Children's Home run by Bay View Child Care Limited in Lancashire

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

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced. He has been in post for a considerable period. The deputy manager has recently moved to support another home within the organisation. Additional capacity has been identified within the current team to support the manager in running the home effectively, in line with the aims and ethos of the statement of purpose. Young people benefit from having an established and consistent team. Staff are suitably qualified or are working towards this. A requirement was made at the last inspection in relation to this. This has been successfully achieved. Training packages reflect the needs of the young people. However, not all staff are trained in the areas required to support young people in their care.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people are making good progress and they say that they like living here. The care they receive is in line with their care plans. Young people are accessing education and their attendance and attainment are good. The manager and staff work in partnership with other agencies to ensure that young people are accessing the correct educational provisions to meet their needs. Where this proves difficult to achieve, the manager challenges appropriately. Subsequently, young people access the correct educational services and receive support to help them reach their potential. Young people speak positively about education and have ambitions for their futures.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The existence of positive relationships between young people, and between young people and staff, is a key strength of the home. Staff know the young people well and are able to use this knowledge to support them to achieve their full potential. Staff support and encourage young people to develop some skills that will assist their transition to adult life. However, it is not clear how ready young people are for independence. Young people and staff report differently on how they measure progress towards transitions to independent living. Consequently, it is difficult to identify how ready young people are, what their strengths are and what areas they need additional support with.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people receive the support they need in order to understand and manage their own risk-taking behaviour. Risk assessments are thorough and the plans are clear. Safeguards to manage welfare and vulnerabilities are effective. Staff work together with the young people and partner agencies to ensure that risks are understood and managed both sensitively and appropriately. Where concerns arise, staff respond well and in a timely manner. This ensures that young people are kept safe.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people have access to a range of activities. Staff support young people to try new experiences and to have fun. Where young people have specific interests, staff explore ways to help them develop these further.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The quality of recording is, overall, good. The manager has a quality assurance system for monitoring and evaluating the quality of practice. This supports the management oversight of the care that young people receive. Nonetheless, there are occasions when information is absent from relevant records and therefore the monitoring of care plans and actions is not consistently robust.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people benefit from effective behaviour management practices. Good, positive and respectful relationships between young people and staff support this. The use of sanctions and restraints is rare. There have been none since the last inspection. Rewards are used to encourage positive behaviour; however, the use of rewards is not always recorded. Therefore it is unclear if these are consistent and help to support young people to make positive choices.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Young people are proactively encouraged and supported to have regular contact with their families and friends. Where young people have not had contact for some time, staff have worked together with young people and social workers to establish and maintain contact. Young people speak positively about seeing their families and friends and say how important this is to them.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is privately owned.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 16/11/2016 Full Outstanding 02/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/11/2015 Full Outstanding 16/03/2015 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 must ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4). Specifically, that health plans contain relevant information and that key-working records are completed for areas of concern and that these are recorded.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff help each child to prepare for any moves from the home, whether they are returning home, moving to another placement or adult care, or to live independently. This includes supporting the child to develop emotional and mental resilience to cope without the home’s support and, where the child is moving to live independently, practical skills such as cooking, housework, budgeting and personal self-care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)

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Recommendations

Specifically, ensure that this is targeted in line with young people’s needs assessments, that the progress is measured and staff have sufficient knowledge to provide this support.

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Recommendations

 Staff need the knowledge and skills to recognise and be alert for any signs that may indicate 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 development plan. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.12).

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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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