Children's home run by Physis Quantum Limited in Shropshire

Good

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

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

 Young people experience genuine, warm and skilled care from well-trained and nurturing staff.  Staff, including therapy staff, provide highly individualised routines and care that enable each young person to thrive emotionally, physically and psychologically.  Young people enjoy healthy, diverse and challenging new experiences thanks to the creativity and commitment of staff.  The staff team’s excellent role modelling equips young people to live safe lifestyles.  Young people are carefully prepared, emotionally and practically, for moving into and out of the home.  Young people make good progress educationally, thanks to well-coordinated support provided by the on-site school and the home’s care staff.  Staff work well with parents and other professionals to make sure that each young person receives well-organised, respectful help that meets their needs.  The manager has a good overview of the progress that each young person is

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

making as well as the progress that young people still need to make.  Staff feel very well supported by the manager. She brings out their individual skills in ways that directly benefit young people.  Inconsistencies exist in some working documents and young people have few useful documents of their own to help them. However, this does not detract from the good work that staff do with young people.  A new member of staff has not completed the required residential childcare training within timescales.

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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 registered person must ensure that an individual who works in a home in a care role has the appropriate qualification by the date that falls two years after the date on which the individual started work in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32 (5)(a)) 29/12/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the arrangements for contact and any contact details are included in the placement plans agreed between the registered person and the child’s placing authority and are updated regularly. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.15)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that children are actively encouraged to read their records and to add further information to them. They should be regularly reminded of their rights to see information kept about them and be given information about how they might be supported to access their records. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.6)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff continually and actively assesses the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered person identifies areas of possible weakness in the home’s care in the written review reports of the quality of care. This is with particular respect to identifying errors and difficulties throughout practice and documentation systems, so that changes and updates are implemented in a timely, consistent and insightful manner. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned by a small limited company and provides care and accommodation for up to four young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Education is provided on site in the organisation’s separately registered school.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 09/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/06/2015 Full Good

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Recent inspection history

26/02/2015 Full Good 10/11/2014 Full Inadequate

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Good

Young people are all making good progress and are settled. The social worker for a young person who has been here for a few years said, ‘I am pleased with the progress that [young person] continues to make. She has access to therapy and is offered therapeutic care by staff.’

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Good

New young people are made to feel welcome. For example, staff encourage young people to write welcome cards. Staff also visit and establish phone contact with young people before they move in. The manager and staff help young people to buy things for their bedrooms and to prepare them to their tastes before they move in.

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Good

Each young person understands what is expected of them and strives to make the personal progress that is required for their future plans to be realised. Staff communicate clearly with young people and talk regularly to them about their plans. For example, one young person recently made sufficient progress to move back to her home area. She learned to take more responsibility for her health and well-being in day-to-day life and through social networking. She benefited from practising cooking, cleaning and even decorating. Her social worker said, ‘It is really nice to see her flourish.’

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Good

Staff support young people’s transitions out of the home well. For example, one young person recently moved to live with a foster carer. Staff and the manager worked well with the social worker, reviewing officer and foster carer to make sure that the timing of the move suited the young person. The staff organised a party send-off and the young person took presents and memory books away with her. Staff and the manager have kept in touch in a planned way, through phone conversations and visits.

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Good

Young people enjoy warm and nurturing relationships with staff who care deeply about them. The home’s visitor described the staff as 'appropriate and caring, knowledgeable and ready’, when a young person moved in from another home.

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Good

Staff minimise disruption and prepare well for situations. Staff spend hours of quality time with young people. For example, staff will play board games and cook with young people. Staff have also shown young people how to work a sewing machine and regularly help with homework. One young person wrote comments about the qualities she sees in staff in order to help the manager know what young people think of individual staff members. The young person’s comments were all positive, including, ‘Really, really calm,’ ‘Caring, kind, really good,’ ‘One of the best I have met in my life,’ ‘Good at helping but can be bossy,’ ‘One of the best females I have ever met in my life – just a good carer.’

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Good

Staff are skilled and insightful in gauging young people’s true potential, including any limitations that are brought about by learning disabilities and mental health. Staff make good use of the support of the organisation’s therapist to help them pitch their expectations and care practice. This means that young people get sensitive help that is realistically tailored to their abilities and individual needs. For example, young people feel secure and included in meal preparation, holidays, fitness training and social occasions because staff help them to do as much as they can and value their individual progress. One young person’s social worker said, ‘Huge thanks – my young person is happy and glowing. There is change in such a short time – she says that she feels supported by her key worker.’

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Good

Staff work extremely effectively with young people’s relatives and with professionals. For example, they work with adult social workers and mental health services in the delivery of care and in contributing to future planning. Similarly, staff work well to support young people through court proceedings. Staff also welcome ongoing visits and input from professionals who are working with young people on planned programmes that started before young people were placed at the home.

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Good

Staff facilitate young people’s contact with family members with sensitivity and care, so that it is safe and enjoyable, and is able to safely increase and/or become unsupervised. The staff think about the venue and help young people to prepare beforehand, including sometimes buying gifts to give to their relatives. However, changes in contact arrangements are not always documented in all the relevant plans that staff use and social workers agree to.

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Good

Young people are making good progress educationally, based on their starting points. They attend all their lessons at the organisation’s school, thanks to careful support from staff that helps each young person to keep to the routines of each school day. Young people’s vocational interests are nurtured too. For example, one young person is sampling a hair and beauty course. Staff give young people regular help with core skills in reading and writing. For example, staff read each evening with one young person for whom English is a second language.

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Good

Young people enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle and good experiences. Holidays and trips to the cinema, beach and countryside are completely new to some of the young people.

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Good

Young people have important opportunities to mix with friends from other homes and friends they have made locally. For example, young people have made friendships through joining army cadets, going to the local gym, zumba and table tennis clubs. Consequently, young people are all making good progress with their relationships with friends and the public. Staff fully recognise the importance of these opportunities as a stepping-stone towards future positive relationships for each young person.

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Good

Each young person reflects on their lifestyle and experiences in three hours a week of intensive work. They do this work with their therapist and the home’s ‘programme coordinator’. This investment of therapeutic work benefits young people significantly. It helps them to understand and overcome their difficulties, it helps young people to gain self-confidence and self-awareness and it allows staff and the manager to make very good contributions to each young person’s care plan. For example, the manager makes clear in one young person’s review report that the young person needs more time to test out college, mixing in the community and learning about safe relationships before leaving the home.

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Good

Young people get good information about the home before they come. Weekly house meetings also take place. These meetings provide young people with a good opportunity to understand everything about house rules and to have a say about decisions that affect everyone. Key work sessions regularly take place. One young person said, ‘Key work sessions help us talk about stuff.’ In addition, young people have a praise book where staff put positive remarks every day. However, young people do not have their own copies of their plans, contracts and agreements. Some of these are not written in words that they can understand, and some of them are not up to date with current arrangements. This makes it hard for young people to re-read their plans and remind themselves about what they are aiming for. It means that young people are not familiar enough with their plans and are not involved enough in working on them. For example, their health action plans,

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Good

contact plans and ‘pathway to success points charts’ are all stored away in the office. Young people’s praise books are also kept in the office. This means that young people do not get enjoyment from looking at them in their own bedrooms.

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Good

Young people are extremely well engaged with their lives here and do not attempt to go missing. Staff ratios are high. Staff give young people skilled and sensitive help, protection and support to recover from their experiences and learn how to live safely in the future.

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Good

Staff and the manager have a thorough understanding of the risks that each young person could experience from exploitation. The staff base all their therapeutic work with young people on helping them to understand what has happened in their past, and to learn new skills to make safer decisions for their future. Staff offer young people a purposeful, fulfilling, healthy, more self-aware lifestyle. Relationships between them are safe, nurturing and helpful. Staff enable young people to succeed in education and independence. Young people are taught how to make friendships that are based on equality and mutual respect. To this end, staff make sure that there are good daily routines and heaps of praise and encouragement.

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Good

Young people feel safe and enjoy being here. They do not self-harm and rarely engage in destructive or dangerous behaviour. No young person has required physical intervention and there is no damage around the house.

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Good

Staff and the manager work hard to address bullying in the home. Young people are confident enough to speak out about it when it occurs, and open discussions have happened to expose it and to learn mutual tolerance and respect. Staff are vigilant and give each young person genuine attention and support. They role- model empathy and respect for others. The staff explain clearly what bullying is and how to make up to one another. Young people have signed up to contracts about bullying, although these are not very easy to understand and young people do not have their own copies to refer to. Nevertheless, staff are effective in helping young people become more self-aware about how to live together with tolerance.

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Good

Staff identify and understand young people’s risks around alcohol, drugs and sexual relationships. They provide ample information to young people and help them to understand what is safe, acceptable and self-respecting.

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Good

Young people are on individual plans that cover their access to phones, the internet and social media. Staff undertake work with each young person about how to communicate safely. For example, young people learn about the dangers of grooming, including pursuing contacts with people whom they have not met in real life. Young people learn about safe and respectful electronic communication with friends and adults. They learn how to maintain their own privacy and dignity and to regulate the quantity and content of their communications. Because of the work completed by staff, some young people are now able to use phones and social media safely. Some young people have also progressed enough to have independent time with friends. Staff monitor all this carefully and ensure that it goes at a pace that is safe and realistic, while recognising the necessity for real progress to be made. However, contracts, plans and risk assessments about safety

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Good

matters are not all kept completely up to date with changes and the reasons for them. Sometimes agreements, plans and risk assessments are reviewed, but necessary or possible changes are not made. For example, staff set bedroom door alarms for all young people each night. Staff and the manager agree that there is not really a clear safety rationale for this practice at present, but have not changed it. Young people do not always have their own, easy-to-understand versions of contracts, plans and risk assessments to refer to either.

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Good

Staff and the manager are alert to the fact that some young people’s difficulties with sexual behaviour and understanding relationships have to be managed and cannot be significantly improved. For some young people, mental health needs and learning difficulties mean that progress towards safe relationships is necessarily limited. The manager has a majority of female members in the staff team because of this. This helps young people to manage their emotions better and to focus better on developing their daily living skills. It also means that since the last inspection young people have not made allegations about staff or required physical intervention to prevent harm to others. Furthermore, staff advocate very well with adult services to ensure that young people who need ongoing medication, protection and help as adults will get ongoing support that safeguards them.

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Good

The registered manager has been in post for almost a year. She has many years of experience of work and management of children’s homes and recently added a level 5 diploma in leadership and management of young people’s residential care to her existing level 4 qualification. She enjoys her work and is very confident in the therapeutic practice of her staff team. A key strength is the support and challenge that she gives to staff through staff meetings and individual supervision. A member of staff said, ‘the manager brings out the best in us – she coaches us and supports us well.’

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Good

The manager prioritises the needs of young people well. She spends time with young people, but also very effectively delegates work and decisions to her therapeutic care staff. Staff therefore develop and use their skills very fruitfully, both in their direct work with each young person, and in their consultation and advocacy with other professionals involved in each young person’s life. The fact that one member of staff has not completed her residential childcare qualification within regulatory timescales does not have any adverse impact on the quality of staff’s work. The shortfall has arisen because of job moves where the member of staff had to restart her qualification twice from scratch.

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Good

The manager’s clear understanding of young people’s progress means that she can contribute well to their plans and drive continuing progress. She is clear about what needs to happen before young people are ready to leave the home and how long this is likely to take. She talks clearly to young people, their relatives and social workers about this. A social worker said, ‘I have found the management to be extremely helpful in all areas. The communication is excellent and I have found that they will go the extra mile to support the care plan, especially around contacts etc.’ The manager said, ‘I feel that we have done a lot with existing social workers and now we need to forge relationships with the new social workers for two of our young people.’ The manager takes on-board the recommendations and advice provided by the home’s independent visitors. For example, she has improved the planning of young people’s moves into, and out of the home.

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Good

The manager has well-organised recording and monitoring systems. This means that all staff can make and find records with ease. Good systems mean that staff do not waste unnecessary time in the office. Staff therefore meet the needs of young people well and in accordance with individual care plans and the home’s statement of purpose. The manager conducts regular audits and reviews of the quality of care, but she fails to identify all errors and reflect openly on areas of weakness. For example, she does not always find errors or state what she has found from reviewing risk assessments and health and safety checks. As a result, her reports do not come up with many ideas for improvement and some plans, risk assessments, strategies and practices are not changed, addressed or updated quickly and effectively. Despite this, young people make good progress across all aspects of their development and staff continue to work very effectively.

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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

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

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