Children's Home run by Warrington Borough Council in Warrington

Outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the home contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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The children’s home provision is outstanding because:

 A highly motivated registered manager, who is wholly committed to providing excellent care for young people, leads this home. Without a doubt, children’s needs are her priority. Her child-focused approach ensures that all decisions are centred on children’s welfare and safety.  Exceptional partnership and inter-agency working ensure that children have access to all of the services that they require. Specialist assessments, and the recommended strategies that follow, are integral to children’s daily care.  Current evidence-based research underpins staff’s practice. All staff complete extensive training on relevant matters, including attachment and the cycle of trauma. As a result, staff employ research-led behaviour-support strategies to encourage positive behaviour in the home.  Staff are highly vigilant and have a proactive approach to safeguarding. Children live in a safe, secure and supportive environment. A knowledgeable

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The children’s home provision is outstanding because:

and highly skilled team comprehensively assesses all potential risks.  Wide-ranging and established links in the local community enable children, irrespective of their needs, to take part in activities that they enjoy.  Staff are ambitious for young people and work tirelessly to help them to meet their full potential. All professionals give positive feedback about the quality of care and support that children living in this home receive.

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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 any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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Recommendations

In particular, ensure consistency in the quality of the reports and that these reports are sent to HMCI in a timely way.

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority children’s home provides care and accommodation for two children who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 17/10/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/09/2015 Full Outstanding 16/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Outstanding

Comprehensive personalised placement plans address how to best meet children’s needs. Children attend their care review meetings and receive consistent and competent support from staff to make choices and participate in decisions about their lives. Staff value children, listen to their views and act upon their requests. Staff are excellent advocates for children, ensuring that their wishes and feelings are central to all decision-making. The team confidently challenges any plans or decisions that are not in the children’s best interests.

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Outstanding

Children develop caring and trusting relationships with their staff. They were observed cuddling staff, evidencing the warm, nurturing relationships in the home. A social worker said, ‘The children have been able to build up trusting relationships with staff who are committed to helping them to progress and achieve their best. Staff and the manager have been strong advocates and have been able to work with the children to decrease conflict and ensure a harmonious home environment.’

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Outstanding

The manager and staff team have high aspirations for the children in their care and work tirelessly to address any barriers to children’s learning. Excellent partnership working with children’s schools, education coordinators and the virtual school ensures that children’s needs are suitably assessed and provided for. The head teacher of the virtual school said, ‘Staff are actively involved in the education of the children in their care. They have undertaken educational training delivered by the virtual school head. Staff challenge school to ensure the best outcomes for the children and have worked with the school and other agencies to make sure the children attend.’ This collaborative working is resulting in children’s school attendance reaching 100%, which is helping them to reach their full potential.

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Outstanding

Partnership working with health professionals is excellent and ensures that children receive the health services that they need. Individualised health support is rigorously promoted within children’s placement plans. Close partnerships with the child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) secure emotional and behavioural support for children as well as regular consultation for staff. Creative practice and efficient budget-management have reduced waiting times for children’s health appointments. For example, the manager funded a private consultation with the orthodontist, which prevented long delays in a child’s dental treatment. Additionally, the home has forged links with local art therapists, who provide children with invaluable emotional support using alternative therapies that children enjoy.

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Outstanding

Similarly, staff work supportively with children’s parents and relatives, recognising the importance of children maintaining attachments and their family identity. Family contact is planned and informed by the needs and safety of the children. Staff guide, encourage and support parents to understand and follow contact plans and arrangements. As a result, children’s contact with important people is child- centred, safe and helping them to understand their background and circumstances.

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Outstanding

Children benefit from increased confidence and self-esteem because they are provided with life-enriching opportunities, including music and Lego club, as well as participating in the Children in Care Council. Staff enable children to make decisions about the care that they receive, such as jointly planning their summer holiday.

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Outstanding

Safeguarding in the home is exemplary. Safeguarding strategies are targeted to the specific needs of each child. Carefully assessed staffing ratios ensure that children receive high levels of support and supervision. Additionally, the staff’s knowledge and understanding of children’s behaviour and vulnerabilities are excellent.

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Outstanding

Staff understand how to respond to children’s needs and behaviour, which keeps everyone in the home safe, by focusing on positive behaviour. Staff utilise attachment and trauma-based strategies that are underpinned by current research. Consequently, children receive effective help to reflect, learn and manage their feelings and behaviour. One therapist said in their feedback, ‘The staff group I have worked with have always presented as willing and committed to improving their knowledge and practical skills. Their participation and contributions in all of the work undertaken has emphasised that commitment to the children in their care and their own learning. Their increased understanding of behaviour/attachment/trauma has improved their communication skills with the children.’ All staff have up-to-date safeguarding training, including signs of, and strategies to address, child sexual exploitation, radicalisation and child protection. The home’s

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Outstanding

safeguarding policy is clear, and therefore staff know how to report and record all concerns and incidents. When safeguarding issues have arisen, the relevant authorities have been notified and effective action has been taken to minimise risk.

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Outstanding

All staff receive training in de-escalation and restraint. Physical intervention in the home is extremely rare; when used, it is necessary and proportionate. All physical interventions or consequences are clearly recorded, including the child’s view and management overview. This open and transparent approach enables scrutiny of behaviour-management practice in the home, which further enhances children’s safety.

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Outstanding

The home has sustained strong links with other safeguarding professionals. The community police officer, for example, provides staff with information on potential risks in the local community. Individual risk assessments are comprehensive and regularly updated. They support children to take appropriate risks, to enhance their independence, in a safe and supportive environment. As a result, children enjoy playing out in their neighbourhood, alongside their friends and peers.

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Outstanding

Children do not go missing from this home. Nonetheless, there are clear policy and procedures in place to guide staff should this situation ever arise.

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Outstanding

The home provides children with a safe, secure and welcoming home environment. The home is maintained to a high standard, and all health and safety checks are carried out routinely to eliminate any potential hazards or dangers.

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Outstanding

An experienced and highly motivated registered manager leads this home. She is suitably qualified and has the level 5 diploma in leadership and management and a postgraduate diploma in social work. She has worked for this local authority since 2001. For the past six years, this has involved managing two children’s homes, which are both currently judged as outstanding services. The registered and deputy manager both demonstrate extensive knowledge of, and commitment to, the children in their care. Ensuring the children’s progress, welfare and safety remains their highest priority.

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Outstanding

Staff training is extensive and focuses on the specific needs of the children in the home. Current research guides staff practice – in particular, behaviour-support strategies coupled with training provided by experts in this field. This specialist training has enhanced children’s progress and increased safety within the home.

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Outstanding

Staff constantly seek children’s wishes and feelings and help them to achieve their goals. This is reflected in the staff’s comments about their practice, such as ‘We never give up’ and ‘We advocate for the services that the children need and deserve.’

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Outstanding

The staff team is settled, stable and thoroughly supported by the registered manager and the deputy. All staff, including the manager, receive monthly professional supervision and attend regular team meetings and development days. Staff describe the managers as ‘proactive’, ‘inspirational’ and ‘fantastic’. Annual appraisals, which include children’s feedback, further strengthen the staff’s ongoing learning and development.

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Outstanding

Robust internal monitoring means that the registered manager has effective oversight of the home, and staff’s practice. As a result, the team continues to provide a high standard of care, protection and support. Children’s progress is routinely monitored and any sign of decline is promptly addressed with all relevant professionals. Summarising this clearly, a head teacher commented, ‘Nothing has ever been too much trouble, from late pick-ups after enrichments to early starts. I would class our working relationship as outstanding. This relationship will continue until we get the right support for [child’s name] to achieve her potential.’

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Outstanding

The independent monitoring is still not providing consistent high-quality, evaluative feedback to the home. Furthermore, the reports are not sent to Ofsted in a timely way and this has prevented the service regulator from having regular oversight of the effectiveness of the home.

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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. 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. 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. 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

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or that 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, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children 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

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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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