Children's home run by Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd in Havant

Inspection report children’s home: SC482344 1 SC482344 Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to eight children. The organisation also runs a registered school that the children living in the home may attend.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has a suitably qualified manager who has been registered with Ofsted since August 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 11 to 12 September 2018

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers 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: 1 November 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC482344 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/11/2017 Full Good 13/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/08/2016 Full Outstanding 06/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC482344 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 protection of children standard 12.—(1) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that each child has an individual missing protocol and that staff are familiar with it. 25/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(b)) 25/10/2018

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Recommendations

 Children’s home staff should take every step to make sure that individual children and young people are not subject to discrimination, marginalisation or bullying from their peers by virtue of their gender, religion, ethnicity, cultural and linguistic background, sexual identity, mental health, disability or for any other reason. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.12)  Positive relationships are those which are characterised by consistency and unconditional positive regard for the child on the part of the carer. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 21, paragraph 4.3) In particular, staff must always, even during light-hearted banter, refrain from using language which could make young people feel that they are being stigmatised.  Staff should have the knowledge and skills to recognise and be alert for any signs

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Recommendations

that might indicate a child is in any way at risk of harm. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.12) This is in relation to staff receiving training in respect of self-harm, and in relation Inspection report children’s home: SC482344 4 to staff developing skills to alert them to risks associated with wider contextual safeguarding issues such as gang affiliation, criminal exploitation and county lines.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) This is in relation to staff providing clearer details in incident reports and more detailed evidence of the actions they take when children report incidents of any form of bullying.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The lives of children who have experienced significant trauma and previous placement breakdowns become stable because of the care provided for them. Children begin to make good progress in all areas of their development. In respect of one child, a family member said: ‘I can’t believe the difference, I never imagined they could make such progress. I could not ask for any more.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children engage in education while living in this home, including those who previously struggled to do so. Attendance is excellent for all. Through full engagement in their bespoke packages of education which are supported by excellent communication between staff and the school, children start to achieve and develop aspirations for the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children become healthier, both physically and emotionally, because staff promote healthy eating and regular physical activity. For some children, this has helped them achieve their goal of losing weight, resulting in them feeling happier about themselves. A newly created therapy hub for the company has increased the capacity to provide children with a wider range of specialist therapeutic interventions should they require this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s confidence and self-esteem improve because of the range of exciting and fun activities they participate in. These include football, air cadets, sea cadets, meditation and swimming lessons. Children describe the activities as ‘cool’, and one child proudly said about their swimming achievements: ‘I can now do the butterfly.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Well-planned transitions into the home, informed by detailed matching assessments and discussions with social workers, help new children settle quickly into the home. A social worker commented: ‘I liked how I was provided with lots of information about the staff team. The transition was really well managed.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Daily group discussions at the end of each school day provide children with an Inspection report children’s home: SC482344 5 opportunity to share their achievements and any worries they may have. Staff praise achievements and help children to reflect on how they can turn around any negative behaviours. Children confirm that they enjoy positive and trusting relationships with the staff and that they feel well cared for. Staff, however, need to be vigilant in avoiding the use of stigmatising language during light-hearted banter.

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improvement to be good

Children very rarely go missing from this home. However, recently, when three children did unexpectedly go missing, staff did not have clear individual missing protocols to follow. Fortunately, staff quickly found the children, safe and well. Although the children did not come to any harm in this instance, a lack of risk assessment regarding going missing, a lack of clear individual missing protocols, and poor recording of the incident meant that the manager could not be certain that all possible actions were taken to safeguard the children. The relevant risk assessments and protocols were produced during the inspection. The staff’s understanding of these now needs embedding.

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improvement to be good

Children report feeling safe most of the time. Children say that staff intervene when incidents of bullying and hurtful and discriminatory name-calling occur between them, which makes them feel safer. However, there is a lack of detail in the recording of such incidents and the actions taken by staff to reduce the risk of bullying and educate children in respect of this. This limits the manager’s ability to monitor the effectiveness of practice in this area.

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improvement to be good

Children are well supported in relation to their specific vulnerabilities. For example, as a result of focused key-work sessions, engagement with the home’s therapist and positive relationships with staff, a child who regularly self-harms has started to open up about their worries and explore different ways to manage their emotions.

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improvement to be good

Proactive behaviour-support systems are effective. Praise and rewards motivate children. It is a testament to the skills of the staff team in motivating children and de-escalating challenging behaviours that recourse to physical intervention is rare. A child said: ‘I have learned to manage my behaviour. When I have wobbles, the staff help me through them.’

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improvement to be good

Thorough checks and scrutiny in respect of any prospective new employee in the home help to ensure that only those adults who are suitable to work with children are employed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The newly registered manager is experienced and has high aspirations for children. He is undertaking a diploma in therapeutic care to enhance his skills and knowledge. The staff are very complimentary about the positive difference he is making to the home, with one Inspection report children’s home: SC482344 6 member of staff summing up the views of others by saying: ‘The manager is very hands on, approachable and open. He is a pleasure to work with and I enjoy learning from him. He is passionate about making a difference to children’s lives and that filters down to the staff team.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working is very effective. Social workers are provided with regular updates on children’s progress. Communication is good. The manager advocates for children and is not afraid to challenge social workers if children’s plans are not progressing as they should be.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A range of monitoring systems effectively demonstrate the progress children are making. In terms of quality assurance, the manager has quickly got to grips with the strengths and areas of development for the home. He has responded to the requirement and the majority of the recommendations from the last inspection. He quickly responds to any recommendations made by the independent visitor, and acts on the feedback from children in order to develop the home further and improve outcomes and experiences for them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The stable, committed and cohesive staff team knows the children well. The staff are either appropriately qualified or working towards an appropriate qualification. All have completed a range of training courses to enhance their skills and knowledge in relation to the issues that affect children currently living in the home. Staff would, however, benefit from some additional training in relation to self-harm and the potential risks that could emerge in the future, such as gang affiliation, criminal exploitation and county lines.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Although staff report feeling very well supported by managers, the quality of formal supervision staff receive requires improvement. For some staff it is not frequent enough. When it occurs, it often lacks reflection, and clear goals and targets. This is a missed opportunity for staff to further develop their practice.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC482344 7 children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC482344 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd, Turnpike Gate House, Alcester Heath, Alcester, Warwickshire B49 5JG

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Inspector

Rachel Griffiths: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC482344 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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