Exceptional Care have four barges to date, Romulus and Shrewsbury are located on the Lancaster canal network, whilst Jubilee and Barley can be found on the Leeds, Liverpool canal system. All are within easy access to a variety of amenities and sports facilities and within good transport links to the motorway networks.
The rural tranquil settings where the barges are moored enables the young people to enjoy a diverse and quality time with the staff team.
By removing the constraints of every day living and life, the barges provide the young people with an opportunity for reflection and stability, in a high warmth, highly controlled environment where good family values lead our practice, provided by a highly skilled and qualified staff team, who encourage the young people to participate in the day to day running of the barges and take ownership of their surroundings, whilst feeling part of a team and offering a bespoke individualised service.
The time spent on the barge is an opportunity for the young people to relax, feel listened to and talk to staff, providing a forum where the young people can re-engage with estranged family members, friends and professionals in an informal setting.
Many of the young people who have been placed on our barges have been assessed high risk of Missing from Care, Child Sexual Exploitation, County Lines, Criminal Exploitation and presenting with a variety of challenging behaviours. Our barge services provide the young people with the opportunity to break cycles of risk-taking behaviour by providing them with a different environment and new exciting experiences and the opportunity to be free of peer pressure.
The barges focus on reducing behaviour’s and reward systems are in place to assist this working alongside the young people in consultation with Social Workers and other relevant external agencies which are encouraged to visit the barges and contribute to any goal setting on the barges for the young person, staff utilise positive reinforcement and encourage the young people to make differing and appropriate choices.
Whilst on our barge services the young people will be provided with bespoke individualised activity planners, these will target educational activities such as trips to local museums and places of interest, walks, access to our own mountain bikes, visits to local gyms and sports facilities. This goes along side any hobbies a young person may have such as horse riding, mountain climbing, rugby, football, which we will continue and facilitate. We also aim to test out new activities with each young person and provide a taster for activities not experienced before.
There is an expectation each young person will sail out on the barges and be given the opportunity under supervision to steer the barge and get a general knowledge of the day to day workings and running of the barge, with the opportunity to experience life as a Barger and canal and the waterways etiquette.
Our aim is to empower our young people to be heard and make decisions regarding their future and plans for transition, which are discussed throughout the placement to prepare the young people for the changes ahead, so any further moves can be smooth, stress free and a positive experience which often can be the cause of great distress for young people who are in transition.
The staff team will always transfer and provide transport where appropriate for the young person to move to a new placement. The Barge Manager, as well as providing a weekly summary, will forward a detailed, clear and concise overview of the placement to assist in the sourcing of a new placement to enable the Placing Authority to have the greatest chance of finding an appropriate and suitable match for their young person.
Each barge has a car provided for the service to enable contact visits, transitions and activities away from the barge and any appointments.
Each young person will be encouraged to complete a memory book to capture the fun times and experiences on the barge, to take with them as positive memory to look back on.
As with the other services under Exceptional Care we follow the company ethos and Values :
We ensure we operate in the same way our regulatory service Children’s Homes and are Inspected once a month by an independent Reg 44 visitor.
David started his career working with Children and Young People, as a Foster Carer in 2010, and later Lancashire County Council until 2015, when David adopted a sibling group of 3. Alongside being a foster Carer, David assisted with the setting up and delivery of support groups, and the delivery of the male specific aspects of Safer Caring training, and both pre and post adoption support for Lancashire County Council.
David was a Foster Carer Rep for Lancashire County council, providing support to Foster Carers throughout the Lancashire area. David was selected by Lancashire to represent Lancashire County Council to champion Foster Carers during Ofsted inspections, during this role David had the opportunity to proof read form:F paperwork in preparation for new Carers attending the Fostering panel as an Independent Panel Advisor.
David joined the Exceptional Care barge service in 2018, and has assisted the service to grow from one barge to the current fleet of 4 barges located across rural Lancashire. David holds an RYA Helmsmans license, and provides comprehensive training for the barge staff.
David holds a variety of relevant qualifications including Children’s Workforce Development Council and Diploma level 3 and 5 for children and young people’s workforce. I addition to this he has attended numerous courses in Safeguarding, EBD, CSE and Mental Health.
As an organisation we are committed to the personal development of our staff through our sister company Think-Tank Academy staff access high quality on-line training and face to face training such as CSE, Country Lines, Best Practice and Key Work sessions. This is to ensure that staff understand the individual needs of the young people. Staff also received in house training on basic barge handling, engine checks, safety of barges.
Staff ratio is 2:1, all shifts consist of senior member (Team Leader/Deputy) on and a Residential. This is to ensure high levels of experience and supervision. This also provides stability and consistence for the young person allowing them to build positive relationships with staff. Staff work on a 2 on 4 off shift pattern with 6 staff crewing each barge.
