Children's home run by Pebbles Care Limited in Leeds

Outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed 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’s provision is outstanding because:

 The manager and staff have ensured that the children and young people make exceptional progress in all areas of their lives.  Children and young people have achieved a large number of awards and are supported to attend ceremonies to celebrate their successes.  The staff are resilient and well supported. They work extremely well as a team and provide consistency with genuine care and affection.  Children and young people are fully included in the community. They attend local sporting groups and excel at the activities. The staff go to events with them and support their endeavours.  Case recording is exceptionally thorough and creative, allowing the young people to be involved in the recording and to fully understand and be part of making decisions.  Key workers have comprehensive understanding of each child or young person. They develop secure and trusting relationships with the children and young people.

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The children’s home’s provision is outstanding because:

 The manager is held in very high regard by professionals who also work with the children and young people. She is confident to challenge professionals when it is required.  The manager is inspirational and creative. She is solution-focused in her work. She encourages an open and trusting culture in the home and encourages staff members to develop new and exciting activities for the children and young people.  Practice, which is based in research and theory, is very evident in this home. It is evidenced through planning activities by key workers to the manager’s developmental plan.

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home is provided by a private company and cares for up to six children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. Most of the children and young people are cared for in the main house but one child is also cared for in a detached bungalow situated in the rear garden.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 23/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/10/2015 Full Good 05/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 05/06/2014 Full Adequate

p.4

Outstanding

The manager and the staff are extremely versatile in how they encourage children and young people to settle into the home and build trusting, secure relationships with them. They work on the basis that each child or young person is an individual and they plan their care accordingly. One young person said: ‘This is the best place ever, I really feel staff know me and genuinely like me. It makes a big difference.’

p.5

Outstanding

Each child or young person has a dedicated key worker who spends time with them. The recording of key-worker sessions is extremely comprehensive and demonstrates the planning and research that goes into the sessions. The subjects are varied and interesting. The focus of some sessions challenge inappropriate behaviours or incidents while others focus on the child or young person having opportunities to understand what has happened in their lives.

p.5

Outstanding

The manager and the staff team are extremely confident and skilled at understanding the impact that previous trauma and abuse can have on a child or young person. They work closely with their psychologist to ensure that they are responding appropriately to the children’s and young people’s very complex needs.

p.5

Outstanding

All of the children and young people are making exceptional progress at school or college. This is particularly relevant given the starting points of many of them. Educational achievements are encouraged and attendance at school is very high. The children and young people often move from specialist provisions to mainstream school, allowing them a sense of achievement but also to build relationships in their community and peer groups.

p.5

Outstanding

Activities in the community and making friendships in the community are seen as extremely important. Children and young people have made excellent progress in local sporting groups and have a network of local friends who are always welcomed into their home. This improves their self-esteem, encourages development of social skills and promotes a sense of belonging and loyalty to the community

p.5

Outstanding

The manager and the staff have a comprehensive understanding of the importance of the contact that children and young people have with their families and important adults. When it is possible, unsupervised contact is encouraged and young people start to build bridges with family who they had previously had little contact or had poor relationships with. For those who have supervised contact the manager and staff ensure that this is regular and safe. On a number of occasions the tenacity of the manager and her excellent relationships with social care professionals has allowed contact arrangements to be made when previously there had been no contact with very important adults. Children’s and young people’s self- esteem, self-worth, sense of belonging and identity are promoted and encouraged by this approach to contact.

p.5

Outstanding

The children and young people are given a greater sense of safety and feel protected by the manager and staff team. The individualised care and the non- judgemental approach of the manager and staff team supports an increased sense of safety. The work that is completed in the key-worker sessions also allows the children and young people to make informed choices.

p.6

Outstanding

The manager and the staff have rigorous and robust risk assessment processes, which include a variety of assessment tools. The resulting risk management plans allow the children and the young people to take appropriate risks, which supports their transition to adulthood and also provides them with age appropriate risk management strategies. One young person said: ‘I found some of the things that staff wouldn’t let me do difficult at times as I wanted to go out more. I know now that it was better for me to do it slowly and with the help of staff.’

p.6

Outstanding

The staff team has a thorough and wide knowledge of the risks of abusive and exploitative relationships. They are quick to identify these risks and speak openly with the young people. On some occasions, the children and young people do not make positive choices and this results in incidents of inappropriate behaviour. The staff are well trained to help the children and young people to see that it is alright to make a mistake and allow them to learn from this. This restorative approach ensures that the children and young people learn essential social skills for their future.

p.6

Outstanding

The approach from the manager and staff to the children and young people ensures that they are protected in the here and now but also learn skills and strategies that support them in the future. A young person described how staff supported her in making a decision to refuse taking drugs. It was explained that previously the offer of illegal substances would have resulted in weeks in a downhill spiral, resulting in very harmful behaviours. However on this occasion the young person was able to say no and gained support and praise from staff that further enforced the young person’s resolve to remain drug free.

p.6

Outstanding

The manager and the staff have created a research hub which allows them to have information to support their work. This research informs risk assessments and key- worker sessions. This is excellent practice and is shared with other residential provisions. The manager attends local authority strategic meetings where this information is shared and used to help protect other young people.

p.6

Outstanding

The manager is highly regarded by other professionals. She has developed a large network of professional support, which enables her to ensure that the children and young people develop a sense of safety and make positive choices. One professional said: ‘The home is really fantastic. It’s all about the children and keeping them safe and well, it’s like a big family.’

p.7

Outstanding

The manager is very experienced and suitably qualified to carry out the duties of a registered manager. She is creative, responsive and inspirational for staff, children and young people. Staff make suggestions for changes of practice which are encouraged and supported. Wherever possible, the children and young people are supported in all their endeavours. The manager regularly exceeds what is expected of her and while she spends a great deal of her time advocating and being with the children and young people, she still maintains excellent routines in scrutiny and monitoring.

p.7

Outstanding

The staff who work in the home are resilient and confident in what they do. They feel supported and feel a sense of pride and loyalty towards the children, young people and the manager. The manager’s leadership skills are seen as exceedingly positive by the staff team. She was referred to by several of the staff team as, ‘incredible’, ‘passionate’ and ‘forward-thinking’. The children and young people were also very vocal about the manager saying she was, ‘ace’, ‘wonderful’, ‘funny’ and ‘she listens to me’.

p.7

Outstanding

The case recording is excellent. The manager and the staff team have developed a style of recording which allows the children and young people to be involved in what is recorded. This helps them understand and feel more in control. The recording tools are continually under review to ensure that they are always the best and most accurate they can be.

p.7

Outstanding

The manager has an extremely well recorded development plan, which she uses to focus her work and ensure that she is up to date. This plan is reviewed monthly and forms part of her robust scrutiny and monitoring. She uses internal and external monitoring and inspection to ensure that she is working effectively. Requirements and recommendations from these audits are fully implemented and can be demonstrated in how the information is recorded. The manager has developed a network of professionals from other agencies, who speak of her very positively. She is highly regarded by them and is seen as an ambassador for the children and 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 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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after 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 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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