Children's home run by The Senad Group Limited in Derby

Inspection report children’s home: SC020193 1 SC020193 Registered provider: The SENAD Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The provision is an independent day and residential school for up to 25 children and young people aged eight to 19 years who have severe learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorder and associated challenging behaviour. The registered manager is very experienced and appropriately qualified but is leaving with no successor identified. However, appropriate interim management arrangements have been put in place until a suitable manager is recruited.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 26 September 2017

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection : none Inspection report children’s home: SC020193 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/09/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 14/08/2017 Full Inadequate 21/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/08/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC020193 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(vi)) 08/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(b)) 08/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(d)) 08/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

*The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and 08/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC020193 4 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 Case records must be kept up-to-date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

A child, who was injured by another child, could have been better protected, but there were not enough staff looking after the children at the time. Also, a young person made safeguarding disclosures that were not acted upon by managers. This failure left her and her sibling in a potentially unsafe situation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Despite these shortfalls, children and young people do make progress in many aspects of their life. Well-planned and executed transitions mean that children and young people settle into the home quickly and move on to their adult provision confidently. Children practise life skills such as household chores, cooking, shopping and attending to their personal hygiene. These skills help them to successfully transition into adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children generally make good progress in learning to better manage their own behaviour. For example, a child who was fixated on having large amounts of wool to hand is being well supported. As a result, this fixation is gradually reducing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are prepared well for new experiences, such as medical procedures. For example, a child was prepared so well for a recent electroencephalogram test that he sat still throughout the whole process. Desensitisation work also helps children to prepare for routine visits to healthcare professionals, such as the dentist. Health promotion work helps children to have a better understanding of their health. For example, children learn about healthy eating and body awareness.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children benefit from experiencing a wide range of activities on-site and within the local and wider community. For example, children enjoyed the yoga session that took place during the inspection. Others enjoy bike rides, hydrotherapy, horse riding and swimming. Inspection report children’s home: SC020193 5 Staff are very knowledgeable about the children and communicate effectively using the child’s chosen form of communication, for example signing, gestures, pictures or story boards. This helps children to make their own decisions and choices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some parts of the home are being refurbished. This will provide one of the houses with more communal space. Children all benefit from single, highly personalised bedrooms.

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

Potential child protection issues were not reported to safeguarding agencies in a timely manner. Therefore, prompt action was not taken to ensure that a child and a vulnerable adult were safe. Furthermore, when safeguarding concerns were reported by managers, they did not report them to the most appropriate safeguarding agencies.

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

A failure to recognise the risk to a child and act appropriately has placed children and young people at risk of harm. For example, after a young person made a disclosure of harm, staff went to collect her from the family home. She refused to leave, and staff were unable to go into the house to check that she and her sister were safe. The staff left, taking no further action. As a result, the young person and her sister were left in a potentially unsafe situation.

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

The number of restraints that are carried out is high. Although this is generally closely monitored, on one occasion, when a young person was held on the floor for 20 minutes and sustained injuries, there was no management review or debriefing with the young person or staff involved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Following a restraint in which a young person sustained injury, managers did not look at learning points to prevent future incidents. This lack of review and evaluation means that improvement opportunities are missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

High levels of staff sickness and a number of unfilled staff vacancies mean that, on occasion, there are not enough staff working with the children. This places children at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Children have complex needs and present serious challenges to staff, who respond positively and show resilience. Many show a real commitment to the children. For example, staff went to great lengths during recent inclement weather to ensure that they were available in the home for the children. Staff are supportive of each other and present as being very calm in difficult situations. This means that these situations are often managed well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Children’s case records are not always signed and dated. This means it is difficult to tell who wrote the document and whether it is the most up-to-date document. Inspection report children’s home: SC020193 6 Managers and staff generally have a good working relationship with parents and external professionals. A social worker noted how much progress her child has made in a short period. However, a community matron and social worker are unhappy with the care received by the vulnerable adult they have placed in the home.

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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: SC020193 7

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The SENAD Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 St George’s House, Vernon Gate, Derby DE1 1UQ

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Inspector(s)

Joanne Vyas, social care inspector Davinia Lawton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC020193 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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