Children's home run by Newcastle City Council

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:

 The staff team is committed, experienced and established. Many of the staff team members have worked together for many years, which means that they offer consistency and stability.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Within the staff team, six members have received specific training to do outreach work directly with families with a view to young people returning home as a first option.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Staff are passionate about helping and supporting young people to improve relationships and participate in education, employment or training.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The accommodation is newly refurbished and has excellent facilities, such as a gym, ensuite bathrooms, meeting rooms and two lounges.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The manager and staff team network well with the placing authority and other professionals to share information that helps support and protect young people.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Young people are encouraged to participate in the development and running of the home and in the decision-making about their lives.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The staff ensure that the home is integrated into the community, to make best use of resources and encourage participation and acceptance for young people.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 The manager and staff team have developed excellent information sheets and newsletters for sharing information about the home with parents, carers and young people so that it is accessible to all and interactive for young people.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 Auxiliary staff provide essential support to the comfort and smooth running of the home and are trained and valued highly as part of the team.

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The children's home provision is outstanding because:

 There is one minor shortfall identified at inspection. Some staff require refresher training in safeguarding. The online link provided for them to complete this failed and they have yet to complete this training.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation:

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff have refreshed their knowledge and skills to recognise and be alert for any signs that might indicate that a child is in any way at risk of harm. The registered person should ensure that skills in safeguarding are gained, refreshed and recorded in the home’s workforce plan. This is in relation to online refresher training for some staff on safeguarding children. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.12)

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Information about this children's home

This hope is operated by a local authority and provides care and accommodation for up to seven children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is a short-term assessment unit in which young people stay for a maximum of 20 weeks.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 23/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/11/2015 Full Outstanding 30/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 23/02/2015 Full Good

p.5

Outstanding

The experience offered to young people in this home is fantastic and is helping them to make excellent progress in their lives.

p.6

Outstanding

The staff team provides a high quality of individualised care for young people, which is making a difference to their everyday lives and routines. The staff team members are dedicated and passionate about what they do and how this input can influence and make a difference for young people’s everyday routines and relationships.

p.6

Outstanding

This home has a highly qualified and motivated staff team. Some members of staff have worked for the home for many years and have established excellent working relationships together. This provides stability and consistency for young people. During the inspection staff were discussing young people’s care plans and showed a dedicated interest to helping and supporting young people to improve in the short time that they are placed within the home. Staff showed high levels of motivation to involve themselves in the routines of the home, such as being around young people to influence thoughts and decisions, to hear about what they have been up to and to share a meal, a film or an activity. Young people thrive on this level of attention and respond positively towards staff. For example, when asked about the staff one young person said, ‘They are brilliant, I love them all.’

p.6

Outstanding

Young people make excellent progress from their starting points. The home provides short-term placements, often at a crisis point in young people and their family’s lives. Despite this, young people are all on roll in an educational setting and there is an expectation that they will attend, from the staff and in the routine of the home. Young people do attend and are supported to do so by being encouraged to organise themselves and given practical support, such as lifts to school, to facilitate attendance. The home holds an ethos of supporting and rewarding positives, and young people quickly respond to this culture within the home.

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Outstanding

Young people are allocated a key worker straight away, and their family, an outreach worker. This excellent service means that young people and their families do not wait for referrals to receive essential direct work which often facilitates reunification. This approach is informed by research and is working. In the past two years, 100% of young people for whom a plan for reunification was identified at the 28-day review meeting successfully returned home.

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Outstanding

Young people receive services informed by excellent joined-up thinking to ensure that they receive the best health care, emotional support and specific specialist services when needed. Staff work tirelessly to ensure that care is well coordinated and chased up when it is not immediately forthcoming. For example, the virtual school told the inspector that they receive a change of circumstances form which tells them if any of their young people have entered the care system and where they are placed. This prompts them to make contact and join in planned meetings to ensure that personal education planning takes place. This ensures early plans to meet young people’s educational needs and avoids gaps in attendance. A worker from the virtual school said, ‘Attendance does tend to improve, they have financial rewards and activities and transport young people to school. There is a culture of attendance with young people.’

p.6

Outstanding

The children looked after nurse works closely with the home to promote healthy lifestyles. She told the inspector that she works collaboratively with the home and that together they have managed to get 84% of all young people to attend their children looked after medical. She is involved in working with the home to put a health information pack together which targets specific age ranges. This includes information about drugs, alcohol, sexual health, cessation of smoking, routines and lifestyle. The nurse regularly comes to the home and talks to young people about any health issues. She says, ‘We are all like big noisy parents, all singing from the same songbook and hoping they are listening.’

p.7

Outstanding

The staff team recognises quickly the need for other specialist support services for young people, such as counselling, youth offending services, drug and alcohol and new psychoactive substances (NPS) misuse services. This early recognition is supported with careful early planning alongside the outreach and key work with young people to ensure key services input.

p.7

Outstanding

Despite young people only living in the home on a short-term basis, their views are evident in feedback, suggestions and within the home’s monthly newsletter. Young people are encouraged to attend all meetings and to contribute towards them. Viewpoint meetings regularly take place prior to important reviews to ensure that young people’s views are included. On admission, both carers and young people complete a ‘star chart’ questionnaire about difficulties experienced and feelings. This questionnaire is repeated on discharge and helps the staff team understand progress made. During young people’s stay in the home, they are regularly engaged in key-work sessions and young people’s meetings in which they can give their views about the home and how it can improve.

p.7

Outstanding

A key quality of this home is the early intervention and planning to ensure that young people are occupied during the day and to establish clear boundaries and expectations on admission. This helps establish the culture within the home and allows young people to fall into excellent routines, which help them feel worthwhile, and raises their self-esteem and confidence. Transitions in and out of the home are managed well and the focus is on young people’s needs. The staff prioritise young people, challenge the care plans to ensure that their needs are met and that young people move back home if possible or into appropriate long-term provision.

p.7

Outstanding

Young people gain support and encouragement to care for themselves and learn self-care skills, such as doing their own laundry and cleaning their own rooms. Longer-term life skills are not available due to the home providing short-term care only.

p.8

Outstanding

All the young people placed at this home live locally, as this is a local authority home. Staff help to ensure that education is local, if possible, to help young people remain within their community and keep changes to a minimum. This helps support reunification with home and reduces the number of changes all happening at once.

p.8

Outstanding

Young people are living in a safe environment within this home. The home takes highly effective actions that help to keep young people as safe as possible and which provide security and stability in their lives. Young people told the inspector that they felt safe living in this home.

p.8

Outstanding

The staff team has a wealth of experience in relation to understanding safeguarding. The staff understand the kind of interventions that help young people and their families to address risky behaviours. They also help young people to learn to keep themselves safe and improve relationships with key family members or other named carers. For example, well-planned family work takes place as a priority after young people are admitted and with a view to reunification if possible. The success rate of reunification is excellent and when this is not achieved, improved and sustained relationships are reported.

p.8

Outstanding

The links with the placing authority social worker, the independent reviewing officer, preventative services and the wider placing authority network are extremely well established and effective. These links help to share information and intelligence, which is helping to keep all young people in the community safe.

p.8

Outstanding

Early identification of risk-taking behaviours takes place and high-quality risk assessments are established, which help staff to think about the risks, the triggers and the strategies to manage situations effectively.

p.8

Outstanding

The home has excellent networks with the placing authority and attends a strategic management group meeting once a month, held under the local safeguarding children board (LSCB) complex abuse procedures. This networking allows intelligence to be shared and helps to protect young people in the community.

p.8

Outstanding

When young people go missing from home, they are reported quickly to the appropriate authorities. Good relationships with the police help to ensure that vulnerability is taken into account quickly. These positive relationships with the community police also help to prevent criminalisation of young people when police interventions are required but prosecution not needed.

p.9

Outstanding

Young people have risk assessments in relation to child sexual exploitation and other vulnerability factors, such as risk of radicalisation or self-harm. This helps better-informed responses to avoid risk of harm and helps staff understand strategies that can help in difficult situations. Staff understand the risks well and work very hard to prevent them. For example, they use child sexual exploitation DVDs to highlight to young people some of the risks. Work on the concerns around NPS within the professional community has helped a good understanding of this. The home developed and use a screening tool, which informs the wider professional network to help indicate when interventions are required and at what level.

p.9

Outstanding

The figures for incidents of missing from care and absenteeism look high for this home but need to be considered in relation to the high numbers of young people admitted and the nature of the work that the home undertakes. The important factor is that numbers for missing incidents are reducing. The home’s leaders and managers established a monthly tracker tool, which sets out an easy-to-understand system for levels of missing from home incidents and for attendance in education. The trackers give instant indicators at a glance as to what progress is made in each month. They then summarise, using the ‘Signs of Safety’ approach, what is worrying, what is working well and what needs to happen to address any concerns. Simple tools such as this help staff to identify and think about risk and consider how to reduce it to keep young people safer.

p.9

Outstanding

This home offers short-term placements in an emergency to young people with high vulnerability and complex needs. Despite this, the numbers of incidents, complaints, sanctions and restraints are low. When these do occur, they are recorded appropriately and young people are helped to change behaviours through trust, positive consequences, direct work and rewards.

p.9

Outstanding

Excellent boundaries are established with young people from the outset, and the staff have the experience and capacity to work well together to avoid inconsistencies in enforcing them. Staff agree sensible bedtimes for young people early in placement and support is given to get into good routines, which help young people to get up in time to go to school/college and achieve more in education.

p.9

Outstanding

Safe recruitment is in place and staff report receiving appropriate training to support them with the care of the young people. Several staff have yet to complete the refresher training in safeguarding due to the online link not working, and a recommendation is made to ensure that this takes place. Despite this shortfall, the staff present with a level of experience which inspires confidence that they will keep young people safe.

p.9

Outstanding

The safeguarding policies are excellent and include all relevant areas of risk and need which could place children in harm’s way including risk of suicide, radicalisation, exploitation and guidance on ligatures.

p.10

Outstanding

There have been no incidents of allegations or child protection investigations since the last inspection. Networks with the LSCB and designated officer are established, which promotes confidence that any incident would be appropriately reported.

p.10

Outstanding

Adequate precautions reduce the risk of fires. Safety equipment is in place and there is evidence of regular and compliant checks and fire drills. The registered manager completes a risk assessment of the home, and regular checks ensure that young people are safe when in the home. In addition, the registered manager completes a risk assessment of the local area. This local knowledge is gained in collaboration with local services and providers and gives the home invaluable insight into the risks present for young people in the community.

p.10

Outstanding

The home experiences strong leadership and support from within the local authority, which guides the strategic planning and allows excellent networking and thinking that helps to keep young people safe. In addition, an inspiring registered manager leads a passionate and committed staff team. It is the collaborative approach of the whole staff team which gives the home its stability and strength.

p.10

Outstanding

The registered manager is extremely experienced and has the necessary qualifications and experience to manage this home effectively. One of the deputy managers is additionally undertaking the level 5 diploma in leadership and management, and all the staff have a level 3 qualification or above plus a wealth of experience of working with young people.

p.10

Outstanding

The home is well resourced and staffed. The ratio of staff to young people supports a reduction in incidents, and the experience and consistency of the staff team helps young people to feel confident when they need help and advice.

p.10

Outstanding

An independent visitor regularly monitors what goes on in the home and reports directly to Ofsted. These monitoring reports have improved significantly following concerns raised by the regulator and challenge from the registered manager. They did not give any real analysis on the welfare and safety of the young people. Following challenge, these reports now contain sufficient detail about young people’s safety and protection and feedback from young people, carers and professionals, and help the manager and the staff team to continuously improve the home.

p.10

Outstanding

Managers undertake regular case file audits, which helps the service to keep young people’s records up to date and in turn to allow staff to provide the best care. Feedback sourced from parents and young people is evident within the family work and is helping to improve the service and the planning of the outreach work provided.

p.11

Outstanding

The registered manager undertakes a comprehensive review of the quality of care within the home. The report is a helpful document and shows that the manager has a good understanding of the service, what still needs to be done and what is going well. The manager plans well ahead, predicting likely trends and patterns which will require intervention and prepares for them, giving the home a leading edge. The service continuously seeks to improve, and all staff spoken to hold this ethos.

p.11

Outstanding

The leaders and managers know the young people well and understand their care plans and the process of what the home can do and realistically achieve. They challenge to the wider sector, social workers, education, health, and other professionals to meet the needs of young people and progress their care plans. They are equally happy to challenge others if they do not feel that the care plan is the right one for a young person.

p.11

Outstanding

The leaders and staff have shown real initiative in developing a project with a well- known coffee outlet, which has given young people opportunities for learning, socialising and potential employment or apprenticeship schemes. The home knows and builds local networks, which safeguard and enhance young people’s lives. For example, this includes use of local leisure facilities, use of the tennis courts opposite the home that belong to the church, and enhancing good relations with neighbours and the police.

p.11

Outstanding

Staff talk positively about supervision, support, appraisal and excellent relationships within the team. One of the deputy managers has been instrumental in setting up the family outreach project to facilitate direct work to help reunite young people with their families. The manager and staff team saw a gap in services to support early work for reunification and the family work initiative began. Four staff have completed the family work training and two are partially trained. They work directly with the families and liaise closely with their colleagues who undertake direct work with young people. The project supports regular joint and individual supervisions that complement this work and include regular group discussions about cases, enabling any member of the team to pick up and work with families in the absence of a colleague. One parent said in feedback, ‘The staff were brilliant, everyone was spot on with us, thank-you.’

p.11

Outstanding

Training and development are led by need. The mandatory training is organised and is mainly up to date, with the exception of a few safeguarding refreshers. The overall staff team is extremely well trained and staff have good opportunities working in this home. Staff spoken to feel that they are progressing and developing their careers through the level 4 family work training to do outreach work with families.

p.12

Outstanding

Leaders and managers are well aware of the difficulties of admissions and the impact that new residents can have on the overall group. At times, this has been a difficult area for staff to understand and manage. The geographical needs of the young people combined with ever-tightening budgets means that, at times, young people with highly complex needs require placements. The registered manager and staff team hold a vast amount of knowledge, from intelligence and the wider professional network, and are aware when a placement could cause serious harm, for example NPS use or exploitation issues, and will refuse such placements on safeguarding grounds. The low level of notifications and low levels of restraints and complaints indicate that this issue is manageable.

p.12

Outstanding

Leaders and managers ensure that all key documents and policies receive regular updates to remain compliant with regulations. They take account of key changes in legislation and research thinking in social work practice. Leaders and managers facilitate staff to continuously improve and update their knowledge and to work to the statement of purpose for the home. This document has been recently updated and a copy has been sent to the regulator. The registered manager completes a risk assessment of the home, which includes the surrounding area and wider community. This document helps placing social workers and staff to understand the local risks and keep young people as safe as possible.

p.12

Outstanding

Record keeping is concise and helpful. It supports staff to undertake their jobs well and is up to date.

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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 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 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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