Children's Home run by Oakley House Children’s Home Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC447457 1 SC447457 Registered provider: Oakley House Children’s Home 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

This home is owned and operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for three children and young people. The home provides both short- and l ong-term placements for children and young people who may have faced adverse childhood experiences, trauma, and placement and family breakdown.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in December 2016, and is suitably qualified.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC447457 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/08/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 13/09/2017 Full Good 21/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC447457 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—

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Requirement Due date

that staff assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plan, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(d)) 30/06/2019

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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

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)) 30/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable equipment in the children’s home 30/06/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC447457 4 provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of a fire. (Regulation 25(1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to ensuring that the fire risk assessment is accurate and fire exits are unlocked.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive care from staff who understand their individual needs. They develop strong relationships with staff and grow in confidence and self-esteem. This is because staff support children to have stability in their lives, to help them move forward.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff effectively facilitate and promote children’s education. They challenge relevant professionals to ensure that those children who are not attending school full time have access to suitable alternative education provision. As a result, children are progressing well with their learning. One child, who historically has struggled with education, is currently taking his GCSEs and making plans for further education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to be healthy by providing them with a balanced diet and opportunities for physical exercise. In addition, they support them to attend routine and specialist health appointments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to develop the independence skills they will need in later life in order to prepare them for their future. Staff prepare a memory book for each child. This means that children have a visual record of their time while living in the home and their achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work well with children to support them to spend positive and safe time with people who important to them. As a result, children can maintain a good sense of their identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy positive experiences while living at the home, and take part in a range of activities. These include, bowling, visiting theme parks and going to the cinema. This helps children to develop social skills and build confidence while having fun.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments do not accurately reflect the level of risk for children who have a history of aggression and knife crime. As a result, risk assessments are ineffective. This means that staff may not have a clear understanding of children’s behaviours, the risks they pose to themselves or others, and how best to manage these risks and behaviours. Inspection report children’s home: SC447457 5 Children do not regularly go missing. When children do go missing, staff act swiftly and are proactive in searching the local area to ensure that they are returned safe and well to the home. However, missing-from-home risk assessments do not reflect each individual child’s needs or clearly specify the protocols and measures staff are to take when children go missing. This has the potential to misinform staff, in particular new staff, and may lead to children not being adequately safeguarded.

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improvement to be good

Although staff undertake frequent health and safety checks, these are not effective. At the time of the inspection, the garden shed, containing several gardening tools, was left unlocked. As a result, children potentially may be exposed to hazards at the home.

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improvement to be good

The fire risk assessment has not been accurately updated. Although staff receive regular training in fire safety and conduct regular fire drills, there is a lack of clarity between the staff and the manager regarding how children would exit the property safely from the rear of the house in the event of a fire. The side garden gate is kept locked despite it being a fire exit. This may result in a delay in children and staff safely evacuating the building in the event of a fire.

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improvement to be good

Staff are successful in de-escalating incidents of challenging behaviour. There have been no instances when children have needed to be physically held by staff and the use of sanctions to manage negative behaviour is rare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The members of the management team and staff team are experienced and have worked together as a stable team for a sustained length of time. This provides children with continuity and consistency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive a wide range of online training courses to help them develop the skills to work with children and meet their needs. They are supervised on a regular basis, and said that they feel well supported by the manager. Staff are also given the opportunity to further develop their knowledge through external training with a nearby university.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff work well with other professionals. As a result, children receive well-coordinated care. The manager will actively challenge other professionals when the responses from other services are not effectively meeting the needs of children in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home through internal and external monitoring systems. Plans demonstrate the manager’s commitment to further enhancing the quality of care provided for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s targets are not always clear. As a result, while children are making good progress relative to their starting points, staff are potentially missing opportunities to effectively support children to develop to their full potential. Inspection report children’s home: SC447457 6

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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: SC447457 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Oakley House Children’s Home Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 4, 17 Plumbers Row, London E1 1EQ

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Inspectors

Sue Young: social care inspector Deborah Bond: social care inspector Anne Daly: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC447457 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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