Children's home run by Pebbles Care Limited in Leeds

Inspection report children’s home: SC439535 1 SC439535 Registered provider: Pebbles Care

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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 run by a private organisation and is registered for the care and accommodation of up to five children 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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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None

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Key findings from this inspection

 The relationships between the children and the young people and the staff are very good. The children and young people clearly appreciate the effort and care that the staff take to support them and their experience of living in the home is enhanced because of this. Inspection report children’s home: SC439535 2  The quality of personalised care carried out by the staff with the children and young people is very good. This helps with safeguarding and also promotes good progress with emotional difficulties.  The registered manager is a strong, confident leader and manages the home very well. She is very child centred and also supports the staff well.

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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

 Some of the children and young people have not had sufficient education. The staff should ensure that they provide sufficient routine and encouragement so that the children and young people have better attendance at school.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/03/2017 27/09/2016 Interim Full Improved effectiveness Good 26/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/12/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC439535 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8(2)(a)(x)) In particular to ensure that the plans are clear and available and to ensure that children are given sufficient routine, structure and encouragement to attend education. 07/05/2018

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the previous full inspection, there have been quite a few changes in the children and young people living in the home, with eight arriving and seven leaving. Four of the children and young people only had short-term placements. Two of these were planned, but two finished prematurely. The staff were unable to keep one child safe due to their risky behaviour and had to end the placement early. Another young person did not want to be at the home and absconded after one night. The placing social worker ended the placement when it became clear that the young person would not voluntarily return. The three young people who had stayed for longer-term placements all made good progress. One made particularly good progress with their previous substance misuse and another made particularly good progress with their absconding behaviour. The four children and young people currently in residence are mostly making good

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

progress. Three of them have excellent relationships with staff. One has yet to settle or engage very well with staff, despite having been at the home for over five months. For most of the children and young people, the experience of living at the home has been good and, for some, it has been excellent. One young person wrote in the confidential survey that the home ‘is an amazing home to live in and you feel safe all the Inspection report children’s home: SC439535 4 time’. Two of the young people spoken to by the inspector confirmed this. One said, ‘Staff are absolutely brilliant’ and another said ‘the best things about the home are the staff’. The staff clearly know the children and young people very well and take time to understand what they need and put this into action. When one child, with normally good school attendance, refused to go to school on one occasion, staff dealt with their issues and the child returned happily to school the following day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person is very withdrawn and lacking in motivation. Staff have tried hard to engage them, but staff have been unable to make a great deal of progress so far. This young person is a long way from home and clearly wants to return to be nearer their family and friends. The staff are working hard with the placing authority to make appropriate plans, but these remain unclear while care proceeding are completed. The staff offer good personalised support to all the children and young people. Key work undertaken is supporting the children and young people to make good progress in their lives, particularly around their emotional and mental health, and also to help them stay safer. Work with the children and young people around relationships and staying safe has also been very good. All of the children and young people are attending some education, but one young person has had a number of changes in the last year and has missed some education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This young person does not have an education plan that is up to date. Another young person only had their first full day at school during the inspection, despite having been at the home for over five months. A requirement has been made to support the children and young people to have better school attendance. All of the children and young people are supported to have appropriate contact with their families and most of them have made improvements with relationships. The staff have made good efforts to support one young person who is a long way from home to be able to meet with their family. The children and young people get good support to voice their views and to take an active part in their care planning. One young person has helped the registered manager to review and update the children’s guide. The guide is good and young people helping to write the guide shows that they are actively involved in the running of the home. The

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

children and young people are also well supported to learn appropriate independence skills as they grow older.

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

The children and young people at this home are helped to keep safe. The staff have a good understanding of risk and they make good assessments around the children and young people. Staff also put good controls in place to minimise harm from risky behaviour. The staff rarely use sanctions and only use physical interventions when appropriate. They are beginning to introduce a more restorative approach to dealing with challenging behaviours and this is a positive development. There are some good examples of proactive safeguarding work being carried out by the Inspection report children’s home: SC439535 5 staff. One young person has been supported to considerably reduce their self-harming behaviour. This is excellent progress for them and is a result of the nurture and personalised care by the staff. Several of the young people have had difficulties in understanding about the dangers of using the internet and social media. Work

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

undertaken has reduced concerns around child sexual exploitation for these young people. The staff have used a combination of clear boundaries, consequences and education and this has worked well. Some of the children and young people who arrived with histories of going missing have been supported to reduce this behaviour and several have stopped completely. One young person came to the home with a history of substance misuse and has reduced this behaviour considerably with the support of staff and from an external specialist worker. The young people spoken to were very clear that they felt safe at the home and that there was no bullying in the home. There have been some safeguarding concerns. One child was admitted and the staff were unable to put appropriate boundaries in place to keep them safe. The child would run out of the property onto the road or climb into a nearby industrial area, which was

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

dangerous. After making attempts to put appropriate controls into place, but being unable to, the registered manager felt that they had no option but to terminate the placement so that the child could be cared for somewhere more appropriate. Two of the young people have been involved in some challenging behaviour, which has involved causing damage to the home and also fighting with each other. While staff have worked hard to deal with these occasional situations, they have had to involve the police on several occasions when the situation has become more serious.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is very experienced and is appropriately qualified. She ensures that the home meets the aims and objectives as written in the statement of purpose. She is a confident manager who is child centred and she clearly understands what progress the children and young people are making. She has good relationships with the children and young people and is very approachable. The children and young people spoken to clearly felt that the registered manager was doing a good job and was someone important to them. The registered manager also supports her staff well. Staff spoken to were complimentary about her. The organisation had, in an internal survey, asked all staff for their confidential opinions of the registered manager and the responses were all positive. Staff described the registered manager as ‘a fantastic manager’, ‘an amazing person’, ‘very supportive’ and ‘the best manager I have ever worked for’. Staff training is good and

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

appraisals take place on time. The registered manager has organised additional training around emotional and mental health issues and this is positive. Recent recruitment of new staff has been safe and induction processes are comprehensive. The registered manager makes a good team with her deputy manager and, together, they have good relationships with external professionals and are able to challenge people when required. The requirement made about supporting young people to attend education does need further management input, both in looking at routines in the home Inspection report children’s home: SC439535 6 and in ensuring that all children and young people have an appropriate educational plan in place. No requirements or recommendations were made at the previous inspection. One requirement has been made at this inspection.

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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: SC439535 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Pebbles Care, 2 Wyther Lane, Leeds, Yorkshire LS5 3BT

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Inspector

Colin Imrie, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC439535 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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