Children's home run by Warrington Borough 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 continued progress in all areas of their development. They benefit from staff’s consistent support and nurturing care.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff have high aspirations for young people and demonstrate a genuine interest in all that they do. Good routines, staff’s diligent support and continuity in care are helping young people to attend and succeed in their education. All young people have excellent school/college attendance.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Effective partnership working with specialist health services is promoting young people’s physical and emotional health.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people benefit from meaningful consultation. The home is committed to young people’s participation, and staff ensure that young people are involved in the making of decisions about their care and future.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people are wholly supported to keep in touch with their parents, relatives and friends. Staff are committed to promoting family contact and, whenever possible, they enable parents to visit the home. This helps young people to develop and sustain positive relationships with people who are important to them.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 A dedicated and competent team protects young people’s welfare and safety.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 A proactive, caring and dedicated registered manager fully supports young people and staff. She leads by example and ensures that the team is stable, supported and suitably trained.

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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, the 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

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must –

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Requirement Due date

(d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

(e) ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensuring that the redeployment of staff does not affect young people’s attachments with their carers, and having sufficient out-of-hours management arrangements in place. 30/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

Ensure to notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16(3)(b)) 30/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

Ensure to maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. With particular reference to the staff duty roster of persons working at the home, and a record of the actual rosters worked. (Regulation 37(2)(a) Schedule 4 (3)) 30/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children. In particular, the procedure must provide that no person who is the subject of a complaint takes any part in its consideration or investigation, except at the informal resolution stage if the registered person considers it appropriate. (Regulation 39(2)) 30/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a 30/01/2017 child which the registered person considers to be serious; or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(a)(b)(e))

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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

 Ensure that the report on the review of the quality of care (regulation 45) clearly identifies any actions required for the next six months and how those actions will be addressed. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home's arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home's care. This should include, when appropriate, seeking the views of young people, their parents/relatives and other significant people involved in their lives and care. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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Information about this children's home

This local authority home provides care and accommodation for two young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 10/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/09/2015 Full Outstanding 25/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 26/11/2014 Full Outstanding

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Good

Young people continue to make measurable progress from their starting points. They benefit from nurturing care and support provided by an extremely caring and dedicated team.

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Good

All young people living in the home attend full-time education. Good routines and staff’s encouragement enable young people to attend their education and make progress with their learning and development. When barriers to learning arise, such as school exclusions, staff work diligently with the virtual school to secure a suitable alternative education placement. For example, during exclusion periods, young people are provided with daily home tuition to minimise any impact on their learning. A headteacher of a school was highly complimentary about staff’s efforts and said, ‘We work closely with this home. Staff are very supportive of (young person) and (their) school attendance is excellent. The home advocates for (young person) and takes on the role of the parent when any issues arise.’

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Good

Suitably trained and experienced staff understand and effectively address young people’s health needs. Comprehensive health plans that include young people’s views ensure that all staff have an in-depth understanding of young people’s health needs. Effective joint working with the young people, the adolescent mental health service and a school counsellor is promoting young people’s emotional health and well-being. Staff encourage and support young people to eat healthily, exercise and attend their routine health checks and assessments. Furthermore, young people are learning to take greater responsibility for their own medical needs, as staff enable them to take their specific medication safely. Medication is safely stored, and regular medication audits ensure that any mistakes or potential errors are quickly identified and addressed. Because of staff’s effective support and practice, young people are physically fit and their emotional health is improving.

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Good

Staff fully appreciate the importance of young people keeping in touch with their family and friends and play an active role in facilitating family contact. Young people have increased their contact with their parents and relatives since moving into the home, which is down to staff’s diligent support and advocacy. This was reflected in a parent’s comments: ‘Contact is going well. The home is accommodating, and we have visited for meals. We are looking forward to possibly spending Christmas at the home with our son.’

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Good

Young people have a strong voice in the home. On a day-to-day basis, young people are routinely involved in planning their meals and activities. They also involved in decisions about decorating their bedrooms. Furthermore, they are fully supported to take part in the reviewing of their care plans, and their wishes and feelings are clearly advocated by the team. This meaningful engagement with young people is helping them to feel valued, listened to and respected.

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Good

Staff are dedicated to their role of preparing young people for independent living, which ensures that young people’s transition to adulthood and independence is successful. As well as supporting practical tasks such as shopping, cleaning and cooking, staff undertake direct work with young people to emotionally prepare them for moving on.

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Good

Young people benefit from taking part in a wide range of activities, such as skateboarding, holidays in the Lake District with staff, as well as spending enjoyable time with their friends. Effective engagement with staff and the local community is enhancing young people’s confidence, self-esteem and emotional resilience.

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Good

Staff have undoubtedly created a stable, welcoming, homely environment where young people feel safe and well cared for.

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Good

Comprehensive risk assessments and a well-trained, competent team safeguard young people effectively. All staff have undertaken basic safeguarding training as well as attending additional courses including child sexual exploitation and radicalisation. As a result, staff are extremely vigilant about potential risks and consistently follow clear strategies to promote young people’s safety.

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Good

Incidents of young people going missing from care are not a concern in this home. The home has a clear missing-from-home protocol in place, which all staff fully understand and act on should a young person go missing.

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Good

Staff are alert to the risks presented to young people through the internet and mobile technology. The home tackles the potential risks of young people’s internet use realistically. For example, staff balance risk with the benefits of the internet by making young people risk aware and teaching them how to use technology safely.

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Good

When safeguarding incidents occur, staff take effective action to minimise harm. They swiftly alert the relevant safeguarding professionals to ensure a prompt investigation into the concern, and measures are put in place to minimise harm. However, the home has not notified Ofsted of all serious safeguarding concerns, such as potential child sexual exploitation and all child protection matters. This has prevented the service regulator from evaluating all safeguarding concerns and staff’s practice.

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Good

Partnership working is a strength of this home. Strong links have been established with many safeguarding agencies, for example, the local community police officer, specialist sexual exploitation services and social workers. This proactive approach to partnership working is helping young people to develop positive and trusting relationships with professionals responsible for promoting their welfare and safety.

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Good

Young people benefit from having clear and consistent boundaries in place. Staff constantly commend young people’s good behaviour, which is encouraged through effective incentives and praise. This, coupled with regular key-work sessions, is helping young people to manage difficult emotions and improve their behaviour. Consequently, physical intervention measures, such as restraint, have not been necessary for quite some time in the home.

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Good

Staff have nurtured trusting relationships with young people, and this is ensuring that young people have access to a trusted adult whom they can talk to about their concerns. Young people openly talk to staff about potential risks, and this provides staff with the opportunity to provide effective guidance and support. As a result, young people are developing a greater awareness of their vulnerability and learning strategies to protect themselves.

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Good

Young people know how to make a complaint and are not afraid to raise their concerns with staff, which enhances their safety. Most complaints are dealt with appropriately, and independent advocates are commissioned when necessary. However, on one occasion, an impartial person did not look into a young person’s complaint, which potentially compromised an objective and fair outcome.

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Good

A suitably qualified and experienced registered manager manages the home effectively. She knows the young people extremely well and has their welfare at the centre of her practice. An experienced assistant manager wholly supports her with the day-to-day running of the service.

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Good

Although the service employs a sufficient number of staff to provide effective care and protection to young people, appropriate arrangements for out-of-hours management cover are not in place. As a result, management direction and decision-making are not always available to staff. So far, this has not affected young people’s care or safety because the managers have volunteered to step in when needed. However, these arrangements can improve to ensure that they are reliable and not dependent on the managers’ and staff’s ‘goodwill’.

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Good

Since the last inspection, there has been an organisational restructure that involved the redeployment of staff between the local authority’s children’s homes. These changes have clearly compromised young people’s positive experiences, specifically their attachments with particular key staff. Although the home took steps to minimise this impact, some young people struggled to adjust to staff changes, resulting in them feeling less settled in the home. The manager and staff noted that, as time progresses, new staff are successfully developing strong and stable relationships with all young people. This was confirmed in a young person’s comments: ‘Staff changes did unsettle me at the beginning and my head was all over the place. I am more used to the new staff now and I really like my key worker.’

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Good

Staff benefit from monthly team meetings where guest speakers, such as specialist health workers, attend and deliver additional training and support to staff. This ensures that staff have up-to-date knowledge on current research and practice. In addition to this, staff value regular professional supervision where they are encouraged to reflect on their practice and raise any concerns. All of the staff consulted with spoke positively about working at the home and the support that they receive. This is reflected in staff’s comments: ‘We are a very nurturing home and we provide care in a personalised way’; ‘The young people are a credit to themselves; it is an absolute pleasure coming to work and being part of their lives’; ‘Julia (registered manager) supervises me and we have a great relationship; she is always there to support me.’ Consequently, all staff feel supported and valued, and this is reflected in the quality of care provided to young people and their ongoing

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Good

Consistent partnership working with young people, social workers, schools/colleges, health professionals and parents is ensuring that young people’s needs are effectively addressed. A college tutor said, ‘Communication is good between the college and the home. Staff do everything that is asked of them and (young person) is doing really well. In terms of working relationships, I think this is one of the best homes that we work with.’

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Good

The home’s statement of purpose is up to date, comprehensive and clearly defines the home’s aims and objectives. This information is appropriately replicated in the young people’s guide, which is provided to all young people when they move into the home. Consequently, young people, parents and social workers have clear expectations of the service from the very start. However, a copy of the revised statement of purpose has not been provided to Ofsted as required, and this has prevented the service regulator from evaluating the recent changes in the service.

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Good

Improvements can be made in the service monitoring. The independent monitoring visits do not consistently provide a rigorous assessment of the care and protection provided in the home, nor do they provide regular consultation with other professionals or parents. Furthermore, although the manager’s quality of care review is effective and demonstrates that she has a good understanding of the service’s strengths and weaknesses, these reports do not include her plans and intended actions for the continued development of the home.

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Good

A requirement raised at the last inspection with regards to staff rotas has been repeated. The home’s records do not provide an accurate account of the actual rota worked, for example, the times that staff were on shift. This undermines safeguarding practice as it potentially hinders any child protection investigations that may arise in the future.

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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 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, 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 ensure that their welfare is 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 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 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 whom 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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