Children's Home run by John-Edwards Care Homes Limited in Swindon

Outstanding

The children's home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the home contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The manager and staff team work exceptionally hard to ensure that young people are provided with an environment that is rich in opportunities to help them to play, learn and develop.  The staff team is led by a manager who is highly qualified and skilled. She has a passion and commitment to continuously develop her own and the staff team’s knowledge and understanding of young people who have complex physical and medical needs and associated behaviours. In this way, young people benefit from support and care that is underpinned by up-to- date practice and research.  Young people make excellent progress in their social, educational and behavioural development in relation to their starting points. This is achieved by the staff supporting all young people to receive full-time education and working collaboratively with other professionals to ensure that approaches are consistent and individualised.  100% attendance at school, after-school activities, social clubs and outings

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

demonstrate that young people who have complex physical and medical needs are experiencing a wide range of opportunities to support their social development. The staff team is committed to ensuring that the young people have the same aspirations and opportunities as all young people.  The staff team is attentive to the complex needs of each of the young people, whether they live full time at the home or use the service for short breaks. They understand extremely well the individual needs and behaviours of the young people they are caring for. Thus, they are able to communicate effectively with the young people. As a result, young people experience calm, nurturing response from staff that helps to reduce their anxieties and worries when they are away from their families.  The home is decorated and furnished in a style that not only reflects the young people’s interests and hobbies, but also provides a safe and

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

accessible environment for young people who have mobility requirements.  The manager makes effective use of a range of excellent recording systems that provide her with detailed information that allows her to review and plan improvement effectively. A detailed, research-based strategic development plan underpins improvements. The manager uses feedback from professionals, young people and families to further develop the home.  The independent visitor role has recently become vacant, and recruitment is underway. One requirement to ensure that this post is recruited to as soon as possible is made, and one recommendation is made to ensure that the use of sanctions is not confused with management of behaviours. These minor shortfalls do not impact on the young people or detract from the high standard of care provided.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meet(s) 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

44: Independent person: 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. (Regulation 44(1)) 19/12/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  Staff should encourage an enthusiasm for positive behaviour through the use of positive behaviour strategies in line with the child's relevant plans. This relates, in particular, to a review of how sanctions are defined and recorded. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.13)

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Information about this children's home

This children's home is registered to care for five children who have learning difficulties and associated disabilities. The home offers full-time care and a short- breaks service. The home is run by a private company.

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Information about this children's home

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Information about this children's home

28/10/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Information about this children's home

13/11/2014 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Outstanding

Young people make excellent progress in their physical, emotional and psychological development regardless of their complex medical and physical challenges. This is achieved through rigorous application of individualised care plans and high-quality assessments. A particular strength of the manager and staff team is their commitment to supporting each young person to remain healthy. Young people attend all routine health appointments. In addition, there is robust and detailed information available for staff on those young people who have significantly complex medical and surgical needs. As a result, young people are being cared for sympathetically and with dignity, enabling them to recover and have improved opportunities in respect of their mobility and their overall health. Safe and modified transport enables young people to attend school all of the time. A communication diary introduced by the manager ensures that information is

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Outstanding

shared effectively between professionals and families. ‘Communication between the home and school is exceptional,’ reported a medical professional. As a result, adults who care for the young people are able to update one another and celebrate the young people’s achievements, and safeguard against any worries and changes. The staff and the young people celebrate all progress, no matter how small. This means that young people grow and develop a sense of pride in their achievements. The home is equipped to a very high standard with play and relaxation equipment. For example, a sensory room and hot tub room allow young people to spend time out of their wheelchairs playing and relaxing. These experiences are monitored and recorded in detail, ensuring that young people are getting the best out of them. Furthermore, young people enjoy living in a home that is, as one professional stated, ‘a home-from-home environment’. It is a spacious, safe environment with

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Outstanding

specialist pieces of furniture, ensuring that all young people’s needs are met. Young people’s bedrooms reflect their personal choices, and staff interpret the choices of those young people who have limited communication skills and design rooms on their behalf. In addition, the manager and staff team work very hard to ensure that young people go on a range of visits, activities and holidays. In doing so, young people are able to continue to attend their place of worship, have positive visits with their families, stay healthy and fit and experience the wider community. Judgement grade

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Outstanding

Relationships between the staff and young people are caring and attentive, as well as loving and fun. Consistent boundaries and structures provide the young people with a home where they feel safe and secure. Staff receive an excellent range of training that includes child development, attachment and safeguarding, and contributes to young people’s continued safety and development. The manager and staff have an excellent understanding of the individual risks relating to each young person. The staff consider and include a range of activities that stretch the young people. These are rigorously risk assessed, from the point of view that the activities should be attempted by as many young people as possible. As young people develop and mature, the risks that they take are reviewed and adapted to meet their ages and abilities. The staff actively promote the positive behaviour of each young person. This is

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Outstanding

achieved, in part, by effective and impressive collaborative working with parents, carers and school and medical professionals. Records scrutinised during the course of the inspection indicate that physical intervention is not used and young people do not go missing. Sanctions, as agreed in the young people’s behavioural plans, are used by the staff to further promote positive behaviour. However, the records suggest that sanctions are being used in some instances to manage complex and challenging behaviour. Further understanding of this data concluded that this was misleading and was not the case. Therefore, a recommendation is made for the manager to review the wording and terminology of the sanctions that are used. The manager takes careful account of the characteristics and needs of each child placed, to ensure that the group of young people is well balanced. The home is furnished, decorated and adapted to a very high standard. This means that young

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Outstanding

people have plenty of room to play and manoeuvre wheelchairs and electric armchairs safely. Areas in the home that young people use to receive therapy and relaxation, for example the hot tub and sensory room, are appropriately checked. Young people are safe to use these pieces of equipment as staff are qualified and skilled in their operation. The manager and staff recognise how the young people’s disabilities and medical conditions leave them highly vulnerable. Accordingly, thorough vetting of staff and supervision of visitors keep the young people safe. Young people living in the home take a significant amount of medication. There is a designated room where all medications and equipment for personal care are kept secure. Procedures in place for administration and disposal of medicines are extremely robust. For example, two staff members authorise medication, and members of staff on probation are not allowed to administer or authorise

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Outstanding

medication. All staff are qualified and trained to a high level in the safe administration of medicine. In addition, all medication is delivered to the home by a local pharmacy, and documentation to audit the safe use and disposal of medication is rigorous.

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Outstanding

There is visible, consistent and extremely strong leadership of the home. The registered manager has been in post for a number of years and has a good level of skill and experience. She is highly qualified and continues to update her knowledge and skills by attending all necessary training and using her own supervision to reflect on research. In addition, by routinely committing to work in a local hospital, she is able to maintain her professional nursing registration. As a result, the home is led by a manager that is qualified in both nursing and social care. The manager leads a committed and stable staff team. Since the previous inspection, there have been a number of changes to the staff team. However, a carefully structured and planned rota system mean that less experienced staff work alongside qualified staff who know the young people very well. Staff spoken to and records scrutinised confirm that agency staff are rarely used. Instead, permanent

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Outstanding

staff cover absences, which ensures that young people who require personal care and support are provided with consistency, and their dignity is maintained. Newly appointed staff follow an induction programme, which covers all of the key elements of their work. Staff are very satisfied with the amount of training that they receive. Team meetings are very well attended and held regularly. Training workshops and discussions, practice updates and research findings are integrated into team meetings. This ensures that care practices are underpinned by current research. The staff confirm that they receive ‘excellent supervision’, both formal and informal. Staff present as extremely committed and passionate about the work that they do. One said, ‘Shifts can be long, but if we need breaks we help each other out as the young people come first.’ Staffing levels support young people who are receiving a large degree of individualised care and attention.

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Outstanding

The aims and objectives of the home are accurately and clearly set out in its statement of purpose. Young people, their carers and families are provided with information about the home and their care in a children’s guide. The manager recognises the different abilities of the young people and has produced guides in DVD and picture exchange communication system (PECS) formats. For example, a fire drill on a DVD is used for young people who have literacy difficulties, and PECS is used to support young people who have communication difficulties. The manager collates data from the independent person’s visits, questionnaires from professionals and families, and a regular visiting advocate, to produce an excellent strategic development plan. The manager pays particular attention to the inclusion and consultation of young people in the running of the home. In spite of the young people’s disabilities and communication difficulties, the manager goes to

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Outstanding

great lengths to be creative when capturing their views. For example, records of house meetings and one-to-one working sessions evidence how staff use PECS, Makaton and play to elicit the young people’s opinions, likes and dislikes. In doing so, the manager is able to allocate budgets, plan activities and holidays and internally monitor the home to ensure continued progress and improve the outcomes of the young people. It was noted, however, that there is currently no independent visitor. The manager and registered individual have been swift to address this, and recruitment to fill this vacancy is underway. Monitoring of the home is taking place during this interim period, but a requirement is made to ensure that this position is filled as soon as possible.

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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 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, 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,

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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

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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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