Children's Home run by Bryn Melyn Care Limited in Telford and Wrekin

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 are positive about the care and support that they receive and feel safe and comfortable in the home.  Staff work hard to form positive and trusting relationships with young people. This helps young people to settle in the home and to grow in confidence.  Staff ensure that young people are provided with a safe, secure, caring and stimulating environment where they can develop physically, emotionally and socially.  Staff promote a strong ethos of educational achievement. This includes working closely with schools to help to remove barriers that affect young people’s learning.  Young people are encouraged to have their say in the running of the home, through participation in weekly house meetings and key-work sessions.  Staff work collaboratively with other professionals to ensure that young people receive the best support and guidance.  The manager ensures that young people are involved in a wide range of

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The children’s home provision is good because:

activities in the community.  Staff promote young people’s contact with their close relatives and friends.  There is one minor shortfall, relating to the home’s statement of purpose.

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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

The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it, and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16(3)(a)(b)) 12/11/2016

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is operated by a private company. The home provides care for up to two young people, irrespective of gender, who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

15/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

31/12/2014 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Young people live in a safe, caring and supportive environment that enables them to make good progress in many aspects of their lives. Young people have had notable improvements in relation to their health, safety, education attendance and attainment. This has been possible because of the dedicated, experienced and focused staff team that never gives up on young people. Young people’s placement plans take account of their assessed and individual needs. Plans are prepared with the involvement of the young people, parents and their social worker. A social worker said, ‘Care has been to an excellent level, and they work very closely with [young person]’s parents, so they are all working closely together.’ This enables staff to have a clear understanding of their roles in promoting young people’s well-being. Young people have access to effective healthcare, to enable them to have their health promoted, maintained and treated when necessary. Staff regularly consult

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Good

the organisation’s therapists so that they can support the emotional well-being of young people through the guidance of a professional. Young people attend a variety of educational settings, dependent on their needs and abilities. Staff value education and recognise it as a means of enabling young people to reach their full potential. This has included staff working closely with education staff and providing direct support in the classroom when necessary. Young people are fully involved in day-to-day decisions in the home. They contribute their views through regular meetings and constant communication with staff. As a result, they feel valued, well informed and involved in all aspects of their care. Young people confirm that they know how to make a complaint if they are unhappy or have any concerns about their care. The manager ensures that staff build relationships with families as appropriate, and

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Good

help young people to maintain contact with their families and carers in accordance with their individual plans. This helps young people to build relationships and attachments with those significant to them and to have a sense of identity. The manager ensures that effective planning and support are given to helping young people to prepare for their transition to adult living. Staff work in partnership with parents and professionals in formulating a plan, which is relevant to their age, level of understanding and ability. A social worker said, ‘The home [is] ensuring that [young person] is building on his independence skills with a specialised package of care that will meet his ongoing needs, [and] which is regularly updated.’ Young people take part in a range of activities in both the home and the local community. These support them to develop friendships, try different activities and to have support with these. Examples include horse riding, dance classes and the

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Good

Young people feel safe in the home and are confident that they live in a safe environment. Parents and other professionals who work with young people and their families share this view. For example, one parent told the inspector, `She is kept safe by the staff from the home. I have no doubt at all that she is in a safe place.’ The manager ensures that staff have a good understanding of their duties in promoting young people’s welfare. Staff work with young people individually to address any vulnerabilities and risks. Care plans, behaviour management plans and risk assessment reports all contribute to young people’s changing needs for safety and protection. These plans and reports are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain relevant and effective. Staff manage challenging behaviour effectively and encourage young people to reflect on incidents in a constructive and helpful way. Inappropriate behaviour is

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Good

challenged and defused, as appropriate. There have been occasions when physical intervention is necessary to help to keep young people and others safe. Incidents are fully recorded, with evidence of good management oversight and monitoring. This helps to identify patterns and trends to inform future practice, and reduce incidents. There have been no reported incidents of children going missing from the home since the last inspection. The manager has ensured that the home has a clear protocol for responding to and managing these incidents, in order to secure the safe return of young people if they do go missing. The manager and staff work effectively with the police and local safeguarding team, ensuring that information about young people is shared so that there is a coordinated, partnership response to safeguarding young people. Young people live in a home that is physically safe and secure. Regular environmental safety checks are undertaken, and staff and young people regularly

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Good

practise evacuating the home in an emergency. The manager ensures that young people are protected by the organisation’s recruitment practices. Staff are vetted and assessed as suitable before any appointment is confirmed. These procedures promote the safety of the young people by preventing unsuitable adults from working with them.

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Good

The home has an appropriately qualified registered manager in place. The manager has been in post since March 2011 and holds a level 4 national vocational qualification in leadership, health and social care. The manager uses staff meetings and supervision well to communicate the positive ethos of the home. Staff report that they find supervision helpful and supportive. Performance management systems are effective in challenging staff to maintain high standards of care. Annual appraisals are used well to ensure that staff are provided with appropriate development opportunities. The manager ensures that staff have access to a range of training to enable them to fulfil their roles. Refresher training is available to ensure that staff keep their skills and knowledge up to date. Most staff are qualified. Those who are unqualified are within regulatory timescales for achieving their qualification. This means that

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Good

staff have the necessary knowledge and skills to provide high-quality care to young people. The statement of purpose has been recently updated, but does not provide all the information that is pertinent to the home. For example, the document does not state that young people are unable to access wi-fi in the home. This means that stakeholders and parents are not receiving an accurate picture of the home’s services. The independent visitor provides an oversight of the running of the home and makes clear reference to areas of practice that need to improve for the benefit and safety of young people. The independent visitor consults with young people and social workers, to ensure that their views are considered in the service development. The quality of the relationships between the manager, staff and partner agencies is good. All stakeholders spoken with report high levels of satisfaction with the care and progress of young people and with the professionalism of the staff. A social

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Good

worker reported, ‘We receive weekly updates on [young person], which are thorough. The updates allow us to see how she is or is not doing. This demonstrates that there is a coordinated approach to meet young people’s needs, and communication is shared quickly, which helps to keep young people safe. There were no requirements or recommendations raised at the last inspection.

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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

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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