Children's Home run by Green View Young People Limited in Barnsley

Inspection report for children’s home: SC386057 1 SC386057 Registered provider: Green View Young People 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 owned and managed by a private company. It provides care for up to two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. One child was living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2022.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC386057 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/05/2023 Full Outstanding 04/10/2022 Full Good 22/02/2022 Full Good 20/08/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC386057 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children who live at this home benefit from excellent care from staff, who understand their individual needs in detail. Children build strong, lasting and trusted relationships with staff, which enable them to make significant progress. Children experience individualised, thoughtful and sensitive care to the highest standard. Children at this home feel loved and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are at the centre of everything that happens in the home. They are empowered to have autonomy in their lives and are directly involved in any decision-making about their futures. Children’s views and wishes are paramount and are keenly listened to. Staff use creative and imaginative methods to capture children’s views and wishes. There is a bright and cheerful project wall, menu plans, activity planners, and a weekly achievements certificate. The staff use every opportunity to capture the voice of the children. Children participate in all aspects of home life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff use evidence-based research to ensure that they understand children’s health needs and any specific conditions that children may experience. This knowledge informs staff practice, and children are partners in their own health journeys. Staff create visual aid posters with children to help them to understand any medicines they need to maintain good health. Children’s views and wishes about their medicines are reviewed, and staff speak to medical professionals when children have queries or concerns. This helps children to develop the ability to make decisions for themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

‘Housemates meetings’ are chaired by the children and their comments and feedback are encouraged. One child said, ‘I love it here, living in this home.’ When children struggle to make decisions and choices about what they would like to do, there are resources in the home about the local area and activities to help them. One child said that they ‘loved’ the holidays and activities provided and rated the staff team as ‘a gazillion out of 10’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make sustained progress in all aspects of their lives. Staff are highly ambitious for children, including their educational attainments. Staff develop fun and creative educational activities in the home that mirror school timetables. The educational achievements of children are celebrated. Feedback from education professionals is very positive about the role that staff play in supporting children to achieve. Where there are barriers to education, staff collaborate with providers to remove these. Children are confident in their ability to succeed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Understanding and tolerance are promoted by the staff team. ‘Around the World Wednesday’ is an opportunity for children to learn about a new culture, religion, and national food. Children help to cook a national dish of that country each week. Children are also supported to become confident and valued members of the community. One child chose to wrap presents and volunteer at a festive charity lunch for care leavers, with support from staff. The child said, ‘It was the best Christmas ever.’ This also Inspection report for children’s home: SC386057 4 gives children the opportunity to meet other care-experienced children and young people and develop new friendships. The child said of the staff team, ‘I’m glad and grateful for what they do for me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children who move in to or out of the home are supported by exceptionally well- planned, proactive and thorough transition plans. The manager raises clear and appropriate challenge when the proposed plans do not meet the needs of children. Transition plans for children moving to or from the home are enhanced by visual resources, positive praise, and careful risk management. One child said, ‘I have a lot of skills now; staff made things happen for me.’ Professionals described a ‘brilliant’ transition with great collaborative working, which kept the child safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

When planning for transition, staff work with children and professionals to consider every aspect of the child’s new life. One child described how staff used visual aids, had one-to- one discussions, and made support booklets to help with this. The child learned to recognise money, use a bus, and shop independently. The child used the booklets in their new home to manage their own health and appointments. The child understood who to contact in an emergency and how to recognise when they felt sad or lonely. Staff are highly ambitious for children to succeed in their own homes. The work carried out to ensure that this happens is extensive and thoughtful. Staff revisit topics if children struggle to retain information. Children at this home thrive with the support that staff provide.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Feedback from family members, social workers, and other professionals is exceptionally positive. They speak highly of staff and the manager. They describe excellent communication, knowledge, and understanding of the children. Staff go above and beyond to ensure that the needs of children are met.

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

Children benefit from exceptionally high-quality care in a safe home. Children are consistently included in their plans of care. Children have copies of child-friendly behaviour management plans and risk assessments. Children write and review these with staff. Staff have meaningful conversations with children to help them to understand how to manage their emotions. Staff use de-escalation and distraction, and never physically intervene. Children said that staff support them throughout their care journey.

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

Staff have an excellent understanding of the needs of children, including how past experiences have affected them. Research-based plans and risk assessments reflect known individual risks to children. Restrictive practices and negative consequences are not used in the home. Staff at the home adapt their approach to support children when they are upset and reduce their anxiety. Warm, positive relationships allow children to flourish.

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

Children’s safety is a priority for the staff. When previously unknown risks are identified, the response to these is swift and effective. Staff liaise with outside agencies and professionals to protect children. Staff ensure that risk assessments are updated. Inspection report for children’s home: SC386057 5 Alongside this, additional training and support are sourced immediately to ensure that they can respond to children’s needs. Children benefit from living at this home.

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

Children are engaged in their own care and are proud of their achievements in managing their own emotions and behaviour. Positive behaviour is consistently promoted and is incorporated into every aspect of the child’s life. This is reflected on a ‘wall of achievement’ and weekly certificates, which are displayed in the home. The positive praise book is completed daily with messages for each child and notes and stickers that reflect the achievements of the children that day. Daily diary entries are written to children, and they can comment on their day if they wish. Children have regular discussions with staff and complete posters and booklets that help them to understand their emotions. These tangible resources are for individual children to keep and revisit.

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

Children do not go missing from this home. Missing-from-home protocols are clear and detailed and would direct staff to the right course of action if this were to happen. There are plans in place to reduce the risks of children going missing, which include steps to avoid possible triggers. Staff are attentive and nurturing and can recognise when children are distressed. Children at this home said that they feel safe.

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

Staff spend quality time with children as a priority. This contributes to a low number of incidents. Children display positive interactions with staff and seek them out for comfort.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager of the home is inspirational and highly ambitious for the children in her care. She is confident in her ability to advocate for children and ensure that they achieve the best outcomes. The manager inspires staff to be nurturing, calm, and creative in their support for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is passionate about the children in her care, and this is reflected in the staff team. Staff described an amazing, supportive manager who is always looking to make improvements in children’s lives. Staff said that the manager and deputy manager are always there for them, and are happy, cheery, and comforting. One professional said that the manager gave a lot of thought to how a particular situation could be managed, ensuring that the well-being of children was at the forefront of decision-making, while maintaining a fair approach.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager provides strong and effective leadership to the staff. She keeps herself up to date with research and developments that relate to children, and ensures that staff do the same. Staff discussed recent research that they had reviewed regarding childhood trauma during a staff meeting. This practice helps staff to understand children’s behaviours and respond appropriately. The manager is supported by a visible and knowledgeable responsible individual, who responds to the training needs of staff at very short notice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Attendance at staff meetings is excellent. Training and development work takes place each month. Staff can confidently describe how the home’s model of care is used to Inspection report for children’s home: SC386057 6 support children and the research that underpins this. Supportive supervision sessions for staff are consistent, and the manager challenges staff to provide exceptional care. Reflective discussions take place, and the actions and achievements of staff are reviewed. Goal planning is in place, and staff meetings are consistently child focused.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff describe a supportive, family atmosphere that prevails in the home. Staff speak positively about their colleagues, and they all work very well together. The manager constantly promotes the development of staff and helps them to be better in their roles. New training is sourced and consistently updated and is creative to meet children’s needs. Staff know the risks to children, and what help children need from staff. The manager leads multi-agency working to find the right support for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is warm, homely, and welcoming, with the decoration and furnishings being reflective of a family home. The manager has ongoing development plans for the home, and it is well maintained. A thorough monitoring system is in place to ensure that the home remains safe and any issues are dealt with immediately. There are monthly visits to the home by an independent person. The manager requests feedback through regular surveys and feedback forms. This is consistently positive. The manager encourages challenge to enable practice to improve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager regularly spends time with children. She monitors and observes staff practice and their relationships and interactions with children and each other. The manager described how she would capture this in supportive supervision sessions with staff, and improve practice through goal setting and training, if necessary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager challenges others when standards fall short of her expectations. She is a strong, confident manager, who ensures that the needs of the children are always at the forefront of practice. During recent transitions, the manager positively challenged authorities to ensure that children moving in to and out of the home were safe. One parent said, ‘The staff are amazing; it’s not just a job to them.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC386057 7

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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: SC386057 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Green View Young People Limited

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Inspector

Jo Cansfield, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC386057 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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