Children's home SC062644

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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young people since the most recent full inspection

The young people are settled and continue to make progress in this home. The registered manager has addressed all of the statutory requirements and recommendations that were made at the last inspection. The registered manager and staff team show a clear understanding of the previous experiences and overall progress of each young person. This enables the young people to develop trust in the adults around them and feel comfortable in their surroundings. A young person said: ‘I like it here. The staff are awesome.’

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young people since the most recent full inspection

Since the last inspection, there has been significant change in the group of young people. All transitions in and out of the home were well planned. The young people who have left were supported where required and new young people who were joining the group had regular, planned visits prior to their admission. The impact of this good planning ensures the stability and potential success of placements.

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young people since the most recent full inspection

Education is well promoted in the home and school attendance overall is good. The records show that the staff team has advocated well on behalf of the young people who were experiencing difficulty in their school placements. The result is that young people are receiving some educational provision while awaiting new placements. This ensures that there is continuity of learning.

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young people since the most recent full inspection

The young people are in good health. Staff encourage them to develop healthy lifestyles. For example, staff provide advice and support around food choices. Young people are involved in a range of activities that assist with fitness of both mind and body. For example, one young person has successfully gained parts in high-profile television programmes and is encouraged to fulfil his love of acting. Mixing with other young people at youth clubs where sporting activities take place is also encouraged.

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young people since the most recent full inspection

The home is good at protecting the young people. Risk assessments and care plans clearly outline the steps to be taken by staff to safeguard the young people. However, risk assessments in particular cover many eventualities, even when the risk is no longer relevant to the young people. This needs to be addressed, as it is discriminatory in nature and does not ensure that such risk assessments are ‘live’ and relevant.

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young people since the most recent full inspection

Relationships between the staff team and young people are strong. There is a clear element of nurturing and an understanding of the difficulties that are faced by the young people day to day. This enables a sense of security to develop and ensures that young people are able to share concerns with the staff team and ask for help when they need it. This ensures that the young people feel safe. This safeguarding culture would be further enhanced by adding safeguarding as a standard agenda item for staff meetings.

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young people since the most recent full inspection

The use of sanctions is minimal in the home. The staff team prefers to use relationships and a restorative approach to manage behaviour. Episodes of missing from home, absences and late returns are reducing in frequency overall. When such incidents do occur, there are independent interviews undertaken with the young people to ascertain the reasons for them leaving the home. This ensures that the young people have a means of expressing their views and when necessary highlights any contributory factors relating to their absences.

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young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff have worked hard to improve their record-keeping skills and records are now more detailed and offer the young people a more complete picture of the decision- making processes relating to their stays.

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young people since the most recent full inspection

The leadership and management of the home have also improved. The manager has revised the monitoring systems that are used in the home and scrutiny is now more consistent. Supervision of staff has also improved in quality as well as quantity. Records of such sessions contain a reflective section and identify the practice and competency of the supervisee, as well as associated actions to develop the individual worker.

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young people since the most recent full inspection

The home is large, comfortable and well maintained. It offers a range of rooms for communal and individual activities and there are very few signs of the sustained damage that was seen at the previous inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is provided by a local authority and is registered to care for up to six children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 02/08/2016 Full Good 16/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 10/08/2015 Full Requires improvement 29/10/2014 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Recommendations

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

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Recommendations

 The registered person should build a strong safeguarding culture in the home, where children are listened to, respected and involved in both the development of the home and decisions about the home. In particular, add safeguarding to the agenda of team meetings.(‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.8)

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Recommendations

 Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. In particular, risk assessments should be updated to ensure that they are seen as ‘live’ documents that assess current risk.(‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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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 who 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, 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 Text phone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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