Children's home run by Heathcotes CS Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1272827 1 Registered provider: Heathcotes CS Ltd

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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 five-bedded home aims to provide children with a caring and nurturing environment that helps them to reach their potential. The manager is a qualified social worker with vast experience in the residential and care sector. He is currently undertaking the required level 5 qualification.

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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: this is the home’s first inspection.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1272827 2

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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 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child.

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In particular, ensure that staff have access to equipment and communication tools, such as computers and email, that enables them to work efficiently and enhance their skills. 07/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. 07/03/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1272827 3 (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, complete a thorough assessment of the child’s needs to ensure that their needs are compatible with those of the children already living in the home. The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

the registered provider and, if applicable, the registered manager; and the responsible individual (if one is nominated).

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 44 (7)(a)(c)(d)(e)) 07/03/2019

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Recommendations

 In some instances, a child may express wishes that are not always in their best interests or which may conflict with the views of other children in the home. In such circumstances, the responsible adults will have to balance the wishes of the child against what they judge to be in the best interests of the child and reach a reasonable view about the best way forward in the interests of all. The reasons for reaching any decision will need to be carefully explained to and understood by the child or children concerned. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.9) In particular, establish a process that demonstrates that the children receive a response to their requests.

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Recommendations

 Staff should understand that they have a responsibility to observe, notice and respond to children who are expressing their views, acknowledging that it is not the sole responsibility of the child to ‘tell’. They should also understand how children might communicate their feelings through their behaviour, or non- verbally especially where the child has a disability which does not allow them to communicate as others might. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.10) In particular, these observations and views should not be used in discussions with the children in a negative or comparative way.

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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) In particular, review the frequency of these sessions during the probationary Inspection report children’s home: 1272827 4 period.

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Recommendations

 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, paragraph 14.4) In particular, ensure that records are completed fully with attention to detail and accuracy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The house is purpose built and offers lots of individual and communal space for the children. Six children have moved in and three have moved out since it opened in May 2018. The children said that they particularly enjoy spending time in the sensory room.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel settled, happy and well cared for. They are at ease with each other, but they do fall out sometimes. Their interactions with staff are positive and nurturing. There is lots of laughter, hugs and genuine warmth and affection. Staff are enthusiastic about their work. One said, ‘This is the best job I have been in. I am enjoying seeing the progression in the children.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children spoke positively about their gradual transition into the home. Where possible, this approach is replicated when the children move out. Children are supported with family contact, irrespective of how far away they live. This ensures that children maintain their relationships with family members.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is being established for two of the newer children. One child is now engaging in a gradually increasing timetable. This engagement reflects a positive change, as the child had been a long-term school refuser prior to moving in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A team leader reviews the schedule of keywork sessions and devises a monthly plan. This ensures that the sessions cover the relevant topics with the children. Children also have impromptu keywork sessions when the need arises.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children described being involved in personalising their bedrooms and the selection of household furnishings. Aspects of the furnishings are in the process of being replaced. These changes were requested by the children to make the house homelier. The children’s individual views are collated and then combined as discussion points in the children’s meetings. The staff need to better evidence how they respond to the children’s views and requests raised in these meetings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children struggle if there is a lack of routine or structure, so the staff work with them, in an adaptive way, to develop daily schedules and weekly planners that incorporate a variety of activities. Inspection report children’s home: 1272827 5 The children are supported to attend routine and specialist medical appointments. Staff advocate for them to ensure that they receive the treatment and support that they require.

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

The home is improving its methods of addressing the children’s presenting behaviours. This is being done with the children to help them and the staff become better at identifying the things that trigger negative responses. However, the children stated that staff use their knowledge of incidents and behaviours in a negative and comparative way, which they feel is unhelpful. This is being explored by the managers as part of the reflective practice discussions, recently added to incident debrief discussions and supervision sessions.

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

Managers have a good awareness of the children’s needs. Managers try to ensure that the matching process is effective so that they do not have to unnecessarily end placements early. However, the matching assessment fails to demonstrate the consideration given to whether the child moving in, or those already living in the home, will be negatively affected. At present, the impact of this is minimised through the children’s gradual transition into the home. Similarly, the format of the children’s risk assessments is being reviewed to ensure that they are more comprehensive and cohesive.

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

Some of the children have a history of self-harm. Staff work closely with them to identify the triggers and find alternative strategies. This has included creating a safe corner for a child, in their bedroom, that contains toys and items that assist with self-soothing. This creative approach is reducing the frequency of the self-harmful behaviour.

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

The use of physical intervention is rare, as staff are successful in using their positive relationships with children and de-escalation techniques.

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

Missing from home episodes are infrequent. When this has occurred, the staff have taken the appropriate actions, going over and above expectations to locate the child and return them home.

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

At present, the staff do not have access to a computer or email when the managers are not around. This prevents them from being able to submit notifications relating to significant events, completing other tasks that would be expected in their role and can hinder their ability to develop and build partnership working.

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

The managers have introduced a concern form that the staff submit to them when they have emerging concerns about a child, their behaviour and/or their mood. These concerns are reviewed by the managers, and the child’s placement plans and risk assessments are adapted as required.

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

Both children and staff spoke about being able to raise concerns. Allegations against a staff member, made by children and staff, were addressed appropriately. This Inspection report children’s home: 1272827 6 demonstrates that the whistleblowing policy is live, functions well and safeguards children.

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

Staff receive the relevant training and refreshers to enable them to work with the children. This is overseen by the wider organisation. Managers are developing a range of bespoke in-house training that addresses the specific needs of children, and the challenges and behaviours to be managed by staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is a qualified social worker with vast experience in the residential and care sector. He is currently undertaking the required level 5 diploma qualification. The deputy manager is also very experienced in residential care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers are child focused and determined to provide a high-quality service for the children. They have a good understanding of the children’s needs and review their placement plans regularly. A member of staff described the managers as ‘approachable, helpful and good with the children’. Another member of staff said, ‘They have both taught us all so much.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The programme of staff training is appropriate. Managers are developing internal training to make the subject matter more relative to the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision is conducted monthly but does not take place more frequently during staff probationary periods. The lack of an explicit expectation for more frequent supervision during a new starter’s probationary period prevents staff from having the formal reflective space to evaluate their progress or address any issues that may arise.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have a good awareness of the home’s strengths and the areas for development. They are currently focused on building reflective practice into the team meetings, supervision and incident debriefs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are continually adapting and reviewing the paperwork to ensure that it is in an easy-to-complete format that meets the needs of the service. Some records are incomplete. These gaps or inaccuracies are highlighted through internal audits and the independent visitor’s reports. The managers are seeking to address this by upskilling the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent visitor’s monthly visits have not been conducted and the reports have not been forwarded to Ofsted. Although this has improved recently, the lack of insight prevented Ofsted from having an overview of events occurring within the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback received about the home was complimentary. A social worker said, ‘They are phenomenal. They go over and above whatever we ask.’ Another said, ‘Our experience of residential homes is not always as positive. Transitions are important to them. They have never rejected her and have kept her safe.’ Inspection report children’s home: 1272827 7 Managers challenge placing authorities and other professionals, if there are decisions that they feel are inappropriate, and offer effective solutions.

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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: 1272827 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 37 Station Road, Chesterfield, Derbyshire S41 7BF

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Inspector:

Sonia Hay, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1272827 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

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