Children's home in Sutton

Good

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

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The children's home provision is good because:

 A stable and effective staff team engages children purposefully. It is a supportive and cohesive team that works well together.  There has been consistent and well-directed management which uses the strengths of individual staff well.  Children and young people have made real and steady progress throughout their time in the home. They have developed some insight into themselves and made corresponding improvements in their self-management of behaviour.  Children and young people engage very well with education and activities. Staff are integral to this through their encouragement, support and organisation.  The home offers a comfortable and well-maintained domestic environment. There is good thought and investment made into keeping it this way.  There is good oversight of the group living together. Careful thought and assessment is put in to new admissions, including how compatible they may be with those already living here.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff have the appropriate experience, qualifications and skills for the work that they are required to perform. In particular, ensure that all staff have attained a Level 3 diploma for residential childcare (or equivalent) within two years of commencing work in the home. (Regulation 32(3)(b)) 30 June 2017

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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 design of the home should provide staff that sleep in the home overnight with appropriate accommodation and facilities to do so. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.26)

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Recommendations

 The children’s guide should help children to understand how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24 paragraph 4.22). Specifically inform children of the linked organisation ‘Help at Hand’ which has a national advice line for children and young people who are in care, leaving care, living away from home or working with children’s services.

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Information about this children's home

The home is owned and run by a private organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 07/07/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 27/01/2016 Full Good 10/09/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 19/12/2014 Full Adequate

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Good

At the time of this inspection two of the three children present had enjoyed stable placements, the other had moved into the home only a few days before the inspection. Children who have been here some time are very well engaged. They enjoy warm and supportive relationships with staff. It is evident that they feel genuine attachment to many of the staff who work in the home and this is helpful to their progress through this stage of their lives.

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Good

Staff know and support the health needs of the children carefully, and they follow a clear plan in any intervention. Children benefit from staff who are alert to their needs and consider what should be done when any changes arise. The wishes and feelings of the children are gathered and considered by staff sensitively. For example, children can and do speak freely with most staff, and this information is shared across the team. Children feel listened to.

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Good

Children are encouraged to engage more widely, for example by participating in local sports teams. They have frequent opportunity to engage in activity outside of the home. Staff take a close and nurturing interest in their activities, and this makes it more probable that children will sustain their interests.

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Good

Children who have been here some time have very good attendance in education; for one child, staff in the home provide daily transport to school, and for the other there is arranged transport, which staff always ensure he is ready for. Staff communicate frequently with the education provider, both to know how school has been for children, and to ensure that they can best support the placement. For the newly arrived child there is not a satisfactory education plan in place yet, but at the time of inspection this was being actively pursued.

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Good

Children’s health is well monitored and responded to. Children are proactively supported to attend health appointments, and staff will take the lead if children need to follow any plan of intervention. Staff were noted to have responded well to an incident of self-harm which was challenging. They were very clear about the priority given to ensuring the safety and well-being of the child. Staff immediately reviewed risks to try to avoid recurrence of this behaviour.

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Good

Children live in a home that provides a domestic environment of a very good quality. Since the last inspection, there has been considerable effort to address a recommendation to make the environment more homely. This was fully complied with, although the impact of the child newly arrived in the home was proving detrimental to this and staff were, temporarily, removing some ornamental items around the home to prevent breakages. This was proportionate to the behaviour displayed and intended to be only temporary. At the last inspection, it was noted that one of two lounges is also used as a second sleeping-in room. It is recommended that this is reconfigured to ensure that the children are not routinely prevented from accessing all communal parts of the home. The responsible individual outlined a long-term plan that may address this, but the recommendation is restated in the meantime.

p.6

Good

Since the last inspection, two children have moved on from the home. For one, the move was to another children’s home (after a brief stay, not settling and proving disruptive to the placement of children already here). For the other, the move was into a more independent living environment. The former case, although not altogether satisfactory, is evidence that the home considers carefully how the behaviour of children is affecting others and acts in the best interests of the majority. It was noted that the admission processes of this child and the latest child to move in were considered, and impact risk assessments were conducted.

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Good

Children are protected by the close and caring supervision of knowledgeable staff. They may enjoy free time or activities away from the home but staff take a close interest, monitor how they are upon return to the home and talk to them, using the good relationships built, to understand risks and keep them safe. They have trusting relationships with staff. Both children who are settled in the home were able to say clearly that they feel safe and that they identify the staff as a continual source of security for them.

p.7

Good

Staff are knowledgeable about safeguarding matters. They have completed training, and this is a focus of staff meetings and of supervision. Their training has been wide-ranging, and covered child sexual exploitation, radicalisation, self-harm and has also given them insight into the types of abuse that some children may have experienced before arriving into care.

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Good

Managers have assessed risks to children thoroughly. The risk assessment documentation gives staff clear guidance and strategies to follow, which means that risks are understood and consistently responded to. This complies with a recommendation made at the last inspection.

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Good

Behaviour management of children is of a good standard. Staff seek to manage children through positive rewards, and this has worked effectively for both settled children. They have presented periodic challenges, but they respond well through the relationships built, and staff have a very good level of cooperation from them. When there are difficulties, staff have used proportionate sanctions and, very exceptionally, restraint. It is noted that the incidence of restraint in the home, which was already low, has reduced. Staff only use restraint methods that they are trained in; restraint is a last resort that has only been used in exceptional circumstances.

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Good

It was noted that the newly admitted child was presenting with some very unsettled and challenging behaviour. Staff showed skill and determination in seeking opportunities to distract and divert, for example offering cinema or other outings. They were non-judgemental in their approach, understanding that her behaviour came from a wish not to be in the home, and they sought not to blame but to win her over. This inspection occurred very early in that process.

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Good

If children go missing from the home staff have a clear procedure, well known to them, which they follow. While it has been needed over this inspection period, this does not relate to current residents. It was noted that if a child needed time alone from the home, staff were generally able to manage this through giving space but keeping the child under discreet observation so that a walk from the home to calm down did not become a missing incident.

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Good

Incidents that require referral to the designated officer for safeguarding or other professionals are handled transparently. Managers understand and fulfil their safeguarding duties.

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Good

Children benefit from a home which is maintained to a high standard of health and safety, including conducting regular fire checks and occasional drills.

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Good

The home has an experienced, effective and respected registered manager. He was not present at the time of this inspection but contributed by telephone. The deputy manager is new in post and was able to demonstrate a very good understanding of issues, and she provides leadership in the home. This was evident in her role- modelling of good practice with the newly admitted child.

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Good

The manager is qualified to NVQ Level 5. However, not all staff are qualified to Level 3, and some of them are outside of the timescale to achieve this since being employed in the home. Therefore, the requirement made at the last inspection about this is restated. It is noted that the need to change training provider has contributed to this delay, and that this was outside the control of the children’s home provider.

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Good

Staff are well managed and benefit from purposeful supervision and appraisal, and some bespoke training, to address issues pertinent to the home. Staff spoken with were very focused on their core tasks, and understood managers’ instructions to them. Children benefit from a good and collaborative staff team. When there are practice issues or concerns about how staff have conducted themselves, these were noted to be addressed in supervision. This helped maintain a high standard of performance and corrected practice if staff were seen as over-strict or not listening sufficiently to children. This ensures that a good child-centred culture prevails.

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Good

The staffing in the home is of a good level and uses a stable staff team which provides continuity and security for children. There have been no externally recruited staff into the home in the past year, although one member of staff from the company’s sister home has come to work here. This is a good achievement and contributes to the strong sense of calm and normalcy that has helped the home even when children have been particularly challenging. The home is able to provide one-to-one staffing when children are present in the home, and two staff sleep-in at night. Staff are always well known to children.

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Good

The statement of purpose for the home covers all areas required in regulation. The children’s guide is a good and useful document, however it does not have up-to- date information about advocacy and, in particular, how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. This is therefore recommended.

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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

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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