Children's Home run by Choices 4 Children Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children's home: SC400880 1 SC400880 Registered provider: Choices 4 Children Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities. It is a single, privately owned and operated home.

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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 good

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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: 11 January 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: Not applicable Inspection report children’s home: SC400880 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 make excellent progress from the day they arrive at the home.  Young people have very positive relationships with staff and other young people who they live with.  Young people feel happy and safe at the home and they thrive in a nurturing environment.  Staff have a very good understanding of the young people’s needs. They use a range of effective strategies to engage young people who respond well to these.  Staff adapt their communication strategies to ensure that children, who have communication difficulties, understand what is happening in their lives.  Staff know the young people very well and they support them to develop their individual interests and aspirations. Continuous and dedicated support enhances young people’s lives to enable them to achieve their full potential.  Young people engage well with education and volunteering opportunities. They are making very good progress in their learning and development, and they are

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Key findings from this inspection

meeting their individual goals.  Staff communicate very effectively with families and support young people to have regular contact with their family.  Staff work very well with other agencies and communication is very good. Other agencies are extremely positive about 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

 Staff do not always progress the advice and guidance given by specialist services in a timely way.  The internal quality assurance system is not robust enough. Consequently, agreed actions are not always completed and recorded well.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/05/2016 Full Good 09/03/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 08/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC400880 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person should develop and implement an internal quality assurance monitoring and reviewing system to ensure that practice is consistently good and ensure the continuous improvement of practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards, page 55, paragraph 10.54)  The registered person should ensure that when a child needs additional health or well-being support that staff work with the child’s local authority and other agencies to enable proper and immediate access to any specialist service and that specialist advice is used to inform practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards, page 34, paragraph 7.14)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people make extremely positive progress living in this home. They receive excellent individual care that reflects their needs. Young people have very good relationships with staff and they feel safe and cared for. Young people also get on with one another and are supportive of each other. They go on joint activities together and say that they enjoy this. Young people receive the encouragement and support they need to develop their interests. Three young people play musical instruments, and one is a member of a band. To support them in developing their talent, young people receive one-to-one tuition. Furthermore, staff explore other interests with young people and encourage them to try new things, for example scouting. Staff inspire young people to progress and learn things that are a challenge to them. For example, one young person could not swim when he arrived at the home. He attended swimming lessons. However,

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

due to his complex needs this was not effective. Staff were committed to teach the young person to swim and therefore they decided to teach him themselves. Subsequently, he recently achieved his 25-metre swimming badge and certificate.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people speak fondly about all the activities that they do, for example roller- skating, swimming and scouting, and are looking forward to going on holiday together over the summer holidays.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people are doing well in their education and they are making very good progress. One young person’s teacher said, ‘The difference in [name of young person] since being at [name of home] is unbelievable. He is such a happy and amazing young man who progresses on a daily basis and [name of the home] are a huge part of that and should be so proud’. Young people are encouraged to achieve their full potential within their education and Inspection report children’s home: SC400880 4 learning. They receive the support that they need to make the transitions from primary school to high school and then from high school to college.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is generally well maintained and improvement work is underway to improve the home to meet young people’s needs. The home is warm, calm and inviting, and it is reflective of the young people living there. Young people are encouraged to personalise their home and there are pictures of young people around the home. Some young people have difficulty communicating. To support the young people in this, staff are very proactive in ensuring that any text information in the home has pictures and symbols to ensure that young people understand the information.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young benefit from clear routines and boundaries, which has a positive impact on their behaviour, development and progress. Young people are involved in the running of the home and they have regular young people’s meetings where they discuss issues and agree actions, which are then progressed by staff in a timely way. Young people are involved in developing the weekly menus, they assist with the food shop and they prepare and cook food. This supports them in having an active voice in the decisions that affect them and helps them to develop social, communication and independent skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people are actively encouraged to integrate into the local community. Two young people volunteer at two local charity shops. They speak very positively about this. They enjoy volunteering and getting to know new people. Volunteering helps the young people to develop their social and communication skills. Furthermore, it builds their self- esteem and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people receive support to develop skills in independence. Where appropriate, specific plans are in place to support young people to gain the knowledge and skills needed for a successful transition to independence. Young people receive practical help and a nurturing approach to build their confidence so that they can do things more independently. An example of this is catching the bus to their local college and knowing how to do this in a confident and safe way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people receive the support they need to understand and manage their behaviour, which enables them to make good choices. For example, going missing from home was a key risk indicator for one young person and this has reduced considerably. Young people benefit from a nurturing and consistent approach. Subsequently, young people become settled very quickly and incidents of challenging behaviour reduce. When incidents have occurred staff have been committed to understanding why a young person has behaved in this way, and supporting the young people to manage their feelings in ways that are more positive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people receive support to access the services that will assist them in meeting their identified needs. Staff liaise with other agencies well and feedback from them is extremely positive. A headteacher commented that they were ‘very happy with the quality of care that the boys have received’. They go on to say that, they have ‘always found staff at [name of home] positive, cooperative and willing to work together in the Inspection report children’s home: SC400880 5 best interest of the boys in their care’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people have regular contact with their families. Where there are challenges with this, the manager and staff work together with the social worker to promote contact and seek ways to manage this safely. If families need any help with contact, staff will offer the support that they need. One parent said that he feels supported by staff and that ‘I can call when I like and if I need anything I will just ring and ask.’ This enables families to feel confident and supported when building and maintaining relationships with their children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff team promotes the achievements of the young people and staff praise the young people regularly. It is evident that young people thrive on this and are encouraged to develop their interests, skills and abilities and, furthermore, to try things that they may not have done before. Achievements are captured in weekly and monthly feedback, monitoring and recording. The manager shares these with social workers and families so that they can see the progression and achievements that young people are making.

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

Young people who live at the home are safe. Staff are very calm and caring in their approach and young people respond well to this. Staff are clear about their roles and responsibilities to keep young people safe. There is a real sense of care and compassion throughout the home and young people are responding positively to this reassuring environment. As a result, concerning behaviours considerably reduce and young people become content and settled. One parent commented that ‘[name of young person] seems to be doing better and better since they have been living at [name of the home].’

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

Regular key-working sessions take place with the young people. This supports young people to understand their individual needs and vulnerabilities, and furthermore how they can develop the skills they need to manage these safely now and in the future.

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

Young people’s placement plans are completed to a good standard and reflect each young person. Information is clear and the documents are easy to navigate. The monitoring of need, risk and the progress that young people make is good. Monthly individual development plans are in place for each young person that include meaningful and achievable targets.

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

Young people’s risk assessments and behaviour management plans are clear and easy to follow. They guide the reader to hazards, risks, and trigger points well. Non- communication triggers are clearly explained. This enables staff to support young people effectively and ensure that they feel safe and protected. Staff are able to identify trigger points and intervene at the very earliest opportunity. Young people respond well to this and, as a result, heightened behaviours reduce.

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

Staff and young people are clear about the standards of behaviour that are acceptable. Young people respect this. Staff receive training on behaviour management and the safe Inspection report children’s home: SC400880 6 use of restraint. Staff are able to respond quickly to issues that arise and subsequently staff manage and de-escalate incidents effectively with minimal need for physical intervention.

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

The recruitment and selection of staff is sufficiently robust. However, full details of the recruitment process are not clearly stored on staff files, for example interview questions and answers. Staff are vigilant and take appropriate steps to verify visitors’ identities to protect young people. Health and safety checks are completed, and this ensures a safe living environment. The community risk assessment is in place and reflects all potential hazards and risks in the community.

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

Staffing levels are very good. This allows young people to have access to the levels of support that they need. In addition, it ensures that young people have the required safeguards in place and that the management of risk and need is effective.

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

The home has good links and very positive relationships with other agencies. This supports the help that young people need to achieve good outcomes. Staff actively seek support for young people from specialist agencies when required. However, not all needs are acted on as quickly and some agreed actions are not followed through. Furthermore, specialist advice is not always implemented into practice. For example, some young people have a range of communication needs; however, effective speech and language strategies are not always known and used to help and support young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A suitably experienced registered manager manages the home. He has been in post for four years and has recently completed the level five diploma in leadership and management in residential childcare. A recently appointed deputy manager supports the manager to run the home effectively in line with the aims and ethos of the statement of purpose. The management team has worked for the company for a considerable amount of years. It leads by example and is committed to delivering high standards of individual care for the young people. It seeks young people’s feedback and provides many opportunities for young people to share their wishes and feelings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are suitably qualified or working towards this. There is a mixture of well-established and new staff members within the team. The team works well together and provides consistent care for young people. All staff have a clear understanding of the needs of young people. Staff work together effectively to ensure that young people receive consistent positive messages. This is particularly evident in the day-to-day practice and indeed in the key-working sessions. Young people are clearly responding to these reinforced positive messages. Young people receive continuous praise for their achievements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that their line manager supports them. They are encouraged to develop their knowledge and skills further, via training and team discussions. While staff training is available and the training matrix is clear, and the organisation provides opportunities for training, the current training available is often desktop based and not facilitated by a Inspection report children’s home: SC400880 7 trainer. This limits the opportunity for interactive training and staff being afforded the time to reflect on their practice and learn from each other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision. Supervision is focused and meaningful. However, it is not always reflective in nature and thus staff are not routinely encouraged to explore their practice and learn from their experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home benefits from a robust external monitoring process. This supports the continuous improvement of the home. While internal monitoring of the home is in place, this does not always identify gaps in practice. Consequently, managers do not ensure that agreed actions are complete. Furthermore, recording is sometimes inaccurate and decision-making relating to these actions are not clear.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the home, and the home is making very good progress. The manager is young-person focused and this is reflected in the home’s development plan. The plan has been informed by consultation with young people. However, the current development plan is out of date.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Liaison with other agencies is very effective. Agencies speak extremely positively about their relationship with the home and the progress that young people are making. They are regularly kept up to date with the progress of young people and any incidents are reported to them in a timely way, which strengthens effective safeguarding arrangements for young people. One professional said that ‘My experience of working with staff at [name of the home] is very good and I will recommend [name of the home] to other professionals if/whenever I have the opportunity to do so.’

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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 differences 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: SC400880 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Choices 4 Children Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: C/O Stopford & CO, 79–81 Market Street, Stalybridge, Cheshire SK15 2AA

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Inspectors

Lisa Gregoire-Parker, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC400880 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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