Children's Home run by Pilgrims Corner Limited in Kent

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 receive specialist services which meet their individual needs. Good links with child and adolescent mental health services ensure that specialist emotional support is provided. A social work manager said, ‘The staff have worked positively with my young person. She [young person] came to our award ceremony and I could see how well they were working with her.’  Young people are enabled to follow individual hobbies. A social worker commented that, ‘X [young person] has been supported to access activities of interest and since being in the placement she has discovered a passion and talent in painting.’ In addition, young people have been enabled to have and care for pets while living here, which has been both enjoyable and something positive to work towards.  Young people living at the home enjoy fun, consistent and helpful relationships with staff who, in turn, like working here. Young people are

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The children's home provision is good because:

safe at the home due to staff supervision and knowledge of ensuring consistent boundaries and messages for the young person.  The registered manager actively and systematically monitors the quality of care provided. He has a thorough understanding of activity within the home, the young people who use the service and staff performance. His monitoring reports are detailed and comprehensive, with a clear focus on improvement.

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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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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children's home. (Regulation 23 (1)) 29/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children's safety. By ensuring that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (3)(d)) 29/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular reference to staff providing young people with comprehensive risk assessments and ensuring familiarity with the new child protection policy, the registered person must ensure that staff: (2)(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; (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; and (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home's child protection policies. 29/12/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Develop and keep under review a ‘Statement of Purpose’ (Regulation 16 and schedule 1) and ensure that it is accurate. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 14, paragraph 3.5)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the supervision of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. This includes providing regular supervision as detailed in the home’s workforce development plan. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 62, paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

 Make sure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Recommendations

 Actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under Regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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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 the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 58, paragraph 11.19)

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Recommendations

 Records of restraint must be kept in line with the regulations and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned children’s home is registered to accommodate two young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is operated by a small local provider who has other similar homes in the vicinity.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 27/1/16 Interim Not judged 24/03/2015 Interim Good 11/02/2015 Interim Not judged

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Good

Careful and thoughtful planning helps young people who are new to the home to settle in well. Rooms are prepared sensitively and staff warmly welcome young people to the home. Two young people have arrived and moved on from the home since the last inspection. One young person moved to another home in the organisation and remains in contact with staff here. Although this ending was unplanned, the welfare of all the young people was considered in arriving at this decision. One young person living at the home currently is preparing to move into foster care. A social worker said, ‘Staff have provided a lot of support for my young person in relation to reaching her full potential.’

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Good

Staff demonstrate a proactive response to the young people’s health. They recognise and address the young people’s health conditions. As a result, young people’s health improves. The home liaises closely with specialist services to meet young people’s health needs. This includes therapists and child and adolescent mental health services. Qualified therapists provide in-house therapeutic support. The young people may benefit from this provision for as long as necessary. Young people fully engage with this service. Staff work with each young person to ensure emotional resilience and growth in their self-confidence, which will enable them to withstand any setbacks in the future.

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Good

Staff work with their education colleagues to help the young people progress with their learning. One young person was supported to voice her opinion about her college placement and she left this provision. Staff put in place a creative plan including furthering the young person’s keen interest in horses. The young person has tried this bespoke package. However, due to her planning to leave the placement imminently she is reluctant to fully commit. Staff continue to talk about her options and offer to take her to the livery or school on a daily basis.

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Good

Young people live in a nurturing and supportive home environment, which provides them with consistency, structure and routine. The home is warmly decorated, comfortable and well maintained. Young people are able to personalise their bedrooms as well as other rooms such as the arts and crafts ex-dining room, giving them a sense of identity and belonging in the home. Young people appreciate the menu choices and home-cooked meals. Young people have made progress towards independence by practising their daily living and self-care skills such as cooking meals, cleaning and washing up. Staff assess young people’s competence in keeping themselves safe and as a result, young people are offered time to use the community by themselves and may increase this incrementally. A social worker said that, ‘The staff have thought of my young person throughout, with her planner and art work on the walls within her own room and the rest of the house. They have

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Good

supported her to access activities that suit her needs and interests.’

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Requires improvement

The home provides a safe environment for young people who have experienced unpredictable and unsafe situations in their past. Through close supervision from caring staff (which is currently funded as two staff for the young person), the current occupant has developed a sense of safety and trust in the adults who care for her. One social worker confirmed that ‘staff, parents and social care have been supporting my young person with how to remain safe online’.

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Requires improvement

Staff are confident in their understanding of safeguarding and their knowledge of safeguarding procedures. However, not all staff have received up-to-date safeguarding training except that which is covered through the induction process. Any issues of a child protection nature are managed appropriately, with effective multi-agency working ensuring the safety of young people. However, the home’s safeguarding policy was rewritten during the inspection. It did not previously reflect the good practice undertaken.

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Requires improvement

Staff are very alert to any potential risks and actively engage with the young people to let them know if they have any worries or concerns. Written risk assessments require updating after incidents to ensure that all staff can see any trends or triggers of self-harming behaviours.

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Requires improvement

Arrangements for medication are not secure. Before and during the inspection, medication audits could not reconcile the stock with the records. A requirement is made to address this. Young people reported as having correctly had their medication administered daily.

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Requires improvement

Young people feel able to say what they think and say that adults listen to them. This is evidenced by staff supporting the young person to voice her wishes to move from here. An advocate has also helped the young person to draw up a wish list for priorities to be considered. The staff team is skilled at providing clear boundaries for young people. Consistent behaviour management systems ensure that young people have increased security and well-being. There has only been one incident of restraint since the last inspection. The recording log of this did not meet the requirements although the full information was on a comprehensive incident report. Young people have not gone missing from this home. The staff have a good understanding of how to safeguard young people should this happen.

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Requires improvement

The home’s recruitment procedures do not ensure that only safe and appropriate adults work with young people. Managers have not obtained all the necessary references from previous employers, nor explored gaps in employment histories or verified the reasons why prospective employers left previous employment with children or vulnerable adults as required by regulation. A requirement is made to address this.

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Requires improvement

Health and safety measures protect young people and staff from the risk of harm. All checks are up to date, appropriate fire safety measures are in place and young people confirm that they have participated in fire drills at different times of the day and evening.

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Good

The manager has been registered with Ofsted in respect of this service since August 2016. The manager holds a level 5 qualification in leadership and management and has a wealth of experience in working with looked after children. He manages two homes which are adjacent to each other. The manager has a good oversight of the service. One staff member stated, ‘He’s the best manager we’ve ever had. It makes you want to help him. He’s amazing.’ Since starting in post, the manager has evaluated all aspects of the service and has put a development plan in place outlining areas that require improvement and how this will be achieved.

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Good

The home’s statement of purpose and children’s guide are thorough, outlining how the service provides and cares for young people. It includes essential policies and procedures of the homes and specifies the credentials of the leadership and management team. However, the statement of purpose contains some inaccuracies and general statements regarding young people’s needs and the therapeutic nature of the service.

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Good

Supervision provides staff with the chance to review and reflect on young people’s progress and needs. It provides them with an opportunity to review their own performance and development needs, and the running of the home and how best to develop and improve the standard of care and support provided. However, not all staff have had regular supervision, which hinders the manager’s ability to evaluate their performance and improve practice.

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Good

All staff who are required to, have or are in the process of completing their level 3 diploma. The workforce plan in place does not ensure that all staff can access the resources and facilities for training which matches the needs of the young people. Areas such as safeguarding, autism awareness, safe handling of medication, self- harm and mental health awareness are not sufficiently covered. Current staffing levels are sufficient. An independent visitor comes to the home regularly. He submits a report to the relevant authorities including Ofsted. These do not always provide his professional evaluation on how the conduct of staff is promoting the children’s well-being. For example, his analysis of staff supervision was a list of the last sessions rather than setting an action for overdue sessions to take place, his review of medication just lists the date that medication was last given rather than evaluating its safe

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Good

administration and he has dated the restraint log on numerous occasions but not recorded his review which had been requested nor commented on the log not being in line with regulatory expectations. This is a missed opportunity for the home to receive independent scrutiny and improve its practices.

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Good

Staff regularly review detailed care plans. These plans remain live documents, which inform staff about changes to the children’s needs and promote a consistent approach to their care. In addition, separate key worker plans link to the care planning process. These plans provide in-depth identification of children’s needs and guidance for staff. They are followed in practice. However, not all documents are reviewed to evidence the young people’s contribution and their progress.

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Good

The manager works effectively with external agencies in the interests of the young people. As one social worker commented, ‘They [the manager and staff] have notified us when there have been any changes. They listen to professionals and family when considering care planning.’ And, ‘There is frequent communication from and to the placement. They have an insight into my young person’s behaviour and respond proactively to issues that affect her.’

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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 looked after children 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, 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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