Children's home run by Arnfield Care Limited in Cheshire East

Inspection report children’s home: SC020171 1 SC020171 Registered provider: Arnfield Care 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 home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to seven young people. This home and the registered school on-site are owned and operated by a private provider.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC020171 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/05/2018 Full Good 27/06/2017 Full Good 12/10/2016 Full Good 12/01/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC020171 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

Subject to paragraph (5) of regulation 22, the registered person must ensure that children are provided at all reasonable times with access to the following facilities which they may use without reference to persons working in the home— a telephone on which to make and receive telephone calls in private. (Regulation 22(3)(a)) 20/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year, taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46(1)(2)) 20/08/2019

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Recommendations

 All children must have access to appropriate advocacy support, and where possible this should be provided by a person that the child chooses. Looked-after children are entitled to an independent advocate to advise them and ensure they have the support needed to express their views, wishes and feelings about their care and lives. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 23, paragraph 4.16)  Staff need to have the knowledge and skills to understand each child’s education and training targets and their next steps for learning. This specifically relates to education staff ensuring that residential staff have a clear understanding of each young person’s ASDAN training programme, schedule, targets and progress. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.11)  Supervision of staff practice should ensure that individual adults in the home are

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Recommendations

engaged in the safeguarding culture of the home, so they understand what they would need to do if they found other staff misusing or abusing their position to the detriment of the safety of a child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations Inspection report children’s home: SC020171 4 including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.14)  When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  Any child who has been restrained should be given the opportunity express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally

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Recommendations

within 24 hours of the restraint incident, taking the age of the child and the circumstances of the restraint into account. In some cases, children may need longer to work through their feelings, so a record that the child has talked about their feelings should be made no longer than 5 days after the incident of restraint (regulation 35(3)(c)). Children should be encouraged to add their views and comments to the record of restraint. Children should be offered the opportunity to access advocacy support to help them with this (regulation 7(2)(b)(iii)). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.60)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home is effective in enabling young people to make progress and develop. The foundation for this success is the positive relationships between staff and young people. Experienced staff nurture and care for the young people. These relationships help young people to feel settled, feel secure and enjoy positive daily experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy a range of stimulating activities. The home is set in a beautiful rural location. Staff support young people to participate in a range of challenging outdoor pursuits. They enjoy meals out and shopping, and go to the cinema in local towns. All young people have a summer holiday of their choice. Each year the home hosts a large family barbeque. The home has its own games room and has plenty of books and resources for indoor play. These activities help young people to have fun and develop social skills and self-confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s educational attendance and attainment improve following their admission to this home. Young people initially attend the provider’s own registered school. However, communication between education and residential staff needs to be improved. In particular, this communication needs to improve so that staff in both provisions develop a shared understanding of young people’s education plans and their targets for accredited training programmes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

From their starting points, young people build confidence and self-discipline. They Inspection report children’s home: SC020171 5 progress to being able to attend mainstream schools and colleges. They undertake work placements, voluntary work and independence work. These arrangements are effective and improve young people’s life chances.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All young people at this home live a considerable distance from their home communities. Due to safeguarding reasons, not all young people have a mobile phone. The home has a telephone for the sole use of young people, but they cannot use this phone without asking staff for the unique security code. In addition, young people do not currently have access to an advocate. These combined shortfalls limit young people’s ability to raise any concerns or worries.

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

Safeguarding arrangements are good. Social care professionals and the police confirmed that when safeguarding situations occur, they are well managed.

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

From the point of admission, risks are well understood by staff. Risk assessments provide staff with clear strategies for minimising potential dangers. Risk assessments are constantly reviewed. This means that as the risks reduce, young people benefit from having increased levels of independence.

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

When young people are missing or absent without authorisation, staff follow appropriate procedures. They are proactive in their approach to locating young people. However, not all young people have had an independent return home interview. This prevents staff members and professional from having a clear understanding of why a young person chose to leave the home.

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

Behaviour management is good. The skilled staff team supports young people to regulate their behaviours. Effective behaviour management strategies mean that staff rarely need to use physical intervention. Staff are well trained in the use of physical intervention and their practice is safe. However, records of physical intervention do not consistently include young people’s views.

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

Overall, managers and staff have a good understanding of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities. However, not all staff are clear about how to raise concerns with external safeguarding agencies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has not had a registered manager since January 2019. During this time, the senior leadership team has provided consistent and flexible management support. Staff were unanimous in their praise of senior managers for maintaining high standards of care and support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The provider has successfully recruited a new, suitably qualified and experienced Inspection report children’s home: SC020171 6 manager. She is in the process of applying for registration with Ofsted. She has a clear vision and sense of purpose. The established staff team is supportive of the new manager and staff members are embracing planned changes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have made sure that they have responded fully to the recommendations made at the last inspection. The provider now updates the statement of purpose and submits it to Ofsted. This allows the regulator to understand changes to the operation of the home. Staff confirmed that they have supervision at the frequencies set out in the statement of purpose. Internal monitoring reports are of a high standard and are submitted as required under regulation. Managers now have a workforce development plan. This provides a clear overview of the staff’s training and their development needs. The physical environment is of a high standard and there is a continual programme of development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The only area still in need of improvement is the locality risk assessment. The document is up to date and comprehensive, but still needs to include the views of relevant agencies.

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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: SC020171 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Arnfield Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Arnfield Tower Activity Centre, Manchester Road, Tintwistle, Glossop, Derbyshire SK13 1NE

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Inspector:

Amanda Ellis: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC020171 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

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