Children's home run by Castle Homes Limited in North Northamptonshire

Good

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

p.2

The children’s home provision is good because:

 Referral and moving-in procedures are comprehensive and carefully considered, and equip staff and young people to adjust positively to change.  Young people are able to settle, make progress and be safe. They build positive relationships with staff who display a high level of care and interest in their well-being.  Attention is paid to ensuring that staffing capacity is always able to meet the care and safety needs of the young people effectively.  The registered manager and staff have a keen understanding of the wider children looked after system, and are therefore able to be strong and effective advocates for young people.  Young people profit from a staff team which understands their vulnerabilities and the hazards to which they expose themselves. Staff take decisive and effective action to ensure young people’s safety.  Leadership is steady and experienced. Consequently, the staff team is well

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Specifically, that the registered manager continues to develop and review the home’s statement of purpose and ensures that staff understand and apply this. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5)  Specifically, that the registered manager makes full use of the regulation 45 review process to analyse and understand the key strengths and weaknesses in the home and then use this understanding to plan for continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)  That the registered manager develops and maintains a model of staff supervision in the home that consistently enables staff to reflect on their practice as well as to reflect and act upon how their own feelings and

p.3

Recommendations

behaviour may be affected by the behaviour of the children they care for. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2, and page 39, paragraph 8.15)

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to accommodate three young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is owned by a large private organisation.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 28/01/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 05/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 09/10/2014 Full Good 25/02/2014 Interim Good progress

p.4

Good

Young people are able to settle at this home, engage in education, make progress, and significantly reduce self-defeating and risk-taking behaviours. This is because the staff, through their actions, provide young people with a warm and homely family atmosphere. Trusting and respectful mutual relationships develop as a result.

p.5

Good

A clear structure and stable routines provide young people with a secure base. Staff adopt a sensitive and patient approach with the young people. This helps them to talk about things that worry them or make them angry and sad. They learn to make sense of their past experiences and develop safer ways of coping with strong emotions. For example, young people who previously placed themselves at risk of harm through inappropriate and unsafe relationships are now valuing themselves and taking fewer risks. They have an increasing sense of self-worth.

p.5

Good

The home successfully meets the needs of young people with diverse cultural backgrounds. Individuality is respected and embraced, and diversity is celebrated. Young people for whom English is a second language are settling into the home and successfully attending mainstream school. Through feeling valued and positive about themselves, they are making appropriate plans for their futures. For some young people, such progress is a remarkable achievement.

p.5

Good

Young people have a meaningful say in how the home is run, about the decor in their rooms and the common areas, their preferred leisure activities and what will help them to become independent. Staff listen to what they say and respond appropriately. This helps young people to feel a sense of permanence and belonging, and also that their wishes and feelings matter.

p.5

Good

Young people enjoy a high level of healthcare and have full access to routine, as well as specialist care. Examples include one young person having orthodontic braces fitted and an older young person being supported to assume responsibility for her own good health. She has initiated and attended health services on her own. Specialist counselling and therapy services are accessed where necessary, such as one young person who smokes cigarettes receiving ongoing support and encouragement around smoking cessation.

p.5

Good

The home displays great care and sensitivity to the transitions that young people need to make. One eager young person is being strongly and systematically supported to become independent and at the same time being helped to make realistic decisions about when this big move can be successfully achieved. Another young person is being carefully supported while assessment is taking place for a possible move to extended family in another country. Young people are being helped to deal with these complex situations by skilled and caring staff.

p.5

Good

Complex contact arrangements between young people and their families are very well supported. The home liaises very closely with placing authorities and manages arrangements with care and vigilance. Young people have the best experience as a result, including the support that they need when difficulties arise.

p.6

Good

The areas of risk and vulnerability for individual young people are carefully considered through diligent information-gathering and assessment before they move in. This helps staff to be prepared and alert to young people’s immediate safeguarding needs. Well thought out risk assessments are developed and updated throughout the young people’s time in the home. Staff are alerted to possible and changing risks as these arise.

p.6

Good

The home also has an effective system of activity planning that encourages staff to consider likely risks proactively and how these will be best managed. This helps staff to feel confident and more able to focus on the benefits of the activity for the young people, and also more effective in taking safeguarding action, should the need arise.

p.6

Good

The registered manager and staff are experienced and knowledgeable in identifying and managing the risks associated with child sexual exploitation. Young people deemed to be at very high risk of further exploitation and abuse are making substantial progress. The intensive and creative support implemented by staff provide young people with the education and means to seek safer ways of feeling affirmed and valued by others. Such young people have returned to education, are not going missing and now require less medical intervention to support their previously high-level anxiety.

p.6

Good

The home places emphasis on reducing risk by enabling young people to keep themselves safe through awareness building and education. Staff are well-informed and make good efforts to keep abreast of technology developments and online activities. They pass this onto the young people, and maintain a high level of vigilance over young people’s use of the internet and social media. Young people are learning to trust the adults and services around them, as a result, for example by cooperating with the police. Young people are developing a clear and positive self-identity. This helps to build their resilience and self-confidence. It reduces young people’s vulnerability to exploitation. No young people have gone missing since the last inspection. Appropriate boundary setting, suitable levels of supervision, vigilance, a proactive approach to reducing the likelihood of extreme behaviours, and controlled and considered

p.6

Good

responses when they arise have all contributed to this positive outcome.

p.7

Good

Despite the low incidence of young people going missing, comprehensive risks assessments are in place for each young person. Updated missing person’s profiles are maintained. A close relationship with the police is maintained. This is reflected for example, in the recent induction placement of a student police officer at the home. Local missing from home and care protocols and statutory guidance are at hand for quick reference, and arrangements for independent return home interviews are in place.

p.7

Good

The advantages and potential hazards of the home’s location are well understood by the registered manager and staff through accumulated knowledge and experience that is formalised in a locality risk assessment. This helps staff to plan and manage activities in a way that reduces risks and increases benefits.

p.7

Good

Occasional room searches are conducted. These are proportionate, properly carried out and motivated by a desire to keep young people safe. Recording of these events is clear and comprehensive. There have been no physical restraints applied since the last inspection.

p.7

Good

The registered manager displays a good understanding of safe recruitment practice with regards to vetting and checks. She places a strong emphasis on ensuring that candidates are suitable and motivated to care for troubled and challenging young people.

p.7

Good

The physical environment of the home is well maintained and safe for young people. Health and safety checks are carried out according to requirements; fire safety practices are sound and all checks are regular and up to date. The home benefits from being part of a large organisation with good resources and established health and safety practice.

p.7

Good

This home is led by a capable, experienced and suitably qualified registered manager. She is firm and clear in her leadership, and is respected by the staff. The progress and well-being of young people form the core of her practice. She is ably supported by an acting deputy who will soon be permanently appointed to this position.

p.7

Good

The current staff team, which includes long-serving agency staff, is cohesive and displays a strong team ethic. The team is currently able to provide the young people with continuous care of a good quality. However, senior managers are clear that the current staff team is under pressure and not able to meet the needs of a fully occupied home. They have accordingly frozen the third placement in the home until they become fully staffed with a stable and competent group of carers. This reflects clear and responsible leadership.

p.7

Good

The location of the home, although positive for young people, makes recruitment and retention of suitable staff difficult. Traditional approaches to recruitment have thus far not been successful in solving this problem. The registered manager currently regards proper staffing of the home as a priority and has sought specialist recruitment help in this regard. Renewed efforts include a focus on recruiting from the local area, as the time and cost of travel have been identified as one of the problematic factors.

p.8

Good

The home maintains a healthy training ethic and the mandatory training of staff is kept current. Staff are also well-versed in specialist areas such as child sexual exploitation, radicalisation and e-safety. The registered manager has strong views on the limitations of some online training and seeks face-to-face and bespoke training when this becomes necessary. Young people are cared for and supported by a suitably trained and experienced staff team.

p.8

Good

The home has actively learned from placement experiences, as well as from the feedback that it has received from young people, parents and professionals. Staff are confident in their ability to offer care to young people’s complex emotional needs and particularly challenging behaviour. Senior leaders are also clear about when young people’s needs exceed their capabilities, and are able to make appropriate placement decisions when these circumstances arise.

p.8

Good

Managers and staff display a very good understanding of the care system, key role- players and how their provision fits with these. Staff communicate well with their partner agencies and demonstrate an ability to maintain positive working relationships with other professionals. They are able to advocate effectively for young people and know when and how successfully to escalate concerns when responses are insufficient in meeting the needs of the young people. An independent reviewing officer said, ‘They are very good at communicating with local authority social workers and really promote and facilitate the relationship between the young people and their social workers; they are flexible and helpful in facilitating contact and are culturally sensitive; they play the parental-advocacy role really well.’

p.8

Good

Placement plans are clear and relevant. Staff are ambitious about what young people can achieve and want them to do as well as they possible can. They are excited about young people’s achievements and progress.

p.8

Good

Staff supervision is regular and recorded, but the opportunity for personal reflection on the personal impact of young people’s behaviour is not incorporated. This is a missed opportunity for managers to maintain staff resilience and to contribute to an ongoing appraisal of staff’s performance in their care of the young people.

p.8

Good

The home’s statement of purpose does not accurately reflect the current staffing arrangements, nor is the ethos of the home clearly described. Neither of these shortfalls impacts negatively upon the safety or welfare of the young people, but a review of this document would be of benefit to potential placing authorities.

p.9

Good

The registered manager has clear development goals for the next two quarters and, in addition to addressing the staffing needs, these include the completion of redecoration and the re-assigning of room usage. However, these plans do not flow clearly from the most recent regulation 45 review. This process is currently underused in terms of fully exploring and evaluating the quality of the care that is provided for the young people.

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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 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

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

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