Children's Home run by North Lakes Children’s Service Limited in Cumbria

Inspection report children’s home: SC356907 1 SC356907 Registered provider: North Lakes Children’s Services 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 operated by a private provider, who has three other children’s homes in the locality. The home is registered for up to eight children who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The organisation also operates a school, registered with the Department for Education, providing fully integrated programmes of care and education.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 13 to 14 December 2017

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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: 27 February 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC356907 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 are very happy in this home and achieve tremendous stability in their lives.  Staff are nurturing in their approach and show young people considerable emotional warmth. This helps them to feel well cared for and develop a good sense of belonging.  Young people identify their relationships with staff and the support they provide as being central to the progress they have made since coming to the home.  Young people make significant progress in all aspects of their lives from their starting points. They are supported to become more resilient and independent, ensuring that they are well prepared for adult life.  The home is comfortable and well maintained. Staff create a welcoming and nurturing environment for young people. Consequently, young people have a strong sense of belonging and take great pride in their home.  Young people’s safety and well-being are paramount. Staff are highly trained in

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Key findings from this inspection

child protection and safeguarding matters and planning is meticulous. This ensures that all staff have a clear understanding of how to safeguard and support the young people in their care.  Young people’s health and education needs are well prioritised and supported. Young people benefit from the advice and oversight of the organisation’s health professional (RGN) and integrated independent school. Excellent communication between staff and teaching professionals ensures that young people receive a highly consistent level of care in both environments.  The home is extremely well led and managed. The management team is committed to providing high-quality care and support that ensures that young people can grow and achieve and become the best they can be.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/02/2017 Full Good 31/10/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 24/11/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC356907 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people say that they feel very happy and settled in this home. For some, the home has provided tremendous stability for a number of years. Young people liken their experience to being part of a big family. Staff show considerable emotional warmth and are nurturing in their approach. Consequently, young people possess a strong sense of belonging and clearly identify staff in their circle of people that they can trust. Young people identify their relationships with staff and the support they provide as being central to the progress they have made since coming to the home. One young person explained, ‘I found it hard to speak about my emotions at first. My key worker really helped me and let me build up my trust in staff. My key worker is really nice, he is very caring.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people live in an extremely homely and inclusive family-orientated environment. Although a large property, young people have been encouraged to contribute their ideas of how they want their home to look. All young people’s bedroom are comfortable and personalised to their own taste. Some have also actively helped staff design and decorate other communal areas of the home. Young people take pride in their home. One young person commented to the inspector, ‘I’d really like to thank you for saying our home looks nice. The decoration in the living room was my idea and I helped decorate it. I’m also going to be helping with the design of our new playroom.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff have a thorough understanding of young people’s individual needs and personalities. Comprehensive information gathered in advance of a young person coming to the home ensures that staff are well prepared to support and help them quickly settle in. Information is used effectively to help develop highly individualised placement plans that successfully guide staff to provide a consistently high quality of care and support. One young person said, ‘I have only been here less than two weeks. I really like it here and I like all the staff. They are looking after me very well.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff routinely seek to involve young people in their placement planning and review. Because of this, young people have clear expectations of the support and help they will receive. They are also able to identify positive progress and achievements that they have made since coming to the home. An independent reviewing officer commented, ‘He engages with his review and knows his plan. He is prepared and contributes well. Staff are driven by the child’s voice. They are incredibly strong advocates; they know him really well and show considerable commitment to him.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people enjoy good health. They are registered with and have good access to local healthcare professionals who assess, treat and monitor their routine healthcare needs. Young people also benefit from regular visits made by the organisation’s qualified health practitioner. As well as coordinating and monitoring the effectiveness of healthcare planning, this professional health practitioner is able to provide direct support and guidance to maintain and promote young people’s good health. Inspection report children’s home: SC356907 4 Young people’s emotional and mental health is a clear priority within this home. Staff are trained and supported by external therapists, who are contracted by the organisation. They follow a therapeutic parenting approach that requires a high degree of empathy to encourage young people to explore their feelings and how this influences their response to everyday situations. This approach, and the quality of relationships shared with staff,

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

allows young people to feel safe to discuss and deal with often very sensitive and difficult issues. One young person said, ‘I used to have a really bad temper but I have definitely calmed down. I can talk to all staff. I can definitely trust them. Staff have totally helped me. I do use a counselling service and they are trying to make me talk to staff more as I often bottle things up.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

From their point of placement, young people’s attendance and engagement with education significantly improve. Young people who have previously struggled with education appreciate the support provided by staff and the interest they show in helping them to learn. Staff are in regular communication with both the on-site school operated by the provider and their additional off-site provision. They provide teaching staff with morning briefings that include information about the child’s demeanour, their behaviour and any issues that may impact on their ability to learn. This prepares teaching staff to plan for any additional support they may require during the school day. Accordingly, staff receive similar feedback either during or at the end of the school day to ensure that there is good continuity in their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people are respected as individuals. They are encouraged to develop their own hobbies and interests as well as enjoying group occasions and outings. Young people participate in a wide range of social and recreational activities such as ice skating, trampolining and football. These not only provide good physical exercise but positive opportunities for young people to socialise with peers and build positive self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people become increasingly independent during their time at this home. They learn how to manage their own self-care and contribute to routine household tasks such as cleaning and tidying their rooms, helping with laundry and meal preparation. In accordance with their age and ability, young people gain more advanced skills, such as budgeting, work skills and using public transport independently. These help prepare them for adult life.

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

Young people say that they feel safe and well protected by staff. Risk assessments are comprehensive and behaviour management planning is meticulous. Staff are experienced and fully trained on child protection and safeguarding matters. Consequently, there is a clear and shared understanding across the staff group about how to best support young people’s individual needs and keep them safe.

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

Young people generally have very complex histories, most having experienced childhood trauma and attachment issues. Ongoing staff training and guidance from contracted therapists ensures that staff have the knowledge and ability to understand and meet the links between such childhood issues and difficult and challenging behaviours. The highly Inspection report children’s home: SC356907 5 nurturing and therapeutic approach taken by staff helps young people understand their feelings and explore alternative ways to express themselves. Consequently, young people are developing a better understanding of past events and how to manage their feelings about them.

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

Prior to coming to this home, some young people had been involved in a variety of risk- taking behaviours that compromised their safety, such as offending, self-harming incidents and times when they have run away and been missing from home. However, these behaviours significantly reduce the longer young people remain in this home. Since the last inspection, young people have not been involved in any incidents of offending, nor have there been any occasions when young people have been missing or absent without permission.

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

Understanding that many young people have suffered abuse and neglect, staff avoid the use of punitive measures that have limited impact on improving behaviour. They are skilled in identifying and de-escalating potentially challenging situations. They encourage young people to discuss their differences and take a restorative approach to resolving conflict and negative behaviours. Consequently, young people become more resilient and considerate of others. This approach is proving to be highly successful. A significant reduction in the use of restraint and consequences reflects the success.

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

Staff actively encourage positive behaviour. Together with young people, rewards are agreed for positive behaviour and achievements. As a result, young people feel they have good incentives to meet their goals and enjoy the feelings of accomplishment and pride when they do so. This is highly effective in raising their confidence and self- esteem.

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

All staff are thoroughly vetted and checked to ensure their suitability to work with young people. They consistently promote young people’s health and safety, taking care to regularly check and monitor that their living environment is safe and appropriately secure. Staff are attentive and ensure that young people are appropriately supervised and supported both in the home and in the local community. These measures further ensure that young people are kept safe from harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is exceptionally well led by an experienced registered manager. She is highly ambitious for all young people in her care and is committed to providing the highest standard of care. Her commitment, passion and enthusiasm are an inspiration to her staff team, whose members are highly motivated to provide an excellent quality of care and support to young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager has been in position since 2012. She is suitably experienced and qualified, possessing a level 5 diploma relevant to children’s residential care. Young people speak of her with great affection. They acknowledge that she often stays late to talk and spend time with them. Placing authorities and other professionals also voice a high degree of satisfaction with the service provided by the home. A social worker Inspection report children’s home: SC356907 6 commented, ‘This has been a really good move for my young person. They really know him and what he needs. They have been amazing. They really know how to talk to him and explained things to him. They bend over backwards to make sure the young person gets what he needs.’ Another professional commented, ‘Staff have got the best interests of the young people as their focus. They are well motivated and young people are their priority.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is operating in accordance with its statement of purpose and has successfully taken action to address the requirements and recommendation raised at the last inspection on 27 February 2017. The home has reviewed its behaviour management measures. There has been no excessive or unreasonable use of physical intervention and the use of consequences has been successfully reviewed and declined.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Comprehensive and robust arrangements are in place for both the internal and external monitoring of the home. Reports received by Ofsted demonstrate a high level of scrutiny and evaluation of the service provided to young people and their respective families. This activity informs ongoing and future planning for the home and is successful in promoting continuous improvement to attaining the highest standards of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Young people’s daily lives and achievements are well captured and monitored. Their records provide clear detail to help the reader understand their plans and how they are positively impacting on the care that young people receive and the progress that they are making. Ofsted and other relevant parties are notified and kept informed of any significant incidents that occur. This demonstrates good transparent operational practice with Ofsted and other professionals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff say that they feel totally supported in carrying out their roles. They identify the commitment of the registered manager and the organisation’s director of care as being instrumental in the success of the home. In addition to the well-established supervision and appraisal processes, staff report that both are readily accessible for advice and practical support when required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff recognise the strong commitment the organisation has to their professional development to ensure that young people receive a consistently high standard of care. Staff benefit from regularly scheduled training opportunities that aim to maintain and enhance their knowledge and experience. Recent staff training focused on the implementation of the home’s therapeutic parenting model. Staff highlighted this as a particularly valuable experience. One staff member commented, ‘The therapeutic approach was only really what we were doing before but now we can name it and really understand what we are doing.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home works in good partnership with a wide range of professionals, family members and placing authorities. Parents and family members also voice tremendous satisfaction with the home and the care their young people receive. One family member commented, ‘This home more than meets his needs. There is no shouting, they talk to him and explained things. I cannot fault the home; he couldn’t have been put in a better place. It’s just like a home from home.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC356907 7

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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: SC356907 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: North Lakes Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rayrigg Show Rooms, Rayrigg Road, Windermere LA23 3DN

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Inspector

Gillian Walters, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC356907 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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Inspector

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