Children's Home run by Highfield North East Limited in Redcar and Cleveland

Inspection report children’s home: SC476512 1 SC476512 Registered provider: Highfield (North East) 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

A private company operates this home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five 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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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: 13 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC476512 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 The committed and experienced registered manager enthuses a diverse and nurturing staff team.  Children and young people make good progress in developing self-protection and social skills.  Children and young people attend appropriate education provisions where they are achieving to the best of their ability.  Children and young people feel safe and secure, empowering them to make meaningful attachments to staff members.

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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 manager’s internal monitoring reports do not use the views of children, young people, parents, professionals or staff as they could to influence practice.  Inconsistent recording on staff files does not demonstrate that all relevant documentation is obtained.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/02/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 05/09/2016 Full Good 18/01/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 28/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC476512 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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 system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45(5)) 12/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The requirements are that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (3) (d) (Schedule 2 (1)). In particular, this refers to proof of identity including a recent photograph. 12/09/2017

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people say that they are happy in this home and benefit from secure attachments with staff. Children and young people do not always get on with each other but the staff are aware of the risk of discord between them and use restorative practice consistently to address concerns. An education tutor said, ‘This is the perfect place for him. He has gone from sitting in his room all the time at his previous home to a home he is happy in. I can see when he is talking about staff that he trusts them.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people live in a spacious, detached property in a rural location. They are able to participate in caring for the home’s goats and chickens as well as play in the extensive grounds. The large home boasts two separate lounges, affording children and young people a choice of spending time together or apart when involved with age- appropriate pursuits. A young person said, ‘I’ve never had such a big bedroom in my life before.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Detailed and comprehensive care plans ensure that children and young people’s unique and diverse needs are known and met. Consequently, children and young people make good progress in all aspects of their development, emotional health and well-being. A youth offending service reparation worker said, ‘He has progressed to a lot better young lad in every way.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC476512 4 Children and young people all receive suitable education provision and are making good progress. One young person, new to the home, is receiving one-to-one tuition while arrangements are made to reintegrate him back into his pupil referral unit. The staff work closely with all education providers, as good parents would, to encourage attendance and improve performance. This commitment enhances children and young people’s learning now and their future employment opportunities. An education tutor said, ‘From where he was previously to where he is now is such a positive step forward

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Good, collaborative working with both generic and specialist health partners ensures that children and young people’s emotional and physical health needs are met. This, coupled with encouragement to embrace a healthy lifestyle, which includes participating in regular exercise and eating well, improves children and young people’s health and well- being. A young person said, ‘I’m really proud of myself for sleeping through the night.’ Children and young people enjoy participating in a range of inclusive activities in and around the home and the local community. This involvement not only improves health and practical skills, for example playing in a hockey team or tending to the home’s animals, but also increases children and young people’s life and social skills. A youth offending worker said, ‘One of the good things here as well is the animals. They are therapeutic and calming for him.’ An excellent, colourful and detailed welcome pack and children’s guide informs children

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

and young people about the quality of care that they are likely to receive in the home prior to their admittance. Staff encourage children and young people to air their views and share their wishes and feelings in their residents’ meetings, with their key workers and through the complaints process. As a result, there have not been any complaints as children and young people feel valued and grow in confidence, allowing them to express their opinions. Young people are carefully prepared for their transition on to adulthood, whether this be returning to live with family members, moving in to independence or to another placement. Carefully targeted key-work sessions with the young person identify what their wishes are for their futures. Proactive work undertaken with partner agencies and family members then takes place to ensure that this can happen. The staff provide planned interventions for young people after their move and remain available for

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

support, as a family would, to promote the best possible outcomes. A social worker commented, ‘They take very good care of children up to 18 and beyond, because they are like family to them and the children come back.’ A young person wrote, ‘I love every single member of staff as a friend and I will miss every single one of you a lot.’

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

The patient and resilient staff team members are good role models for children and young people. Their actions and demeanour demonstrate how to remain calm and compassionate. This allows children and young people to learn more appropriate ways of expressing their wishes and feelings, rather than making demands. This includes working with young people to enable them to understand that they can only access age- appropriate computer games. As a result, children and young people are protected while Inspection report children’s home: SC476512 5 they learn appropriate social skills. A youth offending worker said, ‘Good boundaries put in by staff are respected by [name].’

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

The management and staff teams knowledge of children and young people’s individual vulnerabilities and the careful planning of their care helps to keep children and young people increasingly safe. Staff take proactive steps to educate children and young people to ensure that they develop self-protection skills. This includes children and young people receiving training about internet safety from an external agency. A social worker said, ‘Children are very safe there, they [the staff] go the extra mile.’

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

A comprehensive range of risk assessments identify the steps staff should take if children or young people absent themselves from the home. However, such are the attachments with the staff that there have not been any missing episodes since December 2016. This demonstrates children and young people’s feelings of belonging. The introduction of a n excellent new risk assessment tool provides safeguards for children and young people if they are cared for away from the home in an emergency, either in a hotel or in a holiday location. This effectively allows children and young people to have new experiences, which enrich their lives. For the most part, children and young people have good relationships with staff and each other and behave respectfully towards each other. As a result, although staff are appropriately trained, physical intervention is not necessary as children and young people respond to the safe boundaries around them. However, at present there are

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

some bullying behaviours between two young people. Staff are working restoratively to address this but incidents continue to occur. Children and young people are now being empowered to understand the impact that their behaviour has on others by the effective use of sanctions, known as consequences. These are restorative in nature, allowing for both reparation and communication between all concerned. As a result, children and young people learn social and life skills while being protected. A staff member said, ‘When she first came here, she wouldn’t get close to anybody and she would fly off the handle with everybody. By the time she left she would laugh and joke and was able to be herself and have fun.’

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

The staff team understands and implements comprehensive safeguarding and child protection plans. These include the risks posed by radicalisation and extremism. Children and young people are safeguarded as a result.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The appropriately qualified registered manager has over 16 years’ experience in residential childcare, with three years in a managerial position. The dedication and commitment to his role ensures that he knows the children and young people in his care extremely well. His calm and measured approach inspires confidence in staff, children and young people, empowering all to achieve to the best of their ability. A staff member said, ‘We feel listened to. I can guarantee that [name of manager] does listen to his staff and that is massive.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC476512 6 The manager has met one of the requirements and all three of the recommendations raised at the last inspection. This not only demonstrates the home’s capacity to improve but also provides further safeguards for children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent visitor’s reports are improving. They now meet with legislation and contribute towards improving care and outcomes in the home. The manager’s auditing processes are good, and this ensures that he is aware of each child and young person’s individual needs and progress. He has also devised helpful new ways of capturing the views of the children, young people and other interested parties. However, he is still not incorporating these or staffs’ views in his monitoring reports. This requirement is therefore repeated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A much-improved referral document ensures that the manager obtains all the necessary information about a child or young person from their placing local authority. This enables clear decision making as to whether or not the young person is a good match with the other young people already in the home, and identifies whether the placement can meet that individuals’ needs. Such good admission procedures prevent the risk of disruption and instability for all of the children and young people in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has proactively recruited male members of staff to maintain a balance of gender in the home. Consequently, the home now has an equal number of male and female staff members. An education tutor said, ‘It was a female-only staff in his past place and that didn’t meet his needs. I can see the relationships he has with staff here and that is varied and he has both male and female staff.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

However, although effective recruitment procedures are applied appropriately for the most part, there are some inconsistencies in the staff records, particularly around confirming identity. This does not affect children and young people’s safety but it does not comply with legislation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The enthusiastic and nurturing staff team relishes being able to provide children and young people with opportunities in a safe and caring environment. The staff report positively about the training and support that they receive from the management team, which enables them to do their job well. As a result, a staff team that can meet its needs cares for children and young people. A staff member said, ‘You come to work and you have a smile on your face. We’re like a little family.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The positive working relationships between the home and professionals involved with children and young people ensure a collaborative approach to their care. As a result, progress is recognised and built upon empowering children and young people to make further strides in their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is passionate about his role. He ensures that he and his staff ‘provide opportunities for young people to open doors for them to have the best possible lives’. He uses his knowledge of each child and young person gained through daily interaction, staff meetings and detailed monthly summaries to monitor effectively each individual’s progress. This allows the registered manager to challenge placing authorities Inspection report children’s home: SC476512 7 when needed and ensure that all the necessary steps are taken to meet children and young people’s needs. When speaking about a young person, the manager said, ‘He only functions at a six- to eight-year-old level. In meetings I have to stop some professionals and make them rephrase what they are saying so he can grasp it.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose states: ‘Our work is based primarily on an understanding of attachment disorders and their impact on the lives of young people. Our moral purpose is to imbue our young people with a sense of self-worth, a desire to learn, an acceptance of challenge and the wisdom to make positive choices. We believe that this will empower them to take charge of their own destiny and thus lead them to a more prosperous, healthy and just life.’ The fact that children and young people are able to make good attachments to staff, which allows them to grow in self-confidence and well-being, demonstrate that the home is meeting its ethos.

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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 who 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: SC476512 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Highfield (North East) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 37 Emerald Street, Saltburn-by-the-sea, Cleveland TS12 1EE

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Inspectors

Ann-Marie Born, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC476512 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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