Children's Home run by Active Ark Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report children’s home: SC439956 1 SC439956 Registered provider: Active Ark 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 children’s home is one of several homes run by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for one child or young person who has emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 30 April to 1 May 2019

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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 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: 25 September 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC439956 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/09/2018 Full Outstanding 25/10/2017 Full Outstanding 16/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC439956 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 registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the missing child policy’) setting out—

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Requirement Due date

the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission; and

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Requirement Due date

the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent.

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Requirement Due date

Before implementing, or making an amendment which the registered person considers to be substantive to the missing child policy, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person; and

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Requirement Due date

have regard to any relevant local authority or police protocols on missing children. (Regulation 34 (4)(a)(b) and (5)(a)(b)) 21/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

upon request, the local authority for the area in which the home is located;

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Requirement Due date

the registered provider and, if applicable, the registered manager; and

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Requirement Due date

the responsible individual (if one is nominated). (Regulation 44 (1) and (7)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)) 21/06/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC439956 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person shares good relationships with staff. She is fully involved in her day- to-day care arrangements and consulted to make sure that her views and wishes are considered. Because of this, she feels valued and shares a mutual respect with staff. A member of staff commented, ‘She is always polite and respectful.’ This is a view that is shared by many of the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Having previously lived in other homes run by the company, the young person was given some choice in the staff members who would support her in this home. This has allowed the young person to feel increasingly safe and enjoy a good continuity of care. She has also achieved a good sense of belonging here.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff know her well and share a clear understanding of her needs and of how these can be best met and supported. The young person is fully involved and supported to understand her long-term care plan. Consequently, she feels informed, has settled and is making good progress in all areas of her development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite being excluded from school, the young person is engaging well with personal home tuition and is making good progress. Staff support for and encouragement in her education have been successful in motivating her to succeed. She is enthusiastic about having achieved a conditional offer to attend a local college to embark on an engineering course later this year. This has significantly increased her confidence and self-esteem. She said, ‘I’m a petrol head. This is what I’ve always wanted to do.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has worked proactively with local health services to ensure that her health needs have been fully explored and that she has good access to the support required to promote her physical and emotional well-being and mental health needs. Staff promote a healthy lifestyle, educating and encouraging the young person to follow a healthy diet and participate in regular exercise. This has included going to the gym and fell walking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support has helped the young person to make positive strides in increasing and developing her independence skills. This includes learning new skills, such as shopping, budgeting and preparing and cooking meals. Improvements have also been identified in her personal care, her management of her time safely in the community and in making age-appropriate friendships. Together, these are building her self-confidence and resilience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The placing authority and other professionals contacted during this inspection spoke positively of the support provided by the manager and her staff team. The young person’s social worker said, ‘They have a good understanding of her, regardless of her complexity. They work well with her. They show strength in working around her free time and behaviour. They are good at reading her.’ Another professional commented, ‘The manager works well with us. There is good communication, and she keeps us well informed. They have acted on everything we have asked.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC439956 5

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

The young person said that she feels safe and understands that staff are committed to protecting her and making sure that she stays safe. Staff have spent a lot of time with her, discussing her specific vulnerabilities and the choices she makes to keep herself safe. This has resulted in a significant decline in her risk-taking behaviours including self- harm, offending and those that make her vulnerable to child sexual exploitation.

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

The young person is confident that she can talk to staff should she have a problem or something is worrying her. She benefits from having a local advocate and confirmed that she is familiar with how to make a complaint should she wish to do so.

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

There are still some occasions when the young person returns late to the home and has gone missing. However, improvement is still identified within the context of her developing her independence and now spending free time in the local community, compared to her previously being consistently supervised by staff. Time periods away from the home are much shorter and have not recently involved contact with any persons who have shown any intent to exploit her.

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

Although procedures relating to children that go missing are available and understood by staff, a copy of the missing child policy was not immediately available in the home. Additionally, when a copy was reviewed by the inspector, it did not comprehensively guide staff in the steps to be taken to prevent children from going missing or inform staff of the potential push and pull factors that may prompt them. This is an essential document that must be available in the home to inform and advise staff about how they can minimise the incidence of such events.

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

Individual risk assessments are regularly reviewed and updated to take into account the measurable progress that has been identified. They provide staff with a clear understanding of the young person’s risk-taking behaviours, what may trigger such behaviours and how these are to be managed to reduce her personal risk and vulnerability.

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

Staff receive appropriate training in child protection and current safeguarding concerns to ensure that they are knowledgeable and suitably skilled. The manager has recently qualified to provide further internal training and support to staff in behaviour management planning and practice. This aims to make planning more bespoke and effective.

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

Staff are now vigilant in checking visitors to the home. They make sure that all have a legitimate reason for visiting the home and can prove their identity. Visitors are also advised of the home’s fire safety arrangements, so they know what to do in the event of an emergency. This further promotes the safety of the young person and those visiting the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC439956 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post since June 2018 and was registered with Ofsted in September 2018. She is suitably qualified and experienced, having previously managed children’s homes in Scotland. The manager has responsibility for another children’s home within the company’s group. She successfully divides her time between the two homes, which are located near to each other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and her staff team have a shared and thorough knowledge and understanding of the young person’s needs and the support she requires. They are child focused and work closely with the young person’s placing authority and other professionals, ensuring that the home offers a consistently good standard of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Because of the demands of running a second home, the manager appropriately delegates some of her general responsibilities to the staff team. Staff feel supported through regular supervision and team meetings. Most have also recently benefited from an annual appraisal, which has identified their specific skills and competencies as well as their further development needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has recently revised and created a more robust induction training programme for new staff. Training opportunities are varied and regularly available to all staff. This ensures that the manager and her staff team have good support to develop and keep up to date with current good practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is well organised and has developed good systems to ensure that the young person’s records are kept up to date and well maintained. Because of this, the young person’s records provide a comprehensive account of her planning, progress and activity. They are regularly reviewed and monitored to ensure that they are accurate and will provide the young person with a good account of her time in care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

More recently, external monitoring arrangements have improved, as a new independent person is monitoring the home’s activity. However, Ofsted did not receive reports for several months in 2018 due to the delay in establishing new arrangements following the resignation of the previous independent person. There is nothing to suggest that this has had any major impact on the quality of care provided, but it has reduced transparency between the home and Ofsted. Inspection report children’s home: SC439956 7

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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: SC439956 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Active Ark, Unit E, Baron Way, Kingmoor Business Park, Carlisle CA6 4SJ

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Inspector

Gillian Walters, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC439956 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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