Children's home run by Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council in Bolton

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:

 Highly skilled staff are able to develop positive relationships with hard to reach young people who are on the edge of care. As a result, young people feel able to attend this short break service and their outcomes improve.   The registered manager is inspirational and leads by example. Staff follow her passion and drive to achieve exceptional outcomes for young people and their families.   The registered manager and staff are innovative. They make good use of research to develop interventions which have measurable results for young people.   Young people enjoy the many opportunities that the service provides. This promotes their self-confidence and self-esteem.   Young people feel safe. They are able to talk to staff about what is difficult and to engage with the strategies that staff teach them to become increasingly safe.   Staff develop excellent relationships with families and professional

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

stakeholders. This means that young people benefit from well-coordinated and consistent care and support.   Stakeholders recognise the difference that the service makes to young people’s lives, one social worker said: ‘The service is a godsend! Staff are able to complete work with young people which has meant we have been able to safeguard the whole family.’ Staff’s work is recognised as being worthy of dissemination and other local authorities draw on the outstanding practice to develop their own services.   The registered manager recognises there are areas for further development. She has not notified Ofsted in a timely manner of significant incidents. She has plans in place to rectify this shortfall. Staff do not always update risk assessments promptly and some case recording is not clear. This has not impacted on the exceptional outcomes that young people achieve. 

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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 with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must notify HMCI without delay of any incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. ( Regulation 40(4)) 27/01/2017

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Staff should be familiar with the home's policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. 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)  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, 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 basis. In particular, that staff update risk assessments promptly with new information. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations

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Recommendations

including the quality standards', page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Information about this children's home

This is a local authority short break children’s home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 23/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/12/2015 Full Outstanding 23/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/01/2015 Full Outstanding

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Outstanding

Staff are highly skilled in building positive relationships with young people. They are innovative in their attempts to engage with those young people who are hard to reach and their determination frequently results in them attending this short break service. Staff work effectively as a team to provide a holistic service which consistently provides exceptional outcomes for young people. Young people are able to talk to staff about what is difficult and this enables them to become increasingly safe.

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Outstanding

Staff provide individualised care for young people which reflects their particular needs. Assessments are thorough at the point of referral and staff use their wide ranging experiences and skills to complete effective direct work sessions with young people. Staff ensure that each young person is at the centre of their visit to the short break service. Staff are sensitive to young people’s identity and family history. They nurture young people’s own sense of identity which improves their self-esteem. Young people are involved in interviewing new staff which develops their self-confidence. They choose which activities they would like to do, what food they would like to eat and contribute to the development of the services’ feedback sheets and young person’s guide.

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Outstanding

Young people benefit from new experiences which broaden their horizons and develop their minds to new opportunities. As one young person said: ‘The best thing was meeting new people and going out places.’ It also offers them an opportunity to be themselves, as one parent said: ‘What is most helpful about the service is that my son has time away from everyone and can be a teenager and forget about all the problems he has.’

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Outstanding

Staff are skilled at encouraging young people to develop independence skills such as cooking and baking. Staff work in partnership with psychological services to develop young people’s emotional resilience which leads to young people having exceptional outcomes. Staff are able to gain advice and support regarding individual young people from the psychological service but also invite them to attend team meetings where they provide training around using cognitive behavioural therapy and attachment theory. One young person said: ‘Thank you for what you have done with me and helped me with things that no one else can help me with.’ Another young person sent a text to a member of staff: ‘Thank you so much for this week, I can’t explain how much you have helped me.’

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Outstanding

Staff work very effectively with parents and carers. They develop positive relationships with them providing support through parenting courses and also through their continual availability, for example, through providing telephone support when the young person is at home. This significantly enhances the impact of the short break service for the young people. As a social worker said: ‘The holistic package means that every member of the family is offered great support.’ Young people benefit from receiving research informed practice which is worthy of dissemination. The registered manager shares her knowledge and skills with other local authorities to inform their practice. Young people benefit from exceptionally consistent care which adds considerably to young people’s experiences and development.

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Good

Young people feel safe when they attend this short break service. Their strong relationships with staff, alongside the predictability of the care they receive, means young people feel able to accept the opportunities that staff offer them. They become increasingly safe as staff provide them with the tools to keep themselves safe. One young person left a message for the registered manager when she missed her short break: ‘I am sorry for not coming but guess what? I haven’t been missing for 2 weeks and 3 days. Hope you’re proud of me.’

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Good

Young people are rarely missing from this service because they really want to be there due to the strong positive relationships they have with their staff. Staff know what to do when young people are missing. They always follow them or look for young people in familiar places. Staff understand that young people need to have an independent return interview but the recording of this taking place is not always clear. Staff are alert to the issues of child sexual exploitation. They work closely in partnership with the police and local agencies and undertake direct work with young people to keep them safe.

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Good

Staff maintain boundaries and routines for young people when they stay for a short break. They review risk assessments regularly although on one occasion staff did not conduct this review promptly following a serious incident. The level of staff supervision ameliorated the risks which this posed to young people. Staff usually plan well and anticipate issues. Staff are responsive to the needs of young people who are new to the service and they quickly settle and enjoy their experiences. One young person said: ‘They have helped me learn to interact better with people and get what I want said.’

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Good

Staff are clear about child protection procedures and act quickly to safeguard young people and their siblings. They gather and share information promptly and effectively and always ensure that there is an appropriate response to their concerns. This ensures young people are safe. The registered manager informs Ofsted of all serious incidents but there has been delays in doing this. This prevents the regulator from monitoring and reviewing practice in a timely manner. The registered manager recognises this shortfall as a staff training need. She understands the need to ensure that there are appropriate systems in place so that staff complete notifications in her absence.

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Outstanding

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced and has been in post for a year. She is enthusiastic and inspirational as a leader and has improved the effectiveness of the processes and systems in place in the home. She leads a culture of high expectations for the young people who receive the service. The registered manager monitors and reviews young people’s progress and has an excellent understanding of their needs and how the service can improve outcomes for them.

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Outstanding

The registered manager provides good support for her staff team through formal and informal supervision. She identifies development opportunities for her staff so that the skill and knowledge base of the team is continually growing. As a consequence, staff report being well-supported in this challenging area of work. The registered manager selects and vets new staff appropriately so that only those who are suitable work in the home. She identifies the homes strengths and weaknesses and focuses her efforts in recruiting a full team. Staff show commitment to young people by maintaining consistency of care during this period of change. They work collaboratively to ensure that they understand all young people’s plans and are, therefore, always able to provide the right support.

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Outstanding

The registered manager develops exceptional relationships with all stakeholders. They value the excellent communication with staff and the significant opportunities which the service offers to young people. As one social worker said: ‘My young person has been able to do things he had never done before such as going to a local seaside resort. His relationships with staff are brilliant and he has opened up about his feelings.’ A child sexual exploitation team member commented: ‘It is a lovely calming place for young people away from their stresses at home. They work with some hard to reach young people who have accessed this service with great success.’ The service is extremely well-regarded and others seek out the registered manager’s views in developing similar services. She has numerous local authorities visiting the service to understand how this short break service makes such a difference to those young people who are on the edge of care. One local authority

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Outstanding

team member who visited said: ‘I was very impressed with the service you provide and your ambitions for the young people you work with you are a credit to yourself and your team.’

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Outstanding

The registered manager is passionate about the home and provides robust challenge to senior managers to ensure that corporate needs do not unnecessarily disrupt the service. She has many visions for the service so that it continually develops and grows providing exceptional support to the young people and their families that use 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 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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