Children's home run by Phoenix Child Care Limited in North Devon

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 registered manager works to shape and support a staff team that meets the needs of the young people. She makes excellent use of team meetings, supervision, training and use of research to ensure that the staff team remains up to date with research developments. Access to bespoke training and discussion forums means that staff continue to develop professionally and their practice is informed.  The young people benefit greatly from being cared for and supported by a qualified and nurturing staff team. Young people say that they are ‘happy’ and a parent says they are, ‘very, very happy’ with how the staff have enabled their son to make, ‘fantastic progress’.  Staff are extremely committed to overcoming any barriers to young people’s full participation in activities. They work hard to ensure that the young people have the same opportunities, such as going to music concerts, doing a paper round or visiting friends, as would any other young person of a

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The children’s home provision is good because:

similar age.  Young people are listened to and their wishes and views are given the highest priority with staff. Consequently, they are at the very heart of the home and everything that happens revolves around them. For example, visiting London, choosing their activities, decorating their bedrooms, filling their fish tank with new fish and planning a garden update.  Supporting young people’s independence as they transition to adulthood is a key strength of the staff team. Young people who leave the home to live independently do so with success.  The home works exceptionally well with parents, carers and other professionals to ensure that each young person’s needs are met. An independent reviewing officer reports that the staff have a ‘good understanding of the young person and their needs’, and a social worker said that the home had worked ‘exceptionally well’ when introducing a young person into the home.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 An excellent range of recording systems provides the manager with detailed information that allows her to effectively review and plan improvement. A detailed and research-informed development plan underpins these improvements.  However, there are some areas for improvement, including notifying Ofsted of incidents that involve the police in the home, and the effective management of young people’s behaviours to prevent bullying towards other young people and staff.

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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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other, take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare, and 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(iv)(vi)(b)) 12/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify the HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child, which the registered person considers serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)) 12/09/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  Staff should understand what they must do to prevent bullying of children by other children or adults. Staff should be able to recognise and address different types of abuse, such as peer abuse, cyber bullying and bullying in day-to-day relationships in the home. Registered persons must ensure that procedures for dealing with allegations of bullying are in place and staff have the skills required to intervene, protect and address bullying behaviours effectively. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.16)

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned and is registered for up to two children and young people.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

09/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Young people benefit from being cared for and supported by staff that provide nurturing and individualised approaches. They thrive during their stays because staff have an excellent understanding of their needs and meet these well.

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Good

Two young people have lived at this home for several years. One young person has recently moved on from the home to live independently. Given their starting points, both have made very good progress, and one parent said that their son had ‘come on fantastically’ and made ‘great progress’.

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Good

Young people benefit from personalised care, provided by a stable and qualified staff team which know the young people well. This promotes quality relationships, trust and stability for young people. As a result, they remain settled in the home and parents feel their young person is safe and happy. For one young person who moved into the home recently this has been a difficult and changeable period. While staff are reported by a social worker to have managed the introduction of a young person in the home as ‘exceptionally well’, records indicate that this change has had an impact on one young person in the home and bullying has taken place. Staff have worked very hard to manage these behaviours, and records indicate a decline in the seriousness of the incidents. However, the behaviours of one young person has had a negative impact on the other young person’s living environment, resulting in episodes of damage to the home. Therefore a requirement is made to

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Good

ensure that action is taken to prevent any further such instances.

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Good

All young people are encouraged and supported to engage in education. For those who are not able to attend mainstream school, alternative bespoke educational packages are provided. As a result, young people are in receipt of an education that is enabling them to achieve and succeed in their choices. Well-maintained records kept within the home detail the progress the young people make from their starting points, such as completing GCSEs.

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Good

Staff recognise the importance of celebrating young people’s achievements, no matter how small. Carefully and artistically, young people are involved in creating scrapbooks that record, with detail, events, achievements and successes. As a result, young people who move on from the home are provided with a journal of their experiences and memories of living in the home. In turn, this helps young people make sense of their lives.

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Good

Young people are supported well with their individual health needs, as they attend all health appointments. Staff recognise that some young people struggle with managing their health and making healthy lifestyle choices, and so produce individualised health plans. These are tailored to ensure that each young person has access to support groups, such as ‘Slimming World’, dieticians, and psychotherapy and psychology services. In doing so, young people make progress with their overall health and emotional well-being.

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Good

A key strength of the home is its engagement with families and professionals through regular communication, supporting visits to family homes, and sharing updates of progress and alerting them to incidents of concern. Consequently, this has maintained and developed family relationships and supports young people to retain a strong sense of identity. One parent spoken with was really pleased to report that their son is returning home every weekend and will be spending a week on holiday at home with them.

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Good

The manager and staff team have a very good understanding of the individual risks relating to the young people living at the home. They use effective risk management plans to identify risks and strategies to support the young people.

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Good

All staff are suitably trained and demonstrate an understanding of the use of risk assessments. This means that young people are supported to take age- and ability- appropriate risks, and are able to experience new opportunities, which builds their confidence and broadens their life experiences. Records scrutinised confirm that all risk assessments are reviewed and updated following any incidents of concern.

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Good

Young people benefit from a stable, experienced staff team which supports them with consistent boundaries, routines and expectations. This means that young people can benefit from staff who know how to manage their behaviours. For one young person, the positive change in their behaviours is significant. A number of records scrutinised, and observation of the young person, confirmed that they have learned to manage their responses when being told ‘no’ or being asked to ‘wait’: this was impressive. Warm empathetic responses delivered by staff ensure that young people learn to accept decisions and develop patience and tolerance. Further records scrutinised during the inspection confirm that young people choose not to go missing, and do not smoke or misuse alcohol or illegal substances.

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Good

Unfortunately, one young person has not been able to self-regulate their behaviours and responses. There have been a number of serious incidents of physical assaults on the staff, damage to the home, and intimidation and bullying directed at the other young person. While staff have intervened and used a range of tried and tested responses, and records indicate that they have reduced, staff have not been able to prevent these incidents. As a result, a requirement is made to ensure that action is taken to ensure that there are effective responses to prevent further occurrences of bullying.

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Good

Regular health and safety checks are carried out by staff to maintain a safe environment. Young people have individual emergency evacuation plans which identify the support they may require in the event of an emergency, and fire drills are routinely practised.

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Good

Recruitment and vetting procedures are sound. Young people are safe because all staff are vetted prior to starting working at the home. Robust procedures are in place for visitors, which include them being supervised, signing in and out of the home and their identification being verified.

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Outstanding

The registered manager has a wealth of experience of working with and supporting young people. She is suitably qualified and has been in post for a number of years. Her dedication and commitment to continuous professional development for herself and the staff team are impressive. Team meetings, supervisions and workshops are held regularly and it’s during these events that the manager takes time to inform staff of research updates, new working practices and approaches. In addition to these, the manager visits other providers to learn of good practice examples and shares these with the staff team.

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Outstanding

The staff team confirms that they continue to benefit from a regular and varied training package. The manager also ensures that for any emerging areas of behaviour displayed by young people, staff have access to specific training, for example strategies to manage bullying behaviour, autism and unhealthy eating.

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Outstanding

The manager recognises the importance of consultation and inclusion of young people. There is much evidence of how the manager, in particular, successfully advocates for young people. For example, challenging the education plan and in doing so providing a young person with additional learning opportunities and supporting a young person to attend care leavers’ parliamentary forums. Further to this, the manager has been instrumental in producing a newsletter and a children’s council that is accessible for all young people who reside in the company’s other children’s homes.

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Outstanding

The manager is committed to providing an environment which prioritises and supports the young people’s needs. She leads by example and is passionate about securing positive outcomes. She is skilled at recognising when the placement is not meeting the needs of the individual young people, taking action to address and, where appropriate, review the sustainability of the placement.

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Outstanding

The manager rigorously monitors and evaluates the home. She analyses patterns and trends to identify areas for development. The home’s development plan is extremely well written, and makes excellent use of photographs capturing the ‘before and after’ of building work inside and outside the home. This enables young people to understand how changes have taken place and how they have been listened to and involved.

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Outstanding

Professionals unanimously say that they are provided with very good, regular reports that are detailed and analytical, enabling them to keep informed about the young people’s progress. However, during the course of the inspection the manager failed to notify Ofsted of a serious incident. A requirement is therefore 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

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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