Children's Home run by Keys Stepping Stones Limited in Tameside

Inspection report children’s home: SC005567 1 SC005567 Registered provider: Stepping Stones Children’s Services Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a private children’s home that is part of a large national organisation. It provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. This provider enlists the support of a clinical psychologist in its care planning.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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Good

How well children and young people are helped and protected Good

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Good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers Good

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Good

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

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Good

Date of last inspection: 18 October 2016

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Good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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Good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None taken

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children live in a supportive and nurturing home that is having a positive impact Inspection report children’s home: SC005567 2 on their lives. Children make good progress in many aspects of their lives and improvements have been noted in keeping themselves safe, behaviour management, emotional and physical well-being and educational outcomes.  Children benefit from highly individualised care and support, which are reinforced by effective multi-agency working from professionals both internally and externally. Consequently, children’s specific needs are fully understood by the manager and staff, and children receive good-quality individualised, tailored packages of care.  The manager and staff give children’s safety the highest priority. Care planning is underpinned by effective safeguarding practice and good multi-agency working. This open and transparent care practice promotes children’s safety and

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Key findings from this inspection

welfare.  The manager has forged effective and strong links with partner agencies. He and his staff team work effectively with a range of safeguarding, education and health professionals to ensure that children’s needs and emerging vulnerabilities are addressed appropriately and quickly.  The registered manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for development as he uses his internal and external monitoring systems well. This and his clear focus and dedication on improving the experiences and progress for children, support him with his ongoing developments in the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development

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Key findings from this inspection

 The registered manager must ensure that all his staff complete records of all physical interventions.  The registered manager must ensure that children understand how their wishes and feelings have been listened to and acted on when they have shared their views about the care practice of the staff team.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/10/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 12/04/2016 Full Requires improvement 24/11/2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness 06/05/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC005567 3

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Recommendations

 Children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted on (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11). This is with particular regard to ensuring that children understand how their feedback on the staff’s practice is being listened to and acted on by the registered manager.  Records of restraint must be kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide a high level of individual care and support and a happy, relaxed home environment where children feel at ease. Staff support and encourage children to achieve their individual goals and targets as they work well with children, the placing authority and other agencies. Staff use age-appropriate incentives and positive rewards for children to encourage their achievements, and this approach has been effective in helping children to make positive choices about their lives. This care practice and the nurturing home environment, where staff provide positive role models and consistent care for children, ensure that children continue to make good progress in all aspects of their lives, relative to their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between the children and staff are cemented and are based on trust, dignity and respect. Children benefit from strong and meaningful relationships with the manager and staff who spend quality time with children, assisting them with their homework and supporting them to take part and try out new experiences and activities. Children are encouraged sensitively to maintain long-standing activities, such as playing rugby, attending swimming lessons and engaging in community-based activities, as well as being given the opportunities to try out new things. One young person was pleased to show off their new dance moves during the inspection and was keen to ensure that the manager took part in this. These positive and inclusive opportunities that the manager and staff ensure that children take part in enable children to become more confident and Inspection report children’s home: SC005567 4 ensure that their childhood experiences are enhanced and are positive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from improved education outcomes, as staff have a strong focus on education. Children achieve extremely high attendance rates and make good academic progress relative to their starting points, as staff ensure that children are emotionally ready to learn and are in school regularly and on time. One education professional confirmed this and said, ‘The staff support [Name] really well. The progress that they have made this year has been tremendous.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by staff to maintain strong links with the family members and those who are important to them. The manager is committed to ensuring that contact arrangements promote children’s welfare and safety, and that the staff work closely with families and professionals to ensure that this is a positive experience for all. This level of care and support enables children to maintain a sense of identity and belonging and improves their emotional well-being in a safe and supported environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote good health and improved emotional well-being for children. Staff promote a healthy lifestyle, and children are encouraged to make sensible choices about what they eat. Staff provide a varied diet and ensure that children engage in a number of physical activities. This, alongside engagement with all routine health appointments, ensures that children maintain good physical health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff work closely with the organisation’s therapeutic team and have established effective working partnerships with external mental health services. Advice and guidance obtained from these services are incorporated into the home’s care planning processes for children to ensure that they receive a coordinated and well- thought-out response. This, alongside staff supporting children to engage effectively with these professionals, ensures that children’s emotional well-being is considered and addressed and, therefore, showing earlier signs of improvement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager ensures that children’s views are gathered through regular children’s meetings, consultation forms and one-to-one formal and informal discussions. This supports and enable children to grow in confidence and empowers them to be involved in some of the decisions that affect their lives, such as activity and menu planning. Although the manager has taken some steps forward in developing this further so that he can ascertain the children’s views and their thoughts and feelings about their experiences of their care staff team, he has missed an opportunity to demonstrate how he has acted on and addressed the children’s comments as a result of this feedback.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Robust recruitment practices are well established to ensure that new staff are suitably vetted so that children are protected. Detailed and supportive induction planning and support ensure that new staff are well supported and well equipped to undertake their roles safely and effectively. Suitable safeguarding training ensures that staff have a good Inspection report children’s home: SC005567 5 understanding of their roles and responsibilities and can keep children safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children are supported to make positive choices, and their achievements are recognised and celebrated through a bespoke incentivised scheme. Staff use age-appropriate consequences to modify unacceptable behaviour and allow children the space to consider, reflect and talk about their behaviours and actions. This supportive approach and reflective space enable children to consider their actions and consequences of their responses on others, so that they can reflect on their behaviours and adapt these so that they are more socially acceptable. This approach has supported some children in modifying their behaviour and resulted in fewer aggressive outbursts.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children’s safety is given the highest priority, as the manager and staff are fully aware of children’s presenting needs and emerging vulnerabilities. The manager ensures that children’s risk management plans, which are updated regularly, are detailed and clear. He systematically shares these risk assessments and placement plans with placing social workers, who confirm that they are happy about the level of detail and the support plans that are being implemented. Consequently, children’s needs and risks are fully understood by the staff team that consistently implements the plans in place to support children at times of difficulty. This enhances children’s safety and well-being.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children become increasing safe as they are supported to learn the risks associated with the outside world. Staff spend time with children and educate them on the risks associated with the internet and stranger danger. This support has enabled one young person to respond appropriately and safely while out of the home.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

One child has experienced a very difficult period over recent months as they have begun to explore and learn about their past experiences. This journey has proven to be particularly difficult for them and has resulted in an extensive number of physical interventions being required. During these times, staff who are appropriately trained are aware and sensitive to the child’s needs and additional risks that are presented, and they manage these situations effectively. The manager and staff are aware of the potential for allegations being made at these times and have been vigilant in their practice to address, manage, record and share these experiences with all the professional agencies involved in supporting the child. Although the external monitoring systems of the home have supported the manager in strengthening the home’s records of physical interventions, there has been one occasion when a physical restraint was not recorded.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Positive and effective multi-agency working ensures that children’s safety and welfare are given the highest priority. Some children continue to struggle to manage their emotional responses and, at times of heightened distress, report their concerns about ways in which professional staff treat them. The manager is committed to ensuring that children are kept safe and protected at these times. He systematically follows the home’s protocols, following any complaint or allegation, and ensures that thorough investigations are undertaken. The manager is committed to ensuring that this safeguarding practice is open, transparent and safe and ensures that all the information is shared quickly with placing authorities and the designated officer. The designation officer validated this and said, ‘The manager is brilliant. He treats each allegation with vigour and he rings me all the time. He could not do any more.’ They went on to add,

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Inspection report children’s home: SC005567 6 ‘The manager is very thorough. He will seek advice when he needs to. He always follows up our contact with an email and he will challenge services appropriately.’

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The manager and staff take children’s safety seriously and undertake regular health and safety checks of the home. The home environment has been and continues to be enhanced. A programme of redecoration and refurbishment work is under way to ensure that children remain living in a safe, clean and homely environment. The home has recently benefited from a new fitted kitchen and redecoration in the front living area. The provider intends to continue with these positive developments, and plans are in place to ensure that a new fitted bathroom is installed to further enhance the living environment for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is effectively managed by a registered manager who has been in post since August 2013.The manager secured the required management qualification in August 2016 and he uses the knowledge and learning from this in his ongoing development of the home. The manager has strengthened his management team by recruiting an experienced, qualified and dedicated deputy manager, who is supporting him with implementing his plans for improvement in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The culture and ethos of the home reflect a strong, child-centred approach, and the manager is committed to promoting and safeguarding children’s welfare. Strong and effective working relationships with parents, education staff, social workers, and safeguarding agencies ensure that children receive collaborative support to meet their individual needs, which aids with their progress, and they receive a cohesive response to any safeguarding concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children benefit from a team that is stable, experienced and competent. Staff are enthusiastic, caring and committed to ensuring that children receive the best possible care to enable them to progress. Five of the 10 staff members have the required qualifications, and suitable plans are in place to ensure that those without achieve these within the required time frame. The quality of support, training and supervision that the staff receive makes them feel valued and highly respected. The staff work consistently and effectively as a team, which contributes to the positive quality of care that children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Care planning is cohesive and thorough and is of a high standard. Detailed placement plans reflect the progress that children have made since coming to live at the home. The manager and staff regularly review children’s changing needs and through regular team meetings, children’s meetings and planned key working sessions demonstrate how staff and children are informed and involved with the implementation of their care plans. Children’s records are detailed and complete and provide the reader with a good overview of the staff’s interventions and, consequently, the experiences and progress of children. Inspection report children’s home: SC005567 7 Professionals speak highly of the service and confirm that all children have made progress in all aspects of their lives. This was confirmed by one professional who wrote, ‘The placement meets the basic care needs of the child, and they have shown improvements with regards to certain aspects of their entrenched behaviours.’ Another

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

professional added, ‘This is an ideal placement for [Name] at the time in their life. Concerns for [Name’s] safety have greatly decreased since they moved in. Staff are caring and committed and work well with children’s services.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is fully aware of the progress that children make and their emerging needs as he makes effective use of his internal and external monitoring systems. The manager is committed to enhancing these improvements and experiences for children and he has suitable and realistic plans in place to ensure that these developments continue.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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 whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation 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’. Inspection report children’s home: SC005567 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Stepping Stones Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Keys Attachment Centre, Hurstwood Court, Rawtensall, Rossendale, Lancashire BB4 6HR

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Inspector

Janine Shortman-Thomas, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC005567 9 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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