Children's home run by Pear Tree Projects Limited in County Durham

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 are making good progress overall, supported by a small but knowledgeable and committed team.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Young people benefit from the education provision provided by the organisation. This enables the home to offer a holistic approach to placements. However, when it is more appropriate for young people to attend a mainstream school they are supported to do so.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Contact is promoted and supported when it is appropriate.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The home has strong boundaries that teach young people to respect themselves and others. Young people are well mannered and polite.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The home is large and well maintained. It recently had a new kitchen fitted and the fires in the lounges were replaced.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The review document for children looked after that is produced by the home contains a large amount of data. This data is helpful to other professionals and includes comments from young people and all staff.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The home works well with other professionals to ensure that young people receive necessary services.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. If there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, which is agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Recommendations

 Staff need the knowledge and skills to recognise and be alert to signs that might indicate a child is in any way at risk of harm. The registered person should ensure that skills in safeguarding are gained, refreshed and recorded in the home’s workforce plan. In particular, there should be training in relation to young people who display sexually harmful behaviours. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.12)

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Recommendations

 Supervision of staff practice should ensure that individual adults in the home are engaged in the safeguarding culture of the home so that they understand what they would need to do if they found other staff misusing or abusing their position to the detriment of the safety of a child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.14)

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and should 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. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and operated by a private company. It is registered with Ofsted to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 11/11/2015 Full Good 24/02/2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness 08/10/2014 Full Good 14/01/2014 Interim Good progress

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Good

Young people live in a large, well-equipped home that offers a range of resources for both individual and group activities. All of the bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms and are well personalised by the young people. This demonstrates that the young people feel that this is their home and helps them to develop a sense of belonging. A young person who has recently left returned for lunch during the inspection and said: ‘I can always call round if I need help or advice’.

p.6

Good

The manager and the staff team recognise the importance of preparation prior to the beginning of a placement. The young people visit and make connections with the staff members and other young people in the weeks leading up to the start of the placement. Young people are also well supported when they move on from the home. Staff assist with moves and keep in contact for as long as the young people want them to. This results in smooth transitions to and from the home, and impacts positively on the success of placements.

p.6

Good

The staff team are aware of the previous circumstances of all the young people and, when appropriate, they encourage and support contact with family and friends. One young person has developed strong relationships with friends outside of the home and regularly stays with them overnight. This allows resilient relationships to develop that will help the young person to succeed once he leaves the home. Contact is supported where relevant. A parent said: ‘I can’t fault them. They supported our son very well.’

p.6

Good

The home is part of a larger company which has its own school. All of the young people who have reached school age are enrolled and all achieve 100% attendance. The staff transport the young people to school and remain in the classroom on a daily basis. This enables consistent, seamless support to be offered between the home and the school. The young people are treated as individuals within this system and have the opportunity to participate in academic and/or vocational courses, depending upon their interests and abilities. Those young people who show academic aptitude often move back to mainstream schools and continue to achieve 100% attendance. This flexibility offers young people the maximum opportunity to achieve while at the home.

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Good

The young people are in good health. They eat a balanced diet and have the opportunity to prepare food for themselves and to share with others. If the young people have particular health needs, staff ensure that they access specialist support. The staff advocate on behalf of the young people to ensure that they receive the best treatment. They participate in a range of activities. For one young person these include horse riding and animal management, which are on offer at the organisation’s farm, where the school is based. They enter competitions, maintain their own equipment and celebrate their achievements regularly. This allows the young people the opportunity to improve their self-esteem and gain new skills.

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Good

The young people are supported to express their wishes and feelings on a regular basis. This is achieved in formal settings, such as the young people’s meetings, and through their key-work sessions. Young people confirmed that they share their views regularly and talk freely within the home.

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Good

Complaints that are raised by the young people or others are dealt with appropriately. A full record is kept of the investigation and outcome of the complaint and the complainant’s level of satisfaction is recorded. This allows the manager to improve practice by learning from the issues that are raised.

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Good

Comprehensive risk assessments identify the majority of the young people’s individual vulnerabilities. However, the assessment of risk is based on the admissions process and does not always take account of the opinions of other professionals or the viewpoints put forward in reports. The resulting risk levels indicate that the young people are offered a ‘fresh start’ at the home, but this does not always consider the possible risks to other young people.

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Good

Care plans are also detailed. They are updated regularly and they link to the review reports of children looked after. These review reports are written by staff at the home and also detail the outcomes to be achieved for the following six months. The strategies that direct practice are not included in the care plans, making it difficult for them to be working documents. In addition, they remain professional documents and do not give the young people a sense of the story of their progression. This will be of particular importance should they wish to read their records in the future, when they are adults.

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Good

The young people report that there are no current bullying issues in the home. The records show that previous episodes of bullying have been dealt with quickly and appropriately.

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Good

There are no episodes of young people missing from the home. Some young people have been late returning home on a few occasions but this has often been because of transport issues and has not led to significant absences. As a result of the young people’s improved behaviours and their good relationships with the staff, episodes of challenging behaviour are appropriately dealt with at an early stage. Although there have been no behaviours that required physical intervention, all of the staff are appropriately trained in de-escalating and restraint techniques if these are required. This ensures that the young people are protected within the home from themselves and others.

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Good

Sanctions are used effectively but minimally to address behaviours. When they are used they are followed up with a session with the young person’s key worker to discuss issues. This allows young people to develop an understanding of their behaviour and its impact on others.

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Good

The registered manager is appropriately qualified and has been in post for four years. His approach is very child-focused and he has regular contact with the young people. He is supported by an experienced and motivated team, which works on a single-cover rota. The young people do not report any impact from this and can undertake individual activities if needed.

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Good

The manager has a clear sense of both the strengths and weaknesses of the home and has produced a workforce development plan. All of the staff hold the requisite level 3 qualification. There is an up-to-date training matrix in place. This indicates that mandatory courses are updated within timescales. However, additional training – in particular to address some of the identified needs of the young people in the home – is not in place. This needs to be addressed to ensure that all staff have the necessary skills and knowledge to help the young people.

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Good

Recruitment practice is robust, thus ensuring that the young people are not cared for by people who may pose a risk to them. Formal individual supervision takes place monthly and is underpinned by group supervision, which focuses on the needs of the young people and occurs within the staff meeting process. However, individual supervision does not always contain the opportunity for staff to raise any safeguarding concerns they have. This may mean that such concerns are missed.

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Good

The children’s guide is a colourful document which can be personalised for each young person. It provides clear information about the home’s routines and ethos as well as other useful information, such as telephone numbers for a range of independent advocates and specialist services.

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Good

The manager ensures that the staff work well in partnership with others to meet the needs of young people. A social worker said: ‘They go above and beyond to support 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’.

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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 Childrens

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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, 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 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Text phone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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