Children's home run by Esland North Limited in Amber Valley

Inspection report children’s home: 1214270 1 Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for one young person who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is privately run and managed.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 12 January 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person makes good progress taking into account his starting point across all aspects of his physical, social, emotional and behavioural development.  The young person benefits from well-planned, highly individualised care that promotes his needs effectively and contributes to change and considerable improvement in his life. Inspection report children’s home: 1214270 2  There are effective arrangements to promote the young person’s health needs. His health needs are identified and met. The young person has access to the support he needs to be healthy and enjoy good health.  The young person is kept safe and is developing a strong sense of personal safety. He enjoys good relationships with staff.  Staff have an exceptionally good understanding of the young person’s specific needs and vulnerabilities and take appropriate action to address them.

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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

 The young person knows how to make a complaint. However, he does not have access to a professional advocate to support him and make representations on his behalf.  Staff have access to high-quality training and most staff are suitably qualified. However, not all staff have completed all of their mandatory training, including specialist training on working with young people with sexually harmful behaviours.  The young person attends education regularly. However, he does not attend school on a full-time basis to maximise his learning, progress and educational achievement.  There are parts of the home that require repainting and some health and safety issues need to be addressed to ensure that a physically safe, homely and comfortable environment is maintained for young people and staff.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 27/04/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1214270 3

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Recommendations

 Ensure that children are in full-time education while they are of compulsory school age, unless their personal education plan contained within the care plan or other relevant plan states otherwise. The home must aim to support full-time attendance at school unless the child’s relevant plan indicates this is not in their best interests. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.14)  All children must have access to appropriate advocacy support, and where possible this should be provided by a person that the child chooses. Children looked after are entitled to an independent advocate to advise them and ensure they have the support needed to express their views, wishes and feelings about their care and lives. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 23, paragraph 4.16)  For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the

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Recommendations

needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislation. This relates specifically to eliminating any potential hazards, such as the slippery decking area, damaged kitchen floor tile and securing the exposed area to prevent access to the foundations of the home. (‘Guide to the children’s home’s regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and the provider should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. This relates specifically to ensuring that all staff have completed any outstanding mandatory training, including training on working with young people who may display sexually harmful behaviours. (‘Guide to the children’s homes

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Recommendations

regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person that lives at the home was admitted in July 2017. He has settled in extremely well and has been made to feel welcome and at home by staff. The young person makes good progress, taking into account his starting point, across all aspects of his physical, social, emotional and behavioural development. He benefits from well- planned, highly individualised care that promotes his needs effectively and contributes to change and considerable improvement in his life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A stable, enthusiastic and dedicated staff team is employed to meet the young person’s specific needs. Staff have built positive and trusting relationships with the young person. Inspection report children’s home: 1214270 4 They provide him with continuity of care so that he has stability and consistency in his life. Staff are positive role models that the young person trusts, looks up to, and learns from.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person enjoys good relationships with staff and is developing positive attachments. He enjoys living at the home. He is kept safe and is developing a strong sense of personal safety. The young person reports, ‘It’s not too bad. I came here in July. It’s better being here on my own. They’ve helped me settle down and sort my head out and get back on track… They [staff] are very supportive.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote contact, which takes place irrespective of the distances involved. They work closely with the placing authority to promote and facilitate contact. This ensures that the young person can sustain his close relationships with the people who are most important to him. The young person has made some friendships locally and has regular contact with his friends and family. All appropriate forms of contact are promoted including supervised home visits and telephone contact. Contact safety plans are in place to ensure that contact is a safe and positive experience for the young person. The arrangements for contact are understood and adhered to by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Currently, the young person is educated by a tutor at a local library in the morning four times a week. While the young person attends education regularly with good support and encouragement from staff, he is educated on a part-time basis which is less than 25 hours a week. Assessments indicate that the young person is bright, intelligent and a capable learner and has aspirations to attend a mainstream school. Consequently, a recommendation is made in respect of developing the young person’s education to help promote their educational achievement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Medical consent is in place and staff are familiar with the health decisions and responsibilities that are delegated to them. The young person’s health needs are identified and met. He is registered with a doctor, dentist and optician and has access to the health services he needs, when he needs them. He has recently started to attend therapy to promote his emotional and psychological well-being. There are effective arrangements to promote the young person’s good health. The young person has access to the help and support he needs to stay healthy and enjoy good health. Staff provide good advice and support on key health issues and actively encourage the young person to lead and maintain a healthy and active lifestyle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person benefits from effective, high-quality support from staff across all aspects of his care planning and daily living. Staff provide extensive support through effective key working. They proactively involve the young person in all aspects of his care and this ensures that he feels able to contribute to key decisions and can influence the running of the home. The young person reports, ‘[The manager] is probably one of the best managers I’ve had so far. He’s good at listening and challenging. They’re all strong listeners… Do staff care for us? Yeah, definitely.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person enjoys spending quality time with staff. He participates in a range of positive and enjoyable activities at home and in the wider community. He enjoys going Inspection report children’s home: 1214270 5 clothes shopping, snooker, jump nation, climbing and quad biking. His hobbies and specific interests are actively supported and encouraged. The young person is subject to some strict supervision arrangements to promote his safety and well-being. However, he has some unsupervised free time which he uses to visit his friends in the local area. Staff allow the young person to take appropriate risks to promote his growth and natural development. The young person’s privacy is respected and his independence is encouraged by staff.

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

Staff have an exceptionally good understanding of the young person’s specific needs and vulnerabilities and take appropriate action to address them. Risks associated with the young person are managed effectively and safely by staff. The use of clear risk assessment and proactive safe-working practice reduce risk and protect the young person from harm. Staff consistently place the young person’s safety at the centre of their practice irrespective of the challenges this presents. The young person is safer as a result of the actions staff take to support and protect him.

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

There have been no complaints since the last inspection and no complaints or concerns were raised by the young person. The young person knows how to make a complaint. However, he does not have access to a professional advocate to advise and support him. The home has requested this service from the placing authority to ensure that the young person’s rights and entitlements are met.

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

The young person came to the home with unsafe, high-risk-taking behaviour. Staff have made positive inroads with the young person and have seen considerable improvements in his attitude and behaviour. For example, the young person is compliant with the home’s rules and staff have seen a reduction in his risk-taking behaviour. The young person’s drug use is no longer an issue, and he has not gone missing or reoffended since his admission. The young person is receiving therapy to address his specific needs and vulnerabilities.

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

Staff anticipate issues exceptionally well and take appropriate action to prevent incidents and behaviours from escalating. They understand the triggers for the young person’s behaviour and respond appropriately. Staff help the young person to resolve his conflicts positively and he is learning to self-regulate his feelings and behaviours more safely. Staff actively encourage and reinforce positive behaviour and ensure that the use of consequences is kept to an absolute minimum. The use of restraint is rare. There have been no restraints since the young person’s admission to the home.

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

Staff are suitably trained in child protection and know how to deal with allegations and report suspected abuse. Allegations of abuse are treated seriously and these are notified to the appropriate authorities charged with a duty to protect young people. The home maintains highly effective partnerships with the police and all other safeguarding agencies to promote the safety and well-being of young people. There have been no issues with the young person going missing from care. However, should they do, there are effective procedures and arrangements to locate them and promote their safe Inspection report children’s home: 1214270 6 return.

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

Overall, the accommodation provided for young people is comfortable and suitable. However, the accommodation could be further personalised and improved. There are some outstanding health and safety issues. For example, the decking area to the entrance of the home can become slippery and requires attention to prevent young people, staff and visitors from suffering avoidable falls. Some rubber matting has been laid to make the decking area safer. However, this doesn’t eliminate the risk. The decking area also requires cleaning.

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

There is an unsecured area at the side of the property, which exposes the home’s wooden foundations. This isn’t safe and could be a fire hazard or health and safety issue. Internally, carpets would benefit from being cleaned and some redecoration and further personalisation are needed to make the home feel more homely. There is also a damaged floor tile in the kitchen.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, the home has employed a new and very experienced registered manager who demonstrates strong and effective leadership of the operation of the home. The registered manager consistently ensures that the needs of young people are prioritised effectively, and staff are managed professionally, and are well supported and led. Staff benefit from regular, professional supervision and have their practice formally appraised each year. This ensures that staff’s training needs and developmental goals are identified and met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A committed, enthusiastic and dedicated staff team is employed to meet the young person’s specific needs. Staff have access to good-quality training and most are appropriately qualified. However, training records do not demonstrate that all staff have completed all of their mandatory training, including specialist training on working with young people with sexually harmful behaviours. Once their training is completed, the training matrix should be updated to evidence the knowledge, skills and competency of the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff maintain highly effective partnerships with the families of young people, their social workers and other professional agencies to ensure that young people benefit from the best possible help, protection and all-round support. They work constructively and proactively to improve young people’s outcomes and can demonstrate the positive impact and difference that they have made to the lives of young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The performance of the home is monitored effectively by an independent person who visits the home on a monthly basis. They scrutinise the standard and quality of young people’s care and the home’s arrangements to safeguard them and promote their well- being. The registered manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and identified weaknesses and makes good use of the home’s internal and external monitoring activities to secure improvement. The home meets the aims and objectives as outlined in the home’s statement of Inspection report children’s home: 1214270 7 purpose. It provides a good-quality service for young people that contributes to change and improvement in their lives. The home has met and addressed the recommendation from the last inspection in ensuring that the independent visitor makes a professional and impartial judgement as to whether, in their opinion, the care provided effectively

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

safeguards young people and promotes their safety and well-being.

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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 differences 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.

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Information about this inspection

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 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: 1214270 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Anthony Kyem, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1214270 9 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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