Children's Home run by Step-A-Side Company Limited in Gloucestershire

Inspection report children's home: SC030650 1 SC030650 Registered provider: Step-a-Side Company Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is one of two homes operated by the same provider. The home currently provides long-term and short-break care and accommodation for a maximum of five children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, or learning disabilities.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 1 November 2016

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

p.1

Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children's home: SC030650 2

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

 Young people like living at the home. Since they moved in, all of the young people have made progress. Some young people have made excellent progress in their education.  All young people have reduced the behaviours that were placing them and others at risk.  Staff have developed very good relationships with young people and their families. The team provides additional support for families when needed.  Young people are cared for by a well-trained and dedicated staff team. The team is provided with high quality training to ensure that young people receive a good standard of care.

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 Staff recruitment records do not contain all information listed in schedule 2 to the regulations.  The registered manager needs to further improve her monitoring systems. Currently these systems did not identify all of the areas for improvement stated in this report.  Records of restraint are not comprehensive. Debriefs with young people should not be carried out by the member of staff who restrained the child. In addition staff should not use vague or emotive language to describe the young person’s behaviours that led to the restraint.

p.2

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/08/2016 Full Outstanding 03/11/2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness 19/05/2015 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC030650 3

p.2

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard.

p.3

Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(h)) 31/10/2017

p.3

Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. 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. In particular references must be verified and full employment histories obtained. (Regulation 32 (1),(3(d)) 31/10/2017

p.3

Recommendation

 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 when any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure that it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59) In particular debrief discussions with young people should not be carried out by the staff involved in the restraint and language used in the record should be clear and concise.

p.3

Inspection judgements

Inspection report children's home: SC030650 4

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide young people with very good quality, individualised care and support to meet their complex and challenging needs. They have built strong, positive relationships with the young people and their families. One parent of a young person who goes to the home for respite care said: Staff are always there for both the young person and myself. Even when he is with me at home I can ring and get advice. Sometimes they have even come out to help with his behaviour. He has numerous hospital appointments and staff often come with me to support me. Young people are making good progress in their education. One young person has received many awards from school for his academic achievements. When young people are having difficulties at school, staff have offered to provide extra support during the day for the young person. The staff team manages young people moving into and out of the home well. Before a

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

young person moves in, the registered manager assesses their compatibility with the young people who already live at the home and her team’s ability to meet the needs of the new young person to ensure that anyone new will fit in well. Staff ensure that young people’s healthcare needs are met. This includes young people with complex healthcare needs. The registered manager ensures that all staff receive individualised training from healthcare professionals when needed. Young people benefit from the provision of weekly sessions with the organisation’s psychologist. The psychologist also works with the staff team, providing support and expertise with in the development of young people’s care plans and working strategies. Young people enjoy taking part in a vast range of activities. They access the local community, including local youth groups. Young people said that they love all the activities they get to do, and staff are always keen to hear about any new things they

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

would like to do. The young people are currently excited about their summer holiday by the coast. The staff team is committed to the young people they care for. They place the young people’s well-being at the heart of their practice. Parents and social workers commented that staff will go ‘above and beyond’ for the young people in their care. Young people enjoy living in a spacious, welcoming and homely environment. The home is situated in a rural location and there are large gardens for young people to use. The staff support young people to personalise their own rooms and the communal areas. The need for any repairs is very quickly addressed to ensure that the comfortable, homely feeling of the home is maintained.

p.4

improvement to be good

Staff demonstrate that they have a good working knowledge of safeguarding systems and clearly understand their duty of care. Records of safeguarding events contain all the required information and evidence the actions taken to protect young people. There was a delay in referring one potential safeguarding incident, but this was addressed and Inspection report children's home: SC030650 5 systems reviewed to prevent a reoccurrence. Recruitment practices require improvement. Not all of the staff recruitment files are in line with safer recruitment practices. References are not verified in every case and employment histories are not consistently obtained. This does not fully safeguard young people. The use of physical restraint to manage young people’s behaviour is kept to a minimum. The recording of incidents of restraint requires improvement. Debrief discussions with young people are, on occasion, carried out by the person who restrained the young

p.4

improvement to be good

person. This approach could potentially prevent a young person from raising issues about the restraint. In addition, staff use vague or emotive language to describe events that have led to the restraint. This prevents effective monitoring of incidents with the aim of avoiding future occurrences. Young people said that they feel safe at the home. From their starting point, young people have made good, and in some cases excellent, progress in reducing their risk- taking behaviours. This includes a reduction in episodes of young people going missing from home. Staff help young people to develop an understanding of their behaviours and the potential risks these can present to themselves and others. Staff use positive reinforcement effectively as part of their management of young people’s behaviours. Detailed, up-to-date behaviour support plans and risk assessments help ensure consistency of care.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by an experienced and appropriately qualified registered manager. She has recently completed her registration with Ofsted. During the inspection, the registered manager demonstrated her understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement in the home. The registered manager has a monitoring system in place, but this did not identify all of the shortfalls found during this inspection. Since the last inspection, there have been some changes in the staff team. This has been well managed, and there has been no use of agency staff. New staff receive a good quality induction which prepares them to provide young people with a good standard of care. New staff praised the registered manager and their peers for the support, advice and help they had received. The staff team benefits from receiving good quality, regular training. Training plans are created to ensure that young people’s needs are met and that the skills of the staff team

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

are enhanced. Staff praised the registered manager and senior managers for the support they receive. This includes regular, good quality individual supervisions. These sessions give the staff and manager the opportunity to reflect on staff responses to events and the opportunity to learn from these. The staff team strongly advocates for the young people in their care. They see this as essential to make sure that young people receive what they need to thrive. Both parents and social workers praised the staff team for their commitment to the Inspection report children's home: SC030650 6 young people they care for. They described the service as ‘excellent’. One parent said that staff have an amazing relationship with both her son and herself and ‘are always there for us… The Squirrels is an amazing place where staff go above and beyond. They really care and always want to help us as a family’. At the last inspection no requirements or recommendations were made.

p.5

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. Whenever 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.

p.6

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 and 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: SC030650 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Step-a-Side Company Limited

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Step A Side, 29 Market Place, Coleford, Gloucestershire GL16 8AA

p.7

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Rachel Carwardine

p.7

Inspector

Wendy Anderson, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC030650 8 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, 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 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8