Children's Home run by Pebbles Care Limited in Leeds

Good

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

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Children and young people like living at the home. They feel safe and well cared for.  Children and young people make good progress. They gain positive experiences and outcomes and develop close, nurturing relationships with staff.  Staff are knowledgeable about the children and young people in their care. They meet their individual needs and ensure that they get the best out of life.  The leadership and management of the home are good, and standards of care are maintained through effective monitoring.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s)

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Recommendations

 Children should be encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents,’ supporting them to view and contribute to a 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) This is with particular reference to the completion and review of risk assessments with the child, and improvements to the child-friendly care plan.  The children’s guide must be age appropriate, and provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21) This is with particular reference to reducing the length of the children’s guide and making it more specific to the home.  Homes are required to develop and keep under review a ‘statement of purpose’ (regulation 16 and schedule 1). (‘Guide to the children’s homes

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Recommendations

regulations including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5) Specifically, this is to include details of the responsible individual, the staff and their qualifications.  Records must be kept of the administration of all medication, which includes occasions when prescribed medication is refused. Regulation 23 requires the registered person to ensure that they make suitable arrangements to manage, administer and dispose of any medication. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15) This is with particular reference to ensuring that the recording system provides clear identification of when medication has been administered.

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is owned and managed by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for no more than four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

Good

Children and young people feel settled and part of the home. They enjoy quality relationships with staff, and feel loved and cared for. This supports them to form trusting relationships. One young person commented that it is good, living at the home, and that staff respond well to him during ‘mad’ times.

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Good

Children and young people are provided with the opportunity to gain positive experiences. They are encouraged to try various activities to support their struggles within large social groups. One young person now regularly enjoys the trampoline, building up his confidence to form friendships.

p.6

Good

Staff support children and young people to celebrate and attend special events, such as attending the school ‘prom’. These events are captured to provide young people with memories of their time at the home. This helps them to build up a picture of their life story.

p.6

Good

The home environment is welcoming and is decorated with children’s and young people’s artwork. Children are able to choose how their bedrooms are decorated. For example, one young person has a graffiti-themed room and has chosen to display his personal items in this space.

p.6

Good

Children and young people enjoy regular family contact, made easier by staff providing transport and supervising these arrangements, when necessary. Contact plans are reviewed to ensure that this is a positive experience for all concerned. A parent said: ‘He has come on in leaps and bounds. His appearance is immaculate.’

p.6

Good

Children and young people make good educational progress, in some cases exceeding their predicted targets. Of one young person, a teacher reported: ‘The staff are exceptional at supporting him within school and communicating his emotional needs to us.’ This ensures that additional pressures are not placed on him in times of difficulty.

p.6

Good

Children’s and young people’s physical and emotional health improve through the encouragement and support of the staff team. Children and young people have a daily target and reward sheet which incorporate a health element. This promotes improvements in physical and emotional health.

p.6

Good

Children’s and young people’s health is further promoted by staff ensuring that they get the right medication to support their medical needs. Recording is usually accurate and clear, but one entry in the medication log was confusing. This had no negative effect on the young person, but could have led to misinterpretation of the dosage given.

p.6

Good

Children and young people experience planned moves and transitions. The duration and detail of these vary, according to each individual’s needs. Through transitional planning, young people with complex needs have successfully moved to semi-independence and are maintaining positive outcomes.

p.7

Good

Children and young people are protected at the home, and parents and professionals concur with this view. One young person said that he felt safe and is kept safe, ‘even during my ‘mad’ time’.

p.7

Good

Risks are well identified, understood and quickly responded to. Risk assessments are regularly completed and reviewed, providing clear strategies to support the children and young people appropriately. This could be developed further through discussion with children and young people, to help them to understand their own behaviours and take ownership of the plans. Similarly, care plans could be improved with greater involvement by children and young people.

p.7

Good

Children and young people benefit from good safeguarding practice. Staff take prompt action when a child is missing from home. Children and young people are educated about the risks associated with being missing and have a Freephone number, should they need help or assistance when in the community.

p.7

Good

Staff use their intuition and knowledge about children and young people to manage stressful situations effectively. Staff work with children and young people to produce behaviour management plans. This helps staff to understand how best to respond during times of crisis.

p.7

Good

The children’s guide outlines how children and young people can make a complaint and other useful information about living at the home. However, this is a generic document which is lengthy for children and young people to digest and is not in a child-friendly format. Improvements to the wording will make this a document that is easier for children and young people to understand.

p.7

Good

The registered manager has been in place since May 2015. She has recently completed her level 5 qualification in leadership and management. She is supported by committed and nurturing staff who report that the registered manager is a good leader. They say that she is supportive, identifies and encourages continued staff progression and development, and works well with the children and young people.

p.8

Good

The registered manager supports the team by identifying and praising the work and commitment of the staff team. Staff have demonstrated personal resilience, enabling them to offer children and young people continued support during episodes of trauma and challenging behaviour. Staff receive effective supervision and relevant training. Specialist training is delivered, when required, to meet children’s and young people’s specific needs. For example, ligature training was provided to help staff to understand how to respond to high-risk self-harming behaviours.

p.8

Good

The registered manager follows ‘safe recruitment’ procedures and ensures that staff are properly trained for the job. Staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities towards the children whom they care for. Newly employed staff members attend induction training and shadow shifts. A recently employed staff member said that she had undertaken core training before she started her shifts.

p.8

Good

Staff and management have strong relationships with professionals. This helps to create clear and informative plans that are tailored to the needs of children and young people. A teacher commented that they discuss strategies with staff which are then implemented at school and at the home. This helps to provide consistency for children and young people.

p.8

Good

The manager’s monitoring of the home is effective. This is evident in the strong quality of care that is provided. The home works with its statement of purpose, but needs to include all the details required by the regulation. This is an administrative error that has no direct impact on children and young people.

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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: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted. 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 w ww.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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