Children's home run by Reading Borough Council in Reading

Inspection report children’s home: SC037381 1 SC037381 Registered provider: Reading Borough Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority children’s home is registered for five children who have disabilities. These include a wide range of learning disabilities, communication difficulties and children who present as having high levels of risk and challenging behaviour.

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Information about this children’s home

Some children are looked after on a shared-care basis with their families.

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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 good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC037381 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/01/2018 Full Outstanding 18/01/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 06/09/2016 Full Outstanding 03/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC037381 3

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Recommendations

 Children should have access to a computer and the internet to support their education and learning, unless there are specific safeguarding reasons why this would be inappropriate. In such cases, the home should consider whether and how it can support the child to access a computer and the internet safely. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 29, paragraph 5.19)  A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3) In particular, that formal supervision sessions are not regularly replaced by informal ‘job chats’.  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment,

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Recommendations

supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) In particular, that the provider considers updating staff DBS checks regularly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children enjoy their experiences at the home immensely, and have exceptional opportunities to make friends in a safe environment. This is particularly important, as most of the children have communication difficulties and struggle with social interaction with their peers and adults. Staff are highly skilled in working effectively with children who have learning disabilities, profound and multiple physical disabilities and complex medical needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children have trusting relationships with the staff team. Staff are passionate about their care of children; they are very familiar with, and attuned to, children’s individual needs. Importantly, staff understand the impact of children’s disabilities, they are vigilant and keep children safe. As a result, children’s experiences are fun, exciting and creative. The home offers children opportunities that they often would not have otherwise. One staff member said, ‘(The child) is just shining. Her skin, her hair, her personality!’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s engagement with staff is excellent. This is clear when children and staff are observed in play and learning activities. Children appreciate that staff are able to accurately interpret their needs and act accordingly. Most of the children who attend the centre use alternative modes of communication, rather than speech. Staff are skilled in Inspection report children’s home: SC037381 4 communicating effectively with children, familiarising themselves and making use of their preferred method of communication. Staff routinely use Picture Exchange Communication Systems to communicate with children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff use their expertise to encourage children to participate actively in making decisions about a range of issues. These include meal choices, preferred play activities and decision-making about the decor of their bedrooms.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children have very positive experiences at the centre and they have access to written and pictorial information about making complaints. There have been no complaints received from a child or any stakeholder in a significant length of time. Staff make use of weekly residents’ meetings and a range of pictorial tools to help them to understand how children are feeling. A social worker said of the service, ‘I feel that (the home’s) services and the staff team are extremely effective in supporting their children and young people. Children have always given positive feedback regarding their stays at the home.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children’s identity needs are well met by the managers and staff. Staff are experienced and skilled in meeting the holistic needs of children who have a wide range of disabilities. Staff pay very good attention to broader issues of equality and diversity. For example, children are encouraged to continue to practise their faith at the home. Staff will support young people to attend places of worship, and will read prayers to children if parents request this. Children’s meals are prepared in accordance with safe individual feeding regimes, and meals are culturally appropriate. For example, Muslim children are not served pork, and meat is prepared in the Halal tradition. Children receive appropriate hair and skin care, which helps to improve their self-image and self-esteem. Staff encourage children and their families to promote their culture, and to host international events where children dress in traditional attire.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The support for children’s education and general development is outstanding. The home shares the responsibility and care of children with their parents. Staff ensure that communication with educational professionals is effective. In particular, they ensure that learning objectives are understood and shared. This helps to provide care and support that are in accordance with school learning objectives. Typically, these focus on the development of communication skills, social interaction and increased independence. However, the provider is yet to facilitate children’s wider use of the internet within the home. Currently, access is only available in the staff office. This is inappropriate and work to resolve the issue is ongoing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children and staff successfully work towards achieving set targets. This forms the basis of children’s support plans. Staff are very familiar with the individual targets set for children and diligently work to ensure that children make progress to achieve set goals. For example, on the day of the inspection staff were prompting a child to use a timer. This was to prevent her from rushing from the dinner table before her peers had finished. Another child was prompted by staff to sign ‘thank you’ when she received what she indicated she wanted.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All children’s achievements are very well celebrated. Children regularly receive Inspection report children’s home: SC037381 5 certificates, and photographs are frequently taken. These are on display to remind children of their achievements. Daily records state, ‘Star moments – did any special moments happen today? Did you take a picture?’ A social worker said, ‘Children make good progress by virtue of their stays at the home. Evidence of this can be seen at formal reviews, and in feedback from the children and their parents.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children enjoy a creative range of social, educational and leisure activities. On-site, children have access to an excellent range of play resources, including adapted play apparatus in the home’s garden. Children enjoy safe, sensory play at the home’s sister short-break service that is located on the same street. Children appreciate the very regular trips to local events and activities. These include trips for swimming, visits to the local park for walks, boat rides and attendance at numerous community events and places of interest that are further afield. Carefully coordinated leisure activities allow children to interact with their peer groups, socialise and develop friendships. These are opportunities that the children might otherwise be denied.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children lead healthy lifestyles and their often complex healthcare needs are well met by the staff team. Children have good access to primary healthcare services, and they receive services from specialist healthcare professionals as required. Staff receive regular training in first aid and the administration of medication. Staff also receive specialist training to manage children’s lifelong health conditions. Staff’s healthcare training and skills ensure that children staying at the home receive safe and appropriate medical care.

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

Children are safe and are protected from neglect, harm and abuse. Managers ensure that staff apply the home’s clear and comprehensive child protection policies and procedures. Staff receive regular safeguarding training and are familiar with child protection protocols. Staff supervision and vigilance around children are sound. As a result, very few critical incidents occur. Since the last inspection, there have been no restraints, no complaints, no allegations made against staff, no sanctions and no episodes of children going missing. No child is suspected of being involved in sexual exploitation or criminal exploitation.

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

Staff demonstrate a very good understanding of safeguarding protocols and this helps to keep children safe. Staff routinely receive training in manual handling, physical intervention and the safe administration of medication. Team meetings and shift handover meetings have a consistent focus on child protection. This contributes to the safe care of children.

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

Staff are consistent and clear about setting boundaries. This provides children with structures that help to keep them safe. Staff understand the impact that children’s disabilities have on their behaviour. They are careful and sensitive in working with children about their presentation and behavioural issues. Children benefit from documented and photographic positive handling plans that are explicit in offering staff strategies to help curb any unacceptable behaviour. Staff frequently use verbal praise to encourage children’s positive behaviour. Inspection report children’s home: SC037381 6 The relationships between children and the staff team are excellent. One staff member commented, ‘When (child’s) mother was in difficulties, staff volunteered to increase their hours to make sure she was well cared for at the home. She wasn’t going anywhere.’

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

Risk assessments are individualised, detailed and regularly updated. This helps to reduce the level of risks posed. Risk assessments are wide-ranging. Staff’s commitment to safe care practices, effective supervision of children and adherence to child protection protocols helps to promote children’s safety.

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

The home’s care planning procedures are effective in identifying how staff will best meet children’s needs. The home’s matching process enables consideration of the impact and any risks posed to children already in placement. Introductions to the home are gradual and gauged to be at the child’s pace.

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

Children benefit from staff’s knowledge, skill and understanding of the impact of children’s behaviour. Behavioural management plans are comprehensive and address the very specific needs of individual children. Staff devise detailed plans in conjunction with school professionals to ensure that practice is consistent and effective.

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

Staff vetting practices are robust. These enable managers to confirm that staff are suitable to work with vulnerable children. However, the provider does not routinely update staff Disclosure and Barring Service checks every three years. This is not in line with government safe staff recruitment guidelines and best practice.

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

The building premises are safe and secure. The home is equipped to meet the needs of children who have disabilities. Specialist adapted equipment is maintained safely and there are effective fire precautions; children have personal emergency evacuation plans in place. There are no health and safety concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership of the home is strong and management oversight of the home is effective. The registered manager and deputy are committed to improving the quality of the service and to enhancing the experiences of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is a qualified, experienced practitioner with a background of working effectively with disabled children. The home’s deputy is a qualified social worker. She is in the process of completing a level 5 management course.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s monitoring systems are efficient and effective and support continued improvement. Individual team members have designated roles allocated to them. These include the administration of medication, the coordination of activities, communication development and case file auditing. An independent person conducts monthly monitoring visits; reports highlight the home’s strengths, and support development and improved outcomes for children. The registered manager completes quality of care reviews. These provide effective management overviews that help to identify gaps that require remedial Inspection report children’s home: SC037381 7 action.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The provider ensures that sufficient staff work at the home in order to meet the needs of children and to keep them safe. Staff training opportunities are good and there is a particular focus on specialist disability training. This includes manual handling, advanced autism spectrum disorder training and anaphylactic shock awareness. Newly employed staff undergo an induction and then undergo training to meet their development needs. Staff are regularly required to read and report on key practice and procedural matters.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive good support and feel well supported by managers. A staff member said, ‘I feel valued. I speak a lot and am heard within the staff team and with managers. I’m given the room and space to advocate for X (child) who I do key work with.’ The supervision of the staff team is regular and meaningful. There is a focus on children’s needs, and this promotes the quality of care that children receive. Managers sometimes make use of ‘job chats’, which are an informal record of managers’ conversations and guidance to staff. Managers should ensure that ‘job chats’ are kept to a minimum and do not occur regularly and in place of formal supervisory sessions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose is a detailed document that outlines the aims and objectives of the service. The children’s guide is available in simple language and pictorial form. The guide is a creative summary of services that the home provides.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working with external partners is good. This supports the effective coordination of children’s care. Staff regularly provide professionals with written case summaries. A social worker said, ‘Communication is effective, child-centred and always at a level and pace according to the child or young person’s understanding if they are present.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and leaders have a clear vision for service development and they demonstrate a continued strong commitment to ensuring that outcomes for children are exceptional. The service has ambitious yet realistic plans in place to support its efforts to offer high- quality care, ensuring that the experiences and progress of children are excellent. A social worker said, ‘The home offers a homely placement to vulnerable children and young people. It uses an established, knowledgeable staff team which children are allowed to respect and develop positive relationships with. I would like to see more services such as (the home) as this has proven to be a valuable resource for children and young people who have disabilities.’

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC037381 8 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: SC037381 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Reading Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Offices, Bridge Street, Reading RG1 2LU

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Helena Macieira Baptista

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC037381 10 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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