Children's home run by Worcestershire County Council in Worcester

Outstanding

The children's home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the home contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people receive outstanding individual support that is wholly consistent with their identified needs and agreed plans of care.  Young people experience an enabling residential culture that has a very positive impact. Young people make excellent progress and experience improving outcomes in many areas of their lives.  Care and support is planned, coordinated and delivered to an excellent standard.  Practice and routines are adapted and adjusted quickly in response to a range of complex needs and risks. This makes the service very responsive to each young person’s circumstances.  Young people have fun, and feel respected, safe and secure with the staff who look after them.  Young people ‘s views, wishes and feelings are central to the way that staff organise themselves on a day-to-day basis.  Families and professionals are extremely positive about the quality of care and support that young people receive and the outcomes that are being

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

achieved.  The registered manager and staff team confidently and consistently meet their responsibilities to keep young people safe.  The service is soundly managed with experienced, knowledgeable and supportive leadership for staff and young people. This results in the staff team having a clear focus on the necessary goals and outcomes for young people to be successful.  Young people do not have access to a wireless internet connection.

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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

 Ensure that children have access to a computer and the internet to support their education and learning, unless there are specific safeguarding reasons why this would not be appropriate. In such cases, the home should consider whether and how it can support the child to access a computer and the internet safely.

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Recommendations

This specifically relates to enabling young people to communication and develop the ability to self-regulate their behaviours. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 29, paragraph 5.19)

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Information about this children's home

This local authority short-breaks service provides short periods of residential accommodation for up to four young people with physical and/or learning disabilities.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

Recent inspection history

15/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.5

Recent inspection history

24/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.5

Outstanding

Young people’s diverse and complex needs are positively explored and addressed, from the time when they first visit the service. Staff gather an excellent range of information to help them to learn about each young person. More importantly, staff listen to families and young people and what they have to say about their lives and needs. This helps staff to understand who young people are, how they want to be looked after and what is important to them.

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Outstanding

Staff set achievable goals which ensure that young people experience regular, positive accomplishments. A social worker stated: ‘The reports that I get from the unit when I hold my reviews are very comprehensive and very focused on self-care goals. The parents and staff decide on these and they work out new goals when these are met.’ Social workers and families strongly believe that the progress that young people make at short breaks has a positive impact on other areas of their lives.

p.6

Outstanding

The staff team provides very personalised care that comprehensively addresses and meets the needs of young people. Excellent commitment and a strong child- centred focus are evident in staff practice. This results in high levels of self-esteem and a sense of achievement, both for young people and for staff.

p.6

Outstanding

Consultation with families and professionals continues to be frequent and plays a key role in progressing the service. Young people’s views and wishes in planning their daily routines and personal arrangements are excellent. A social worker stated: ‘I like the fact that, when I visit, staff invite one of the children to show me around, so allowing the children to take ownership of the unit. Each child is encouraged to choose their own room when they arrive and a name badge is then put on the door showing the child's interests. For example, there might be pictures of cars on a name tag. This helps the child to feel at home, and children also often have their own duvet and so on for the unit.’ Young people are very loyal and proud of the service. They have a real sense of ownership and a detailed knowledge of their service.

p.6

Outstanding

The staff fully support the young people to achieve their educational potential. They maintain daily contact with young people's educational placements throughout their short-break stays through communication books and telephone calls when necessary. Consistency of care between the young person's home, school and short breaks is promoted at all times. Young people’s social experiences and skills increase. They access a wide range of activities both with the home and out in the wider community. A social worker stated: ‘The young person enjoys attending, as she benefits from support from female carers. She also enjoys the activities that she is able to access and the social time with her peers, which she would not access without the service.’

p.6

Outstanding

The registered manager and staff team are tenacious and resilient. The ethos of the home is not to give up, but to focus on the gains that young people make and how they can sustain this progress into the future. This means that staff are continually looking ahead and planning for all the young people, and how they can support them to move towards greater resilience and independence.

p.7

Outstanding

The registered manager and staff team confidently meet their responsibilities to keep young people safe. They make sure that the quality of care that young people experience is consistent and prioritises their welfare. Young people actively benefit from the home’s well-established routines and procedures that explicitly recognise the need to protect and safeguard everyone. All staff are very aware of intervention strategies that consistently and successfully help young people to stay safe.

p.7

Outstanding

Young people experience warmth and sensitivity from an experienced, well- informed staff team. Their safeguarding practice is responsive to the complex needs of young people. For example, each overnight stay is booked and planned to meet the individual needs of each young person and ensure compatibility of the group staying at any one time.

p.7

Outstanding

Staff have high expectations of young people and promote positive attitudes to disability and autism. They enable the views, interests and aspirations of young people and their parents, while promoting safety. They understand the complexities and challenges of choice and well-being for some young people with complex needs They ensure that communication is meaningful and, where necessary, structured. They also involve others who know the young person well.

p.7

Outstanding

Young people do not have wireless internet access at the home. For some, this is limiting their means of communication, as they are not able to use a tablet or the internet. For others, it is taking away a tool that they use effectively at home and school to self-sooth and self-regulate their behaviours, and to enable them to progress in other areas of their lives. For example, they use a tablet to access certain sites or games to distract them from anxieties.

p.7

Outstanding

Staff practice is positive and proactive when approaching the difficulties that young people experience or encounter. Families and young people are very positive about how staff work with them to help to overcome their challenges.

p.7

Outstanding

Managers and staff know how to manage safeguarding allegations effectively. 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. Staff have excellent insight into the vulnerabilities of young people with complex needs. They work proactively in partnership with other agencies but, where necessary, provide robust challenge to partner agencies when young people are at risk.

p.8

Outstanding

Young people do not go missing from the home. Staff know what to do if these circumstances occur, but their main focus is on working together to prevent these incidents from happening in the first place.

p.8

Outstanding

Young people learn skills that promote their personal safety and broaden their opportunities. For example, they develop personal care skills, such as toileting, showering and dressing, that minimise their dependency on others for personal care. They complete tasks first with physical prompts, then verbal or pictorial prompts, then independently.

p.8

Outstanding

Staff employed in the home are carefully selected and vetted to ensure that young people are properly looked after and safeguarded effectively. Staff understand and use their training to ensure that young people’s protection is maintained. The home’s environment is physically safe and appropriately secure, taking account of the varying needs and circumstances of young people. Their health and safety are fully supported, because maintenance and protective procedures are applied consistently by managers and the staff team.

p.8

Outstanding

The building is fully adapted and enables young people with physical disabilities to move around freely, as it is spacious and designed well for those using wheelchairs. The facilities include an adapted bath, overhead and mobile hoists, a sensory room and a playroom. The home is homely and welcoming. The standard and quality of the furnishings are excellent and meet the needs of the young people placed. Young people’s artwork is proudly displayed throughout the building. The registered manager and staff team continue to develop the environment to ensure that standards are maintained.

p.8

Outstanding

The home is managed by a highly effective registered manager who has been in post since 2004. She has significant experience in children’s residential care services. She is a qualified social worker who also has a diploma in management and a certificate in management of children’s residential care services. She continues with her professional development, and has recently finished a nurturing and attachment course.

p.8

Outstanding

Staff value each other and the leadership of the management team. They are managed in a way that encourages regular reflection on both their work and the impact that they are having on young people’s lives. This approach is part of the registered manager’s wider evaluation and monitoring activity that includes gaining feedback from professionals and families. Recent feedback is consistently positive, citing excellent working relationships, good communication and exceptional outcomes. The home is organised in a way that consistently channels everyone’s efforts to help young people to make the most of their stays at the service.

p.9

Outstanding

Appropriately qualified and well-supported staff with the right experience are deployed in sufficient numbers to meet the needs of young people consistently. Staff training is well established and is informed by robust policies and procedures in child protection and safeguarding. As a result, staff practice is professional and promotes young people's well-being, privacy, confidentiality and personal care effectively.

p.9

Outstanding

Staff have access to an excellent range of quality learning and development opportunities. This helps to equip them with the skills, understanding and knowledge required to meet the current needs of young people. Recently, staff have completed modular specialist training on autism. This has further developed their understanding in relation to young people with complex needs by considering the implications of relevant psychological theories and research. The learning is applied back at the service to develop practice, and to enhance young people’s development and progress further.

p.9

Outstanding

Young people are cared for in line with the home’s statement of purpose, which is regularly reviewed and updated. Young people’s records present a good picture of their experiences and progress to date.

p.9

Outstanding

The registered manager evaluates the home’s operation to ensure that young people’s needs are being met. Quality assurance routines are wide ranging and fully capture feedback from professionals, families and young people about the service. The service is shaped around their needs.

p.9

Outstanding

The registered manager’s and staff team’s partnership work with families and professionals is robust. A social worker stated: ‘I have found working with the staff team a positive experience. They are accommodating of working in partnership and I believe that the families that we work with feel supported and empowered. This has helped several families that I know to develop confidence in the service, and this has assisted their young people to make the transition from introductions to overnight care. The service has always been accommodating (as far as is possible) of families' individual needs and this is reassuring to me, as a professional, when advocating for this service.’

p.9

Outstanding

There were no previous requirements or recommendations made at the last inspection.

p.10

Outstanding

The registered manager and staff team use a development plan effectively to continue to progress the service. For example, the management team is currently reviewing the appropriateness of the service’s minibus. Its size means that it is difficult to park in some areas of the community. There is also a shortage of qualified drivers in the current team. Staff are ensuring that this does not have an impact on young people’s access to activities and trips. At the same time, they are looking at alternative vehicle options that might meet young people’s needs better.

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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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