Children's home run by New Forest Care Limited in New Forest

Inspection report children’s home: SC480502 1 SC480502 Registered provider: New Forest Care Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children aged up to 18 years old. The home is operated by a private organisation. According to the statement of purpose, the home caters for children who have complex emotional, behavioural and educational difficulties. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 30 June 2014.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 11 to 12 February 2020

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

p.1

outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

p.1

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.

p.1

outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

p.1

outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC480502 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/03/2019 Full Outstanding 07/03/2018 Full Outstanding 28/02/2017 Full Good 03/05/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC480502 3

p.2

Recommendations

 Children’s homes staff should seek to identify and provide appropriate opportunities for children to develop themselves in accordance with their wishes and feelings and as part of the home’s plan for their care. Each child’s talents and interests should be understood and nurtured, with children selecting activities based on their personal preferences and abilities, so far as is reasonable. Staff should also support children to try activities that are ‘new’ for them, where appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.4) In particular, staff should spend routine time throughout the day establishing the personal preferences of young people who are newer to the home.  The registered person is responsible for deciding what each Regulation 45 review should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that particular time and any areas of high risk to the children that the home is

p.3

Recommendations

designed to care for, such as missing or exploitation. They will also consider what information or data recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and conclusions. There is no expectation that the registered person will review the home against every part of the Quality Standards every six months – registered persons should use their professional judgement to decide which factors to focus on. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people routinely receive an excellent level of highly focused individualised care, which results in them achieving exceptional progress. This approach begins at the referral stage when a meticulous approach to admissions helps ensure that optimum decisions are made both for potential new young people and for existing ones. Young people who have left during the inspection period have maintained their excellent progress, thereby demonstrating the sustained positive impact of this home’s care.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

A particular strength of this home is its focus on maintaining or restoring positive contact between young people and their families. Some parents are very aware of the positive Inspection report children’s home: SC480502 4 role that the home has played, and one parent said, ‘They have shown great professionalism and often gone the extra mile.’

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people’s exceptional progress is across all key aspects of their functioning, for example long-standing everyday health issues are solved, resulting in a more comfortable and healthy life. All young people are now engaged in education. For some, regular attendance is new and as a result they begin to develop new skills and therefore have a wider range of life choices. Overall, young people’s emotional health improves, resulting in more confidence and better self-regulation.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people’s views are valued and taken seriously. Instead of young people’s meetings, which may not reflect all views equally, staff focus on seeking individual young people’s views using both structured systems and everyday discussion. This is highly effective in that young people feel that their views, particularly on daily life, are listened to and, where appropriate, followed.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people follow a structured routine in the week, which is focused on prioritising education but contains plenty of opportunities for hobbies and pastimes with staff. Young people who have been in the home for some time are confident and secure in initiating conversations with staff. However, some young people who are newer to the home are less able to express their needs and preferences, and so these may not be met.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Moves, both in and out of the home, are planned with great attention to detail. For example, to ensure that a new young person felt comfortable his key worker from his previous home did regular shifts with him for the first few weeks. Prior to leaving the home, each young person works through a bespoke independence plan and, at their own pace, learns the skills that they need to have.

p.4

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

Risk assessments accurately and creatively reflect the major risks to young people’s well- being and are effectively updated as necessary. Young people’s life chances are greatly improved in that they show increasingly safer behaviour during their time in the home and beyond, for example the numbers of behavioural events requiring physical intervention strongly decreases. In addition, there is a substantial reduction in the frequency and severity of self-harm incidents.

p.4

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

Young people do not routinely go missing from this home, but there has been one isolated incident of missing from home behaviour. In such circumstances, each young person has an individualised protocol for staff to follow, and in this case, this was successful in locating the young person safely and in avoiding such incidents in the future. Staff and managers have extensive knowledge and understanding of each young person and their particular vulnerabilities, and this proved invaluable in successfully resolving a possible allegation of abuse.

p.4

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

Staff and managers rightly pride themselves on creating a home environment that is as Inspection report children’s home: SC480502 5 non-institutional, friendly and relaxed as possible and this contributes strongly to the usually positive home environment. Most young people are highly motivated not only by the personalised and generous reward system for positive behaviour but are also keen not to disappoint staff that they are clearly attached to. Young people are able to explain how both the reward system and sanctions work and commented that ‘staff are fair’.

p.4

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

The risk of young people being criminalised is minimal in this home as there are no examples of the police being called to help manage behaviour despite some isolated but serious incidents. Physical restraint is used well and appropriately and involves staff who are carefully trained and follow each young person’s individualised protocol. Recording is thoroughly completed and usually includes the young person’s views, and management oversight is prompt and detailed.

p.5

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

There is a very strong safeguarding culture in this home with staff and managers who have good knowledge and understanding through regular and high-quality safeguarding training and discussions and crucially place the well-being of their young people at the centre of their work. For example, all staff and managers have been trained in internet safety and this has provided opportunities for valuable, ongoing relationship-based discussions with young people about sexuality and sexual preferences.

p.5

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

This is a very well-kept home, and young people say that they like living in such a spacious and homely environment. The home environment is safe and secure, and the regular health and safety checks help to keep young people safe from environmental harm.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

This home is run by a very experienced registered manager who is highly ambitious for all of the young people to achieve excellent outcomes. He is tenacious in achieving these and is very creative in ensuring success at all levels. He is rightly very proud of the young people when they do achieve. For example, a young person with a physical disability now rides a bike, which was seen to be an impossibility when he was younger.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is usually successful in modelling to his staff his preferred style of working with young people. His mantra is ‘own your child’ and this means spending daily, focused time alongside the young person. Staff support these child-centred expectations and share their manager’s high expectations for the young people.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is highly organised and has very effective, detailed systems for monitoring young people’s progress. He initiates meetings as necessary with other professionals and is proactive in getting results. Doing care shifts regularly helps to ensure that he has an excellent understanding of both the young people and the staff.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Regulation 45 reports about the standard of care in the home are completed very frequently and to a detailed and lengthy format. This risks being formulaic and focusing on detail rather than impact. Inspection report children’s home: SC480502 6 Staff morale is good, and they feel well supported both within their team and by leaders and managers. Excellent training opportunities are available, and these strongly reflect young people’s presenting issues. Induction of new staff is thorough, and staff progress towards getting the necessary level 3 qualification is meticulously monitored.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

This is not a home that stands still, and continuous improvement is a major theme. For example, the management team recently had a drive on ensuring that all documents were signed off appropriately. Prior to that, the focus was on discussing with staff their responses to various safeguarding scenarios. This approach helps to keep practice fresh and maintains high standards.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff team communicates regularly and well with other agencies and a social worker commented that she ‘can’t rate their care highly enough’. Young people benefit strongly from the range of professional expertise that surrounds them in the wider organisation, for example educational and skills opportunities and a wide variety of inputs to assess and improve emotional health. The registered manager and staff ensure that young people receive the best possible bespoke package from these available opportunities, and this gives young people excellent chances for future success.

p.6

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.

p.6

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: SC480502 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Shore House, West Street, Hythe, Southampton, Hampshire SO45 6AA

p.7

Inspector

Bridget Goddard: Ofsted inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC480502 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

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

p.8