Ofsted inspection for Joan Young Lodge

Since the last inspection, one child has moved out and one child has moved in. The children experienced planned moves. One child moved to a new home closer to their local area, in line with their wishes. Another child moved in after planned visits to the home. The manager was diligent in exploring the child’s needs before they moved in and consulted relevant professionals to help them and staff better understand this child’s needs. This has helped the child to have a well planned move into the home which helped the child settle.

Before moving in, the child now living in the home had not accessed education for over a year. Since the child moved in, the manager has successfully advocated for bespoke education support until a suitable education setting can be found. As a result, the child is now accessing some education. This is progress from their starting point. Staff encourage a positive daily routine to support their learning. They support the child through other learning experiences while they remain out of education. This helps them build confidence and settle into an education-ready routine.

Staff help children maintain positive health. Children are registered with local health services and staff support them to attend routine health appointments. The staff help children explore and develop healthy lifestyles and eating habits.

Children have been encouraged and supported by staff to participate in varied activities suitable for their age and interests. Children have spent time getting to know the local area. They have enjoyed day trips to the beach, funfair and car racing. Staff have helped the children to spend positive time with their families in the community.

Staff are capturing children’s experiences at the home in memory books and daily diaries which are written using child friendly language. This helps children to keep memorabilia and have a record of some of their positive memories at the home.

The home environment is welcoming and children have personalised bedrooms. One child asked for a swimming pool when they moved in. The manager listened to the child’s views and purchased a pool for the garden.

Staff help children feel safe and stay safe. Since the last inspection, no children have gone missing from home or needed to be held by staff. There have been no worries about children’s safety in the community, allegations against staff or complaints made by children.

The staff implement clear boundaries and expectations. They have developed supportive relationships with children that have helped them feel safe and settled. Children generally behave well and formal consequences are very rarely used. When children have challenged staff, staff have spoken with the child about their behaviour at the time and helped them to think about things differently. Staff have helped children to understand the impact of their behaviour and make better choices.

Staff encourage and celebrate positive behaviour. They regularly use positive incentives and rewards. Staff record these in a positive diary which is written to and shared with the child. Staff are also helping children to think about good daily habits through establishing consistent daily routines. This is helping them to settle at night and participate in household activities in the home. This is noticeable progress for the children.

Since the last inspection, there have been a small number of staff changes. Recruitment checks of new staff are suitable. This helps to ensure children are cared for by safe and suitable adults.

The manager considers children’s behavioural risks when they move in and develop individual behaviour support plans. However, these have not always been reviewed effectively and updated with new information following incidents. This does not help the manager or staff to respond effectively to the child’s changing needs.

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has made significant changes at the home to improve staff practice and the quality of care for children. The manager has driven improvement and has made changes to records, training and staff practice.

Staff said they feel supported by the new manager and that things are now more settled at the home. Since the last inspection, all staff have received regular suitable supervision. This has covered topics appropriate to the home and staff’s learning and development. New staff have received probation reviews, and the manager has identified appropriate areas of development for staff to help improve their practice. Weekly team meetings further support staff’s learning and development. A staff member said this helped them to understand the changes that needed to happen to improve the home and said that there is ‘more support from management now’

Staff receive a variety of online and face-to-face training during their induction. They also receive mandatory face-to-face training. Since the last inspection, all staff have completed training in the home’s physical intervention approach. The manager has identified new training for staff that is specific to the needs of the child who has moved in, and staff have completed initial online training. The manager has ensured that all staff are enrolled on a relevant level 3 qualification. Providing staff with the right training, specific to children’s individual needs, helps staff to provide better care.

Feedback from external professionals was positive about the home and the care that the children receive. One child’s independent reviewing officer said, ‘Staff seem to provide a high level of relaxed, nurturing and calm care.’ The manager has improved Inspection report for children’s home: 2808400 5 communication with other professionals and is providing appropriate challenge to ensure children’s needs are met.

The manager has good systems in place for reviewing and monitoring the home. They seek to identify how they can improve the quality of care for children and have successfully driven improvement. The requirements and recommendations set at the last inspection have been met.