Residential care

Shaftesbury Young People children's homes provide a high quality care and stability, enabling long term plans to be made for young people. Each young person is allocated a key-worker who supports the young people to ensure that their needs are met and the five outcomes are achieved. Each young person will have a 24 hour management plan designed to meet their individual needs.

• Being Healthy – Our young people enjoy a varied and balanced diet, and are encouraged to eat healthily and to contribute to the weekly planning of menus. They are encouraged to participate in physical activities, both at school and in the home. Individual support and workshops around different health issues, for example, sexual health, drug awareness and teenage pregnancies are regularly provided.

• Staying Safe – Every effort is made to ensure consistency in the staff team and key workers to promote trust and open communication between staff and young people, to enable the young person to both feel safe and discuss personal safety. Issues of safety, developing appropriate independance skills and a mature decision making approach is part of the daily activity of the homes.

• Enjoying and Achieving – Young people are provided with a wide range of stimulating and enjoyable activities. Each children's home creates a culture in which school attendance is the norm. Additional support is provided with Shaftesbury’s education advisors who will if appropriate accompany young people to school, support them whilst at school and provide homework and 1:1 support. All efforts are made for all year 11’s to sit their GCSE’s and prepare for college placements.

• Making Positive Contributions – Young people are encouraged to attend and participate in their planning and review meetings to ensure that their views are taken into account. Young people are encouraged to attend and contribute to resident’s meetings that are held weekly. They are encouraged to participate and air their views on ways to improve the service that they receive, ideas of how to improve the environment in which they live and making decisions about personalising their bedrooms and purchases of furniture and fittings.

• Achieve Economic Wellbeing – Young people are encouraged to plan for the future and are supported in achieving their long term aspirations. Key-work sessions will include support around developing budgeting skills and they are helped to open savings accounts. We also work with all the young people to help them develop skills that will enable them to make a smooth transition when they move on to semi-independence.

We work in partnership with all agencies and tap into local specialist resources. We have a wide variety of activities available to the young people through the Arethusa Venture Centre, which is based in Kent. Here they can enjoy a range of activities such as, archery, rock climbing, canoeing, and kayaking to name but a few.

We have very experienced and multi-skilled staff teams who are able to work with a wide variety of young people from various backgrounds and different ethnicities. The staff work in a manner that is both child centred and promotes equality and diversity.

For more information contact Tracey Smith on 020 8875 1555 or tsmith@shaftesbury.org.uk