Children's home run by North East Lincolnshire Council

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 make good progress, enjoy new and positive experiences and become more resilient.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff make the home friendly, warm and welcoming. Young people learn to trust them, develop positive attachments and overcome past difficulties in their lives.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The manager has developed a strong and effective staff team. Young people’s experiences and progress are the main priority.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people feel safe. There are robust safeguarding arrangements and good partnership working so that risks to young people reduce and their welfare improves.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 This is a home where young people can enjoy themselves, and they do well at school.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people have a good say in their day-to-day care and decisions about their future.

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Information about this children's home

The local authority owns this home and it is registered to care for and accommodate up to four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 10/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 03/11/2015 Full Good 12/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 20/08/2014 Full Outstanding

p.4

Good

Young people enjoy new experiences and make good progress. The sensitive, emotionally warm and supportive staff empower young people to build strong, trusting relationships with them and to thrive from developing these positive attachments.

p.5

Good

New experiences include holidays abroad, and for some young people even day trips to places like Alton Towers and Meadowhall shopping centre are exciting when they have never been out of their home town. Learning new social and self- care skills, such as use of cutlery, open up much richer opportunities than young people had previously known about. This enrichment, combined with the caring nature of staff, enables young people to overcome emotional and practical difficulties linked to previous adversity in their lives. Consequently, their emotional well-being, confidence and self-esteem improve.

p.5

Good

Staff learn and understand about the importance of attachment and what young people need in order to develop and fulfil their potential. Staff put this knowledge to good use along with an evidence-based social work model of care planning to promote young people’s diverse needs. Young people are included in writing plans, and their views about decisions affecting them are taken into account. They have a good say in the running of the home; one young person recently moved bedrooms at her request and now sleeps better.

p.5

Good

All the young people go to school. Staff work hard to support young people to maintain high levels of attendance. Staff helped a young person return to school and sit exams and supported another with home tuition. Young people achieve well and staff are in the process of sensitively encouraging two of them to transfer to different schools that would better suit their educational needs. One young person asked to stop boarding at his school and now travels each day instead. This has reduced his missing-from-home behaviour. Staff work closely with schools and other professionals, such as the local authority’s virtual head, and have been instrumental in young people receiving educational assessments to ensure that they are receiving the best provision.

p.5

Good

After school, at the weekends and in school holiday periods, daily routines are flexible. Young people benefit from adults who are caring, reliable, and promote their individual interests. Consequently, young people enjoy a range of leisure pursuits that include gymnastics, cadets, swimming, roller disco and after-school clubs. Some of the young people enjoy doing these things together. The two girls in the home are building a good relationship and help each other with fashion choices and makeovers. Family and friends are welcome and young people like having their friends visit their home to sleep over. There are good arrangements for promoting family contact, and staff are working with the placing authority to assess a young person’s request to go and live with a relative.

p.5

Good

Young people benefit from these positive experiences and feel they are still part of their families’ lives and the local community. Sharing common and everyday experiences with their peers, which may have been lacking in the past, is a boost to their confidence and self-esteem, and helps develop their social skills.

p.6

Good

Staff encourage young people to follow healthy lifestyles, eat well, take regular exercise and attend routine and specialist health appointments. Young people who need the input of child and adolescent mental health services are referred for additional support. Young people’s alcohol and substance misuse is infrequent, and staff have supported a young person to give up all together.

p.6

Good

Young people are listened to about their wishes for independent living. Since the last inspection, two young people have moved out in accordance with their views, one into supported housing and the other living more independently with support from her family. The manager ensures that transition plans are considered thoroughly with the local authority and these plans are tailored to meet the individual needs of young people. Of those moving out, one now lives successfully supporting her new-born baby, which was considered unlikely by professionals in light of previous risks she was subject to. This is testament to the positive work staff undertake. There are good levels of support from the home and other social care agencies that are of benefit to young people after they have moved out.

p.6

Good

Young people feel safe in the home, their friends and family visit them, and nobody comes to the home who makes them feel unsafe. Staff undertake training on a range of different safeguarding issues and use this knowledge to successfully reduce risks to young people from exploitation, radicalisation and the dangers of social media.

p.6

Good

Staff have a good understanding of young people’s backgrounds and the impact this has on their susceptibility to risk-taking behaviour. Staff utilise this understanding and the positive relationships they build with young people to reduce the levels of risk. In one case a young person stopped going missing, gave up her substance misuse and has successfully moved out to start her own family and return to college. Staff have a positive impact on reducing the risks to young people.

p.6

Good

The majority of young people do not go missing. They have free time to go out on their own and usually return. Staff are aware of where young people go and respond responsibly when one of them is late or missing. Staff persistently search for them and will keep trying to contact them, their friends and relatives until they are safely home. The manager reviews any incidents, which are infrequent, and works closely with the police and placing authority to safeguard young people.

p.7

Good

The manager and staff implement robust risk-management strategies that empower young people to take age-appropriate risks as part of their normal growth and development. Young people go out on their own, they make friends, have access to the internet, and can travel around the local community. These opportunities allow young people an appropriate degree of independence. Consequently they develop their social identity, social skills and sense of personal responsibility. Young people learn about e-safety and are aware of the consequences of using social media inappropriately. Staff ensure that ongoing risk management includes regular reviews of care plans and risk assessments, combined with regular conversations with young people, giving them advice about social norms and personal safety.

p.7

Good

Young people like the homely, friendly and nurturing environment that staff provide. They engage and at times instigate conversation with staff about appropriate relationships, suitable behaviour, respect for others and decision- making about their care and their futures. Damage to the home is significantly less than it used to be and young people are given plenty of sensible reasons and encouragement to do well. Staff respond well to any occurrences when young people have fallen out and mistreated each other. Staff use de-escalation strategies appropriately and help maintain a calm, fun, friendly atmosphere. Their positive approach means that physical intervention with young people as a response to difficult behaviour is infrequent. The manager thoroughly monitors any measure of control, such as restraints or sanctions. This helps ensure that young people are treated with dignity, and maintains a positive culture and ethos about behaviour

p.7

Good

The registered manager has been in post for just over a year. She is suitably qualified and effective in using her knowledge, skills and experience from working in residential child care. About the same time as she became the manager, there were significant changes to the staff team. Since then the manager has created and developed a strong team who are dedicated, passionate and resourceful in their support of young people.

p.7

Good

The manager knows the young people, staff and the service well. She leads by example and her high standards are shared by the staff who all work closely together. Staff value her support and benefit from her leadership skills and abilities. Consequently, this is contributing to the aims of the home to ‘give young people care of the highest quality.’

p.8

Good

Effective team work is sustained with suitable training opportunities, staff achieving the required qualifications, formal and informal supervision, good communication and supportive working relationships. The staff continue to develop as a cohesive, experienced team with a wide range of abilities. As a result, young people’s experiences are enriched by the diversity of staff skills and the empowering and nurturing practice that is also rooted in recognised child development theory and an evidence-based model of social work.

p.8

Good

The manager and staff confirm young people’s individual progress and are attentive to their achievements as well as their vulnerabilities and risks of harm. Staff regularly praise young people for their efforts and facilitate open and sensible discussion about their welfare. The staff work purposefully with other professionals and services, such as social workers, the police, schools and health services. These strong partnership arrangements help to achieve the best possible outcome for young people. The manager is re-introducing regular consultation with a mental- health professional to enhance the care and support that young people receive with their emotional and behavioural well-being.

p.8

Good

The local authority has improved the arrangements for monitoring the welfare and protection of young people by introducing two independent visitors. The focus on young people’s experiences and progress has improved and there is a stronger continuity as the visitors now alternate on a six-monthly rather than a quarterly basis. This reinforces the manager’s monitoring and evaluation of the service. The manager is continuing to improve her own assessment system. These procedures promote the process of continuous improvement and keep young people’s well- being at the heart of the service.

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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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