Children's Home run by The Partnership of Care Today in Wolverhampton

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged outstanding at the full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has sustained effectiveness .

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This service continues to operate at a high level. The experiences of young people are nearly all positive and there have been very few changes in the staff team. The last inspection identified no requirements or recommendations. This continues to be the case at this interim inspection.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

At the last inspection, a senior member of staff was in an acting manager role. She has left the company and a long-standing member of the team is now the proposed new manager. The registered manager retains legal responsibility, but now has additional responsibilities within the company. The proposed manager intends to apply to Ofsted for registration imminently. In other respects, the staff team remains unchanged and all but one of the team members are qualified in residential childcare.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff are well organised and motivated. They think carefully about young people’s needs and prioritise their actions accordingly. Currently, there is only one young person in placement. Staff are addressing his cultural needs at a pace that he finds acceptable. Staff maintain the house well. It has pleasant colour schemes and many homely features. Photographs of young people, their achievements, and their celebrations are on prominent display. Staff make sure that events, such as birthdays and Christmas, are celebrated. The staff also compile photograph albums for each young person to take with them when they leave. One young person has pictures of when he chose a pumpkin from the field and then carved it for Halloween. All of these efforts by staff create positive memories for young people.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Since the last inspection, all four young people have moved out. This demonstrates the most significant aspect of their progress. All the moves occurred after careful planning and with the involvement of the young people. Each young person has a journal in which to write his or her thoughts. This gives them an additional way of expressing their feelings. Staff ensure that social workers understand young people’s views and arrange independent advocates for young people when necessary.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff liaise well with parents and professionals. They engage proactively with families and help them to develop new relationships with young people. Consequently, parents feel positive about the service. One parent said, ‘You’ve transformed him. Now he can calm himself down without arguing. This has helped us as a family.’ The social worker wrote, ‘A fantastic placement! Very positive supervised contact and excellent support [of parents].’ Staff ensure that young people understand what they have achieved. One young person said, ‘Thank you. I’ve learnt so much being here.’ Another said, ‘You’ve made me a better person.’

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

One young person commented on how welcoming the staff were when he arrived. This quickly led to interim arrangements for his education. Staff focus on engaging each young person in a productive programme of activities, the content of which is centred on education. The current young person attends every day and goes by public transport. These arrangements help to avoid young people engaging in negative activities. A police officer recently commented that staff had completely changed one young man. Since the last inspection, very few incidents have occurred of young people going missing or getting involved in serious incidents. Staff rarely use physical interventions.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The manager thoroughly understands her home and sets high standards. She demonstrates accurate analysis of patterns and trends. Recently, the independent visitor has improved his reports so that they are sufficiently factual and persuasive. This contributes to the overall high quality of the service.

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Information about this children’s home

A large provider of children’s services operates this home. It provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 06/09/2016 Full Outstanding 18/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/01/2016 Full Good 06/01/2015 Full Good

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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, workbased 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

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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