Children's Home run by Reflexion Care Group Limited in Staffordshire

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:

 Children and young people value their relationships with staff. They like living at the home and say, ‘The staff are nice because they are caring and lovely and do lots of things with me.’  Staff members are competent and consistent. They have competently carried on the running of the home in the absence of the registered manager. This stability is a good indicator of effective leadership and embedded staff practice.  Children and young people no longer go missing. Clear protocols and joint working with police identify key areas of vulnerability and keep children and young people safe. There are no concerns about child sexual exploitation at this home.  Partnership working with the police makes a significant impact on managing children and young people’s risk-taking behaviours both inside and outside the home. Everyone, including neighbours, work together to promote safety and prevent the criminalisation of children and young people.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Children and young people’s mental and emotional health is given the highest priority and improves as they engage in therapy and focused key- working sessions.  Management is strong and there is excellent inclusion of staff. Everyone in the home is motivated by the drive for improvement and ensures that their work has a direct effect on outcomes for children and young people.

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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

In order to meet the education standard the registered person must ensure that staff –

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(iii) understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers 31/01/2016

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home is registered for two children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural and learning difficulties. Education and therapeutic services are part of this home’s statement of purpose.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 04/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/07/2015 Full Good 18/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 27/05/2014 Full Good

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Good

Children and young people make good progress across all aspects of their lives and from their starting points.

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Good

Staff work extremely hard to ensure that all children and young people receive education. Current arrangements include a large amount of outward bound activities. Plans to transition children and young people gradually into more academic activities are in early development. However, children show an improving interest in reading and writing and have aspirations to get a good job.

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Good

Children and young people have positive moving-on experiences and settle well in their new placements, due to the support of the manager and staff. Transition is successful because staff work closely with social workers and foster carers. Staff have good insight into the needs and wishes of children and young people and place these at the forefront of their practice when planning moves away from the home.

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Good

Improving the mental and emotional health of children and young people is a key area for the staff. Positive relationships with therapists, education staff and child mental health agencies provide good insight into the challenges faced by children and young people. For example, current joint working is crucial in looking at behaviour, medication and goals for some children to re-engage with and most importantly enjoy education.

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Good

Children and young people grow in self-esteem and resilience as they develop a greater understanding of their backgrounds, behaviours and anxieties. They enjoy one-to-one play and chatting sessions to help them to explore their emotions and experiences. For example, some children no longer purposely damage their possessions, because they use the advice from therapy to better manage their behaviour.

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Good

Close partnership working with the therapist provides staff with greater insight into children and young people’s anxieties. They develop meaningful and informed practice to support children and young people who have experienced significant trauma in their lives.

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Good

Children and young people grow in confidence as their behaviour improves. Clear boundaries and plenty of time to talk enable them to be more reflective about their behaviour. They are calmer and are more able to take time out to help manage their anger. Self-reflection means that children and young people are able to understand the effect of some of their behaviour. They develop kinder qualities and will now apologise for some of their actions.

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Good

Taking pride in the house and feeling involved in the running of the home gives children and young people a positive sense of responsibility. Doing chores around the house helps them take responsibility for their own physical environment. They also develop maturity and a sense of responsibility as they look after pets at the home. Children and young people enjoy earning pocket money and are motivated by incentives and rewards. They love to go shopping as they have saved for their favourite items.

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Good

Children and young people also grow in confidence as they take more responsibility for their personal hygiene and they are extremely proud of their new haircuts, clothes and trendy glasses.

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Good

Children and young people enjoy a multitude of activities, including outward bound hobbies. Their health improves as they enjoy physical exercise and fresh air. They also grow in confidence as they try a range of new activities, such as canoeing and walking. Health outcomes improve for children and young people with regular health checks and healthy eating.

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Good

Children and young people develop a firm sense of belonging and nurture. They use their memory books as excellent tools to look at and appreciate their experiences and achievements. They beam from ear to ear with happiness when looking at photos of their experiences at the home. They also say that they sometimes talk at a hundred miles an hour because they are so excited that they are so happy at the home.

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Good

Safeguarding and quality of care is good because care planning is bespoke and child centred. Recording is robust and accountable. Children and young people are much safer because risk management records are effectively updated after partnership meetings and staff immediately implement changes.

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Good

Partnership working is a key strength in the safeguarding of children and young people at this home. Their concerns and complaints are taken very seriously. The manager works closely with the local safeguarding officer to ensure that all concerns are investigated and staff receive appropriate support. Risk and behaviour management is robust and covers a range of risky behaviours such as going missing and self-injurious behaviours. Missing from care protocols are followed to the letter. Staff are quick to liaise with social workers and police to review when events have not gone so well. For example, contact arrangements are now changed in order to keep children safe and reduce the chances of them going missing.

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Good

Firm and practical boundaries are key to setting the foundations to improved behaviour, particularly for younger children at the home. For example, good bath and bedtime routines means children are calm at bedtime. Their lengthy sleep patterns positively affect behaviours and they wake and look forward to the day ahead.

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Good

Staff are able to manage risk-taking behaviours because triggers are clearly identified in children and young people’s behaviour management plans. Understanding children and young people’s anxieties, such as over pending contact and attending education, lead to timely interventions and improvements in their behaviours.

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Good

Staff understand and are quick to respond to the anxieties of children and young people. This understanding leads to effective and early interventions and children and young people experience greater periods of calm behaviour. They enjoy positivity and feel good about themselves because staff reward and positively reinforce children and young people’s efforts.

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Good

Recording in the home is very detailed and shows that physical intervention is only used as a last resort and to keep children and young people safe from significant risk and harm. Staff understand the seriousness of having to restrain children and young people physically. Talking with children and young people to explore other ways to express their behaviour is summed up in a child’s comments: ‘My behaver has got better … I’ve not been restrained no more and if I am good I get a reward.’

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Good

Children and young people live in a safe environment with regular health, safety, transport and fire checks.

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Good

The registered manager has managed this home since February 2016. He has good experience and is suitably qualified with a level 5 diploma in management. With the exception of two members of staff, all staff are qualified at level 3 diploma in caring for children in a residential setting.

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Good

Good quality induction, ongoing training and staff supervision support staff as they work towards their diploma qualification.

p.9

Good

Staffing arrangements meet the needs of the children and young people and they experience a good sense of permanency and security. For example, staff work extra shifts and familiar staff from a nearby home cover while there is a staff vacancy at the home.

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Good

Staff show high levels of resilience, having managed some very challenging children and young people. The manager and staff maintain enthusiasm for their work in the face of some extreme behaviours to provide good quality care and safe outcomes for children and young people. Staff maintained consistency and dedication throughout a period of absence by the registered manager.

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Good

Partnership working is a key leadership strength, not least in the safeguarding of children and young people. The manager and staff embrace working together. They are also willing to challenge placing authorities when placement planning does not go well. This assertive and child-focused stance has ensured safe transition plans for children and young people moving on from the home.

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Good

The manager and staff are also proactive in ensuring that children and young people directly benefit from positive partnership working. For example, local police officers take a positive interest in children’s and young people’s hobbies. These positive interactions reverse children and young people’s negative perspectives of the police and promote more positive behaviour.

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Good

The manager and staff competently meet the statement of purpose of the home. Compatibility assessments for children and young people are very effective and are fully addressed when positive matching of children and young people does not go as expected. The manager and staff ensure that children and young people’s activities are suitably managed while alternative moving-on arrangements are addressed

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Good

Managers have clear insight into the strengths and needs of the service. Monitoring activities by managers and monthly scheduled visits to the home by an independent visitor are made and show the home to be well run and settled after a period of disruption.

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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

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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