Children's home run by Paramount Care and Safety Ltd in Fylde

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 young person benefits from excellent relationships with staff.  Staff understand and meet the needs of the young person. Staff know the young person’s strengths and the areas where they need more support.  The young person is protected and kept safe by effective risk management and safe care practices.  The home is calm and settled. The young person learns to improve, manage and take control of their behaviour successfully.  The young person makes a commitment to education and attends regularly and make good progress.  The young person’s health is generally well managed.  Staff encourage the young person to maintain contact with family and friends outside of the home.  Staff value their training, and the registered manager is keen to promote the individual development of each staff member.

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Information about this children's home

This is a children’s home operated by a private company. It is currently registered to provide care and accommodation for one young person. The home cares for an individual young person with emotional/behavioural difficulties. It is commissioned by one local authority to provide this service.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 27/01/2016 Full Requires improvement

p.4

Good

The young person benefits from establishing meaningful and genuine relationships with staff. Staff build trust by working patiently and consistently to secure close, supportive relationships. Staff take a real interest in the young person. The young person said, ‘I have been in other care homes before and here I felt staff genuinely care about me.’ Staff understand the young person’s individuality and respect his diverse needs. These relationships help the young person to feel secure, confident and motivated to express their opinions and work cooperatively. This results in a calm and harmonious atmosphere, as the young person and staff work together productively. The young person values his relationships with staff and commented, ‘They make you feel important.’

p.5

Good

Young person's health is promoted through staff engaging with him and helping him to understand the importance of maintaining a healthy diet and personal healthcare, and making good lifestyle choices. Staff use their training effectively to guide and help the young person to learn skills in self-care. The young person understands how important their health is, and appropriately seeks the services of their GP, dentist, optician and mental health worker.

p.5

Good

Where the young person needs additional skills in managing his emotional health, staff use key working effectively to spend more time with him, helping him to develop his own programmes and routines, and to take increased responsibility for himself.

p.5

Good

The young person benefits from these sessions, which he described as ‘my time, a time when I can talk about anything I want, and it helps me to understand things better.’ This structure ensures that young person's care planning goals are considered, along with addressing day-to-day and more individualised matters. Key working is highly valued by the young person and he regularly requests sessions, further demonstrating the importance and value that he places on them.

p.5

Good

The young person has made greater levels of commitment to his education since he moved to this home. Staff place great importance on learning and education. Reward systems, key working and the culture of the home drive progress. One education professional said, ‘Discussions regarding his education took place and plans were also discussed for his future education by the staff, in an encouraging and supportive manner.’

p.5

Good

The young person enjoys living in this home and speaks very favourably of the care and support provided for him. He is beginning to understand that he needs to learn new skills and to take greater levels of responsibility as he moves towards adulthood. Staff are helping the young person to gain and use these skills through structured programmes where he practises life skills in preparation for independence. The young person who could not cook now prepares meals for himself and the home. Staff have engaged him effectively through praising, supporting and helping him to build his self-confidence in preparing him for the demands of adulthood.

p.5

Good

The young person stated that he feels safe at this home. He is confident that staff keep him safe and also understands his responsibilities for his own safety. Safeguarding training for staff provides him with the confidence and skills to make good assessments of situations. Staff take prompt and effective action when safeguarding concerns arise. They understand the vulnerability of the young person, and also the individual and more diverse behaviours that can place him at further risk. Risk management planning is undertaken and exercised, along with the young person, ensuring that he understands how risks have been considered. This enables him to contribute in an informed and meaningful way to changing his behaviour and minimising risk. This cooperative approach enables staff and the young person to have a very open and honest appraisal of behaviours. It helps him to identify times when his behaviour may place him at increased risk.

p.6

Good

The young person, on occasion, has been missing, but this is reducing. This change in behaviour has occurred because one-to-one work with him has been effective in helping him to work through behaviours that may previously have resulted in him running away. The young person has reduced these behaviours because he understands the risks that they pose, and the impact that they have on his progress and goals for the future. Staff use key-working sessions to discuss with the young person exploitation and the dangers of going missing, identifying alternative strategies for dealing with stress or difficult situations, for example using going for a run as a planned strategy to have some free time.

p.6

Good

The young person commented, ‘I used to run away quite often, because I was stressed. I don’t need to do that now, not here.’ The home has successfully instilled an understanding into the young person of the risks and difficulties that running away can present, and this has had a real impact on how he now views going missing.

p.6

Good

Behaviour is well managed in this home through effective engagement with the young person. Good behaviour is the norm, and subtle reminders and cooperation successfully avoid the need for more formal behaviour management strategies. Sanctions are therefore uncommon. When guidance is given to the young person, this focuses on the impact of his behaviour and how others are affected, and uses a more reflective and considered approach. This instils an important understanding in the young person, helping him to learn how to take responsibility to modify and develop his behaviour.

p.6

Good

Health and safety, and fire safety are well managed within the home. Staff carry out regular checks to ensure that hazards are reduced or removed from the home.

p.7

Good

Staff recruitment is safe through thorough checks on new applicants. All references are verified and evaluated, making clear that careful consideration is given to all new applicants. Recruitment practices are testing and challenging to ensure that applicants are able to demonstrate the skills and insights that they possess before a decision is made on their employment. This ensures that only applicants who are suitable to work with young person and possess the essential qualities and skills, are employed by the home.

p.7

Good

A suitably qualified experienced manager, who understands and prioritises the needs of the young person, manages this service effectively. Staff have confidence in her. They trust her judgement and feel that they can go to her for guidance at any time. She is described as ‘hands-on’ and, as such, has close relationships with the young person. She oversees and supports his progress effectively.

p.7

Good

Staff are motivated and dedicated in supporting the young person. They talk affectionately about him, understand his needs and individuality, and build good relationships with him. Staff training supports their learning and enables them to gain confidence and knowledge to fulfil their roles.

p.7

Good

Staff are supported through regular supervision, and say that this is challenging and beneficial. They say that it provides them with guidance and is a useful forum to develop their professional practice. Staff take their practice issues, case discussions and their personal development to these sessions to reflect on and learn from them.

p.7

Good

The statement of purpose for the home sets out the type of support and the services that are available for the young person. He is making good progress, improving behaviour, learning social skills and developing his confidence, in accordance with the aims of the statement of purpose.

p.7

Good

There are suitable numbers of sufficiently experienced staff in the home to meet the assessed needs of the young person. Effective shift planning is achieved through the registered manager’s understanding of the skills of staff, ensuring that there is an appropriate range of skills. Emergencies and staff support are planned for by the registered manager. There are on-call staff who can be deployed, should there be an urgent need for more support of the young person.

p.7

Good

The registered manager evaluates the quality assurance assessments of practice within the home, using this to monitor and develop the home’s performance further. Quality assurance evaluates and measures systems and performance honestly and objectively. These assessments reflect the views of stakeholders, including the young person, to consider strengths and weaknesses and to form an opinion of the home’s effectiveness. For the shortfalls that were identified at the last inspection, the registered manager has effective action plans. These successfully address the deficit and put preventive measures into place to reduce the likelihood of recurrence.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young person 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 person 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 person 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 person. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young person 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 person living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young person. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young person and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young person. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young person 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 person 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 person, 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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