Children's home run by Shropshire Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC370982 1 SC370982 Registered provider: Shropshire Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is one of two homes that are provided by a local authority. It is registered for five children who have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC370982 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/08/2017 Full Good 07/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/11/2016 Full Outstanding 12/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC370982 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. (Regulation 11 (1)(c)(2)(a)(xiii)) 31/05/2019

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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

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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; and

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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)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)) 31/05/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC370982 4 The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that 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 understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f)) 31/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings; and

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)) 31/05/2019

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Recommendations

 A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3) Inspection report children’s home: SC370982 5

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, three children have moved into the home and three children have moved out. One child moved out of the home at short notice because of an increased risk to his safety in the community. There are currently four children living in the home. Some children have experienced bullying by other children. Staff have been at times too slow in addressing the impact of these concerns and this has left some children feeling vulnerable.

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improvement to be good

All children have a school place, which they attend regularly. Staff talk with children about the importance of education. Staff are ambitious for them and encourage them to do well.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoy a range of activities that reflect their individual interests. These activities include attending a boxing club and going swimming with friends. These opportunities develop children’s self-esteem and social skills.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand that children’s relationships with their families are extremely important and they work tirelessly to ensure that family contact takes place. Because of this excellent support, all the children maintain important links with people who are important to them.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoy a balanced and healthy diet. The food in the home is of high quality and children are encouraged to contribute ideas for the planning of the menu. Children sometimes help with cooking the meals. Children’s participation in cooking meals is both for fun and for helping children to develop their life skills in readiness for adulthood.

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improvement to be good

Children feel able to talk with a member of staff when they need to. For example, one child told the inspector that staff are ‘very helpful, very kind and make you feel welcome’. Despite this, sometimes children do not always feel safe. For example, one child said that he has experienced being bullied and that not enough action has been taken by the staff. An incident of bullying occurred during the inspection. This ongoing unkind behaviour is not being swiftly managed by the staff to try to help the child to feel more safe and secure.

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improvement to be good

Staff have developed positive relationships with the police, who support staff to de- escalate difficult situations. Together the staff and the police manage these situations in a way that means that children are not unnecessarily criminalised. However, risk assessments are not always kept updated to reflect children’s often complex and changing behaviours. Staff do not always include enough detail about the actions that they need to take to help to reduce risks to children and to keep them safe. Inspection report children’s home: SC370982 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager does advocate for the children. However, she does not regularly review feedback from children’s meetings to understand the issues that children raise and what this means in terms of their welfare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

New members of staff benefit from an induction which is closely monitored and appraised. Staff receive regular supervision and an annual appraisal. However, recording of supervision does not always evidence that discussions are related to practice in line with regulation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff receive a range of training opportunities, including essential courses such as safeguarding and first aid. In addition, they receive courses that are relevant to the specific needs of the children. For example, they have received training in working with children who have autism spectrum disorders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff miss opportunities to respond to what children are telling them. For example, sometimes children say that they do not feel safe during a weekly house meeting. Despite children raising a concern of feeling unsafe, staff do not show professional curiosity by asking further questions to try to understand why a child might feel unsafe. This lack of professional curiosity creates a missed opportunity to safeguard children and to promote their emotional 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: SC370982 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury SY2 6ND

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Inspector

Karen Gillingwater: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC370982 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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