Children's Home run by Castle Homes Limited in Bromley

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:

 Young people say that they enjoy living at the home.  Staff understand the needs of young people and provide good care.  Relationships are good, nurturing and focused on meeting the individual needs of young people to ensure their safety and well-being.  The registered manager plays an active role, knows the young people well and is ambitious for excellence.  Young people receive consistent support and guidance in all areas of their lives.  Priority is given to meeting the educational and health needs of the young people, with effective action taken to improve their learning and emotional health.  Young people are encouraged to join in community and educational activities. They have regular contact with those who are significant to them and feel comfortable to bring friends back to the home.  Managers and staff regularly review and track the progress of young people. However, care plans are neither sufficiently focused nor individualised to

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The children's home provision is good because:

meet the specific needs of young people placed. Young people do not contribute to care plans or the setting of individual goals as part of this process. Therefore, they are not motivated to try for further improvement.  Staff support young people to understand and reduce risk-taking behaviour. However, behaviour management plans and risk assessments lack clarity. They are neither sufficiently individualised nor focused on providing guidance to staff on consistent strategies to prevent risk-taking behaviour and ensure their safety.

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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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6: The quality and purpose of care standard

In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must: (6)(2) ensure that staff— (iv) provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. 30/01/2017

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12. The protection of children standard

In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular reference to ensuring that children are protected from harm: (2) the registered person must ensure: (a) that staff— (i) assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child.

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12. The protection of children standard

This is with particular reference to ensuring that care plans and risk assessments contain current and relevant information on risks and appropriate strategies to keep children safe. 30/01/2017

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12. The protection of children standard

33. Employment of staff (4) The registered person must ensure that all employees— (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(b)) This is with particular reference to ensuring the registered manager receives regular supervision and provide evidence that such supervision is delivered in line with regulations. 30/01/2017

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations(s):  Ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge to recognise and be alert for any signs that might indicate that a child is in any way at risk of harm. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.12)  The behaviour management strategy should be understood and applied at all times by staff, and must be kept under review and revised where appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.34)  Children should be encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’, supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Information about this children's home

The home is privately owned and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 17/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/12/2015 Full Good 11/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 16/01/2015 Full Good

p.6

Good

Young people earn to develop friendly and trusting relationships with staff and their peers. They learn to live together and sustain beneficial relationships. Staff members understand how past experiences have affected young people’s ability to trust and form relationships with adults. During the inspection, young people declined to engage with the inspector. However, they were observed engaging positively with staff, planning their day and asking questions, which staff answered openly and honestly. When young people behave inappropriately, the staff team use reflective intervention to enable young people to understand the impact of their behaviour on themselves and others.

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Good

Staff support young people in all aspects of their development and help them to feel secure. They encourage young people to make positive decisions about their daily lives and futures, consistently providing structure and stability. This approach enables young people to begin the process of achieving individual goals. Staff provide young people with regular opportunities for one-to-one discussion and individual weekly meetings. This helps them to express their views about the home and discuss their lives. This means that young people settle in the home, feel valued and have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. However, staff do not consistently evidence this positive work within written documentation.

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Good

Care plans for young people are generic and are not sufficiently detailed or individualised to evidence how the home will meet their assessed needs. They do not give enough clarity about how staff are to support young people or reflect the positive staff practice observed during the inspection. There is a lack of clear information on how plans are reviewed and the process whereby young people and relevant professionals contribute their views. As a result, it is difficult to measure and therefore to evidence the progress made by young people from their individual starting points.

p.7

Good

Some young people come into the home with poor educational experiences. Staff work hard to engage them successfully back into education and successfully work collaboratively with schools to ensure a positive first experience. As a result, all young people are engaged in mainstream education or alternative provision. Attendance is of a high standard, with many young people attaining 100% attendance. Such high levels of engagement have resulted in one young person gaining seven or more GCSEs in the summer and currently undertaking A levels with a determination to progress to university.

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Good

Staff recognise the importance for young people to build and maintain relationships with people important to them. They support regular contact with family members and significant others. A social worker said: ‘Staff are supportive with contact, ensuring that the young person arrives and departs safely. They will always consult with me on any changes.’ Therefore, due to the consistency of contact, young people feel part of their family and have improved relationships, and this contributes to positive behaviour in the home.

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Good

Young people are making progress in cooking meals, domestic skills and safe care skills. Alongside staff support, young people receive encouragement through an incentive scheme linked to their engagement in meeting their independence targets.

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Requires improvement

The staff team takes its responsibility for keeping young people safe seriously. The safety and well-being of young people are at the centre of staff practice. Staff are informed of policies and procedures through induction and training. Knowledge of safeguarding procedures is good, together with the procedure on how to follow these in partnership with other agencies. When serious allegations or concerns arise, managers work closely with the local safeguarding designated officer and police to ensure that these are fully investigated. The registered manager is reflective in practice and takes action to prevent recurrence, where there are such complaints and allegations.

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Requires improvement

However, while information on risk-taking behaviours is regularly shared among the staff team on a daily basis, young people’s files do not evidence these discussions sufficiently. The risk assessments lack detail in relation to specific concerns about individual young people. They fail to evidence strategies on how to keep young people safe or record the signs and symptoms for staff to identify that young people may be placing themselves at further risk of harm. This is particularly concerning, as some young people are at significant risk of child sexual exploitation and going missing. For example, ‘missing’ episodes for a young person have significantly decreased following a serious incident. However, risk assessments are not updated to reflect the incident or outline new approaches to reduce the risk. For instance, strategies are not in place to prevent recurrence assessments, and provide little practical detail on how to manage the significant risk of harm for the

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Requires improvement

young person. This does not demonstrate a robust and proactive response to managing and reducing the likelihood of young people continuing to put themselves at risk.

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Requires improvement

Staff have discussions with young people on positive behaviour on a daily basis. This helps young people to reflect on their behaviour, learn better coping mechanisms and consider their future actions. Handover discussions between staff evidence good understanding of the reasons for individual behaviours and how best to manage these. However, behaviour support plans do not evidence these discussions or provide detailed understanding of specific behaviours. Moreover, triggers are not highlighted and strategies to diffuse situations are not clearly set out. As a result, staff cannot evidence how they work with young people to enable them to manage their impulsive behaviours. This is a wasted opportunity to evidence how the home is safely caring for young people and promoting positive behaviours.

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Requires improvement

Physical intervention is rarely used. Staff and managers encourage positive behaviour through diversion techniques such as activities and engaging young people in reflective behavioural discussions. Through close supervision, staff are acutely aware of how young people are acting and their behaviour around one another. This is particularly important when young people are new to the home and are getting to know one another.

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Requires improvement

The home is situated in an appropriate area and the locality risk assessment identifies potential risks in the areas. The building provides a safe environment for young people, where fire, health and safety checks are regularly undertaken. The home is spacious and is currently undergoing a complete refurbishment.

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Good

The registered manager has been in post since 2009 and holds the level 4 management award. She is a highly motivated and effective leader who has good oversight over all aspects of the home. She is passionate about delivering high- quality care and supporting young people to achieve positive outcomes and enhance their life opportunities.

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Good

The staff are committed and consistent in their care and support of young people. New members of staff benefit from a comprehensive induction package and from mentoring by the more experienced members of staff. A recently appointed staff member spoke highly of the support provided by colleagues and managers.

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Good

The staff team is suitably qualified in line with regulations, enrolled on NVQ level 3 training or waiting to complete induction training. Staff report receiving regular supervision and performance related reviews. However, the manager has not received practice-based documented supervision for some time. Staff records and the manager’s training matrix indicate when training requires updating. However, a workforce development plan is not in place to provide a strategic view on the developmental needs of the staff team.

p.9

Good

The manager understands how the frustrations and anxieties of young people can prevent them from fully investing in their placement. She is proactive in ensuring that staff understand the individual needs of young people and provide the right level of care for them. The manager makes informed decisions about which young people come to live at the home. She commits a good deal of effort to ensuring that the needs of the individual can be met without detriment to those already living at the home. She is a strong advocate for young people, ensuring that during their time at the home they achieve and progress as outlined in the statement of purpose.

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Good

Partnership working with relevant professionals and significant people in the lives of young people is a positive feature of the home. The home understands that support of young people is not a job that can be done alone, and that young people need support and care from other agencies and families in order to progress and do well.

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Good

The independent visitor’s scrutiny of the home makes a contribution to identifying areas for further improvements. However, the regulator does not always receive reports in a timely manner. The manager’s assessment of the home is of a good standard. However, it would benefit from a more focused and evaluative approach.

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Good

Requirements and recommendations made at this inspection are not because of not good enough practice, but of a failure to evidence and record work done with young people and the strategies in place to keep them safe.

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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:. 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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