Children's home in Winchester

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 provision is outstanding because:

 Young people are successfully engaged to make improvements in all aspects of their lives. This is done in a thoughtful way by staff who proactively involve external professionals. Young people make real progress, which they appreciate.  Young people are kept safe through the diligence and persistence of managers and staff who are not risk averse. This results in young people, who have sometimes been very unsafe in their own behaviour, learning to make significantly better choices over time. Police and other professionals are highly positive about the impact that the home has had in improving the long-term safeguarding of young people here.  The culture of the home is one of continuous improvement. Managers use imagination and determination to ensure that changes made are needed, make a difference to young people and are implemented purposefully.  Young people are given an important voice in the home. They have frequent

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

opportunities to express themselves; their wishes and feelings are known to staff and borne in mind in direct interaction and in the development of the home.  There is a stable workforce, which includes some staff members who have spent over a decade in the home. This has contributed significantly to the stability and security that the home has afforded young people. Some previous residents remain in touch with the home, evidencing the positive regard in which they still hold it.  Managers and staff in the home work with external agencies and professionals assertively and fruitfully; they have been consistent advocates for the young people in their care.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  Ensure that risk assessments used to assess prospective admissions to the home include reference to the anticipated impact on children already living here. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Information about this children's home

This home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children and young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. There are advanced plans to move to a new-build accommodation in the coming months, which will be registered for only four children and young people. There were four young people present at the time of this inspection and, due to the coming move, there are no plans to admit over this amount.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

Recent inspection history

04/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.5

Recent inspection history

24/02/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.5

Outstanding

Young people are exceptionally well engaged with staff in the home. The manager and team have worked hard to ensure that there is a real emotional engagement with them, while maintaining safe boundaries which young people understand. This has enabled young people to make greater than expected progress and it has most positively addressed their issues of self-esteem. The stability and experience of the staff team are a real strength, which has helped to give young people confidence that staff can and will keep them safe. The young people and staff enjoy each other’s company.

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Outstanding

Young people feel like a part of the home. Their voice is heard in many different ways. They can record or have views recorded on the ‘wishes and feelings board’; this record changes weekly to ensure that the visual display is current, but previous records are retained in the home. All young people regularly contribute to this; they see its worth. It ensures that staff engage with young people’s changing perceptions. Staff record ‘important conversations’ with young people and, with their permission, share these with social workers or other relevant external professionals. This ensures that the communication is not lost and that the young person need not repeat personal information if this is difficult for them, but that it is still used to inform the team about them. Social workers are very positive about the information that they receive, including that which comes indirectly from young people.

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Outstanding

Young people know how to complain and have, on occasion, used the procedure. They have been consistently heard and responded to.

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Outstanding

Young people who have a history of going missing have received a supportive service which has listened to them and helped them to make real progress in managing their own behaviour. This aspect of the home’s work was highlighted by police and field social work colleagues who recognised that the home had managed high-risk behaviours very well. A young person returning to her home area from an out-of-county placement initially went missing from the home to a worrying degree. The home quickly built enough rapport with her to allow staff to keep her safe. Staff did not seek to prevent her from accessing the community, but they agreed when she would be out and allow staff to pick her up. External agencies were unanimously glowing in their praise for the progress made through the keen engagement by the home, and the corresponding development in the young person’s cooperation with all professionals.

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Outstanding

Young people who have previously been disaffected in the home now engage well. For example, one young person who attends a residential special school through the week is now engaged in the home fully. Staff in the home proactively text her every day to ensure that she knows that she is in their minds. She is asked about changes in the home as promptly as others and helped to feel that this is a real home, despite her significant time away from it. One professional said that the staff had ‘claimed’ her in showing how important she was to them. This has been significant within a potentially difficult plan.

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Outstanding

Young people engage very well with their education placements. All are making good academic progress. One young person of school-leaving age has secured employment, which was just commencing at the time of this inspection.

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Outstanding

Managers and staff in the home place enormous value on the relationships that young people may maintain with their families. They seek to support contact and, when practical, make families feel welcomed in the home. It is also noted that care leavers have stayed in touch with the home after they have left. The security afforded to young people by the strong and stable staff team has been substantial.

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Outstanding

Young people living in the home feel safe and they are given excellent support to help to keep themselves safe. The warm and nurturing relationships which staff have with young people are the single strongest protective factor. Staff know young people well and convey the importance of keeping safe as a clear and understood message. All young people have developed trusting relationships with adults in the home, which keep them safer. This includes some young people who present significant challenges.

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Outstanding

Staff know and follow very clear child protection procedures. They have a strong track record of working very effectively with other agencies, for example the police and the child and adolescent mental health team, to ensure a coordinated approach. There have been significant challenges, which the staff have met with determination. For example, one young person was staying away from the home without permission during her early weeks there. Staff were able to make contact and visit, taking a food parcel and clothes to her. While they did not bring her back at that point (and they did not have authority to do so), she did return and ultimately developed her own safer use of the community.

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Outstanding

The managers in the home have been proactive in ensuring that return-from- missing interviews are held. The links with professionals are excellent. Managers can be demanding, for example advocating most strongly for a section 47 investigation on one occasion, but this has strengthened professional relationships. Managers have developed close working relationships with external agencies, which they acknowledge to be very successful.

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Outstanding

Young people learn to keep themselves safe because they are permitted to take age-appropriate risks, but also enjoy close relationships with adults to talk about this and receive feedback about their decision-making.

p.8

Outstanding

The close supervision and constructive use of time have ensured that bullying does not occur in the home. Staff are well trained in signs of this and give young people constructive feedback about how they interact.

p.8

Outstanding

Positive behaviour is consistently promoted and excellent thought is given to the situation of each young person. This has resulted in clear progress in behaviour, including a reduction in the use of restraint to none at all, in the case of some young people. Sanctions are used thoughtfully as part of young people’s learning and reflecting on their behaviour.

p.8

Outstanding

Health and safety are well managed in the home. Staff are up to date in their training and fire drills, and safety checks are all up to date. Environmental risk assessments are in place, which are updated when required and seen to be useful, practical documents.

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Outstanding

The organisation has well-embedded safer recruitment practices. There have been no new staff appointed during this inspection period.

p.8

Outstanding

The registered manager has been in post for just under a year. He has implemented significant and well thought-through changes. A senior staff member described this as a ‘jolt’ to them. The demands on staff have been considerable, in seeking to ensure that the home is child centred in a very tangible way. This has been very well received by the staff team that has willingly gone on the journey set.

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Outstanding

The registered manager is currently completing his level 5 qualification. He has invested heavily in the staff team, initially conducting all the supervisions for all the staff. This has paid significant dividends, both on a practical level by greatly reducing staff sickness, and at a practice level by engaging all staff closely with the therapeutic model (‘pillars of parenting’) followed. Supervision has included challenging staff to play a full role in the implementation of the child-centred practice. This has resulted in a greater warmth and emotional connection for young people. This may not always go smoothly, but it is paying substantial dividends.

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Outstanding

The team is also supported by monthly half-day sessions with the educational psychologist. This meeting is used to systematically look in depth at how the team members are helping each young person. It has resulted in better coordinated action known and owned by the whole team, and ensured very purposeful use of the ‘pillars of parenting’ framework.

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Outstanding

Staff training is systemised to ensure that all staff are up to date in their training. This has covered practical issues of health and safety and food hygiene, child protection including the ‘Prevent’ duty and training in managing child sexual exploitation, and work on anti-bullying. All staff are trained to NVQ level 3 in residential child care; this is a testimony to the stability of the staff team.

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Outstanding

Monitoring systems are effective, in particular the internal monitoring by the registered manager. This has ensured that practices at all levels have been evaluated during his first year in post and that practice continually moves forward. External monitoring has been regular and provided some helpful feedback. A new regulation 44 visitor is commencing at the beginning of 2017.

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Outstanding

Admissions into the home are carefully planned, and the processes ensure that young people are fully involved. Opportunities for young people and staff to meet are always taken. The assessment documentation does not include a record of the likely impact of an admission on those already living in the home.

p.9

Outstanding

This is a very well-led home, in which staff are coached and supported to deliver excellent child-centred care.

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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 the ‘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 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 0300 123 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 at 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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