Children's Home run by Sheffield City Council in Sheffield

Inspection report children's home: SC356868 1 SC356868 Registered provider: Sheffield City Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority children’s home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for five young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 8 February 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children's home: SC356868 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is outstanding because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are provided with security and stability and make excellent progress from living in the home. In particular, they make significant educational progress.  Because of strong staff support, young people experience improved family relationships.  Young people are helped to celebrate their faith. They participate in religious festivals which helps to reinforce their identity and guards against isolation.  Young people build up trusting relationships with the staff. This helps to create a climate where young people can speak openly to staff about their concerns and accept advice and guidance.  Young people experience very well planned moves both into and out of the home. This also helps other young people who struggle with change in the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Although the manager is involved in the care provided to young people, his oversight of records is sometimes inconsistent.  Staff supervision records should reflect the discussions that take place with regard to the needs of young people.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/08/2016 Full Good 27/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 29/09/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children's home: SC356868 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) With particular reference to supervision reflecting on practice in relation to the young people’s needs.  The children’s guide should help children to understand how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.22)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62,

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people’s experience of living in the home greatly enhances their life chances and gives them great security and stability. For example, one young person has been living in the home for eight months, when previously he had not experienced a stable placement and was assessed as needing secure accommodation. Young people are motivated by a staff team that never gives up on them and that continually provides young people with encouragement and guidance. This helps young people to experience sustained improvement in their lives and helps them to achieve much better outcomes than might have been predicted. This level of staff support has enabled one young person to consistently attend therapy with his keyworker, leading to sustained improvement in his emotional health and behaviour. Young people are helped to function in their daily lives. For example, staff have researched and are implementing techniques to help a young person sleep at night. This

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

is greatly benefiting the young person concerned, and is also having a positive impact for other young people as everyone now gets a good night’s sleep. Young people experience very trusting relationships with staff. This enables the young people to share their concerns and make really positive changes. One young person reported: ‘Staff know me and know important things about me. I can openly talk to them when I am worried and they have helped me to manage this.’ The impact of this for one young person was that he was able to conquer his anxieties about change, Inspection report children's home: SC356868 4 particularly in terms of young people coming into and leaving the home, and changes to the staff team. Young people’s cultures and religious practices are explored and celebrated. For example, although staff are not of the Muslim faith, some are ‘fasting’ with a young person during Ramadan. This has given staff a better understanding of this ritual, and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

has given the young person a greater sense of belonging. The young person commented: ‘This is making a great difference, as I now have someone to share this experience with, as this used to be celebrated time with my family.’ Young people are helped to fulfil their potential within education. Despite their complex lives and turmoil that they have experienced, young people are making excellent educational progress from their original starting points. Staff go the extra mile to support young people in their pursuit of learning and acquiring new skills. For example, when it was identified that a young person wanted to pursue a performing arts course, the staff organised guitar and piano lessons to help her achieve this ambition. Staff have also created an outside area, with refreshments, to support the young person’s examination revision. Young people also benefit from the manager’s determination and close working

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

relationship with the headteacher from the virtual school. Together, they implement measures and advocate for young people to ensure that their education needs are met. Young people’s relationships with their families are given excellent support. Staff communication and work with parents is especially good. Staff help parents to manage their children’s behaviours and, in one case, the relationship has improved so significantly that rehabilitation with the young person’s family is now a real possibility. Another young person has re-established contact with grandparents, and one young person commented: ‘Staff are trying to help me to see my brothers, who I really care about and I miss.’ Young people are helped to develop their skills for independence, particularly in relation to helping them deal with being on their own and how to deal with potential isolation.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

Young people are helped to keep themselves safe and protected. Staff work extremely hard to support young people to understand and change their socially unacceptable behaviour. This has resulted in young people demonstrating a level of control and better decision-making. For example, one young person has been helped by staff to gain insight into his behaviours and he can now identify how he reacts to given pressures and difficult circumstances. This has resulted in a significant reduction to damage in the home and there have been no restraints for this young person. Young people rarely receive sanctions as staff use praise and restorative practice. This is providing the young people with a greater platform for learning and progression. Young people’s risk-taking behaviours have significantly reduced, both in and outside of the home. Young people rarely go missing. This excellent outcome is clearly linked to

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

staff preventative and pro-active practice. Young people are helped to understand the Inspection report children's home: SC356868 5 importance of keeping safe. Staff are attentive and consistently check where young people are going, and who they are going with, and they remain in contact with young people to ensure that they are safe. Young people’s risk to child sexual exploitation is fully understood and plans are implemented to reduce risk. Staff are aware and update themselves on research about grooming. They also work in partnership with other agencies to strengthen their practice around child sexual exploitation. Staff focus on the detail of young people’s behaviours and presentation to help them identify any concerns, which they then immediately address. The staff actively promote and encourage young people to engage with the specialist help available and work together with them to implement measures to make

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

young people safer. Young people have good relationships with staff. This promotes open discussions about sexual relationships and enables staff to ensure that young people are supported with their sexual health and issues, such as consent. For example, staff worked with one young person to help her understand about coercive relationships. This helped her to end an abusive relationship. She commented: ‘I now have a new boyfriend, who treats me nice.’ Young people are helped to keep safe within the local community. When concerns are raised, the manager takes immediate action to protect the young people. Young people also benefit from planned admissions into the home. This means that, when young people move into the home, their risks are fully understood and plans quickly formulated to reduce any risks. Staff understand that young people use social media to develop and maintain friendships. To support them to do this in a safe way, young people get advice and

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

information about on-line safety. Staff also take the opportunity to meet young people’s friends and make this a home where they are welcome to visit.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is suitably qualified and experienced. He is instrumental to the delivery of the home’s ethos, which is to ensure that there is stability in the staff team and for the young people, so that the home feels like a family. This gives the young people a great sense of belonging, as they know staff care and will go the extra distance for them. The manager has high expectations for young people and has clear oversight of their needs. He and his team are very child focused. Together, they strive to help young people make positive changes and enable them to reach their aspirations. The home fully meets the objectives in its statement of purpose, but the children’s guide should include the contact details of the children’s commissioner. The manager continues to strive for excellence. One improvement since the last inspection has been the change to the monthly reports, which now clearly identify how

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

the young people are making progress and also creates clear actions to further young people’s development. In addition, the manager held a team day to further review the strengths and Inspection report children's home: SC356868 6 development for the staff in order to help the young people sustain their good progress. The staff feel extremely well supported by the manager, giving him ‘the people’s manager’ award. The manager uses consultation with parents, young people and professionals to review and develop care practice. For example, the frequency of updates was amended so that parents and professionals receive regular communication from the home. This places an emphasis on sharing young people’s positive achievements rather than concerns. The manager has strong partnerships with other agencies, parents and the community and uses these to achieve the best possible outcomes for the young people. A professional reported: ‘I am really pleased, they do a fantastic job. The team conveyed

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

confidence that they are able to manage the complex behaviours of the young people, and this gives families confidence.’ A professional reported: ‘We work really well together. It is a very easy relationship and I receive a positive response to any request that I make.’ The manager encourages comprehensive record-keeping across a full range of written documents to ensure that staff are fully informed of the young people’s needs. However, there are areas that require further development to ensure that the manager has a good oversight of the quality and content of the records. Staff benefit from regular supervision. This could be further improved to give further reflection, during supervision, of young people’s needs.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after. Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well

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Information about this inspection

it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children's home: SC356868 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sheffield City Council, Town Hall, Pinstone Street, Sheffield S1 2HH

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Inspector

Jennifer Fenlon, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC356868 8 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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