Children's Home run by Blue Mountain Homes Ltd in Nottinghamshire

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.2

The children's home provision is good because:

 Despite a high level of incidents, the staff and manager do not easily give up on young people. This helps young people to understand that they are cared about, boosts their self-esteem and supports them to grow in emotional resilience.  Safety is prioritised, and the actions taken to protect young people are good.  Young people start to develop a sense of safety.  Young people engage in education and make progress.  Health is a priority, and young people make progress, particularly in reducing drug use and developing healthy lifestyles.  The home is well managed. The manager always has the best interests of the young people at heart.  Close monitoring ensures that the manager and deputy have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. This ensures that progress continues.  Improvements are recommended to the arrangements for the administration of medicines, staff training and the decor of the home.

p.3

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that 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.

p.4

Requirement Due date

13. The leadership and management standard

p.4

Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must:

p.4

Requirement Due date

(13(2)(c)) ensure that staff have the qualifications, skills and experience to meet the needs of each child. This is in particular reference to staff training. 30/10/2016

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that arrangements are made for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines. This is in particular reference to medicine records and safe administration. (Regulation 23(1)) 30/10/2016

p.4

Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  Ensure that the home is a homely and domestic environment. This is in particular reference to decoration to the annex in the back garden and the main building entrance, landing and hallway. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

p.4

Information about this children's home

The home is privately owned and is registered to care for four young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

p.5

Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 17/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/10/2015 Full Requires improvement 03/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/10/2014 Full Good

p.5

Good

The home sets out to care for young people in crisis. The statement of purpose states: ‘Young people will have presented a multitude of acting out behaviours that have previously resulted in poor attachments and placement breakdowns.’ This means that young people present with complex issues, emotions and challenging behaviour. Their progress is variable at times, but this is not a reflection of the home’s performance. Staff understand and are resilient to the fact that some young people make progress and then regress because of their difficulties. Young people are praised for their progress, however small, and have incentive schemes to ensure that they can aim to develop further. Incentive schemes give young people positive targets and objectives to work towards. The majority of professionals agree that the home is good because of the way in which young people are supported to reflect on and learn from their mistakes. A

p.6

Good

young person said: ‘I am calmer and it’s been good for me.’ Positive relationships between staff and young people are demonstrated through the high level of good quality one-to-one work. Young people listen to staff and start to talk about their feelings. One social worker particularly praised this work saying: ‘He has started talking and has started opening up, which is more than anyone else has done for him.’ There are opportunities for young people to learn about how they can improve their behaviour and safety. There are times when decisions are made to move young people from the home against their wishes. These decisions are only made to protect them and to secure their future progress. Staff ensure that young people are supported well during their placement move and that they have their say about how and when this happens. They work hard to minimise any disruption and stress. Staff have recently

p.6

Good

taken a young person to their new placement and stayed with them there to ease their transition and help to reduce anxiety.

p.6

Good

Improved engagement in education increases young people’s life chances. For some young people who have not attended in the past, better engagement gives them the chance to think about their educational futures. Education arrangements are individual. For example, young people have attended school, had personal one- to-one tutoring and attended vocational college courses. Comprehensive information is obtained about young people’s education history and their capabilities, so that staff can fully understand their learning journeys.

p.6

Good

Health needs are well met. Young people are healthier as a result of living at this home. One young person has significantly reduced their drug taking, saying: ‘I have not smoked anything in ages or anything else for that matter.’ Smoking is discouraged and a healthy lifestyle is promoted.

p.6

Good

When young people are prescribed regular medication, the records are not always well kept. There is potential confusion over whether young people have taken their medication. There was one prescribed medicine without a clear prescription label, but this was put right during the inspection. This demonstrated an understanding of the importance of safe practice.

p.7

Good

Young people are well prepared for their future independence and practise skills in cooking, shopping and managing their money. They leave with cards, gifts, photos and memorabilia of the good times, which they will be able to reflect on now and in the future.

p.7

Good

Despite young people’s complex behaviour, they respect their home and there is little damage. However, the home is looking tired in places and needs some decoration, particularly on the landing, hall and entrance. There is an annex to the building, which, although not currently used by young people, looks unsightly on the inside and outside.

p.7

Good

There is a relatively high number of incidents of challenging and disruptive behaviours, but this is not a reflection of a poor service. The mix of young people is well considered at the point of admission. Since the last inspection, there has been a period of stability in the home, during which young people made progress with their safety. However, more recently, young people have influenced each other negatively, leading to safeguarding concerns. Staff and management respond appropriately when complex safeguarding situations arise. Social workers’ views reflect that, despite some serious incidents, the home has been good for their young people. They say that proactive and responsive decisions are made about placements, in order to protect young people from influencing each other and from harming each other.

p.7

Good

The positive approach to behaviour management ensures that young people can develop their behaviour. They learn to understand the impact that their behaviour has on others. Staff do not shy away from ensuring that young people receive a clear and consistent message about inappropriate or unsafe behaviour. Their training on behaviour management is comprehensive and up to date. Their training includes how to use physical intervention if this is necessary and, on each occasion, there is a proportionate and reasonable response. This protects young people from harm.

p.7

Good

Young people learn about the risks to them if they go missing and develop an emerging sense of safety. Some young people have had peaks and troughs with missing episodes, but overall they go missing less frequently. One young person reported their own progress in this area, noting a reduction of incidents. Staff know young people’s whereabouts because of the one-to-one staffing levels. When young people go missing, staff actively look for them and continue to update the relevant professionals, helping to ensure their safe return. One social worker commented: ‘Whenever he went missing, staff did everything they should have done. They went over and above.’

p.8

Good

Staff are aware of young people’s individual risk assessments, which clearly set out the steps that they should take to minimise risk. Each young person’s risk profile is complex and changing, but staff have the most up-to-date information, so they know how to protect individuals. They share information well with placing social workers so that good, informed decisions about the next steps can be made.

p.8

Good

There are some gaps in staff training, such as child sexual exploitation and radicalisation. The training records were not clear at the time of the inspection, so monitoring of the staff training profile would prove difficult. There is the potential for some staff not to fully understand how they should protect young people if this is not put right.

p.8

Good

Staff recruitment procedures are effective in making sure that young people are safe from unsuitable adults. The health and safety of the building are well managed to keep all who use the building safe and minimise the risk of fire.

p.8

Good

The registered manager holds the diploma level 5 in leadership and management. She has led the home well though an unsettled period, during which young people have been challenging towards each other and have engaged in some risk-taking behaviours. She has made appropriate decisions about placement moves. She has focused on the importance of compatibility and young people’s progress, despite this making her unpopular at times. She has demonstrated that the needs of the young people come first and has spent time with them to assist them to have their say. Young people appreciate this. The registered manager is instrumental in the progress that young people make because of her high involvement. One young person said: ‘She is ace.’ One social worker talked to the inspector about recent safeguarding issues in the home, but was keen to point out that the registered manager ‘is generally amazing. She is generally really responsive and has done a

p.8

Good

The manager is supported by a strong deputy. Together, they understand the home’s strengths and weaknesses. Monitoring is thorough, ensuring that a full picture of young people’s strengths and difficulties is established.

p.9

Good

There have been significant improvements made to practice in the home since the last inspection. The requirements and recommendations have all been met. Improvements have been made to some of the home’s fixtures and fittings, although further improvement is needed because of more recent wear and tear. There are improvements to safeguarding procedures and records. This improvement has resulted in all safeguarding matters being passed on and recorded appropriately. Ofsted has received notifications of significant events, allowing the home to be appropriately monitored by the regulator.

p.9

Good

The organisation has appointed an independent person to visit the home each month and to write a report about their findings. These reports show that the visits are thorough and pick up on progress and shortfalls. Managers use the reports to secure further improvements.

p.9

Good

After a period of instability in the last 12 months, the staff team is growing in competence and stability. This means that consistency of care is better. Young people know the staff and what they expect from them. There is a lower turnover of staff because staff enjoy their work. One staff member noted the staff team’s high level of commitment saying: ‘If there is an issue, staff will stay and help out the team.’

p.9

Good

Staff are well supported in their work and their practice is overseen by the manager. When there are shortfalls in practice, this is noticed because of good- quality management monitoring. Therefore, shortfalls can be put right quickly to improve performance.

p.9

Good

Staff training records present a confusing picture and, although most staff have received mandatory training, there appear to be some gaps. Because the training records are not clear, there is a risk that important training is overlooked in the future.

p.9

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’.

p.10

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

p.10

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.

p.10

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

p.11

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 .

p.11

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, workbased 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,

p.12

Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.12

Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.12

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

p.12