Children's home run by Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd in Havant

Inspection report for children’s home: SC482293 1 SC482293 Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care for up to seven boys with complex social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, who may have also suffered traumas such as physical, emotional or sexual abuse. At the time of this inspection, five children were living in the home.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in June 2022.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC482293 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/03/2022 Full Good 17/12/2019 Full Inadequate 19/09/2018 Full Outstanding 30/08/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC482293 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from warm supportive relationships with staff. They share a lot of humour and hugs. Children said that they feel safe and well cared for.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff complete regular progress reviews. They update these daily to ensure that they capture all the positive achievements of children. Staff set clear and achievable goals for children and monitor these regularly to identify positive outcomes. This has helped children to make progress in managing their emotions, in thinking collaboratively about strategies to manage their behaviour, and in building their confidence and self-esteem.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff gave a lovely example of a child who was very nervous about going to the hairdresser. Staff used gentle encouragement, patience and offers of support that led him to eventually go for a haircut. He was really proud of himself afterwards and very happy with the outcome.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Healthcare practice has improved due to the employment of a former healthcare professional who is leading on medication administration and demonstrates high levels of competency in this area. Health support for children is well managed and all children attend regular appointments. Staff also access relevant specialist support for children when required. One child has recently started engaging with child and adolescent mental health services for the first time to help them better manage their emotions and to support them to form healthy relationships. This has been a positive experience for them.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop clear health plans that contain all relevant information. These are regularly updated and record changing healthcare needs of children.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who have been disengaged with education in the past are making good progress and attending school regularly. One child, who was very withdrawn when they first came to the home, has made excellent progress with their ability to make eye contact and engage in conversation. This has supported them to make progress in many areas of their life, including education and participating in activities outside the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager is undertaking a programme of renovation at the home. However, the renovations are not yet complete, which means that the standard of decoration in the home is of variable quality.

p.3

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

Staff complete comprehensive risk-management plans for all children. Strategies for managing risk are clear. When incidents occur, staff follow guidance closely and reduce the risk of harm to children. Staff have a good understanding of risks in the Inspection report for children’s home: SC482293 4 community and have used this knowledge to protect children from harmful relationships.

p.3

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

Staff benefit from effective training to identify safeguarding risks and, as a result, they manage risk safely and effectively. Staff form close relationships with other agencies in the community, which enables sharing of knowledge and soft intelligence and keeps staff well informed about emerging risks in the community.

p.4

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

When a child was mixing in the community with children known to the police, staff managed this well in a supportive, non-stigmatising way. This supported the child to think about the risks he was exposing himself to, both personally and emotionally. He was able to learn to make safer choices.

p.4

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

Staff have a very clear understanding of signs and indicators of exploitation. This has helped them to build a profile of children’s activities in the community. Effective multi-agency work has then supported staff to keep children safe and avoid criminalisation.

p.4

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

Staff record incidents clearly and use reflective debriefs to analyse and learn from them. This enables them to adapt and change approaches and strategies and, as a result, negative incidents involving children have reduced.

p.4

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

Staff make good use of praise and reward to encourage children to display positive behaviour, empathy and understanding towards peers in the home.

p.4

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

Staff have access to a behaviour lead person who regularly visits the home to offer advice and support. She praised the team’s effective use of playfulness, empathy and nurture to support positive behavioural changes for children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has a clear vision for the direction she wants the service to go in. She places a strong emphasis on high-quality, family-like relationships between staff and children. She expects high standards of performance from staff and ensures that staff demonstrate a clear commitment to their roles.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager feels well supported by the organisation. She demonstrates enthusiasm and optimism about the continuing development of her team, the progress children are making and the home environment.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff said that they feel motivated, and are positive about the registered manager’s vision for the home and the improvement in their relationships as a team and consequently with the children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

One staff member said, ‘The growth of staff morale and enthusiasm has been a brilliant experience and the boys have mirrored this in their levels of engagement and involvement.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC482293 5 Staff feel well supported and praised the quality of their supervisory relationships with managers. They said that there is a strong focus on staff having a positive work-life balance.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff also spoke about a supportive team dynamic. They benefit from good formal and informal debriefing after challenging incidents, effective handovers and a readily accessible senior team.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has good oversight of care practice and completes regular audits of all record-keeping at the home. She uses her oversight to reflect on practice and learn. Children’s meetings and staff meetings are then used to share this learning. A good example involved a child who was not respecting personal space and boundaries. Staff delivered a session on personal space to all children in a meeting. This meant that messages could be disseminated without identifying or shaming individual children. The registered manager identified in her own audits that some of the timeframes for debriefing after incidents were too long.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

While staff spoke positively about training and development within the organisation, some gaps were identified in the oversight of training compliance across the staff team.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals who work alongside staff from the home are very positive about the quality of care and support provided to children. One social worker described how her child had ‘gone from a child unable to express feelings to becoming emotionally literate and able to express himself’.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff support children to explore their religious and cultural heritage, supporting them to engage in worship when they want to and also ensuring that they can explore aspects of their culture such as cuisine and hairstyles. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482293 6

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are kept and enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. In particular, ensure that oversight by managers and debriefs with staff are carried out in a timely manner. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s home is a homely and domestic environment. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations; however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than institutional impression. In particular, continue the ongoing programme of renovations to bring all areas of the home up to the same standard. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality

p.6

Recommendations

standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. In particular, conduct regular reviews of training compliance to ensure that all staff are up to date with core training modules. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

p.6

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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 for children’s home: SC482293 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Atria, Spa Road, Bolton BL1 4AG

p.7

Inspector

Peter Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC482293 8 to 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.

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 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: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8