Children's Home run by New Start in Knowsley

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged good at the last full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has improved effectiveness .

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people continue to receive a high quality of care that is making a significant difference to their lives. The manager and staff strive to ensure that outcomes for young people are improved by providing them with positive experiences and the best possible support to meet their needs. Since the last inspection, one young person has left the home and moved to a secure children’s home due to the high level of risk to her. The home clearly identified the high level of risk and the need for a more secure placement to meet her needs. The home worked collaboratively with other professionals to ensure that information was shared that informed the decision as to whether the criteria were met for a secure placement. The risks for the young person were managed well prior to her moving to her secure placement due to the robust risk assessment and risk management strategies in place to safeguard her. A coordinated plan was in

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

place for the young person’s discharge, and the home fully supported the young person for the transition. A social worker said, ‘We just wanted to thank you and your team for your support of the young person and the local authority’s plan. We recognise how difficult it must have been to manage such difficult behaviour and appreciate the efforts made by your organisation to work with her and partner agencies to try and keep her safe.’ The manager and staff have a good understanding of the risks to young people of child sexual exploitation. They have effectively tackled and recognised the signs of this for two young people living in the home and have taken appropriate action to ensure that safeguards were in place. They have worked well with young people, safeguarding professionals, social workers and the police to safeguard young people from child sexual exploitation. A young person who moved into the home shortly before the last inspection has

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

made remarkable progress in a short space of time in all areas of his life. He appears to be a much happier and more settled young man and has good relationships with staff in the home. He said, ‘I am much more settled in the home now.’ The young person’s education attendance has significantly increased, and he is making good progress. There is an education plan in place that details his educational needs and the support in place to enable him to make progress. There have been some changes to the on-site education provision that have had a positive impact on the young person. He is engaging much more and has developed good relationships with education staff who are very supportive. The young person is likely to achieve well in education due to the robust on-site education provision in place. Missing-from-care procedures in the home are robust and have contributed to missing-from-care episodes reducing for young people. Although not all records

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

outline the time when young people go missing, they clearly demonstrate that appropriate action is taken to locate them and to ensure their safe return as quickly as possible. The home works closely with missing-from-care coordinators to ensure that all young people receive an independent return interview when they have been missing. This enables professionals to identify the reasons why young people go missing, the risks they face when they are missing and how future missing- from-care episodes can be avoided. This good practice enabled the home to recognise the need for a robust contact plan to be in place for a young person to avoid any further missing-from-care episodes. The home was instrumental in ensuring that relevant checks were completed to enable the young person to have overnight stays with friends from his hometown each weekend. Since this plan has been in place, there have been no further missing-from-care episodes for the

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

young person. Furthermore, the young person now has regular contact with people who are important to him in a safely managed way. Behaviour management in the home continues to be good. Young people benefit from clear, consistent routines and boundaries and understand what is expected of them. Since the last inspection, there has been a short period of some difficult and challenging behaviours being presented by young people. However, these were managed very well due to the robust behaviour management strategies in place. The behaviour required the staff team to undertake room searches and physical interventions. These were appropriately managed and were undertaken to safeguard young people and support them to make positive changes in relation to their behaviour. The behaviour of the young person currently living in the home has significantly improved. He responds well to the incentive and rewards scheme,

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

which is proving to be extremely effective. This has also resulted in the young person having much more positive relationships with staff and his appearing to be much more settled and happier. The procedures for planning for new admissions to the home are good. The manager ensures that she receives full and accurate information about young people prior to agreeing to their placement in the home. A decision is only made to accept any new young person once the home’s matching process is complete and supports the admission. A meeting took place with a placing authority with regards to a new admission during the inspection, and this demonstrated the robust procedures in place to ensure that any new placements are appropriate. Furthermore, a clear plan is in place to ensure a smooth transition into the home. Partnership working continues to be good and contributes to the progress that young people make. Records of multi-agency meetings that the home has attended

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

demonstrate that the staff have effective professional relationships with social workers, independent reviewing officers, safeguarding professionals, the police, missing-from-care and child sexual exploitation professionals and others. Furthermore, the home provides regular updates to professionals on the young people in the home. This ensures a collaborative approach to meeting the needs of young people and to ensuring that they are safeguarded. The monitoring and review systems in the home continue to be effective. Regular internal and external monitoring support the manager in reviewing the quality of care provided to young people. Furthermore, this gives her a clear understanding of young people’s progress, the strengths of the home and the areas for improvement. As the home now manages the on-site education provision, the teaching, therapeutic and management team plans to meet regularly to review and

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

inform their combined practice and approach. This is to ensure that they are providing the best holistic support and interventions that will enable young people to continue to have improved outcomes. The home’s development plan has recently been updated and demonstrates the management’s and staff’s commitment to the continuous development for the home and themselves professionally. They are committed to ensuring that they receive regular training and development opportunities to inform and improve their practice to benefit the young people whom they care for. In addition, the staff team receives regular reflective supervision, and team meetings are held regularly. This supports the staff to remain settled, content and dedicated to their roles. This is reflected in the high quality of care provided and the young people’s continued progress.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is one of three owned and managed by a private provider. It is registered to care for four young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties, learning difficulties and/or disabilities or mental health issues.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

23/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recommendation

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  Ensure that records are kept detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home. In particular, they should record the time when they go missing from the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, para 9.31)

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What the inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspection, we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the ‘Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection’.

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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 focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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Information about this inspection

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 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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