Student support

The management and staff are committed to making sure that each of our students enjoys a great quality of life and we all work with a desire to make a difference. Provision is geared towards meeting the students’ actual needs whatever they are. At all times we are aware that the students at The Shires are unable to express their views in conventional ways and we try at every step to see things from their perspective and enable them to make choices that are respected by all who work with them.

There are two day time staff teams and a night staff team, each headed up by a team manager. Normally information about students is communicated by a manager or a senior member of the care staff team.

Regular, weekly phone calls are made to all parents about their children and any information about medical or health issues is communicated quickly. Parents are welcome to phone for information and updates at any time of day or night.

The students are supported by an independent advocate who spends time every week with the students experiencing life at The Shires through their eyes and reporting back on what they find on the students' behalf.

The staff work to support the students and their families and adapt to their needs and wishes rather than the other way around. The staff have a very flexible approach and they respond well to suggestions that involve doing things differently where this benefits the students. All of the students at The Shires need a lot of support in their day to day living and staff work hard to manage this in a way that allows all students privacy and to make their own choices in as many ways as possible.

Students who want to attend church are accompanied by staff and students' cultural needs are well catered for.

 

What Ofsted says...

Young people have excellent relationships with staff and are kept active. Individual support is comprehensively detailed in each young person's care plan.