Children's Home run by Heartwood RSC Limited in Cambridgeshire

Inspection report children’s home: 2497538 1 Registered provider: Heartwood RSC 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 privately owned children’s home is registered to provide care for up to five children, irrespective of gender.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager left on 21 May 2019. A new manager has recently been appointed and has not yet applied for registration.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2497538 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

ensure that staff have the skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff are trained in the same methods of physical intervention. 16/08/2019

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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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(d)) 27/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(a)(b)) 16/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 2497538 3

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Recommendations

 Records of restraint must be kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are making progress because they live at this home. The rate of progress is different for each child. For one child, the small amounts of progress are in themselves significant. The child’s social worker said that the staff’s perseverance is commendable. The other child is making more noticeable progress. Her social worker said that she is doing ‘really, really well’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have good relationships with the staff. A parent said that her child can go to the staff when she is distressed, which is ‘a massive thing for her’. The parent said that staff are nurturing and give her child the support that she needs. This helps to make sure that children’s emotional health needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children are very resistant to taking part in formal education. They were both out of education before coming to this home. The staff are using everyday opportunities and trips out to try to provide informal education for the children. They encourage them to take part in formal education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff encourage the children to take part in exercise and have healthy diets. They take children out for walks and to activities such as trampolining. One child has begun to engage with health services and attend health appointments since she moved to the home. These things help the children to learn how to look after their health now and in their future lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff listen to the children’s views and take them seriously. The children have been involved in choosing activities and meals. They children joined a gym, at their request.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff understand the stress that moves into and out of the home can have. The staff showed significant understanding when one child moved into the home in difficult circumstances, and provided support and reassurance, even when dealing with some challenging behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child lives a considerable distance from her home area. This is a necessary part of her care plan. The staff make sure that contact with her family continues. Her parent said that this home is the best place for her child and that if her child needs specific support, the staff will provide it, which the parent finds reassuring. Inspection report children’s home: 2497538 4

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

There have been some incidents of very challenging behaviour. Although these incidents continue, the frequency has reduced significantly since the new manager has been at the home. The manager has made sure that there is structure to the children’s day, clear expectations about their behaviour and a nurturing environment. The police and placing social workers have noticed the positive difference that this has made.

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

Staff challenge children’s inappropriate behaviour. This change in approach is helping the children to feel secure and understand how their behaviour affects others.

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

A child’s social worker said that the staff give the child space to calm down. They show unconditional positive regard for her despite her behaviour. This has led to the child becoming able to form attachments with staff and to see herself in a more positive light.

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

The staff are managing the risks for the children, some of which are high, and helping them to be safer. A social worker said that they did not think the staff could do any more. A parent said that the staff are ‘amazing’ at keeping her child safe.

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

When a child goes missing from the home, the staff follow plans to try to find them and keep them safe. The staff have helped children to reduce the number of times that they go missing. The staff understand when children are upset and give them alternative options to going missing, such as going out for a walk with staff.

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

Staff are trained in physical intervention. However, agency staff, who are currently working at the home very regularly, are not trained in the same physical intervention techniques. The lack of consistent approach to physical intervention reduces the effectiveness if staff need to use physical intervention. This could result in a child or member of staff being injured.

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

One record of a physical intervention was not completely consistent with other reports of the same incident. This makes monitoring of incidents more difficult and does not provide a clear record of what happened. Lack of accurate recording will have an impact if a child or member of staff raises a concern about the incident at some time in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home was registered on 15 February 2019. The registered manager left her post on 21 May 2019. A temporary manager took on the role and has since been appointed as the permanent manager. Staff and other professionals spoke positively about the changes that the new manager has made. A social worker said that the manager is ‘amazing’ and is shaping the home into a good provision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands the needs of the children and the progress that they are making. She knows which areas the home needs to develop and is in the process of implementing the required changes. The manager and staff care about the children and Inspection report children’s home: 2497538 5 are tenacious in working with them to achieve good outcomes. The children respond positively to this care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have good working relationships with other agencies and with children’s parents. The manager understands the need for such relationships to achieve the best results for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff use everyday opportunities to help the children understand the importance of equality and tolerance. They use effective relationships and informal conversations to help the children think about these issues.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Several staff have left the home since it opened. This has resulted in a shortfall in the number of staff needed to look after the children. Agency staff are filling these gaps. The manager is using consistent agency staff, who are working with the children effectively and have developed good relationships with them. However, some staff are working very long hours, which is not sustainable and not in children’s interests. There is an ongoing recruitment process and some new staff are due to start soon. However, this will not provide the staffing levels that are set out in the workforce development plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Neither the current manager nor the previous registered manager have provided consistent and regular supervision for the staff. Although the current manager has begun the process, it is too soon to see if this will be regular and embedded in practice. Supervision is an important opportunity for managers to review staff practice and help them to develop. New staff have been dealing with some very challenging situations, which makes the need for regular supervision even greater.

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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: 2497538 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Heartwood RSC Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 416 Green Lane, Ilford IG3 9JX

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Inspector

Clive Lucas, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2497538 7 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

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