Amber House

Inspection report Children’s home: SC356604 1 SC356604 Registered provider: Pebbles Care 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 children’s home is run by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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Outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected Outstanding

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Outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers Good

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Outstanding

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

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Outstanding

Date of last inspection: 18 January 2017

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Outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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Outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report Children’s home: SC356604 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is outstanding because

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people’s needs are clearly understood by staff. As a result, they receive high-quality individualised care and protection from a dedicated staff team.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are making excellent progress in all aspects of their development.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people have formed trusting and long-lasting relationships with the staff team. This is due to the stability of the placements that have allowed positive attachments to develop.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager and staff place a strong emphasis on partnership working with both professionals and family members. This has promoted a high level of consistency in care and ensures that young people receive the services and resources they need.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Good management oversight and monitoring ensure the delivery of high-quality care for young people.

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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 in-house care plan documents are in the process of being revised. The manager needs to prioritise this to avoid shortfalls in recording practice and in the monitoring of young people’s goals and achievements.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Ensure the timely completion of six-monthly monitoring reports. Inspection report Children’s home: SC356604 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/07/2016 Full Good 23/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 03/11/2015 Full Good Inspection report Children’s home: SC356604 4

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

Specifically, define care planning objectives and set clear timescales to achieve these in order to better monitor young people’s progress.

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Recommendations

 Regulation 45 sets out requirements for the registered person to have a system in place, which allows them to monitor the matters set out in the regulation at least once every six months. The processes that the registered person puts in place to enable such a review to take place should allow for a report to be generated at least once every six months. The generated report should be sent to Ofsted and the placing local authority of all children in the home who are children looked after. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, pages 64 & 65, paragraphs 15.2 and 15.3)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people make sustained and significant progress relative to their starting points. This is due to the strong relationships and attachments that are developed by the experienced and highly motivated staff team. Young people have grown up with the same staff group; their placements are stable, and they have been at the home for some time. One young person said: ‘I am really settled here. All the staff have really nice personalities and I trust them.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff spend a considerable amount of time interacting and engaging with the young people, showing a genuine interest in their well-being, their likes and dislikes. Time spent with the young people is structured to include a combination of learning and skill- based activities with engagement in leisure pursuits and having fun times. One young person attends majorettes and ice-skating lessons; this has really improved her coordination. Another young person is thrilled at the prospect of having her bedroom re- decorated and stated: ‘I’m saving my pocket money to make my room look really nice.’ A particular event enjoyed by all is ‘take over days’, when roles are reversed and the young people run the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people are flourishing; the atmosphere in the home is warm and nurturing. Staff are highly proactive and persistent in advocating on behalf of the young people in Inspection report Children’s home: SC356604 5 ensuring that their views, wishes and feelings are taken into consideration. This was echoed in a statement made by one young person who said: ‘I feel really safe here. [X] (care worker) is helping me to tell my social worker why I want to stay here. I get on with the other young people. They are like my big sisters.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Developing independence skills is a top priority for the young people. Highly individualised plans promote increased confidence in young people’s ability to manage money, plan meals and food shop and develop life skills. For example, one young person is now a spokesperson for the children’s council and recently took a leadership role during a camping trip.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All the young people attend mainstream education. Staff have gone above and beyond in ensuring that all young people continue to attend the school that they were in prior to their admission. This has ensured continuity in learning and minimal disruption and has promoted better education outcomes. For example, one young person is taking several national qualifications: an achievement made possible by her increased confidence in her abilities through the support she has received.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Helping to maintain contact between young people and their families and friends is a strength of the home. Over time, family relationships have been nurtured and promoted, and staff encourage family members to visit the home. For one young person, this has seen her maternal grandmother come and cook a traditional Jamaican dish for all the staff and young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people’s physical and emotional health is promoted and monitored. This is underpinned by highly detailed and individualised healthcare plans. Consultation and visits undertaken by the nurse for children looked after have covered issues such as sexual health, smoking and healthy eating. Young people are very involved in decisions about the day-to-day running of the home. Residents meetings cover a range of topics, such as menu planning, group activities and grumbles. One staff member reported: ‘Young people are very outspoken and confident in expressing themselves, and lots of issues are resolved in our resident meetings.’

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

Staff increasingly understand young people’s behaviours, their competing and complex needs and the triggers to emotional distress. Staff help young people to persevere through challenging times with the support from specialist services. One young person commented: ‘I would never had got through the court case if I didn’t have [X] (care worker) to talk to and help me to understand what was happening.’ For one young person, the focused work undertaken by the staff team has reduced the risk of child sexual exploitation from medium to low.

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

Staff are skilled and adept at understanding the emotional and mental health needs of young people. Therapeutic advice and consultation have been sought for one young person, who has a previous history of serious self-harm. Since admission, there has only Inspection report Children’s home: SC356604 6 been one suspected incident. This is testament to the vigilance and highly committed staff team that continues to work with the young people to develop emotional resilience, reflect on past behaviours and manage their emotions in a different way.

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

Risk assessments are regularly updated to mirror current behaviours and manage risks, both in the home environment and in the community. Young people respond well to the boundaries imposed because they understand the rationale behind them. Young people do not go missing. As one young person said: ‘I do not need to go missing. I have everything I need here.’

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

Staff are highly responsive and actively work to reduce risk to others. One-to-one supervision is in place for one young person, whose actions posed a potential risk to another young person in placement. This is further underpinned by focused key-work sessions, enabling the young person to reflect on their actions and understand the potential seriousness of their behaviour.

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

Young people thrive on the routines and boundaries that are in place. Staff are experienced in dealing with challenging behaviours without the need for physical restraint. Staff know how to respond to young people’s negative behaviours, for instance, knowing that for one young person finding a quiet space with their key worker is more productive than imposing a sanction.

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

Young people are safe because recruitment procedures ensure that only those individuals who are safe to work with vulnerable groups are employed at the home. Young people also feel confident that, if they make a disclosure, it will be acted on and investigated in accordance with the home’s safeguarding policy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is suitably qualified and has managed the home for a number of years. He has retained a stable and committed staff team through effective leadership skills and is well respected by staff and other professionals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has created an environment where staff have training opportunities that are relevant to the lives of the young people. These have included topics such as attachment theory, restorative practice and child sexual exploitation. The manager encourages and promotes safe care and strong partnership working and strives to improve the quality of care and outcomes for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have been proactive in engaging with the wider community by regularly attending community meetings in the local area. This has promoted within the community a better understanding of the home by dispelling negative attitudes and improving community awareness. This initiative has resulted in a significant decline in neighbourhood complaints.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring performance is effective in evaluating young people’s progress. Setting goals Inspection report Children’s home: SC356604 7 with achievable targets for each young person ensures that staff intervention is focused on helping young people to plan for their future independence. The manager needs to ensure that this important work is reflected and recorded in their care plans and further to ensure the timely completion of the six-monthly monitoring reports.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff work closely as a team. The manager has an ‘open door’ policy for both staff and young people. As one young person stated: ‘He is great. He always listens to my complaints and sorts them out straight away, and I can really talk to him.’

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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: SC356604 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pebbles Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rouse House, 2 Wyther Lane, Kirkstall, Leeds LS5 3BT

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Inspector

Cath Sikakana, social care inspector Inspection report Children’s home: SC356604 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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