Children's home run by Bridge Communities Limited in Stroud

Inspection report children’s home: SC016600 1 SC016600 Registered provider: Bridge Communities 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 registered for up to five children. The home is operated by a private provider to provide care for children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home provides individual support and preparation for independent living and offers an educational outreach service to support children. The manager has been in post since 31 March 2007.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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: 29 November 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/11/2017 Full Good 08/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 16/11/2016 Full Good 01/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC016600 2

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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

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure that children’s needs are met In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— (c) if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager should escalate any concerns they have regarding the lack of response by placing authorities in providing up-to-date care plans for children or failure to provide return home interviews after a child has been missing from home. 31/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

33: Employment of staff (4) The registered person must ensure that all employees— (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, supervision should take place at regular intervals as specified in the home’s policy on supervision, and records maintained of these sessions should be of a good quality. 31/10/2018

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Recommendations

 Regulations 35–39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely while they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. Children’s case records must be kept for 75 years from the date of birth of the child, or if the child dies before the age of 18, for 15 years from the date of his or her death. (‘Guide to the Inspection report children’s home: SC016600 3 children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, paragraph 14.3, page 62) In particular, when a review date for a plan has been set this should be adhered to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with good-quality individualised care which meets their needs well. This approach enables children to make good progress from their starting points upon admission. Staff have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the children they care for. They treat children with respect and kindness, and place children’s interests at the heart of their practice. Staff have built strong and effective relationships with children based on trust and openness. This leads to children having good experiences. Children’s educational engagement has increased. Staff encourage and support children in their education and have high aspirations for them. This approach has helped to change some children’s negative views of education and enabled them to recognise what they are able to achieve. For some children, this is still a work in progress. Children benefit from being able to take part in a wide range of activities and new

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

experiences. Staff welcome children’s friends and encourage them to visit the home. Children’s social opportunities have increased as a result. Staff provide children with a spacious, well-furnished, comfortable and personalised home in which to live. Children thrive in this environment. Staff support children well to develop their independence skills. As well as practical skills such as cooking and budgeting, staff help children to understand personal responsibility and accountability. When children leave the home, staff provide good ongoing support. This support extends beyond the time that leaders and managers initially agreed with the placing authority, as staff see this as part of their ongoing duty of care to children. This approach is excellent.

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

The management of safeguarding concerns and recruitment is good and helps to keep children safe. Staff have a good understanding of the vulnerabilities of each child and the approaches to be used to safeguard them. Staff apply these approaches effectively. Risk assessment documents are comprehensive, and include clear guidance for staff about how to reduce risk levels. Impact risk assessments for children being referred to the home are of good quality and consider the impact of the new child on the current group of children and vice versa. These assessments provide the registered manager with detailed information so that they can make a carefully considered decision about moving new children into the home. Behaviour management is good. Children’s risk-taking behaviours, such as going missing from home, have decreased since they moved in. Children are also developing an Inspection report children’s home: SC016600 4

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

understanding of their behaviours, including the impact their behaviour has on themselves and others. Staff respond well when a child goes missing. Staff search for children and help them to return quickly and safely to the home. The registered manager carefully analyses all missing person events to identify trends and patterns. This information is then used to develop more strategies to help children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Supervision of staff by leaders and managers requires improvement. Staff are not consistently receiving regular supervision, and records maintained of these sessions are not of a consistently good quality. This does not help staff to reflect on or develop their practice. This weakness has been identified by the registered manager. The registered manager is not challenging placing authorities effectively when they fail to respond to requests for updated care plans or in providing return home interviews for children who have been missing. This could lead to children not receiving the support they need. Monitoring of the home is effective and the impact of this work is evident throughout the records maintained at the home. The registered manager understands most of the strengths and areas for improvement. Information from the monitoring activity is used to devise the home’s development plan. For example, the registered manager has identified

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

that some care plans are overdue their regular review and she has plans in place to address this. Children benefit from being cared for by a stable, experienced and well-trained staff team. Staffing levels are good and enable children to receive a high level of one-to-one support.

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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: SC016600 5

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bridge Communities Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Bridge Communities Ltd, 22 Lower Street, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2HT

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Inspector

Wendy Anderson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC016600 6 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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