Children's home run by Sheffield City Council in Sheffield

Outstanding

The children's home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the home contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Children and young people enjoy new experiences that are highly positive and rewarding.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Children and young people’s diverse needs are met because their visits to the home are carefully planned. This helps young people to form friendships and ensures that their visits are positive.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Partnership working is highly effective. The manager and staff are held in high regard by parents, carers and professionals.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The manager and staff use research to inform their practice, develop the service. This makes an exceptional difference to the lives of children and young people.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Children and young people enjoy the highest quality care because the manager understands what the home does best, and where it needs to improve.

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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 home should be located in an area that supports children’s safety, well- being and personal development. The location of the home should support its aims, objectives and ethos, as described in the statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.23)

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Recommendations

Specifically, the service should take into account the potential for already vulnerable children and young people to be targeted for sexual exploitation, and include this within the location risk assessment.

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Recommendations

 The children’s guide should help children to understand the statement of purpose of the home and the care that they can expect to receive while living there. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ page 24, paragraph 4.22)

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Recommendations

Specifically, the service should ensure that the current picture exchange communication system (PECS) version of the children’s guide includes how to make a complaint and how to access advocacy support or contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

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Recommendations

 Homes must gain consent to any monitoring or surveillance by the placing authority in writing at the time of placement. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16)

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Recommendations

This is with particular reference to the registered manager ensuring that the placing authority have given consent for the use of door alarms for individual children and young people.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1. The plan should detail any training required for staff to enable the delivery of the home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

This is with particular reference to the registered manager ensuring that the agreed timescales for staff to undertake any core training are met.

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Information about this children's home

This local authority children's home provides short breaks for up to eight young people with learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities, some of whom may have challenging behaviour.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.6

Outstanding

Children and young people really enjoy, and get a great deal of fulfilment and pleasure, from their short breaks. For the majority of children and young people visiting, the home is a routine part of their lives, sometimes over several years. This means that staff get to know them, and their highly complex needs, exceptionally well.

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Outstanding

Children’s and young people’s short breaks at the home are assessed and planned effectively to ensure that they experience safe, enjoyable stays, with opportunities to form friendships. Children and young people receive a warm welcome from staff when they visit the home. Planning for visits includes staff preparing and personalising bedrooms. This ensures that children and young people feel reassured and that any anxieties are minimised.

p.7

Outstanding

Consistency of care, continuity of routines and the familiarity of the environment contribute to children and young people feeling settled. This helps them to feel comfortable about sharing their experiences, concerns and worries with staff. For example, a foster carer commented: ‘My child was able to speak to staff about a death in his family.’

p.7

Outstanding

Children and young people experience an exceptionally high level of care. Staff are acutely perceptive to their highly complex needs and the challenges that some behaviours present. Staff know how to communicate with each child and young person, and differences in communication are managed with care, diligence and perseverance. For example, one professional reported observing a staff member showing great patience in providing a child with complex needs the opportunity to feed themselves.

p.7

Outstanding

Children and young people have great fun during their short breaks. They have the opportunity to form friendships and to try new activities. A foster carer said that their foster child ‘really enjoys the experiences that they gain during short breaks which are not possible to achieve within the home environment’. Staff spend time capturing these experiences for the child and young person in a ‘memory journal’ that they keep when they stop attending their short breaks.

p.7

Outstanding

Children and young people make excellent individual progress during their short breaks. For example, children and young people who experience sleeping difficulties are helped to develop a regular and good-quality sleep pattern. This impacts positively on other aspects of their daily life and routines. A head teacher said: ‘The staff enable children and young people to experience new things and develop life skills. This supports them within school.’

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Outstanding

Children and young people are helped to gain as much independence as possible. Older teenagers are supported to develop the life skills they need for adulthood. One professional reports: ‘The staff have a really positive impact for parents as they provide them with all the required information and support to contact and access relevant adult services for their child.’

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Outstanding

The home is welcoming and affords children and young people comfortable surroundings in which they can enjoy their short breaks. There are areas developed within the home to provide children and young people with space for both activities and relaxation. This gives children and young people a real choice about what they want to do with their time during their short breaks.

p.8

Outstanding

Children and young people are safe at the home during their short breaks. They are appropriately supervised, and any risks to their welfare are minimised. Because of their complex needs and vulnerabilities, children and young people do not leave the home unaccompanied. Consequently, there are no missing-from-home incidents and no children are at risk of child sexual exploitation. However, this risk should be considered as part of the home’s location risk assessment in order to further strengthen safeguarding practice.

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Outstanding

Children and young people are helped to understand the risks connected with social media. Staff understand the risks associated with the internet and have developed strategies to promote online safety. This includes providing a session on ‘share aware’ for those children who can independently access the internet.

p.8

Outstanding

Children and young people with less-complex needs know how to make complaints. However, the picture exchange format of the children’s guide does not include information on how to do this. This means that children and young people with additional communication needs have no clear guide to this right.

p.8

Outstanding

When complaints are made staff take these seriously and respond appropriately, providing a clear response to the child or young person and their parent or carer. For example, when one young person made a complaint staff provided them with a detailed action plan to ensure that they understood the reasoning behind a decision for them not to purchase fizzy drinks. To support their understanding further, staff developed this into a visual plan, and an independent advocate supported them throughout the process.

p.8

Outstanding

Children and young people are listened to. Staff spend quality time with children and young people so that they understand their diverse methods of communication. Staff create a communication passport for children and young persons to ensure that signs and sounds individual to them are captured. This enables children and young people to express their wishes and feelings and provides an opportunity for them to exercise choice.

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Outstanding

Children and young people’s right to privacy and dignity is maintained. When possible, children and young people are supported and encouraged by staff to manage their own personal care.

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Outstanding

The home ensures consistent and safe care through strong, effective relationships with other professionals, parents and carers. Parents, in particular, feel very well supported. They report that they can contact the home at any time, and find the communication book particularly useful and informative.

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Outstanding

Parents and carers also appreciate the home’s flexibility and child-centred approach to short breaks. For example, one parent reported that her child had ‘staggered’ visits to help them to settle into the home. A foster carer said that their child’s dates were changed to meet their needs and to reduce their anxieties.

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Outstanding

The registered manager is appropriately qualified and has managed the home since 1995. She is supported by an experienced and motivated senior management team. A social work team manager said: ‘All the staff are brilliant and supported by a very good management team who want to promote good outcomes for children and families.’

p.9

Outstanding

Staff say that they are well supported by an inspirational manager who strives to develop the service provision and practices. Supervision, team meetings and appraisals are used to support staff and provide guidance. Annual appraisals also take place. However, the manager has identified this as an area for improvement, and further planning is recommended to ensure that staff core training is undertaken in line with the home’s reported timescales. Monitoring is thorough, and any shortfalls in practice are responded to with an appropriate action plan. The registered manager identifies and tracks the strengths of the home and areas for development. This informs a comprehensive overview of the service needs and the impact on children and young people.

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Outstanding

Professionals, parents and carers feel that the relationships and communication with staff is exceptional. Parents report being able to make contact with the team at any time for support, and they feel involved in the development and review of their children’s plans. Professionals appreciate the contribution made by the manager and staff to care planning. This helps everyone to gain a better understanding of each child and their individual needs.

p.10

Outstanding

The registered manager has oversight of the development of risk assessments for children and young people. This includes the assessed need to use door alarms. However, consent from professionals has not been sought for this. This has no adverse impact on children and young people, but would ensure that this method of surveillance is appropriate in all cases.

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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 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

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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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