Ofsted Report

SC398386 Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services (2) Limited

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to four children whose adverse childhood experiences and trauma can lead to them exhibiting complex behaviours. A large national provider operates this home. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since March 2016. She holds a level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

Inspection dates: 7 to 8 January 2020 Overall experiences and progress of outstanding children and young people, taking into account How well children and young people are outstanding helped and protected The effectiveness of leaders and managers 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.

Date of last inspection: 13 November 2018

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/11/2018 Full Outstanding 14/08/2017 Full Good 21/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/07/2016 Full Good

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What does the children’s home need to do to improve?

Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for ensuring that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care. Everyone working at the home must understand their roles and responsibilities and what they are authorised to decide on their own initiative. There should be clear lines of accountability. Each home must have clear arrangements in place to maintain effective management when the manager is absent, off duty or on leave. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.14)

Inspection judgements

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding Children thrive as a result of the bespoke care that they receive from highly skilled, knowledgeable and passionate staff. Children experience well-planned and highly personalised moves into the home. For example, when one child moved in, their bedroom was already decorated to reflect their favourite football team. This ensured that the child felt welcomed into their new home. Staff give equal attention to helping children to move out of the home, and they use a variety of creative ways of gathering positive memories. For example, staff maintain a memory jar for each child. The jars hold individual notes of children’s personal achievements and messages of support that have been written by the staff. This excellent and supportive practice ensures that when children move out of the home they leave with fond memories. Support for children’s education is a strength. All children attend school daily. When children require additional assistance, the manager ensures that this is made available. This can include arranging for children to receive private tutoring. This extra support means that children are given every opportunity to learn and achieve their individual potential. Staff ensure that children’s health needs are fully understood and met. In recent months, one child has required a high level of healthcare intervention. Staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that the child has received all the support that they need to make a full recovery.

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Staff are committed to enriching children’s lives by giving each child access to a wide range of activities. These include opportunities to go on holidays abroad, participate in voluntary work and charity events and attend local clubs. Consequently, children have fun. Staff enable children to become more independent. For example, the organisation is paying for one child to receive driving lessons and is helping another child to secure employment. This support enables children to flourish and promotes the achievement of their future aspirations.

How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding The manager and staff work exceptionally hard to keep children safe. In particular, staff use their extensive knowledge of the children to create excellent individual behaviour support plans for each child. Children are involved in developing these plans, which include clear daily routines for each child. This ensures that children clearly understand their care plans and what is expected of them. Staff can quickly identify changes in a child’s behaviour and use de-escalation and diversion techniques to prevent situations escalating. Staff focus on rewarding children’s positive behaviour. This child-focused practice has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of incidents that occur. Staff have access to regular clinical support. This enables staff to reflect on situations that have arisen and consider alternative approaches. This work is underpinned by staff applying appropriate theory and research to their practice. In turn, this helps ensure that staff have a comprehensive and fully informed understanding of the reasons why children sometimes exhibit a particular behaviour. As a result, when children experience a setback, staff are nurturing and empathic in their responses, enabling children to rebuild relationships and move on positively. Staff ensure that clear risk assessments are in place. These are regularly updated to reflect new and emerging risks. These assessments ensure that staff have access to the most up-to-date information about how to safeguard children. The manager oversees the recruitment of new members of staff. She ensures that only people who are safe to work with children are employed to work in the home.

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding The registered manager is a dedicated, child-focused practitioner who is an inspiring leader. She leads a team of committed and skilled staff who strive to ensure that children achieve their full potential. Staff receive a range of training that ensures that they are well equipped to meet the complex needs of the children who live in the home. In addition, the organisation has introduced a formal qualification in therapeutic parenting for staff. This positive approach to staff development demonstrates a commitment to maintaining the highest standards of care. The manager ensures that staff are well supported by receiving regular supervision and an annual review of their performance. Staff feel that their strengths are recognised, and

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this encourages them to be creative in how they work with the children. The manager is a strong advocate for the children. She is confident in challenging other professionals when she believes that they are being too slow in fulfilling their responsibilities to the children. In the vast majority of circumstances, the manager makes good and effective use of a range of systems to maintain her oversight of the home. On one specific occasion, she failed to challenge staff when the language used in a child’s records exaggerated the facts of an issue. This meant that the report of the incident was not entirely factual. When the manager is not present, staff do not always complete necessary documentation. Although this happens rarely, it has a negative impact on the high standards that the manager strives for her staff to achieve.

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.

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’.

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Children’s home details

Unique reference number: SC398386

Provision sub-type: Children’s home

Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services (2) Limited

Registered provider address: Turnpike Gate House, Alcester Heath, Alcester, Warwickshire B49 5JG

Responsible individual: Samantha Millward

Registered manager: Helen Sulley

Inspector

Tracey Coglan Greig, social care inspector

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The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) regulates and inspects 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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