The Newman Holiday Trust

Unique reference number SC800003 Inspection date 12 August 2014 Inspector Nick Veysey Type of inspection Full

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Registered person The Newman Holiday Trust Registered manager Judith Helen Wardlaw Responsible individual Anand Chitnis Date of last inspection 29/08/2013 The Newman Holiday Trust Inspection report for residential holiday schemes for disabled children Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Brief description of the service

This is a charitable organisation that operates one week holidays at four designated venues around England and one in Scotland. It provides holidays for children and young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties, learning disabilities, physical disabilities and sensory impairment. The inspection was carried out at one of the holiday venues.

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Brief description of the service

The Trust provides a service to children who may not otherwise get a break or a holiday and who are nominated by parents, school, children’s services or other professionals. Each holiday venue is run by an on-site holiday organisers and volunteer helpers.

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Brief description of the service

 Outstanding  Good  Requires improvement  Inadequate

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The overall experiences of children and young people

The overall experiences of children and young people are judged to be outstanding.

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The overall experiences of children and young people

Children and young people really enjoy their holiday and have exceptionally positive experiences. Children said, ‘I’m having a wonderful time’ and ‘there are plenty of things to do.’ Parents are extremely positive about the holiday and the high standard of care their children receive. A parent said, ‘I am really pleased with the holiday, he loves it, really enjoying himself.’ Children and young people take part in a wide and varied range of activities that enrich their lives. The activities are interesting, stimulating, creative, and above all fun. They include arts and crafts, swimming, horse riding, yoga, talent shows, listening to and playing music, discos, and trips to theme parks, the cinema and meals in restaurants. Children and young people take part in activities they are interested in and already enjoy, as well as trying lots of new things. The holiday provides them with opportunities to build their confidence

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The overall experiences of children and young people

and independence. Many children and young people have experiences that they may not be able to have with their families. A parent said, ‘He is achieving a lot and really benefiting; he’s done loads of activities, there has been a puppet show, he’s been swimming, to Alton Towers, to the cinema. He is doing things I am unable to do with him.’

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The overall experiences of children and young people

Leaders and helpers are strongly and consistently committed to children and young people enjoying their holiday and having a really good time. They encourage and support children and young people to join in, praise and celebrate their achievements. They provide high quality care that is responsive and tailored to children and young people’s individual needs and interests. Children and young people’s physical and emotional health is suitably protected and promoted. Children and young people feel safe and happy. The extremely friendly and inclusive atmosphere has built a strong sense of community, irrespective of children and young people’s background, abilities and how they communicate. Children and young people make friends, enjoy very positive relationships with each other and with the leaders and helpers. Leaders and managers consistently follow safe care practices that promote children and young people’s safety and reduce the risk of harm.

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The overall experiences of children and young people

Children and young people’s views, wishes and feelings are taken into account in all aspects of the holiday, including their care and making choices about what they want to do. The leaders and helpers have developed strong links and relationships with parents and other people involved in the lives of children and young people, including schools, social workers and health professionals. This has enabled them to develop an excellent understanding of each child and young person’s needs, including complex health needs, and manage their care effectively while they are away from home. They also use the expertise of teachers, nurses and speech and language therapists to develop their practice to benefit children and young people. The leaders also have established very good links with local agencies, including health services, to ensure that the children and young people on holiday are able to get the appropriate support they may need.

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The overall experiences of children and young people

The leadership and management arrangements are highly effective in making sure that children and young people have an excellent time and receive high quality care in a safe environment. The holiday is exceptionally well-planned to meet the needs of a wide range of children and young people with disabilities. The helpers are energetic and enthusiastic, and provide children and young people with an excellent care support. The leaders have a clear and realistic understanding of the strengths of the holiday and the areas for development and how they plan to improve things, including providing different opportunities to help children and young people grow in confidence in their skills and try new things. The leaders and helpers are resourceful and creative provide children and young people with holidays that makes an exceptional difference to their lives.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 ensure that the written record of medication is signed by the person receiving the medicines into the scheme and the person administering the medication to the child. Also establish a system for monitoring the management, storage administration and recording of medication (NMS 5.7)  ensure children and their families have information about the holiday in a language and format that is meaningful for them and helps them understand about the arrangements for the holiday. (NMS 7)

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The service is outstanding at helping and protecting children and young people.

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Children and young people feel safe. They said ‘the helpers are really friendly, you can talk to them, they listen and you if you are upset.’ Consequently they have a strong sense of safety and well-being. Leaders and helpers are knowledgeable and experienced in the care and protection of disabled children and young people. The leaders have made links with local safeguarding agencies. Helpers follow excellent safe care practices based on an understanding of safeguarding issues, including child protection procedures and statutory guidance for missing children. They provide children and young people with suitable supervision at all times and know what action to take if they have concerns about children and young people’s safety. Helpers consistently follow plans that reduce the risk of harm to children and young people. They use effective strategies to prevent children and young people going missing and keep them safe, including in the crowds at busy theme parks. However,

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the management of risk is not overcautious. Children and young people to take suitable risks that challenge them to build their skills and confidence; for example, developing their social and communication skills by leading group activities, or spending time with horses and dogs to build their enjoyment and confidence around animals.

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Children and young people receive high quality individualised support that meets their needs and enables them to enjoy their holiday. Leaders and helpers communicate effectively with children and young people in ways that they easily understand. This includes talking to children and young people in Makaton and not giving them too much information at once which they may find confusing. Leaders and helpers have consistently high aspirations for all the children and young people to enjoy their holiday and have new and fulfilling experiences. They effectively challenge barriers to children and young people being able to take part in everything on offer. Activities are designed to enable everyone to join, regardless of their abilities; for example everyone enjoyed the James Bond It’s A Knockout competition, especially drenching their helpers with water and custard pies. Children and young people make informed choices about how they spend their time and there are always

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a number of different things available for them to do. For example, one afternoon they had the choice to take part in organised activities including swimming, horse riding and yoga, or do something different, with some children and young people choosing to play giant Jenga or go for a walk in the grounds to see the horses. Children and young people also chose to see different films at the cinema, and what they had to eat when they went out for a meal. Their emotional, social, personal care needs and interests are promoted and receive individual support that makes sure that they have an excellent time doing things they enjoy.

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Children and young people’s health needs are promoted. The leaders, helpers and nurse have a detailed understanding of individual health needs including, complex medical conditions, allergies, and dietary needs, and the support children and young people need to promote their health and well-being. Helpers have received suitable guidance and training to provide appropriate care to individual children and young people. They follow safe care practices that ensure personal and intimate care respect children’s rights to choice, respect privacy and dignity. Clear and detailed plans show how children and young people’s health needs will be met in an emergency or following an accident, including seeking medical advice promptly. Effective and safe systems for storing and managing medication mean that children and young people receive the medication they require in line with medical advice. However, some medication records have not been signed by the person receiving the

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medicines into the scheme and the person administering the medication to the child. This weakness and a lack of monitoring did not impact on children’s welfare because they are receiving the correct medication at the right time; but this lack of care with recording may undermine the otherwise safe practices that reduce the risks of harm.

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Children and young people’s behaviour is exceptionally good. Leaders and helpers consistently use effective strategies to promote positive behaviour and deal with potential areas of frustration or disagreement. The behaviour management plans are based on methods that successfully support children and young people to manage their feelings behaviour constructively at home and school. Helpers are very good at recognising when children and young people are becoming upset and intervene effectively to prevent any negative behaviour; for example, by encouraging them to join in an activity, help out with a task, or give them time and space to feel calm, find out what is wrong and provide them with reassurance.

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Leaders and helpers have constructive relationships with parents. They keep them fully informed about how their children are enjoying their holiday, what activities they have taken part in, and if they are any problems or illnesses. They also welcome parents contacting them if they have any concerns, complaints and worries. A parent said, ‘The helpers keep me informed and call me every day to let me know how he is and what he has been doing; they’ve been good at keeping in touch. My son doesn’t speak so it’s being good to hear about what he has been doing’ and ‘I have a contact number if I have any questions or worries and I am very comfortable in how they keep in touch and let me know what he is doing.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The effectiveness of leaders and managers is outstanding.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The holiday organisers provide inspirational and strong leadership that ensure helpers provide high quality physical and emotional care for children and young people. As a result children and young people are safe and have a wonderful experience and really enjoy their holiday. The holiday is thoughtfully planned to provide children and young people that makes a positive and lasting difference to their lives. The leaders work extremely hard to understand children and young people’s specific needs and make sure that they have the expertise, skills and experience to fully meet their needs while they are away from home. The holiday takes place in a suitable location with comfortable accommodation and very good facilities that takes into full account the safety and welfare needs of disabled children and young people. It is suitably resourced to meet its aims and to meet the needs and promote the enjoyment of children and young people. The holiday organisers

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

are skilled and resourceful at securing good deals with theme parks, cinemas and restaurants.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Children and young people, parents and helpers have a clear understanding of the objectives of the holiday and the ranges of service it provides. Written information in the statement of purpose, leaflets and children and young people’s guide provide an accurate and clear picture of the holiday in an easy to understand format. The leaders have used research and good practice to develop a guide using social stories to help children and young people with autism understand what the holiday is about, what will happen and what is expected of them. However, the information about the holiday is not available in formats and languages for families where English is not their first language. This means that some families may not fully understand what the holiday provides and opportunities available to their children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The managers and holiday organisers routinely monitor and scrutinize the quality of the holiday and the care provided. This includes a trustee of the charity visiting each holiday to evaluate the quality of care, including speaking with children and young people about their experiences. As a result leaders and managers have a realistic understanding of the strengths of the holidays and areas for development to improve holidays for children. They have secured improvements in the quality of training for helpers to enable them to develop a better understanding of their role, the children and young people, and relevant skills in communicating with children and helping them manage their feelings constructively. Also, there have been improvements in enabling children and young people to make informed and meaningful choices from a wider range of activities. The holiday organisers and helpers have enabled to go to

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

the cinema and for everyone to go to see the film of their choice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The recruitment, vetting, selection of helpers is thorough and safe. Children and young people are only looked after by suitable people. There are a sufficient number of suitably skilled and experienced helpers to meet needs of children and facilitate a wide range of activities. Helpers are trained, supported and supervised effectively to fulfil their roles and understand the needs and circumstances of the children and young people attending the holiday. The selection of staff is extremely well-thought- out. The holiday organisers carefully and successfully match the experience, skills, interests, and personal qualities of helpers with individual children and young people. This contributes to the children and young people building positive relationships with the people looking after them and enhances children’s welfare and enjoyment. New and less experienced helpers are actively supported and guided. A new helper said,

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

‘it all seemed a bit daunting, but everyone is really friendly and helpful. There are plenty of experienced helpers to talk to if you are not sure or need help. I’m really enjoying it and enjoying seeing the children have a great time.’ Helpers under 18 years old do not take part in children and young people’s personal care, but help with the activities and the day-to-day running of holiday. High quality training ensures that helpers are well prepared and equipped to support and meet the individual needs of children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Children and young people’s written records and plans are clear, up-to-date and securely stored. The records provide sufficient detail and information to understand children and young people’s needs, circumstances and interests, and how best to support them. Helpers encourage children to keep diaries about their experiences, achievements and feelings about the holiday. The diaries, which also include holiday photographs, are an excellent way of sharing children’s experiences with their parents and schools; they also are a lovely memento for children to take home. The information contained in the diaries contributes to an understanding of children and young people’s lives, abilities, talents, skills and potential for personal development and independence.

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children and young people

The service is outstanding at working in partnership to improve outcomes for children and young people.

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children and young people

The holiday organisers have established strong and extremely effective relationships with children and young people, families, school and health professionals. As a result they understand and able to meet children and young people’s diverse and specific needs and enable them to enjoy the holiday. They consistently involve the all the important people in children’s lives in planning for the holiday, including finding out about children and young people’s health, social, cultural, emotional, communication needs, personal qualities and interests. They visit children and parents at home to let them know about the holiday and get to know the child and about their care. A parent said, ‘I was worried because he has never been away from home before, but the helpers came on a home visit and answered my questions and made me feel comfortable that they could deal with his care. ’ They build up a detailed picture of

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children and young people

each child as an individual with important information from a wide range of sources. The holiday organisers have identified that they could further improve their relationships with schools by visiting to explain about the holiday, what they are trying to achieve, and the importance of information about children and young people to ensure they have an enjoyable and safe holiday and have their care needs met. The holiday organisers also encourage children, parents and professionals to be involved in the review of the holiday.

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children and young people

The holiday organisers have effective and constructive relationships with the local community and local services including the police, fire and rescue, safeguarding and health agencies. They have dealt effectively with complaints from neighbours about noise and have a longstanding positive relationship with the owner of the venue. They are knowledgeable about the facilities and activities locally and have maximised the use of the wider community to provide children with a wide range of interesting and fun activities that have an enduring impact on their lives. Children and young people enjoy going horse riding and spending time with horses from the local stables. This is a new experience for some children. The instructor has skills working with disabled children and enables them to join in irrespective of their disability, experience and confidence; for example a child who did not want to ride loved

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children and young people

leading a horse and helping to feed them.

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to inform children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against Residential holiday schemes for disabled children: The inspection framework, evaluation schedule and grade descriptors.

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