Children's home run by Nottinghamshire County Council

Outstanding

The children's home provides highly effective services that consistently exceeds 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:

 Young people benefit from stable and secure placements. They are supported to develop positive and trusting relationships with staff. Young people feel respected and valued.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people receive individualised, high quality care and make excellent progress from their starting points.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Staff caring for young people are highly skilled, experienced and committed. They provide young people with high levels of support, praise and encouragement alongside structure, routine and consistent boundaries.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people invariably come to the home with a high level of risk taking and harmful behaviour. Within a short period of time, risk taking is reduced and young people increasingly make safer choices.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people speak positively about the home and they feel safe.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Staff work effectively with partner agencies to safeguard young people. Staff develop and consistently implement comprehensive risk management and behaviour support plans.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Staff provide young people with opportunities to maintain relationships with significant friends, family and peers, assessing and managing any associated risk.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Staff have excellent relationships with partner agencies, such as placing social workers, health, education and police.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Managers in this home are confident and innovative. They inspire staff to develop practice and knowledge, and offer high levels of support.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The home environment is very comfortable and meets the young people’s needs. The manager is creative and aspirational and continually seeks to make improvements to the home and the care provided.

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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

 Where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. This is with reference to all young people in the home having the right to education and staff continuing to work with partners to secure appropriate education provision for all. ('Guide to the children's home regulations including quality standards', page 28, paragraph 5.15)

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Recommendations

 The registered person shall ensure that staff are familiar with the home's policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non- stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. This is in particular reference to recording more detail following a physical intervention, particularly if a child sustains any injury. ('Guide to the children's home regulations including quality standards', page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home's location and strategies for managing these. This is with reference to the need to give more consideration to safeguarding in the community, and greater consultation. ('Guide to the children's home regulations including quality standards', page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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Information about this children's home

The home, which is a local authority provision, provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties and/or a learning disability.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 24/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/06/2015 Full Outstanding 25/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/12/2014 Full Good

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Outstanding

Young people benefit from stable and secure placements. Staff support young people to build positive, trusting relationships. From this secure base, young people make very good progress, particularly considering their starting points.

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Outstanding

Young people living in the home have a range of complex needs and vulnerabilities. From the point of admission, young people are made to feel welcome and are given plenty of age-appropriate information to help them to settle in. Staff provide nurturing care to young people, and provide them with high levels of praise and encouragement alongside structure, routine and clear and consistent boundaries. Observations of staff demonstrate excellent relationships with young people.

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Outstanding

The home itself is a welcoming and homely environment. Young people have personalised, well-appointed bedrooms. Young people are settled and feel safe. One young person who recently moved to the home scored it as “10 out of 10”. He added that the home is “fantastic” and he is happy because he gets to see his family. Another young person preparing to leave care felt that the home had met her needs and she referred to it as “outstanding” due to the care she had received from her key workers.

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Outstanding

Staff are appropriately experienced and skilled, and have an exceptionally good understanding of young people’s individual needs, risks and vulnerabilities.

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Outstanding

Most young people are engaged in education tailored to their individual needs. Young people are making active choices to learn and become ambitious for themselves. Staff intervene when education is not going well and work in partnership with others to bring about positive outcomes. Some young people have entrenched views about education and actively resist the support and opportunities offered. Staff continue to work with partners to encourage engagement in education, and remain tenacious in trying to find the right resource. A tremendous amount of work has taken place to ensure that all young people living at the home are engaged in study, but a further recommendation has been made as not all young people are achieving their potential in this area. Any young person not in education needs to be provided with structured activities to support their successful return to full time study. Young people’s health needs are met, with staff accessing specialist support for

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Outstanding

young people when needed. Young people have benefited from specialist therapeutic support, including direct work. Partnership working with the looked after Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service has been excellent, with clinicians providing consultation and contributing to care planning. Young people also have access to support from a specialist substance misuse worker.

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Outstanding

Partner agencies say that communication from staff is very good and that staff send up to date information and reports in a timely manner.

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Outstanding

Contact between young people and their families is also an area of strength, with the staff playing a key role in contact plans, and in some cases reunification plans. Partnership working with parents is excellent. Staff develop trusting and collaborative relationships with parents, and recognise the significance of these relationships for young people. Staff also recognise that young people may put themselves at risk in attempts to be with family members or with friends, so work to manage these relationships and encourage more open contact where appropriate.

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Outstanding

Young people have a real voice in the home. Young people’s meetings are very well attended and a member of staff takes responsibility for taking actions forward and keeping communication open. Young people feel listened to.

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Outstanding

Staff have devised a checklist for independence skills. Young people are engaged in specific preparation to support their transition to semi-independence. Staff and young people are able to assess areas of strength and need through this work, and celebrate success. Informal opportunities to increase independence skills are also used, such as food preparation in the home and taking public transport.

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Outstanding

Young people say that they feel safe. Young people invariably come to the home deemed to be at high risk of harm or having suffered significant harm. Within a short period of time, the risk posed to young people is reduced. One young person said, “I have always felt safe, particularly due to having excellent key workers who have always supported me. I have always felt that I could go to these workers for support”. A social worker for another young person echoed this view saying, “She always gravitates back to the home as it’s her safe place. It feels like this is home and she is invested in her relationships with staff”.

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Outstanding

The home provides a secure base where young people feel able to speak to staff and express their feelings. Staff are skilled and have an exceptionally good understanding of young people’s individual needs. Trusting relationships between staff and young people form the basis of the behaviour management strategy. Young people’s risks, vulnerabilities and triggers are assessed and, from this, comprehensive behaviour management plans are devised. There is a strong emphasis on not criminalising young people, where possible, and enabling young people to address their difficulties and reach their full potential.

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Outstanding

Staff have very good insight into the emotions that manifest in self-injurious or risk-taking behaviour. They work closely with the looked after Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service to devise safe-care plans. Staff benefit from regular consultation and use clinical support very effectively to promote safe care. An independent reviewing officer commented that, “the staff manage very difficult, complex young people really well.”

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Outstanding

The use of physical intervention to manage behaviour or risk is rare. This reflects both the skill of staff in de-escalating situations and their consistent approach. Staff have seen a reduction in the need to use physical intervention to manage behaviour as they have got to know young people better. They understand that underneath the behaviour exhibited are strong emotions, such as anxiety. As they have developed this understanding, staff have been able to work towards managing the underlying emotions instead of the consequences.

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Outstanding

When physical intervention is used, the recording and debriefing are of a high standard. Young people are involved in debriefing to support them emotionally and to try to learn from the incident. Key-work sessions explore issues such as bullying and keeping safe, and support young people to make safer choices. An area for improvement is to record any alleged injuries from the intervention very clearly, referring to the local authority’s designated officer if necessary.

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Outstanding

Missing from care incidents are managed appropriately, with staff following multi- agency guidance and procedures. Staff recognise that young people need to have free time in the community, or with friends and family, but take into account each young person’s vulnerabilities and the risks posed to them. Staff work effectively with partner agencies and with families to minimise risk. In discussing a young person who had been missing from the home frequently, an independent reviewing officer said, “she always gravitates back and knows that she is genuinely and unconditionally cared for”. Staff work with young people to understand the push/pull factors related to going missing and devise plans with them to reduce risk. Return interviews are taking place and provide the young person with the opportunity to speak to someone independent of the home following an incident of being missing from care.

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Outstanding

Staff manage young people’s use of the internet in the home. There are appropriate safeguards in place to manage the use of social media and staff can see which devices have accessed the internet. Some young people have mobile devices. Their use is risk assessed and agreed with their social workers, and families where appropriate.

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Outstanding

Recruitment processes are safe. The manager ensures that all pre-employment checks are undertaken before staff commence working at the home. New staff are subject to a robust probationary period and receive a high level of supervision and support. Staff are clear about safeguarding procedures and receive appropriate training and support. Staff have a great deal of experience. They are a reflective, highly skilled team who work in partnership with other professionals to keep young people safe. One social worker said, “Staff manage risk well. I can’t praise the staff enough”.

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Outstanding

The manager reviews the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review identifies any risks within the home or the community and provides strategies for managing these. This review could be improved with more consideration to safeguarding in the community; considering the specific vulnerabilities of the young people in the home. A recommendation has been made to this effect.

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Outstanding

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced. He is highly skilled in his management role and provides strong leadership for staff. The manager is confident and innovative. He has a sound understanding of young people’s individual needs. Despite some young people having difficult starting points, he is ambitious for young people and prioritises their needs. Leadership and management is outstanding in response to the stability the home provides young people and the progress young people make.

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Outstanding

The progress and welfare of young people is monitored and staff quickly address issues where they arise. There are robust systems in place for tracking progress and ensuring that plans and recommendations are being implemented. Managers audit case files on a monthly basis and provide staff with feedback and actions. Staff welcome this oversight in directing their work. Managers ensure that placement plans and risk management plans remain effective and that changes are instigated in a timely manner. The manager sets high standards for the home and leads by example.

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Outstanding

Staff are confident in their safeguarding role and any risks are managed effectively. Staff are well trained, receiving training online as well as having access to a broad spectrum of training opportunities provided in-house and externally. There is some evidence of research informing practice, and this is particularly helpful for staff in relation to specialist areas such as attachment difficulties and self-harm. Induction processes are very good, providing a firm foundation for staff development while ensuring safe practice. Staff feel well supported by the manager and by colleagues. One member of staff spoke about managers, “going above and beyond to make people feel supported.” Another member of staff spoke about the support provided when caring in challenging situations. Managers recognised the impact upon staff and responded effectively.

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Outstanding

Good staff retention is evident and underpins secure relationships and dependable care for young people. Staff have regular supervision and appraisal, ensuring that they can reflect on practice and have the opportunity to discuss their own professional development.

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Outstanding

The manager ensures that staff work in partnership with others through positive professional relationships to ensure the best possible outcomes for young people. Partnership working with professionals and with families is very good.

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Outstanding

Quality assurance monitoring of the home, both external monitoring and internal monitoring, is effective. Learning is taken from this monitoring to make continuous improvements to the home and the care provided.

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Outstanding

The home’s statement of purpose clearly sets out how children and young people will be helped and supported. Young people are provided with their own young person’s guide. This guide has been devised with the help of a young person who lives in the home and is informative and reassuring for young people unfamiliar with residential care.

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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

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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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