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Children’s Homes Quality Standards Partnership
Workshop Evaluation Report
Introduction
The need for a face to face event was seen as the biggest priority by the stakeholder group and a
significant number of respondents in our initial survey in February 2015. 10 workshops took place across
England in June and July 2015.
The purpose of these workshops was:
 To provide homes with face to face information on implementing the Quality Standards and
demonstrating quality care at inspection.
 To inspire managers to lead high quality care.
 To encourage face to face networking and sharing of good practice development.
 To identify where further support is needed to embed Quality Standards.
 To address some of the need identified for training and clarify further what training people want
and formulating ideas for new areas that may emerge.
Workshop Content
We worked closely with a number of key stakeholders to deliver this. The workshop content was drafted
by the partnership and refined through discussions with key stakeholders.
The DfE and the Children’s Homes Quality Standards Partnership provided the background to the
standards and shared the vision the government and the sector has for high quality residential care.
“Inspiring , embedding new legislation and values”
Ofsted delivered a presentation that enabled homes to have a good understanding of what the
inspectorate would be looking for. They also answered specific questions raised by homes after their
presentation and subsequently via the website.
“Found Ofsted really helpful and useful to listen to”
NCERCC provided a thought provoking presentation on management in residential care and promoted
their Children's Homes Association of Registered Managers initiative so that it forms the basis of on
going support for managers
“Jonathon was very inspirational”
The Mulberry Bush provided a useful session on reflective practice entitled the No Decision Zone
“Thought the session was very good and thought provoking- will blend it into my team”
“I generally consider myself to be a reflective practitioner, but this session made me realise how
vulnerable RM’s can feel when things don’t always go to plan. I really enjoyed it and got a lot from it”.
Research in Practice delivered an interactive session on evidencing outcomes using the theory of
change.
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“Really enjoyed this workshop and gained the most from this. Will use this in house meetings and
reviewing what we do. At my home we like CYP to develop their own plans and this will serve us well”
“A very useful model will go back and try it”.
The Art of Brilliance provided an engaging workshop on leadership.
“Positively awesome- thank you!”
“ It is possible to train yourself to be positive and then to show others how to do it”
Reach



A total of 1452 people applied.
Places were offered to 950 people
A total of 863 attended.
The attendance figures are impressive and equate to 91% people turning up which is higher than most
conference type events. This suggests that the need for such an event was clearly warranted as there is
a thriving residential child care sector eager to achieve good outcomes for children. Also, it suggests that
the sector engagement work has been successful and that these events were effectively administered.
To further increase the reach, the powerpoint presentations from workshops and the video of the
speakers is available on the website.
Reach per homes in each Region
Venue
Birmingham
London x 2
Taunton
Nottingham
Newcastle
Manchester x 2
Preston
Leeds
Total
attendance
94
157
(81 and 76)
68
87
73
295
(82, 110, and 103)
89
Location
matches
East Midlands
West Midlands
London
South East
Total homes
in region
524
Percentage
389
40%
South West
East England
North East
North West
198
163
113
491
34%
53%
65%
60%
Yorks & Humber
179
50%
25%
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Types of Homes
Percentage of types of homes that
attended
Children's Homes
96%
Residential Special
School
Secure Children's
Home
1%
3%
Size of homes
Percentage of size of homes that
attended
48%
30%
10%
9%
1 Bedroom
2-3 Bedrooms
4-6 Bedrooms
7-8 Bedrooms
9+ Bedrooms
3%
Types of providers
Types of providers who attended
Local Authority
56%
Private
Voluntary
36%
8%
Health Authority
0%
These figures are broadly proportional to the national picture of types, size and providers of homes as
indicated in the DfE Children’s Homes Data Pack 2014.
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Impact of the workshops
The workshops have been very successful. 100% of those who attended felt their knowledge had
increased. 78% of these felt their knowledge had increased ‘a lot’ or ‘hugely’.
99% felt their skills had increased. Of these 69% felt their skills had increased ‘a lot’ or ‘hugely’.
98% reported an increase in confidence. 77% indicated that their confidence had increased ‘a lot’ or
‘hugely’.
98% reported that they were likely to use the information gained at the workshops to help them
implement the Quality Standards. Examples include:
“I will feedback the information gained today to my staff in team meeting and use strategies in
supervision, to increase my team’s understanding.”
“How to challenge and to discuss with Ofsted professional judgement, and what to do if I don’t agree”
95% indicated that they had good opportunities throughout the day to network and share practice with
other homes and managers. Top tips they gained included:
“Revise my supervision form.”
“How I can use reflection in staff meetings.”
“The power the manager has on placements and challenging the local authority.”
The Art of Brilliance was the session most people felt they gained the most from, followed by the
morning speakers and thirdly the table discussions.
Satisfaction
99% reported satisfaction with the event. The majority of these, 53% were very satisfied.
“I enjoyed the event and it is good to know what support is available, when I need it”.
“I just wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to attend today. I really enjoyed it and the
information received is really valuable and helpful to me in my role. “
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To What Extent Has This Workshop Increased Your
Knowledge?
0%
19%
22%
Not at all
A little
A lot
Hugely
59%
To What Extent Has This Workshop Increased Your
Skills?
1%
16%
Not at all
30%
A little
A lot
Hugely
53%
To What Extent Has This Workshop Increased Your
Confidence?
2%
19%
21%
Not at all
A little
A lot
Hugely
58%
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You Tell Us
This session was designed to seek feedback from those attending on the support currently provided,
seek their views on how it could be improved and invite them to shape the future plans
Practice Papers
A small majority, 51%, had seen Practice Papers prior to the workshops. 96% of these people and
others who read them on the day indicated that they found the content useful.
How they are used;
“I will use them for team meetings, training and inspiration!”
“Themes for team meeting discussions, keep and reference new staff refer for induction process”
“I will use them to do focused pieces of staff training, very helpful”
Actions: Email alerts to be sent to all on the mailing list once a Practice Paper is published.
Newsletters
72 % indicated they had seen newsletters prior to seeing them at the workshops. 93% considered
these to be useful.
How they are used:
“These are a good way of disseminating the new standards”
“They are very useful / factual in linking the new regulations with current practice and showing examples”
“They make the information seem less intimidating for staff during meetings”
Action: Further names added to mailing list as some mangers felt they may be being sent to their
organisation but not directly reaching them
Website
58% had seen the website prior to the workshops and 95% had found it useful.
How it is used:
“For ideas, double check/ update information to inform staff knowledge”
“Updates and how to improve my home”
Action: Further promotion of the website by emails to those on contact list, alerting them to new items
being added.
Networks/ Membership Organisation
295 homes indicated that they belonged to networks/ membership organisations. This figure could be
lower as some may belong to more than one. 152 of these indicated that they belonged to ICHA, 50 to
Research in Practice, 25 to the Pan London Alliance, 24 to North West Residential Managers
Forum, 21 to NASS and 7 to SAN.
Action: Compile a list of existing networks, their aims and objectives and their contact details for the
website so homes can consider joining if appropriate.
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Training
Behaviour
Support
Quality
Standards for
Leadership Non Children's
Training
Homes Staff
Learning
Resources
Other Training
and Type of
Content
What areas of training do you feel are the highest
priorities for children's homes?
Low Priority
65
Medium Priority
2
High Priority
66
Low Priority
262
Medium Priority
5
High Priority
73
Low Priority
327
Medium Priority
0
High Priority
4
Low Priority
46
Medium Priority
454
High Priority
0
Low Priority
6
Medium Priority
29
High Priority
426
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
Other Training Requested
- Safeguarding- sexualised behaviour, signs of safety as dependent on child’s views, e safety, self
harm , health and safety, safer recruitment 30%
-
CSE- risk assessments , missing from care 16%
Therapeutic models/ services, insight into behaviour, attachment, emotional literacy 22%
Communication, alternative communication for non-verbal children 5%
Behaviour Support – physical interventions, TCI, guidelines re DoL 8%
Working with LA/ Training for LA – 8%
Advanced Managerial skills/ degree post graduate -5%
Outcomes-outcomes based placement plans, evidencing good outcomes – 5%
Training for whole team locally and at all levels
E learning
Compulsory training for RI’s
Confidence/assertiveness
Report writing
Learning to cascade to teams
Specialised areas i.e. autism, mental health
Equality and Diversity
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Training priorities
The view was taken that the majority of the above should be covered and owned directly by homes. CSE
training will soon be rolled out by LSCB’s and will be the subject of a practice paper.
Action: See Training Plan
Sustainability
The website was considered to be the most helpful way to sustain the focus on children’s home
improvement beyond March 2016. The idea of an overarching leadership organisation received the least
votes.
What would you find helpful to sustain the focus
on children's home improvement and address
ongoing development needs for the sector?
Other
7
Annual event with regulators and key
stakeholders to share issues, successes and…
365
Longer term DfE strategy to support children's
homes development
343
Subscribe to existing membership organisations
eg. ICHA
170
Overarching leadership organisation for the sector
(eg. Like BAAF, Foster Care Network)…
117
Virtual networks for homes working with specific
groups of children
163
Local networks to address ongoing development
needs
340
Website for ongoing sharing of information and
resources
645
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Action: To discuss and agree proposals for sustainability at the next stakeholder meeting.
Conclusion
The impact of the work so far is very positive and the objectives are being achieved. The learning from
this will be used to ensure the remainder of the support provided will meet identified needs and continue
to benefit the residential child care sector. A further round of workshops are being planned and we are
already considering how we can improve the experience people have on the day based on the learning
from these events.