Children's home run by Nottingham City Council in Nottingham

Inspection report children’s home: SC424351 1 SC424351 Registered provider: Nottingham City Council

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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 home is operated by the local authority. The home provides medium- to long-term care for two children and young people who are unable to live with their parents/carers.

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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 Outstanding

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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

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/05/2018 Full Good 22/05/2017 Full Good 09/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC424351 2

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Recommendations

Ensure that staff skills for safeguarding include being able to identify that children may be at risk and support children in strategies to manage and reduce any risks. This is in relation to how young people could be groomed to carry drugs across the country and be criminally exploited. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.10)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The standard of childcare is very good and young people feel happy and settled. There are positive, trusting relationships between young people and staff. Staff genuinely enjoy being with young people and the atmosphere is friendly, warm and humorous. Young people know that they are valued and cherished. Professionals and staff comment very positively on young people’s progress. Care is well planned, well delivered and always evaluated. There are a wide range of activities, holidays and trips out. Activities are opportunities for learning and development, as well as being for young people’s pleasure. For example, one activity was recently used as an opportunity to increase a young person’s confidence in public places. This was successful because of the good planning and support from staff. The learning was clearly defined for the young person, who was highly praised for their achievements. Young people have achieved good school attendance. Staff’s positive and thorough

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

communication with education professionals ensures that there is a consistent approach to behaviour and learning at school. Personal education plans are not always as thorough as they could be. The manager has accepted that she could have done more to ensure that a school made improvements to one young person’s personal education plan. However, this has not had an adverse effect on the young person’s education to date. The manager already has plans to put this right. Care records provide a clear audit trail for young people who may wish to read about their care in the future and make sense of their childhoods. Care records detail the help and support provided. Staff use positive and non-stigmatising language when recording. Physical and emotional health have a high profile. Staff understand that young people have suffered trauma. They are thoughtful in their approach to help young people to come to terms with why they are in care. This work is individualised and goes at a pace

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

that is right for young people. Young people have the best chance of making good progress in this area. Staff know how to support and help young people who are asylum seekers. All young Inspection report children’s home: SC424351 3 people settle in quickly and their plans do not drift. Progress starts straight away. All young people are respected for their own personality. Cultural and religious issues are well considered for individuals and young people can be themselves. Individuality is celebrated.

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

Young people are safe. At times, when young people put themselves at risk, staff step in to protect them as far as possible. There is a highly intelligent approach to safeguarding. Risks are very carefully considered. During a recent high-profile incident, staff considered each aspect of safety against the possible outcomes. There was a very well- planned and co-ordinated approach. One professional commented very positively, saying: ‘We have all worked really closely together on this one.’ Recently, one young person had to move out because of a safety risk in the local community. However, managers and staff do not give up easily on young people and were all incredibly upset to see the young person go. There is genuine care and consideration for young people. Leaders carefully consider safeguarding risks before making such a life-changing decision for a young person. When young people go missing from the home, staff respond immediately. They gather

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

intelligence and work very effectively with other professionals such as the police, who are very positive about staff’s work in this area. Staff work tirelessly to try to prevent young people going missing in the first place. They are creative about making sure that young people understand the risks that are posed to them. For example, staff use resources such as magazine and newspaper articles to demonstrate the risks to young people. Staff know how to talk to young people about such matters. They are not afraid to have the difficult conversations that make a difference. Even when, initially, young people are not prepared to listen, they very often engage well in the end. This is likely to positively influence young people’s safety in the future. Behaviour management is very good. There has been no reason to physically restrain young people. Staff use other methods to de-escalate behaviour before it gets to that

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

point. There are open, often humorous discussions and young people know what to expect from staff. Staff are clear about boundaries, rules and expectations. Staff are generally trained very well in how to address young people’s individual safety needs. However, staff are yet to receive training to enable them to protect young people from being groomed to carry drugs across the country (county lines) and from criminal exploitation. Staff need to develop their knowledge so that they will be able to recognise these risks to young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager continues to strive for further improvement. The focus is always on improving young people’s lives and her passion for this never fails. She seeks to constantly improve her own and staff’s knowledge. She seizes every opportunity to seek out new ideas and new training, and is herself at the forefront of developing residential care within the local authority. The manager told the inspector: ‘The biggest thing is for Inspection report children’s home: SC424351 4 the kids to achieve great things, relationships with others and to allow themselves to be happy.’ This is certainly achieved in this home. The manager is clear from the start of a placement about how a young person will be supported. She delivers the home’s statement of purpose very well. This home does what it sets out to do. Leadership is tremendously proactive and is well planned. The effect of this care on young people is evaluated well. The manager and her skilled deputy champion high

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

expectations from staff and young people. They lead staff to be incredibly creative and to use intelligent thinking. Joint working is excellent. Managers and staff know that they cannot be experts in everything. They know where to go to for expert advice and consistently use this, so that they can do their best for the young people. Other professionals speak very highly about communication with them and the collaborative approach helps young people to make good progress. There is a very dedicated staff team. The staff are committed to the young people and regularly prioritise young people’s needs over their own. Staff are prepared to be very flexible with their working hours for the benefit of the young people. Staff regularly work additional hours at weekends and stay late to meet young people’s individual needs. They do this because they want to. Monitoring works very well. Managers know what is happing in the home and in young

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

people’s lives. They have excellent relationships with young people and are very well respected by them and the staff. The organisation’s own monitoring is also effective. When recommendations are made, the manager and staff strive to put improvements in place. Leadership is going from strength to strength and ensures that young people’s lives continue to improve.

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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: SC424351 5

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Nottingham City Council, Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham NG2 3NG

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Inspector:

Caroline Brailsford, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC424351 6 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:

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

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