Care Home for Children with Special Needs & Learning Disabilities

Getting the most out of life and developing the skills for adulthood

Staffing

All staff undertake a through induction training programme prior to working with the children /young people to ensure staff are fully equipped to deliver the care package providing a high standard of quality care. Training is ongoing and each member of the staff team have a individual training plan to ensure both staff development and that staff are competent in all aspects of their work. This includes mandatory training in respect of fire safety, food hygiene, and manual handling and infection control.

Staff undertake child protection training provided by the local ACPC. A copy of the local Area Child Protection Committee procedures are kept in the home. The home’s registered manager ensures that all staff have read, understand and have a clear knowledge of them. The staff team are committed to protecting the children / young people in their care and will not tolerate any forms of bullying or challenging behaviour between children / young people. The home has a policy on countering bullying , which is known to staff and children / young people depending on their level of understanding. The home manager and the staff create an atmosphere where bullying will not be accepted resulting in a safe environment for children and young people living in the home.

Staff do not use any extreme form of control we have clear procedures on how best to manage children / young people with challenging behaviour and are trained to follow these. We discuss the best ways of managing a child /young person’s behaviour and permitted forms of control with parents and behaviour specialists when preparing the care plan.

The staff team provide a high level of care and supervision to the children / young people in their care with 3 RCCO on shift during the day with additional staff for a child / young person requiring one to one or two to one care. Two members of staff are on shift at night one being a waking night officer. With such high level of supervision we do not believe any child or young person would go missing from the home however in the unlikely event of a child /young person going missing in our care staff would report missing children / young people to the child’s placing authority including parents and the police and do all we can to find the child / young person. Contact with parents will be subject to consultation with the placing authority this will enable an assessment of risk of the likely danger to the child / young person.

All our staff:

Are NVQ trained or committed to undertake the relevant NVQ training required for the post.

Have recent experience of working with disabled children / young people with complex needs.

Are CRB checked.

Have a knowledge of the Children Act 1989 and other relevant legislation.

Have regular staff supervision and staff appraisals.

Staff receive on- going training as set out in staff training plans/programmes.

Training includes Control, Discipline and Restraint of Children – Physical Intervention Training Child Protection Policy and Counter Bullying Policy.