Children's Home run by Bryn Melyn Care Limited in Shropshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC372652 1 SC372652 Registered provider: Bryn Melyn Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The service is owned by a private company. The home is registered to accommodate one child. Children come to live at the home because of family or placement breakdowns. Some children have experienced abuse.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since 2008 and holds a level 4 national vocational qualification in care and management. She also manages another registered children’s home that is situated nearby. The registered manager’s time is shared between both homes, depending on the needs, demands and circumstances of each service.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 31 October to 1 November 2018

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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

Date of last inspection: 23 October 2017

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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: SC372652 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/10/2017 Full Good 14/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 22/09/2016 Full Good 22/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC372652 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Prior to moving into the home just over a year ago, the child had experienced a high number of placement breakdowns and moves. This small, dedicated staff team has worked hard and built strong relationships with him. They have influenced him to achieve positive outcomes, and as a result he is now flourishing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are supporting the child to make outstanding progress in all areas of his life. For example, prior to moving into the home he was not attending school. He now attends school full-time and is exceeding all his educational targets. As a result, he is now closing the gaps in his learning from his previous missed time in school. Part of his success is down to the support staff provide. For instance, staff support him in the classroom and staff show genuine interest in all his achievements. They will attend meetings and parents’ evenings and have recently attended a school concert to see him perform a music solo. Staff describe this as a proud moment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are clear what good-quality caring looks like. For example, they proactively encourage the child to develop age-appropriate interests and hobbies. He is an active member of a local gym. For his birthday, he was given a scooter and he has practised hard to become a competent performer of tricks. He also attends a drama club every Saturday morning. This half-term he has attended a five-day ‘The Greatest Showman’ workshop, which will result in him performing in an end-of-week show that staff are looking forward to watching.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff have high expectations of the child. They are tenacious and ingenious when resolving ways to help him learn new skills. For example, they researched and purchased a disco showerhead and bathroom radio. They then used playfulness to successfully encourage the child to shower. This has improved his personal hygiene and skincare routine, increased his self-esteem and helped in his presentation to peers.

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

Staff successfully help the child to understand and appropriately regulate his emotions. As a result, the high level of historical risk-taking behaviours that resulted in allegations, complaints, self-harm, damage to property, assaults on staff, incidents of going missing from care and emotional outbursts have significantly reduced. For example, since moving into the home he has only had two missing from care incidents. The last one was in February 2018. There have also been no physical interventions used in the home since February 2018.

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

Although the child has made tremendous progress, staff still have to skilfully manage very challenging incidents. For example, staff are acutely aware of the high risk of the child making allegations and complaints. They are clear about how important it is to fully understand their roles when two staff members are working with only one child. They demonstrate very good skills in helping the child begin to reflect upon his actions and Inspection report children’s home: SC372652 4 the impact they have on others. Key-worker sessions are put to excellent use and encourage learning through creative discussions, activities and games.

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

Another major achievement for this child has been his engagement with the home’s therapist support. She works directly with both the child and the staff team. As a result, staff are constantly developing their responses to his ever-changing behaviours in an effort to reduce his cycle and ability to create situations of crisis that place himself and others at significant risk.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff team embraces the Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, Empathy (PACE) model of parenting adopted by the organisation. Its members actively employ systems to support and ensure that this model is at the forefront of their practice. They reflect on and develop their practice through training, supervisions, appraisals and team meetings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager, deputy and staff team monitor the child’s progress and the overall impact that the quality of care has on his experiences. They use reflective practice, research and clinical input to challenge their own practice and introduce new strategies to ensure that he continues to make outstanding progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

They work closely in partnership with other professionals and parents to ensure that the needs of the child remain central to all they do. One social worker told the inspector, ‘This is an outstanding home. They are the best residential staff team I work with. The child’s progress has been steady but significant. The staff have provided the stability and consistency he has needed, and put in place excellent strategies to manage any anxieties and resulting behaviours. He still struggles with the word ‘no’ but staff have helped him to cope with the disappointment of hearing it.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager and deputy are dedicated to the service and achieving outstanding outcomes for the child. They have ensured that there is staff consistency for the child but at the same time enabled staff to progress professionally. The minimal changes to the staff team have been skilfully managed with as little impact as possible on the child. When staff have struggled to manage the child’s complex and demanding needs, this has been quickly identified and addressed. With the support of the clinician, managers explore supportive strategies that further develop the skills of staff and sustain the quality of the placement for the child.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC372652 5 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: SC372652 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bryn Melyn Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Edward James House, Hadley, Telford TF1 6QJ

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Inspector

Dawn Bennett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC372652 7 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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