Children's home run by Marlowe Child & Family Services Limited in Tewkesbury

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 being cared for by a committed, well-trained team of staff who have the young people’s well-being at the centre of all their work.  Staff have built strong relationship with young people. They provide clear, consistent boundaries, which have been developed from their detailed understanding of the young people’s needs and their plans.  There has been a reduction in young people’s risk taking and negative behaviours. This is linked to young people developing self-management techniques based on their increased understanding of their behaviours.  The home is effectively led and managed.  Manager and staff work well with professionals from outside of the home to provide cohesive care for the young people.  Young people benefit from taking part in a wide range of activities. They access clubs in the local community. This builds their self-confidence, self- esteem and social networks.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Transitions into and from the home are well managed. This supports the young people in having positive moves and reduces their anxiety.  Consultation with young people is good. Staff include them in decisions about the home and their care.

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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

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard requires the registered person to ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. In particular, these should be substantive staff and not agency staff. (Regulation 13(1)(2)(d)) 30/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(c)) 31/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

44: Independent person’s visits and reports

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month. When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person, if they consent, to interview in private such of the children. To ensure this, visits carried out by the independent person need to take place when children are not at school and seek the views of parents. (Regulation 44(1)(2)(a)) 31/10/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them.

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Recommendations

In particular, all staff should consistently request to see the identification of visitors. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Recommendations

 As set out in regulations 31–33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice.

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Recommendations

In particular, the record of staff interviews should include an explanation of the scoring system used to decide whether to employ or not. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child.

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Recommendations

In particular, key-worker records should reflect more detail of the discussions that take place, including the young person’s contribution. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is registered to provide accommodation for a maximum of four young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is run by a private provider that also operates other children’s home and a registered school in the local area.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

30/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

05/03/2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Good

Young people have developed strong, positive and appropriate relationships with the staff who care for them. One professional praised the team for the work they have done in this area. The manager is aware that some young people can fixate on their key workers, so to avoid this some young people have several allocated key workers. This has worked well.

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Good

Young people are making good progress from their starting points upon admission. This includes engaging in education and therapy.

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Good

Young people said that they like living at the home and the staff who care for them. Consultation with young people is effective. Staff encourage and support young people to be involved in all aspects of their care and how the home is run.

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Good

Moving in and out of the home is well managed. For admissions, this includes detailed impact risk assessments that contain strategies for staff to use to reduce both the new young person’s anxiety and that of existing residents. Transitions out of the home to a new provision are taken at a pace that suits the young person. This helps make the move a positive experience.

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Good

Young people take part in a wide range of fun and purposeful activities. These include joining local clubs, which builds their social networks and self-confidence.

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Good

Detailed care plans are developed from a comprehensive assessment process and with input from the organisation’s therapists. Plans link with young people’s risk assessments, information from placing authorities and subsequent reviews. Staff interviewed demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of the needs of the young people and how to meet these needs.

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Good

Staff hold regular key work sessions with young people. These sessions cover young people’s identified needs including discussions about incidents and events. The quality of these records varies, with some not providing sufficient details of the discussion. Young people’s healthcare needs are well met. Staff deal well with sensitive issues.

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Good

Staff support young people to maintain contact with their families. This includes developing young people’s understanding of their family dynamics and history. Young people benefit from living in a spacious, well-furnished home. Judgement grade

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Good

Young people feel and are safe at the home. Safeguarding practices are effective and during interviews with staff they demonstrated a good understanding of these and of their duty of care. This is demonstrated by staff acting as advocates and supporting young people in raising complaints. All complaints are swiftly and effectively addressed, with clear records maintained. The inspector was not asked for their identification when they initially arrived at the home.

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Good

Staff help young people to develop effective self-management strategies. The risk- taking behaviours that young people were demonstrating at their point of admission have greatly reduced. For one young person, this has meant that they have not had to be restrained since March 2016. Previously restraint had to be used to protect the young person from harm. There has been a slight rise in the number of incidents in the last month, due to two new young people moving in’. These young people are still settling into their placement. Staff manage incidents well and clear records are maintained. Restraints are used as a last resort and are recorded in two formats. When looking at these two in conjunction, incidents of restraint are appropriately recorded and the minimum level is used for the minimal amount of time. There were small discrepancies in two records, but this was addressed. Young people receive independent debrief from staff not involved in the restraint.

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Good

There have been no incidents of young people going missing from care since the last inspection in March 2016. Each young person has a personal behaviour management plan which contains bespoke strategies to address their behaviours and help them learn to self- regulate. These are kept under review to ensure that they remain current and linked to young people’s risk assessments. Sanctions are used appropriately and young people are provided with an opportunity to ‘make amends’. Records demonstrated that sanctions are linked to the behaviours which led to the sanction. Discussions are held with young people to develop their understanding of their behaviours, including the effect it has on others. Recruitment procedures effectively protect young people from those who may wish to harm them. Appropriate records are maintained, but these do not contain an explanation of the scoring system used in interviews. This would add to the clarity

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Good

on how the decision to employ is reached.

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Requires improvement

Leaders and managers have met the requirement and recommendation from the last inspection.

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Requires improvement

A new manager is in post and they have submitted their registration application. They are suitably experienced and qualified for their role. Both staff and fellow professionals praised the new manager for their support, their management of the home and the developments that have taken place since their appointment.

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Requires improvement

Until the last two weeks, staffing levels at the home have been appropriate to meet the needs of the young people. Since then, two members of staff have been on long-term sick leave and two new members of staff have left. To cover the shortfalls in the rota, agency and sessional staff have been used. The manager has kept their number to a minimum to provide continuity of care. Rotas inspected show that this has happened in practice. A new senior member of staff has been appointed and will take up their post in the near future, and further recruitment is planned.

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Requires improvement

Staff receive regular supervision from trained staff. This provides an opportunity for staff and their manager to reflect on their practice and approach. Files of two staff who have been at the home for several years were inspected and there was no evidence of them having received an annual appraisal this year.

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Requires improvement

The manager ensures that new staff undertake a thorough induction. This includes a significant amount of training, and information from the induction process and subsequent supervision session is used to develop staff’s training schedule.

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Requires improvement

Training provided by the organisation is of good quality and enables staff to meet the identified and emerging needs of the young people.

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Requires improvement

The manager regularly monitors the home records, and this is evident through the records inspected. This monitoring identified some of the shortfalls noted in this inspection, and actions have been taken to address these. There is some evaluation of this monitoring work, but it could be improved. The staff team are committed to the young people they care for. Fellow professionals praised them for this commitment. One said, ‘They will go above and beyond for the young people, which is great.’

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Requires improvement

Both the home’s statement of purpose and policies are reviewed at least annually. These reflect current practices at the home.

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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 whom 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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