Children's home run by Five Rivers Child Care Limited in Wiltshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC001452 1 SC001452 Registered provider: Five Rivers Child Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home. The home is currently registered to provided care and accommodation for up to six children 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 outstanding

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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: 22 February 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC001452 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

 The manager and staff inspire confidence and instil in the children belief both in themselves and that they can achieve their dreams.  The children thrive as a result of care that is delivered consistently by a permanent and stable staff team with whom the children have built explicitly trusting relationships.  The children are safe, and they respond exceptionally well to the clear boundaries and structure provided within a secure environment modelled on family.  Once the children feel safe, they are able to express their feelings and give their views and opinions about the care that they receive.  The children make great progress in education.  Robust partnership working with health, education and social care professionals ensures that the effective multi-agency working provides the children with excellent support and care.  Thorough oversight and monitoring of the care provided ensures that the

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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

 Demonstrate the experience and achievements of the children within the monthly regulation 44 monitoring report.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 29/11/2016 Full Good 22/10/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 20/05/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC001452 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24) In particular, the home should reflect in the monthly regulation 44 monitoring reports the progress and achievements of the children against their care plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Highly individualised care is provided by the explicitly personalised support each child receives from the staff team. The frequent assessment of each child’s care and progress makes sure that the goals and targets set for them to grow and develop are achieved and sustained. The children benefit greatly from a key team of staff who are child- centred, determined and dedicated in ensuring that the children have enjoyable childhoods and make progress within a nurturing, family-style environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children respond constructively to having clear routines and boundaries. They benefit greatly from the particularly strong and enduring relationships that they have built with the staff. This makes the children feel safe and secure. The development of trust in those who care for them enables the children to consistently listen to the advice and guidance given. The children embrace the support provided by the staff team that enables them to thrive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Each child take parts in a weekly therapy and key-work session and this continues to support them in making continued progress. The close partnership working between the therapist and the staff team ensures that all the guidance and planned approaches to support each child’s emotional health and behaviour are implemented. This significantly promotes each child’s well-being. Furthermore, immense importance is given to making sure that all the children receive routine health checks and assessments. Consequently, the children’s anxiety reduces and their health is improved. This makes sure that the health needs of the children are fully met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All of the children benefit enormously from the home’s embedded ethos on the importance of going to school. It is this ethos that has brought about all the children’s significant progress in school attendance as well as their attainment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children have responded over time to the therapeutic approaches and benefits of expressing their feelings, views and preferences through a number of mediums. For their Inspection report children’s home: SC001452 4 ages, they are able to give their views with great confidence and conviction and this is another indicator of their continued progress. The children know how to make a complaint if they need to. The children give feedback to the staff daily at residents’ meetings and key-work sessions. This includes how they are feeling and what is going well during their day, their choice of menu, preferred activities and arranging family visits. Importance is given to hearing and acting on the child’s voice. The staff recognise that this is essential in supporting the children’s successful journey.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children enjoy positive relationships with their families. The staff work tirelessly to build strong and positive relationships with children’s families. This results in regular telephone contact and visits from family members. In addition, the staff keep parents up to date with the progress and achievements of their children verbally and in writing. This provides the children with a strong sense of identity, and ensures that they keep in touch with those who are important to them. One child said: ‘This is a good place to live. The best thing about living here is the staff.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

There is a great focus on ensuring that the children broaden their life experiences. The staff make sure that they support children to undertake leisure hobbies and interests that promote positive social engagement. This increases their confidence and awareness of the community in which they live. The children engage in a number of activities, including playing, drama classes, swimming, Xbox, arts and crafts, going for walks, visiting the cinema, cycling and trips to the seaside. In addition, the children all went on a summer holiday, enjoying the experience immensely. A parent said: ‘My son has made progress. He is now going out when before he found this difficult. This is great for me to see.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children develop good independence skills appropriate to their ages. They undertake chores around their home, which include clearing the dining table, washing the crockery and tidying their own bedrooms.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is clean and is decorated and furnished to a very good standard. The children benefit greatly from the comfortable and homely environment that reflects their choices for personalising their home. A child said: ‘This is our home. I decided the colour of my bedroom.’ The home reflects the children’s interests and identities with an array of photographs and personal items.

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

The children respond positively to and benefit significantly from the close supervision of the staff. The high staffing levels reduce the incidents of unsuitable behaviour and further protect children from harm. The children and the staff confirm that there is no bullying taking place. Professionals say that the work the staff do with the children reduces the identified risks and this keeps them safer. A child said: ‘I am safe here. Staff would die to protect me; I know this.’

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

The children respond extremely well to the emphasis on positive behaviour, which is demonstrated by rewards, incentives and praise. As a result, negative behaviour Inspection report children’s home: SC001452 5 subsides and reduces over time. A child said: ‘I love to choose from my treasure box when I have done well.’ There is a more recent focus on a ‘restorative justice’ approach to support and address negative behaviour, which young people respond to very well. The use of sanctions and physical interventions has reduced over time. The consistent care, routines and boundaries established and maintained by the staff encourage positive and socially acceptable behaviour. This provides the children with a secure and safe environment to live in.

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

The staff are clear that it is everyone’s responsibility to safeguard the children. All the staff are fully aware of the individual vulnerabilities of and risks for each child in their care. The children have detailed risk assessments that include specific safeguarding strategies to minimise or eliminate risks. Prompt action is taken to follow procedures and to report and investigate safeguarding concerns to continue to protect the children.

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

The children respond fully to the advice given about the dangers they may be subject to when going missing. There have been no missing from care incidents since the last inspection in February 2017. The staff implement carefully planned support strategies and safeguarding measures devised specially for each of the children. This protects the children from harm.

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

There are regular audits undertaken that include fire and health and safety checks. The staff routinely receive training in areas such as first aid, the administration of medication, fire, child protection and behaviour management. This provides the children with a safe environment in which to live.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is new in post and is not yet registered with Ofsted. She has the relevant experience in caring for children and management. She holds a degree in social work and the level 5 qualification in management.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The children benefit significantly from the clear vision that the manager demonstrates to make certain that they succeed. She inspires the staff to build confidence and instil in the children a belief in themselves. This is demonstrated in the individualised, tailored care plans for each of the children. This is achieved because the staff are extremely motivated, dedicated, stable and child-focused, and work consistently together to meet the needs of the children. The staff access a wide range of training. Most of the staff have achieved the level 3 diploma in caring for children and young people, with all mandatory training areas kept up to date. In addition, they have undertaken more specialist training. This includes child attachment and the impact of shame. A staff member said: ‘I’m impressed and the training we get here is so good.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The management team provides excellent quality formal supervision to the staff. This includes the wide use of reflective practice that enables the staff to learn from their experience. In turn, this makes certain that the staff can meet the needs of the children extremely well. Consequently, the quality of care continues to improve for the children. A staff member said: ‘I receive monthly supervision; we are a very supportive team.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC001452 6 Professionals consistently report that there are ‘superb working relationships’, with first- rate communication to provide the best support and care for the children. An independent reviewing officer said: ‘Communication is spot-on. I’m always provided with a comprehensive report.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Robust auditing systems include internal monitoring by the manager and external monitoring by the provider. This monitoring quickly uncovers deficits and omissions, which enables the manager to address them. The manager’s awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the service makes certain that crucial and effective action is taken to remedy the shortfalls identified. Her actions, together with the direct oversight and frequent supervision of the staff’s practice, maintain the continuing high standards of care provided to the children. However, monthly regulation 44 monitoring reports do not include clear information on the children’s progress and achievements against their care plans.

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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: SC001452 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Five Rivers Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Five Rivers Child Care, 47 Bedwin Street, Salisbury SP1 3UT

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Inspector

Debbie Foster, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC001452 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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