Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd in Hampshire

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home’s provision is good because:

 Young people improve their behaviour, social skills, and personal development.

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The children's home’s provision is good because:

 Young people who previously had poor school attendance now attend daily.

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The children's home’s provision is good because:

 Staff members’ persistent approach enables young people to recognise that they are valued, cared for and that adults can be reliable.

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The children's home’s provision is good because:

 Young people learn to express their feelings safely and appropriately.

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The children's home’s provision is good because:

 Effective risk management keeps young people safe.

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The children's home’s provision is good because:

 The registered manager is committed to the continuous development of the service.

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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 must ensure that the children's home complies with relevant health and safety legislations and that all required health and safety checks are completed within the required timescales. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that the policy on the protection of children from abuse and neglect should include arrangements to counter risks of self- harm and suicide. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 44, paragraph 9.19)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which details the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33 (4) (b)). ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs. In particular, ensure that staff receive training in child sexual exploitation, self-harm and the home's therapeutic model. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Information about this children's home

The home offers care and accommodation for up to six children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. Currently only girls are accommodated.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 12/09/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/09/2015 Full Good 06/01/2015 Interim Not judged

p.5

Good

Young people receive individualised care within a supportive and nurturing environment, enabling them to develop well. A committed staff team, led by an effective registered manager, provides consistency, structure and routine. As a result, young people feel safe and secure and improve their behaviour, social skills, and personal development.

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Good

Positive and meaningful relationships are shared between staff and young people. Staff are responsive to young people’s emotional well-being. Their persistent approach enables young people to recognise that they are valued, cared for and that adults can be reliable. Young people trust staff and share their thoughts and feelings with them. This assists young people to improve their levels of self-esteem and self-worth.

p.6

Good

Young people learn to express their feelings safely and appropriately. Staff encourage young people to reflect on their feelings and find ways of positively expressing their emotions. For young people who find articulating their feelings difficult, staff have explored a variety of techniques to help them communicate with staff. Strategies employed by staff have successfully reduced the number of angry outbursts and damage to property.

p.6

Good

Staff are positive role models and promote a supportive environment in which young people learn to understand others’ and their own feelings and views. Community meetings are held daily in which staff encourage young people to share their reflections on their day. These meetings enable young people to develop their social skills and ability to empathise with others, and promote a supportive culture.

p.6

Good

Close attention is paid to young people’s emotional and psychological well-being. When necessary, staff have challenged and advocated on behalf of young people to ensure that they receive the support necessary from child and adolescent mental health teams. Staff members’ recognition of the importance of young people’s emotional health is enabling young people to gain a more positive self-view and develop stronger emotional resilience, resulting in improvements in their behaviour and their interactions with others.

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Good

Young people's physical health is well maintained, and all young people are promptly registered with core health services. Staff provide guidance and support to young people to enable them to lead healthy lifestyles.

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Good

Staff effectively promote the importance of education. Staff are proactive in supporting young people to attend school. Those who previously had poor attendance now attend daily. Staff encourage young people to complete homework. If the school does not provide homework, staff will arrange learning tasks for young people to complete. This demonstrates staff commitment to helping young people achieve their academic potential. Staff have good relationships with education providers. Daily handovers promote consistency of care and ensure that young people’s good behaviour is recognised and rewarded.

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Good

Staff encourage young people to follow their interests and to engage in activities in the community, such as Brownies or the local female football team. These activities help to develop young people’s social experiences and support integration into the wider community.

p.7

Good

Managers and staff have forged effective working relationships with external colleagues, and these have positively contributed to young people's well-being. Close liaison with external professionals has enabled staff to understand and recognise the implications of young people’s difficulties and make provision through careful planning to facilitate the young people’s needs and personal development.

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Good

Effective placement planning ensures that young people are only placed in the home if the staff have the skills, experience and understanding to support them. Staff involve young people in thinking about the next resident to join the home. The manager’s impact risk assessment details the positives, and possible negatives, of placing a new young person with the existing group. However, these assessments would benefit from further detail to explain why some areas are considered a positive or negative match.

p.7

Good

Care plans focus on the specific characteristics of each young person and detail their individual needs and particular support strategies to assist young people to make progress. Through well-considered plans, staff are supporting young people to make improvements to their behaviour and social skills. For two young people this has been successful and has enabled them to achieve the aims and objective of their plans and return to foster care.

p.7

Good

Young people’s views are highly valued by staff. Young people are actively encouraged to share their opinions in groups and individual meetings. Staff act on young people’s wishes, including buying a nesting box for the garden, and allowing a young person to keep fish in her room and take responsibility for looking after them. As a result, young people feel listened to and valued, and this promotes their self-confidence and self-esteem.

p.7

Good

Staff recognise the importance of supporting young people, where possible, to keep in contact with those they consider important. Staff facilitate regular contact though phone calls and visits so that young people have regular interaction with their families and are able to maintain meaningful attachments. Medication arrangements are sound and safe. Procedures and records have recently been reviewed to prevent recording errors.

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Good

Staff and young people share a genuine warm regard for each other, enabling young people to build appropriate attachments to adults. Young people trust staff and feel able to share their worries and concerns with them.

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Good

Young people are aware of the complaints procedure and feel able to use it to share their concerns. Complaints are managed appropriately, and the manager provides a written response to each individual, providing reassurance and outlining the actions they are taking in regard to their concerns.

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Good

Effective risk management keeps young people safe. Staff regularly engage the support of other professionals, such as the police and fire service, to inform young people on how to keep themselves safe. This enables young people to develop their understanding of danger and gain in confidence and skills to protect themselves.

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Good

Safeguarding concerns are recorded, reported and investigated appropriately. Managers and staff take the necessary action to keep children safe. The manager has good communication with the local authority’s designated safeguarding officer and has worked closely with them to establish a protocol to ensure that all allegations made by young people, some of whom are known to make prolific allegations, against staff are taken seriously. This protocol has ensured that all allegations are investigated appropriately while strategies are in place to keep young people safe with minimal impact on the service and care provided. The safeguarding policy does not refer to self-harm and suicide although the guidance requires this to be included in the policy.

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Good

The risks of young people going missing are limited due to the high staffing levels in place. When young people have left the home without permission, staff have instigated their individual missing person’s protocol and followed the young person to maintain their safety until the young person returns to the home.

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Good

Staff understand young people’s behaviours as communication. They aim to understand what young people are attempting to express through their challenging behaviours. Through the consistent support and strong boundaries upheld by staff, young people are now more able to interpret their feelings and express their emotions in a more constructive way. As a result, there has been a reduction in violent and destructive behaviours by young people. Records of physical intervention are recorded appropriately.

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Good

Consequences are known as ‘life lessons’. Staff and young people agree on consequences relevant to them to be used by staff in response to particular behaviours. This ensures that staff are consistent in their response and that consequences are effective and focus on the young person learning from their mistakes.

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Good

There is a detailed location risk assessment in place, which identifies crime trends, and areas in the local community where risks are higher. Staff work proactively with other agencies, which include the police and local authorities, to inform the assessment and actions necessary to reduce the risk to young people. This helps to shape the home’s awareness of community risks and informs risk management planning.

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Good

Staff are employed only after undergoing a rigorous recruitment process to minimise the risk of unsuitable people working with the young people.

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Good

The environment is well maintained, attractively decorated and offers a high level of comfort. However, health and safety checks, including checks relating to the fire safety of the home, are not always carried out within the required timescales. This may lead to shortfalls in equipment or fire safety not being identified.

p.9

Good

A competent and experienced registered manager runs the home effectively. She is keen to constantly improve the quality of care for young people and has high expectations of the staff team. The registered manager has an excellent understanding and insight into the young people she supports and ensures that the care provided by staff is tailored to young people’s individual needs. The manager has a system in place to monitor the progress that young people are making, and this is used effectively to assess the success of interventions, and, if necessary, prompts a review and change of strategy.

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Good

Reflective practice is central to the registered manager and staff’s approach. The registered manager constantly encourages staff to reflect on and evaluate their approach towards young people in order to build on and develop their positive relationship with them. This approach has been effective in supporting young people to feel valued, building on their confidence and belief in themselves, enabling them to aspire to achieve. As a result, young people are making progress in all areas.

p.9

Good

The registered manager is committed to the continuous development of the service. This is reflected in the home’s development plan. The manager is acutely aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the service and is clear in how she aims to drive improvement. The manager uses the recommendations made by a recent peer review, and the home’s independent monitoring reports, to improve the quality of care. The manager regularly scrutinises documentation and swiftly addresses any shortfalls. The registered manager uses observations of staff practice effectively to aid staff members’ development or to address any concerns about their practice.

p.10

Good

The manager uses surveys to regularly consult young people and professionals on all aspects of young people’s care. This ensures that any concerns are identified and improved on, and it also ensures that young people are able to contribute to the development of the home. Feedback obtained by the manager from young people’s social workers is extremely complimentary of the service.

p.10

Good

A healthy staff environment is promoted, and the staff feel supported. Staff have regular and effective supervision that supports their practice and professional development. Team meetings also provide effective support and are used as an arena to discuss individual young people and their needs and goals. The organisation’s workforce training strategy provides clarity about the expectations for the staff, but it needs to provide clear timescales for supervision as required by guidance.

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Good

Staff have mandatory training in safeguarding, first aid, fire awareness, food hygiene and behaviour management. However, some staff have yet to undertake training in child sexual exploitation, self-harm or the home’s therapeutic model. This means that some staff have not had the training to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills to fulfil all the aims and objectives of the service’s statement of purpose or meet the needs of particular young people. Staff either hold or are currently undertaking a suitable Level 3 qualification. Some bank staff, who complete regular shifts within the home, have yet to enrol on the required Level 3 course.

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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.

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What the inspection judgements mean

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.

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What the inspection judgements mean

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.

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What the inspection judgements mean

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 harmed or at risk of harm or 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, 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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