Children's Home run by McRae Residential Care Services Limited in Croydon

Good

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

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

 Leadership and management are strong in this home. Staff and young people respect their authority and expectations.  Young people have exceptional relationships with staff members, which creates a ‘family’ feel to the home.  Young people have lovely, large rooms and well planned and nicely decorated living spaces. High standards of cleanliness and maintenance help young people to respect their home and staff encourage them to take care of it.  An experienced and suitably qualified staff team works well together. Staff turnover is low, which means that trusting relationships exist. These relationships form the basis of this home’s success.  Young people receive proactive support to learn to take care of themselves. When it comes to moving on for independence, young people have the skills and support they need to manage in semi-independence placements.  Motivation in education, whatever level young people start at, is

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

encouraged. Young people gain support to feel good about themselves and to gain skills and learn while they are living here.  Young people like living here and several said that this is the best home they have lived in.  The registered manager and staff forge good working relationships with parents and professional partners to support and help the young people.  Management of behaviour is consistent. Staff hold high expectations and work consistently to put in routines and boundaries.  Recording of young people’s views on their care and the home’s expectations is not routinely happening.  Staff do not always sign their supervision records and, on occasions, some sessions have been missed.  Night waking staff work alone for some or all of the night. Although managers and staff consider risks, there is no formal lone-working policy.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that when there might only be one member of staff on duty at any time the manager should make a formal assessment of the implications for children’s care, including any likely risks. This assessment should be recorded and available for inspection by Ofsted and placing authorities. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.18)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that each child is provided with support to communicate their views, wishes and feelings and participate as fully as possible in all aspects of their care planning and daily care. This is in relation to seeking children’s views on care and placement plans, risk assessment and restraint records, and key work sessions. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.6)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that a record of supervision is kept for staff, including the manager. This is in relation to ensuring that there is a record of when supervision happens (or reasons why it did not happen) and that there are participants’ signatures on such records. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home may provide care and accommodation for up to six young people (boys) who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and learning disabilities.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 24/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/12/2015 Full Good 21/10/2014 Interim Not judged 26/06/2014 Interim Not judged

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Good

The manager and staff team give a lot of thought about how to meet young people’s individual needs. For example, one young person wanted to have boxing lessons. Staff considered local clubs, but when none were found suitable, an ex- professional boxer was commissioned to provide these lessons within the home. Several young people receive semi-independence support. Their individual needs suggested that they were ready to move on to this stage and staff supported this.

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Good

An experienced and committed staff team works at this home. Some of the team members have worked here for longer than ten years. It is evident that young people have excellent, trusting relationships with staff members and know them well. Staff show interest and compassion towards young people and present challenge to them when this is required. Staff know young people well and think about the best way to help them, such as commissioning a life-skills coach to raise self-esteem and confidence.

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Good

All young people are on roll in educational settings. Some attend mainstream school and some attend a pupil referral unit or college. The staff team places great emphasis on the importance of education at all levels and encourage young people to attend and be the best they can be. The home provides monetary incentives to encourage attendance at school, as well as practical support and enthusiasm. Young people generally attend education and do well. Staff supported one young person to return to mainstream school and attend revision classes. He went on to pass ten GCSEs with good grades in the summer. Other young people have been encouraged to stick at college courses or develop interests that promote learning, regardless of level. For example, buying ‘bite size’ educational courses in the community to enhance skills and help young people make choices about what they want to do. This helps young people to develop self-esteem and build confidence in

p.6

Good

Young people receive encouragement to be healthy and stay safe. Case managers and key workers, who are appointed for young people on their arrival at the home, take an overview on young people’s care planning. They take responsibility to ensure that young people look after all their basic healthcare needs. For example, registering with a local doctor, having regular eye tests and dental checks and thinking about sexual health. When there may be concerns that young people are using drugs or alcohol, the home takes steps to support and inform them without condoning substance misuse. When there may be significant concerns, the home involves specialist workers from the local authority. The home has good links with the local youth offending service and the child and adolescent mental health services. When young people require these services, key workers support, encourage and facilitate attendance. The home has also

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Good

established links with a local counselling service, where some young people have accessed sessions.

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Good

The home holds ‘Teen Talk’ sessions every other week, when young people meet to discuss various topics about their home. Young people are encouraged to bring concerns they have to the meeting and put things on the agenda prior to the meeting. Staff facilitate this meeting but young people are encouraged to lead. The manager and staff team use this time to raise issues about group living and to discuss young people’s choices for menus, food shopping or activities. The registered manager regularly invites local professionals to come and talk to young people at this meeting, for example on health issues, offending behaviour or drug and alcohol issues. One young person said, ‘I really enjoy our meetings, I find them interesting.’

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Good

The registered manager and staff team work hard to make the young people feel safe, respected and at home. They maintain the home to a high standard and expect young people to enjoy and respect their own space. Staff prepare nutritious food and encourage young people to sit down and eat together. Simple touches, such as a vase of flowers on the table, give the home a ‘homely’ feel. Young people and staff enjoy this. For example, one staff member said, ‘We all have a pride in this home.’ Young people said the following about what it is like living at the home:  ‘I’m very happy living at this home’,  ‘I feel cared for’, and  ‘This home is helping me and encouraging me to be independent.’

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Good

The home invests in building links in the local community. For example, all young people living at the home have membership at a local gym and staff encourage their attendance. Networks with the Salvation Army, a local church and a food bank give young people opportunities to do voluntary work in the community. Staff have established a dialogue with the local rail station and have left the home’s numbers in case rail staff become concerned about any young people who may be planning to go missing.

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Good

A strength of this home is the work they undertake on rebuilding young people’s relationships with their families. Staff work hard to establish relationships with parents and carers, to facilitate visits at the home and to encourage young people to spend regular time with their families, with staff on call if necessary. This helps young people to feel a sense of belonging with their families and to repair broken relationships for the future. Judgement grade

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Good

The registered manager begins risk assessment planning at the point of referral to the home. The priority is to ensure that new referrals fit into the group of young people already living in the home. The registered manager seeks information from the placing authority, and requests to speak with previous foster carers, parents or social workers if the commissioning team does not have all the information. This process helps the manager and staff team consider the impact that new referrals may have on existing young people in the home. Although this process begins at referral there is limited recorded information surrounding these decisions.

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Good

The registered manager and staff team work hard to prevent placements being disrupted. Key work sessions and ‘Teen Talk’ meetings provide opportunities for staff to discuss behaviours which could lead to placements breaking down. Staff refer young people to the handbook which they signed on admission. They also work with agreements to promote positive behaviour changes. Sanctions and rewards help to challenge unwanted behaviours and promote the positives. The home sustains its levels of occupancy, maintaining a safe and manageable situation. Some unplanned endings occur, but the staff team uses the positive relationships built up with young people to effect changes in behaviour. Young people come back to visit the home long after they leave care, calling in to share a meal or a cup of tea as with extended family members.

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Good

All young people have a care plan, behaviour management plan and risk assessment. Staff work well in building relationships where they can offer supportive challenge when young people present negative behaviours. The strong management and staff team provide clear boundaries, so when they say ‘no’, everyone works together. Restraint is rarely used in this home. There has been one recorded incident since the previous inspection. This indicates the strength of relationship dynamics having a largely positive effect on behaviours. What is less evident is the young people’s participation in planning their care, considering their risky behaviours and signing and contributing to records to secure their participation.

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Good

Young people know how to complain. All young people spoken to were aware of the complaints process and had a copy of the young people’s handbook. One young person said, ‘I have a young person’s guide and signed to say it was explained to me. I know how to complain, but I haven’t needed to do so.’

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Good

The home responds well to young people who go missing from home. Staff spoken to during the inspection knew the processes and procedures and felt confident about what to do if a young person went missing during their shift. Staff describe good training in respect of keeping young people safe. This year staff received training in safeguarding, including training on gang affiliation and risk of radicalisation. One staff member felt that this training had been helpful, as some young people coming here had concerns about gang affiliation. He said, ‘Training helped identify how young people might be at risk, how to minimise risk and engage young people, and challenged stereotypical assumptions due to race and religion.’

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Good

Parents and professionals felt that the home helped to keep young people safe and took appropriate actions when there were concerns. For example, one parent said, ‘I do think they are keeping him safe, they helped to find a new school to help keep him safe.’ A youth offending worker was very positive about the placement and felt that the home worked in young people’s best interests and kept them as safe as possible. During the inspection, staff members attended a strategy meeting called due to concerns about a young person’s patterns of missing and potential gang affiliation.

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Good

On occasions, night waking staff work all or part of the night alone. The registered manager and staff team assess the needs of young people and, if necessary, a second staff member will work a later shift to provide additional cover. In these circumstances, the registered manager is on call throughout the night. No formal lone-working policy covers these arrangements. Such a policy would ensure that any implications or risks for young people are clearly assessed.

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Good

Recruitment processes ensure that there are appropriate checks for new staff or volunteers wanting to work in the home. These processes help to protect young people from exposure to unsafe people working in their home.

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Good

The home benefits from regular health and safety checks to ensure that young people live in a safe environment. The manager completes an annual review of the area immediately outside the home to ensure that any wider risks are assessed, to support young people’s safety within the community.

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Good

There is an experienced and suitably qualified manager running this home. The registered manager oversees two homes in close proximity to one another. Each home has a deputy manager taking responsibility for the day-to-day arrangements in each home. The registered manager is a qualified social worker and has an additional qualification in leadership and management. The deputy manager in this home is currently undertaking the level 5 diploma in leadership and management. The responsible individual and the registered manager provide strong leadership for this service. Staff and young people alike respect them and have strong relationships, where healthy challenge and sharing ideas can happen safely. The combination of skills within the leadership and management team works well. The responsible individual takes a business role and the registered manager a practice role. Together, the leaders and managers have a good development plan for

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Good

training, which is well organised and helps them to keep track of which training staff have attended and are required to complete.

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Good

The registered manager prioritises the young people’s needs and knows them well. Observations show positive relationships and familiarity between the young people and the registered manager. He has a clear overview of the young people’s care plans, manages referrals, and knows when their reviews are taking place and knows their overall progress. The registered manager attends strategy meetings and young people’s statutory reviews.

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Good

Staff describe good support from leaders and managers. All staff describe reflective supervision and excellent opportunities for development and progression. For example, one member of staff described how he was able to work flexibly around his studies. Staff described shared responsibilities and tasks, which allow development and time to learn and grow in confidence with support. Staff enjoy their work. One staff member said, ‘I love my job, I get excited coming to work, I’m really happy to be here.’ Some supervision notes on staff files do not have signatures to agree that the record is an accurate record of what was discussed and agreed.

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Good

External monitoring of the home is good. An independent person visits the home once each month and seeks feedback from young people, parents and professionals. These reports allow for an objective view on the progress made or on any improvements needed.

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Good

The registered manager uses these independent reports along with his own review of the quality of care to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the service. The review of the quality of care reports should detail the period of time that the registered manager reviewed. The review of the quality of care is sent to the regulator and gives an understanding of what is happening at the home.

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Good

Another key strength of this home is its ability to work with the professional and community network to progress the outcomes for young people living here. This approach helps young people integrate into the community and understand the support systems around them.

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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 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 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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after 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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