnership working with a range of other professionals, parents and families. This enables young people to benefit from a well-resourced service where there is a good range of support on hand.

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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 that 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 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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