Children's Home run by Considerate Care Limited in Liverpool

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged good at the 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

Children continue to live in a safe, nurturing and supportive family home. They receive a very high quality of care from positive, understanding and highly competent staff. This helps them to feel safe and make significant progress across all aspects of their development. Children have become increasingly settled, safer, happier and healthier. They are achieving in education, building confidence in their talents and abilities, and social skills. One child’s confidence has grown to enable her to take an active part in the placing authority’s voice and engagement with children work.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager and staff have the right skills and personal qualities to form meaningful relationships with children. They have a sensitive and thoughtful understanding of some of the reasons young people may find it difficult to trust adults and enable children to build positive relationships with them. Children know that staff are interested in their lives, they are on their side and will fight to make sure they get the best possible support and opportunities. They feel valued and know they are the staff’s priority. They know that their wishes and feelings are important, listened to and influence the decisions about their lives. For example, the registered manager and staff have acted upon children’s wishes about being able to spend more time independently with their friends, changing key worker, and the best time to see a counsellor that fitted in with their daily routines. The staff are very good at helping children think about the implications of their wishes

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

and understand the reasons why, at times, their decisions may not be in their best interests or possible.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Children receive a very good level of care that is tailored to meet their individual needs and circumstances. The staff are resourceful and creative in finding ways to promote children’s welfare, confidence and enrich their lives. Their consistent and personalised support has brought stability to children’s lives, and helped them understand and manage their feelings, recognise the possible impact of dangerous behaviour and make changes. Staff work out how best to work with individual children based on their specific learning and emotional needs. For example, a member of staff worked with a child using a visual approach, using pictures, to help him learn to tell the time, and to understand personal boundaries and the impact of his behaviour on other people.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The staff are committed to helping children, regardless of the challenges the children may face or the complexity of their needs. Their patience and perseverance has helped children to feel more able to accept help. They change things if plans are not working and readily take advice from social workers and health and education practitioners to reflect on what is happening and think about new ways of working that may make a difference.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Since the last inspection a new child has come to live there. Although he moved in quickly, the registered manager worked well with the placing authority to ensure that the staff had the ability to meet his assessed needs effectively, and understand any potential impact of living with the children already there. He has settled in well and is starting to form positive relationships with staff and other children. The arrangements for his day-to-day-care are consistent with the placing authority’s plan for him, and staff have already identified how they are going to promote his development.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager and staff provide structure, encouragement and opportunities for children to take part in education. Their positive attitude towards education and effective support has helped improve children’s attendance, progress and attainment. They have strong working relationships with schools, the virtual school head and the education support service. They work together to support children’s education and tackle barriers to their participation and learning, including looking at the underlying reasons why children struggle in school. Children who are currently out of school receive appropriate support to prepare them to return to education. This includes helping children to think about their interests and ambitions, and working with the virtual school head to identify schools or alternative education provisions that meet the child’s academic abilities and learning styles.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager and staff ensure that children live in a safe environment. They work hard to help children understand risk and make choices that promote their safety. They use up-to-date and clearly written risk assessments, which reflect events and changes in individual children’s needs and circumstances, to identify effective protective measures to manage and reduce the risks. They have the right balance between protection and enabling children to take appropriate risks, such as spending time with friends and going to youth clubs, which promote their development.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager and staff have very effective partnerships with families, social workers, the police, health and schools that are helping to reduce risks to children’s safety. Children are less likely to go missing, use alcohol or drugs, or take part in criminal or dangerous behaviour. Staff have overcome a parent’s mistrust of children’s services to forge a strong relationship where the parent plays an appropriate and active role in her daughter’s life. They have worked together successfully to reduce risks of harm to her in the community. Also, staff have worked closely with the fire service to help a child understand about the dangers of fire and how to be safe in the home.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager’s clear and effective leadership ensures that the home is run in the children’s best interests and promotes their safety and welfare. She has made improvements in the quality of care that positively impacts on children’s lives. The statement of purpose has been revised and updated to provide accurate information about the support that the home provides for children. The procedures for recruiting staff have been strengthened to ensure that all of the required information about a person’s suitability to work with children is received and assessed before a decision is made to employ them.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager has completed a thorough and detailed review of the quality of care. It accurately shows children’s progress and experiences, and now evaluates the impact of the work in making a difference to children’s lives. She uses her findings to inform and influence the running of the home and develop staff’s practice. She also uses complaints as an opportunity to improve the support that children receive. She takes complaints seriously and investigates each one thoroughly, and reaches reasonable conclusions based on the evidence.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Work has been carried through with staff to improve the quality of the records to show the impact of living in the home on young people’s lives and development. However, the quality of the records is not consistently detailed enough. The records of direct work still do not always show the work that staff are doing. Nor do they include: staff’s evaluation of care practice; a list of areas for further work; children’s views and reflections on how they feel things are going for them; what is going well; what needs to change; what support they find helpful; and their views on their care plans. This information would assist in the understanding of children’s experiences and inform the plans for their futures.

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Information about this children's home

This privately run children’s home can accommodate up to five young people who may have emotional or behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 15/07/2016 Full Good 29/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 12/01/2016 Full Good 17/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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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 written records of direct work include staff's assessment of the effectiveness of the work, identifies areas for further work and children's views and reflections on their experiences and progress. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations, including the quality standards', page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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 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: 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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