Children's home run by Middlesbrough Borough Council

The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

children and young people since the most recent full inspection. This home was judged requires improvement at the full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has improved effectiveness . Young people are making progress in various aspects of their lives. They receive good-quality care from the staff team that knows them well. Young people have mixed outcomes and experiences with education. Some young people demonstrate excellent attendance on a college work placement and good levels of engagement with the personal home tuition. However, another young person’s attendance has significantly declined to non-engagement from a previous 100%. Staff ensure that incentives are in place and constant encouragement is given alongside excellent co-working with the virtual head and other professionals to progress a school re-introduction plan. This collaborative approach ensures that there is a joined-up approach and ownership of the strategies to try to re-engage

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

young people in education. Staff have received attachment training, which has made them more knowledgeable about child development. They take part in life appreciation days, which provide a psychological aspect for staff to look at the backgrounds of young people. This has led to staff having a greater understanding and knowledge of the young people, their needs and presenting behaviours and has had a positive impact on the care provided to young people. Young people engage in regular activities both inside and outside the home with staff. Their friends are encouraged to visit them at home and go on some of the trips. Staff enjoy spending time with the young people. This results in improved, trusting relationships and young people becoming less secretive. A young person whose confidence has increased is now more communicative and openly shares his views with staff. There has been an improvement in his physical appearance and

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

he is developing independence skills. Staff work closely with specialist health services for advice about young people’s emotional and behavioural difficulties. Clear behaviour strategies ensure that a consistent approach is taken by staff, which has resulted in an improvement in behaviour management. Staff regularly reflect on any negative behaviour and their own responses to these incidents. They are recognising triggers, with a significant improvement in de-escalation techniques. There has been a reduction in the number, severity and duration of negative incidents at the home as young people learn to self-regulate their behaviours. A staff member reported, ‘There are more positive consequences.’ Young people are kept safe. There have been no complaints or going missing from home episodes. There are no known child sexual exploitation concerns. Staff work closely with the police and youth offending team to prevent young people from

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

being unnecessarily criminalised. The manager has good links with safeguarding agencies. This promotes good information sharing and ensures that staff have up- to-date information about dangers in the locality in order for them to be proactive in keeping young people safe. The manager ensures the regular review of records relating to care planning documents, risk assessments and behaviour management plans. To improve her effectiveness and oversight she has implemented a number of new monitoring and recording systems. This ensures that she is up to date and fully informed. The revised monitoring forms provide more detail about incidents, enabling staff to adopt a reflective approach. Changes to the staff team have led to a more cohesive team. Staff speak of enjoying working at the home. A training matrix identifies staff’s developmental needs. Senior staff members have undertaken supervision training, helping to

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

develop them in their roles. The manager has a good overview of the quality of care that young people receive which identifies any additional training or support that staff need to ensure that young people are safe. The manager is keen that young people receive the best care possible. The manager has demonstrated the home’s capacity to improve in that the requirements and recommendation made at the full inspection have been fully met. The extensive refurbishment of the children’s home has resulted in vastly improved living conditions. Young people have helped with the decoration and furnishing choices and have personalised their bedrooms. Young people are receiving consistent and nurturing care from the staff team. This has resulted in them spending more time at the home and building on relationships. The manager is forward thinking and work is in progress to complete the actions on the home’s development plan, specifically focusing on staff development and

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The effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of

training, ongoing physical improvements to the home and the development of new monitoring forms. This will improve the service even further. There has been one new admission to the home since the last inspection. Detailed information sharing about the young person has enabled a smooth transition to the home, in spite of this being an emergency placement. However, a more robust impact risk assessment would highlight the potential for conflict and help staff to mitigate any identified risks. However, the young person has settled in well and said it is ‘good’ living at the home.

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Information about this children's home

This is a local authority home. The home provides care and accommodation for up to three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 10/05/2016 Full Requires improvement 08/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/12/2015 Full Requires improvement 10/02/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child's assessed needs as recorded in the child's relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. Specifically, when emergency referrals are made to the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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What the inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspection, we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the ‘Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection’.

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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 focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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Information about this inspection

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 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

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

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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