Children's Home, Residential special school run by The Senad Group Limited in Derbyshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC372504 1 SC372504 Registered provider: The Senad Group 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 provision is an independent day and residential school for up to 39 children aged five to 19 years who have severe learning disabilities, Prader-Willi Syndrome and autistic spectrum conditions.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC372504 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/06/2017 Full Good 24/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/07/2016 Full Good 25/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC372504 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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that managers are not reviewing incidents of physical intervention and de-briefs that they have been involved with. Ensure that staff follow risk assessments and that de-briefs focus on reflection of staff practice. 30/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, to communicate effectively with parents of children accommodated. (Regulation 5 (d)) 30/06/2018

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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) Inspection report children’s home: SC372504 4  Care must be taken to ensure prescribed medicines are only administered to the individual for whom they are prescribed. Medicines must be administered in line with a medically approved protocol. Records must be kept of the administration of all medication, which includes occasions when prescribed medication is refused. Regulation 23 requires the registered person to ensure that they make suitable arrangements to manage, administer and dispose of any medication. These are fundamentally the same sorts of arrangements as a good parent would

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Recommendations

make but are subject to additional safeguards. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards,’ page 35, paragraph 7.15)  Staff should have the skills to respond to each child’s individual behaviour. Where necessary they should manage conflict, maintain constructive dialogues and react appropriately if challenged by a child in their care. In particular, staff should have a good knowledge about keeping children safe when they are accessing the internet. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.14)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Thorough preparation enables children to settle quickly when they move in. A parent said: ‘The research and thought put in, in advance of the placement, was fantastic. It enabled her to settle in so quickly. When I read the care plan, it was spot on. It captured exactly what she is like and needs.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children learn independent living skills. A young person said: ‘I have been learning to look after myself, doing laundry, cleaning and shopping.’ This helps children to successfully move into adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Bespoke education packages mean that children are attending and achieving. A parent said: ‘She was out of school for 12 months and now attends every day.’ Self-esteem and confidence are enhanced because achievements are celebrated and children are valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A good range of activities also helps to build confidence, self-esteem and resilience. A young person said: ‘I have been to Water World and I go to church every Sunday.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are respected and listened to. They have lots of opportunities to make choices. They are very well supported to make decisions and express their feelings. For example, some children have ‘worry monsters’. They are encouraged to write down their worry and post it into the ‘worry monster’ so that it disappears. Staff review the worries and support the child to overcome their concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children are making good progress in all areas of their lives. A parent said: ‘She is really benefiting from the 24-hour curriculum. Her ability to sit and concentrate and her tolerance of noisy places have really improved.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC372504 5

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improvement to be good

There is a high level of physical intervention in the home. However, for the vast majority of children, the number of physical interventions reduces over time. There are robust monitoring systems to analyse patterns and trends of physical intervention. Behaviour support plans are regularly reviewed. This ensures that practice is safe and continually improving. However, there are issues with the quality of de-briefs for staff because they are not currently used as an opportunity to reflect on staff practice. On a day-to-day level, house managers continue to sign off physical intervention that they have been involved in. This means that they may not be completing the records objectively. This shortfall was also identified at the previous inspection.

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improvement to be good

Staff are suitably trained in safeguarding children and adults. They report concerns appropriately. Allegations and issues of concern are dealt with promptly, to safeguard children. There are effective systems to monitor and analyse welfare concerns. This enables managers to put in appropriate support to prevent welfare concerns escalating.

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improvement to be good

Staff have warm and nurturing relationships with children. They know them very well. Comprehensive behaviour support plans assist staff to meet children’s behavioural needs and promote improved behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Staff are not implementing some children’s risk assessments. This particularly applies to a child whose online activity is not monitored effectively. Furthermore, staff do not have a good knowledge of the internet and may struggle to identify potential online hazards.

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improvement to be good

One child has experienced two serious medication errors. Immediate interim action has been taken to prevent further medication errors for the child concerned. A longer-term plan, which includes refresher training for all staff and the introduction of an electronic medication system, needs embedding to eliminate risks of further medication errors.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager knows his service very well. A good development plan, which addresses shortfalls effectively and moves the service forward, is in place. The registered manager uses research well to inform practice. He feels well supported by senior managers. However, he does not receive formal written supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s views clearly inform service development. For example, children played ‘The Review Game’ to give the registered manager an understanding of their views.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Complaints are managed well. Prompt and in-depth internal investigations are carried out, with lessons learned to improve practice and the well-being of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good partnership working with other agencies, internally and externally, helps to ensure that children’s health and well-being are promoted. Staff work closely with other professionals to provide a bespoke package of care. Inspection report children’s home: SC372504 6 An established workforce offers children consistency and continuity. Staff morale is very good.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality and frequency of communication with parents is inconsistent. Some parents are happy with communication from staff while others complain that communication is not good enough. Furthermore, staff are not proactively contacting parents after their child returns from home leave. This means that staff do not have a good understanding of any issues that may be impacting on their behaviour.

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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: SC372504 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 Georges House, Vernon Gate, Derby DE1 1UQ

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Inspector(s)

Joanne Vyas, social care inspector Rachel Griffiths, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC372504 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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