Children's home run by Pear Tree Projects Limited in County Durham

Inspection report children’s home: SC418605 1 SC418605 Registered provider: Pear Tree Projects 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

The home is run by a private organisation and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 14 to 15 November 2017

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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 outstanding

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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: 16 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 The leadership and management are excellent. The organisation gives very good guidance to the staff, and is clear about their role and the aims and objectives of the home. The registered manager is confident and ambitious for Inspection report children’s home: SC418605 2 all the young people in her care. She is knowledgeable, skilful and enthusiastic, and is very committed to the work.  The young people all make good progress at their school or college. They are all achieving good results.  The staff are able to refer the young people for individual support with a range of external professionals who are able to supply specialist assessments or do specialist work. The young people have participated in, and benefited from, these resources.  All of the young people spend time away from the home, either meeting friends or taking part in various activities or local clubs. Some of the young people carry

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Key findings from this inspection

out voluntary work in the local community. All these activities are helping to develop confidence and self-esteem.

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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 person needs to ensure that all the young people have a pathway plan in place by the time they reach the age of 16 years, to ensure that their transition to independence is as smooth as possible.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/11/2016 Full Outstanding 29/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/12/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC418605 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 registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which are kept up to date. (Regulation 36(1)(b)) In particular, up to date pathway plans should be maintained. 16/01/2018

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the previous inspection, one young person has left the home and another has recently moved in. The young person who left moved on after their behaviour became more challenging, and staff felt that they were unable to care safely for this young person. Although this young person had made some good progress during their time at the home, the outcome was not what was hoped for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the young people who are currently living at the home have good relationships with the staff, and the atmosphere in the home is relaxed and homely. The young people are able to have a say in many aspects of running the home, and there are high levels of cooperation and respect between the young people and the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the young people at the home have had difficult experiences in their lives, and they are all working with specialist workers to keep themselves and others around them safe. Most of the young people have completed specialist assessments, and engage in specialist programmes of work. This work is backed up by the staff, who offer individualised work that looks at a range of issues including keeping safe, relationships and behaviour. Some of the young people are working on their offending behaviour. While some are making progress in this area, there continue to be some concerns for others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The two young people who have remained at the home since the last inspection have continued to make good progress in many areas of their lives. They both attend college, and are progressing well with their chosen courses of study. Their attendance is good, and they are preparing well for their future employment prospects. These two young people now have more free time in the community, and both have clear interests and hobbies. One young person has taken part in a large outdoor theatre company show. Another is very keen on the local army cadet organisation, and attends regularly. This is Inspection report children’s home: SC418605 4 in preparation for a hoped-for future career in the armed forces.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the young people are encouraged to participate in active leisure options. They take part in a range of countryside pursuits on the provider organisation’s farm, and in other local community groups. One young person volunteers at a local nature reserve. These activities provide good learning opportunities and a chance to socialise. They also help to build confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The health of the young people is well looked after by the staff. One young person has made good progress in reducing their medication and changing their behaviour, with the support of staff and health workers. The staff also encourage family contact, when this is possible. The young people also receive good support with their independence skills, and are prepared well for adult life.

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

The young people at this home are kept safe. All the young people come from backgrounds where either they have been at risk, or they have been a risk to others.

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

The young people are closely supervised by the staff until the assessed risks are sufficiently understood and controlled. The staff understand the risks to young people, and the risks that they pose to others. The supervision levels are relaxed slowly, and in a controlled manner, so that trust is built. This enables the young people and others to remain protected. The staff understand that the young people need to have the experience of free time, and take great care to introduce this in a timely, but well thought through, manner.

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

The young people are given very clear guidance about the expectations around their behaviour, and about appropriate boundaries. The staff spend a lot of time explaining about appropriate relationships and behaviour. This is backed up with appropriate use of specialist workers. The staff have good contacts with specialists in sexually harmful behaviour, therapy, psychology and youth offending work, and refer young people to these specialists, when required.

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

There are few occurrences of young people going missing from the home. One young person has been absent on a number of occasions, and was missing for a longer period on one occasion. On each occasion, the staff made good efforts to locate and return this young person to the home.

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

There have been some safeguarding incidents, but staff are quick to report these appropriately. They work with a range of other professionals to deal effectively with these incidents, and to reduce both risk and harm. The staff have particularly good relationships with the local police, and work with them well.

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

One issue which has arisen a number of times since the previous inspection is the inappropriate use of the internet and social media by some of the young people. The staff do make efforts to address this issue, both by restricting internet use and by offering appropriate guidance, advice and education to the young people. However, Inspection report children’s home: SC418605 5 there are some outstanding concerns about this issue that local police are currently investigating, in connection with one young person.

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

There is no doubt that the young people living in this home feel safe and secure because of the efforts and work of the staff. The staff only very occasionally use sanctions or physical interventions. Usually, discussion, negotiation and restoration work are sufficient to resolve any difficulties.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is very experienced, and is appropriately qualified. She is skilled and confident, and is passionate about the service offered to the young people in her care. She is certainly ambitious for all the young people in her care, and has high expectations of her staff to change and improve the lives of the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The provider organisation has excellent resources which the registered manager uses as and when appropriate. These include a school which offers both academic study and a range of vocational opportunities, a working farm, and opportunities for many other rural and countryside crafts. Keeping young people interested and busy is an important part of the work, and the registered manager has a wide range of contacts within the local community to promote hobbies and interests for the young people. She also has contact with a wide range of professional and specialist workers whom she can involve when needed. She is able to challenge others effectively, and has recently successfully challenged a placing authority when it wanted to move a young person before the registered manager considered them to be ready.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The young people living in this home do make good progress, and the registered manager oversees the work that supports this progress. Her staff say they feel fully supported by her, and she offers good quality training and supervision to them. The registered manager gives the highest priority to all the young people, and goes to considerable lengths to fight for the best services for each of them. She monitors all aspects of their care, and her attention to detail is excellent.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: SC418605 6 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC418605 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pear Tree Projects Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Peartree House, Bolam, Darlington, County Durham DL2 2UP

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Diana Hewick-Crawford

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Inspector:

Colin Imrie, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC418605 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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