Children's home run by Jubilee House Care Trust Limited in Welwyn Hatfield

Inspection report children’s home: SC019441 1 SC019441 Registered provider: Jubilee House Care Trust 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

This short-break centre is run by a registered charity. It offers overnight short-break- care places for up to five children who have learning and/or physical disabilities. Day care is also offered on the same site for children who have similar needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2014.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC019441 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/08/2017 Full Good 26/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/08/2016 Full Good 16/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC019441 3

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Recommendations

 Any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff use innovative and creative ways to ensure that children have the best possible experiences during their stay. Staff expertly tailor a range of activities to meet children’s individual needs and ensure equality of opportunity. Computer games, dancing, cooking, growing plants and vegetables, trips to the local parks and cinema trips are just a few of the experiences that children benefit from. Staff provide a huge range of specialised resources that enable children who have highly complex needs to develop their fine motor skills, their communication skills and their ability to socialise.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff at the service have worked in close partnership with a local mainstream school to provide opportunities for the children who are receiving short breaks to take part in a music video using their own specific forms of communication. Children from the mainstream school are using their information technology skills to benefit the children at the service. The children who are receiving the short-break service can fully participate and star in a purpose-made video. This is an experience that they would not have normally been able to access. The children are benefiting from this unique experience because the staff have found a way to break down barriers to participation. In addition, the children will have a fantastic opportunity to showcase their achievements and so develop their confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children communicated during the inspection that they enjoy spending time with staff and participating in the many activities on offer.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children have built secure, positive relationships with a skilled, consistent and dedicated staff team. Children receive highly individualised care from the committed staff team. Staff are highly intuitive; they have amazing connections with the children they care for. Staff understand the smallest of non-verbal cues from children and respond in a way that ensures that children’s needs are met instantly. Children are consistently at the centre of staff’s practice and are included in discussion and the day-to-day running of the home. Inspectors observed these excellent relationships throughout the inspection. Children who initially presented with significantly challenging behaviours have made great improvements and learned ways to self-regulate. Children, helped by the staff, Inspection report children’s home: SC019441 4 have developed their own strategies to cope when they become anxious, distressed or

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Excellent communication between the staff and parents and professionals enables the children to progress to the best of their abilities. Professionals and parents spoke extremely highly of their relationships with the manager and staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children attend monthly forum meetings during which they can communicate their views, wishes and feelings. The staff use picture exchange communication to give the children choices. Some children can verbalise their wishes and other children use non- verbal signs. The staff are adept at adapting to each child’s preferred method of communication. Because the staff understand the children so well, they are highly effective at identifying micro movements. Records of the children’s views are added to the notice board in picture exchange communication form. Staff fully involve the children in the running of the service, and the children’s views, wishes and feelings are acted on.

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

The registered manager and staff are intuitive. They know the children well and identify potential risks and triggers. Plans to reduce these risks are detailed and highly effective.

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

Informative and detailed support plans guide the staff in meeting the children’s personal daily needs with dignity and respect. Staff understand the importance of involving parents and professionals in writing these plans. Excellent work between the staff and families means that families are very well supported, and transitions between the child’s family home, school and the short-break service are highly positive.

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

The manager attends meetings with the police to share information about risks in the community. This helps to upskill staff and develop their awareness of potential risks. This knowledge is extended to families so that children are protected at all times. The fire service has visited the home to talk about fire safety with the children. This multi-agency approach underpins the home’s ethos of safeguarding highly vulnerable children.

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

The consistent application of effective safeguarding policies and excellent knowledge and understanding of the importance of reporting concerns, along with the high ratio of staffing, mean that children are kept safe. The staff have trained in recognising signs of radicalisation and safeguarding disabled children.

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

Staff ensure that they give time for children to express any worries that they have. Children know how to complain. This is discussed in the children’s forum and explained in the children’s guide. There have been no complaints from children.

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

There has been one complaint from a parent in relation to the care of their child. This was immediately investigated by the registered manager, who took appropriate action to address the identified shortfall in the member of staff’s practice. The parent was pleased with the swift action taken. Inspection report children’s home: SC019441 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The inspirational manager is passionate about her work. She clearly wants children to have the best possible experiences while giving parents support when they need it. The manager’s enthusiasm is mirrored by the staff team and is evident throughout the service. A parent praised the manager and staff for the invaluable support that the service provides for their child and the whole family. The parent said, ‘Without this service, [my child] would not be at home. [The staff] have been our rock.’ Another parent described how flexible in approach the service has been in accommodating their child in an emergency. A placement is only provided following thorough matching and an assessment of risk. This means that children are further safeguarded. The host local authority holds the service in high esteem and views it as an exemplar of good practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Close partnership working with the children’s school staff enables effective sharing of good practice. The manager and staff use current research and findings to underpin new approaches and strategies that help children to develop and make good progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Partnership working is exemplary. The manager and staff worked tirelessly to plan for the admission of several children whose provision was closing. The commissioning manager for the local authority explained how the service was, ‘extremely accommodating with the families and children’. The service ensured that there were robust risk assessments in place and effective communication with professionals. The manager and staff attended council meetings, including a presentation to key stakeholders. This ensured that relevant information was exchanged and used to help manage the transition for children and their families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children are clearly at the centre of this service. Excellent multi-agency working means that children benefit from a holistic approach. Children’s individual needs are met through warm and trusting relationships with staff who make children feel safe and secure. Parents spoke of feeling confident that their children are loved and well cared for by a consistent staff team. The service has close links with the local school, commissioning team and other professionals to ensure that relevant information is quickly shared and used to inform risk assessments and support plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff receive regular and effective supervision that they said supports them to develop their own practice. Regular staff meetings are used to embed good practice. The manager delegates duties effectively so that all staff have the opportunity to increase their skills, knowledge, experience and confidence. The staff said that they feel empowered and valued.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Through the implementation of learning from carefully selected training, staff have gained the skills to meet the children’s very complex needs. All staff have undertaken their mandatory training and have achieved or are in the process of achieving a relevant level 3 qualification within the required timescale. Inspection report children’s home: SC019441 6 A point for improvement is to ensure that the independent visitor makes clear in every independent visit report their evaluation of the effectiveness of safeguarding at the home.

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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: SC019441 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Jubilee House Care Trust Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: St. Davids House, 11 Blenheim Court, Brownfields, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire AL7 1AD

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Inspectors

Trish Palmer: social care inspector Mark Jackson: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC019441 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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