Children's home run by Pebbles Care Limited in Leeds

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:

 The experienced and knowledgeable manager runs the home effectively, supported by a committed senior staff team.  Staff provide good-quality, nurturing care that results in young people making steady progress.  Young people settle quickly due to the time staff invest in them. Trusting relationships develop and young people become more open with staff.  Staff ensure that young people’s individual needs are met. These are clearly outlined in comprehensive care-planning documents.  Young people are safe due to the excellent risk management strategies implemented at the home. Staff fully understand young people’s individual vulnerabilities.  There is excellent partnership working and information sharing with safeguarding agencies.  Young people take part in an extensive variety of activities to promote their social skills and physical activity.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person 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 must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In order to meet the care planning standard, with particular reference to having a more robust pre-admission risk assessment, the registered person is required to ensure - (a) that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. 01/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (‘the independent person's report’) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether - children are effectively safeguarded; and the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44(4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the report should not contain cutting and pasting from previous reports and must reflect what is happening at the home. Staff, parents and professionals should also be consulted. 01/12/2016

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Recommendations

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

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Recommendations

 The registered person must demonstrate every effort to achieve continuity of staffing so that children’s attachments are not overly disrupted, including ensuring that the employment of any temporary staff will not prevent children from receiving the continuity of care that they need. ('Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards', page 51, paragraph 10.1)

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Information about this children's home

The home is owned and managed by a private company. It is registered to care for up to four children and young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 15/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/12/2015 Full Good 24/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 19/11/2014 Full Good

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Good

Young people’s steady progress is due to the good-quality, nurturing care provided by staff. Most of the young people have only been living at the home for a few months but they settle quickly due to the time staff invest in them. A professional said he was, ‘pleased with the progress made so far’, particularly as the young person’s life had been quite chaotic before he moved in. Staff genuinely care about young people and good, trusting relationships develop with one young person saying, ‘I like it here. I really like it here.’ A young person felt able to make a historical disclosure of abuse through feeling safe at the home. Staff provide high levels of emotional support to the young person. Some young people want to remain living at the home but detach themselves. Staff provide these young people with constant encouragement to engage them more in the activities offered at the home as opposed to them always being out with

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Good

friends. Staff describe the case of one young person as being, ‘like a rollercoaster’, but say that when she is at home, she engages well with staff. They use this opportunity to re-engage her and encourage independence skills in line with her age and wishes. Comprehensive care planning documents ensure that staff identify and meet young people’s individual needs. Staff are proactive in sourcing information quickly to ensure that they promote young people’s cultural identity and heritage. This is important for all the young people but particularly so for one young person who is from another country and placed in an emergency. Staff use this as an opportunity to educate young people about other cultures, which makes them more tolerant and understanding. Staff have good working relationships with the local schools and the virtual head so young people get the best provision and support for their educational needs. Three

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Good

of the four young people engage with their education plans and their attendance is generally good. One young person who is struggling at college experiences good multi-agency input to help them maintain focus. Staff provide additional educational opportunities such as visits to museums and other places of interest. Staff work with health agencies including their in-house clinician to obtain information and advice so that they fully meet young people’s physical and emotional needs. They promote a healthy diet, which results in substantial health benefits. One young person says he feels happier and not so anxious, which has resulted in fewer aggressive outbursts. Work on his independence can begin because he speaks of feeling ready to ‘start leaving the home alone’. Young people speak about the range of activities available to them. Staff have involved an independent visitor to increase outdoor pursuits for one young person

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Good

who struggles to go out. Physical activities such as swimming and ice skating provide exercise to keep young people fit. Young people enjoy the new experiences and the chance to socialise with peers. Their confidence grows and self-esteem improves. Staff promote and supervise contact arrangements with family members. Their presence throughout provides young people with emotional support. This extends to providing assistance to family members that encourages better relationships and positive experiences for young people. Family members become more confident, which leads to increased contact. A family member reports that staff have ‘been brilliant’. Young people are actively involved in decision-making within the home. They know how to make a complaint and are reassured that the manager takes these seriously. The manager fully investigates complaints so young people know they are listened to. Staff also promote the use of advocates for young people.

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Good

Staff have been unable to meet the needs of some children admitted to the home. This refers in particular to those placed in an emergency. Staff are not robust in gaining adequate information from the placing authority to ensure that the pre- admission risk assessment is detailed enough to capture the full range of needs and behaviours of these young people. This has resulted in a high number of young people having to leave the home in an unplanned way.

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Good

The long-standing core staff team provide young people with good levels of stability. However, due to a recently high staff turnover, the management team has resorted to using external staff to work at the home. This has not had a huge impact on the young people placed.

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Good

Young people live in a safe home and local environment. For some young people, a high staff ratio offers further protection. Risk management is excellent and staff fully understand young people’s individual vulnerabilities. Young people confirm that they feel safe in the home and have particular staff who they feel able to speak to about any issues. One parent spoke of her daughter, who is ‘definitely kept safe by staff’. Excellent partnership working with safeguarding agencies ensures that staff are aware of any risks in the local community. This intelligence and information sharing offer young people protection due to the increased vigilance of staff. The police community support officer visits the home to make herself known to the young people. This early intervention work and relationship building provides young people with assistance if needed in the community. Knowledge of the young people also prevents unnecessary criminalisation.

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Good

Staff complete key working sessions with the young people alongside other agencies to educate young people about their risk-taking behaviours. For one young person, a professional said her ‘oppositional behaviour was hindering her progress in so many areas of her life’. She is now settled at the home, attending education and has improved family relationships. Missing from home episodes have significantly reduced. Young people benefit from the consistency of independent visitors who complete return to home interviews. The levels of risk to young people from sexual exploitation have reduced. Staff currently provide high levels of supervision on a one-to-one basis until comprehensive risk assessments are completed. Good-quality training makes staff alert to any changes of behaviour in young people. Comprehensive behaviour management plans are in place. Young people contribute using ‘Help Us to Help You’ documents to feed in their views to the process. One

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Good

young person’s behaviour has improved significantly due to the consistent strategies adopted by the staff team. Good de-escalation skills and reflection of incidents by staff avoid the use of physical restraints. Damage to property has also reduced due to a young person feeling calmer and more relaxed at the home. Young people have begun to self-regulate their behaviours, which has resulted in one young person becoming more patient and tolerant.

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Good

The registered manager has managed the home for over eight years and has considerable experience within residential care settings. She filters this knowledge to the staff team to develop their skills further. Staff report they find the manager approachable. The manager has the qualifications and skills to undertake her role and provides strong, effective management with support from an experienced and committed senior staff team. Good systems are in place to monitor and review documents ensuring support to young people remains up to date and of the highest quality. The manager recognises that the staff team as a whole could improve on evidencing the young people’s positive outcomes. She is also encouraging staff to become more familiar with the quality standards through tasks set at team meetings to embed this knowledge within their work.

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Good

The manager has an extensive knowledge of external agencies and organisations, which helps her to make and establish links. She uses this invaluable information to obtain timely support and interventions for young people. Good inter-agency working takes place especially to safeguard young people. Parents and professionals report that communication from the home is excellent.

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Good

The manager has a visual presence in the home. This helps her gain an extensive knowledge and understanding of young people’s needs. There is a strong established core team of workers. They report, ‘We are a good strong team and work well together’ and, ‘We have a reputation for being a close home’.

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Good

There are staff vacancies and the management team is experiencing difficulties recruiting appropriate care staff. The manager is proactively overcoming this, recently attending a local job fayre to try to recruit staff. Staff from the sister homes are currently filling gaps in rotas. This ensures that any new staff are thoroughly vetted and trained by the organisation and have an existing knowledge of the home’s policies and procedures. More importantly, young people get to know them, which offers some continuity to them.

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Good

A comprehensive and evaluative regulation 45 report reflects the quality of the care provided to young people. The manager obtains feedback from young people, staff, parents and others. An independent monitoring visit takes place monthly that contains cutting and pasting from previous reports and does not always accurately reflect what is happening at the home. It also lacks in feedback from staff, parents and other stakeholders. This does not provide a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home.

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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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