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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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

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

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/03/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 14/08/2017 Full Good 07/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/11/2016 Full Outstanding

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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 registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in Regulation 12 (2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1)(2)) 13/09/2019

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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

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) 13/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC370982 3 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— that staff—

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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;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi) (vii)) 13/09/2019

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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. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  Some records may be kept electronically (Regulation 38) provided that this information can be easily accessed by anyone with a legitimate need to view it and, if required, be reproduced in a legible form. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of Regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: SC370982 4 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  When establishing the home, the registered person must ensure that it is suitably located so that children are effectively safeguarded and can access services to meet needs identified in their relevant plans (see Regulations 12 (2)(c)). Under Regulation 46, the registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the

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Recommendations

children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to express their views and to explore their behaviours by having regular planned meetings and day-to-day discussions. Staff support children to contribute to their care plans and to decisions about their day-to-day care. These opportunities enable children to express their views and preferences and to contribute to decisions about their lives. This gives children a sense of ownership and responsibility for their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities such as horse riding, going swimming and attending dance classes. Staff encourage children to have hobbies and interests and to be active. These opportunities help to increase children’s self-esteem and social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build positive relationships with children. They take them on holiday and enjoy spending time with them. Staff encourage children to aspire and to plan for their futures. One child recently went on work experience with the local police force. This has helped him to decide on his future career.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work particularly well with teachers and other education professionals to ensure that children’s education needs are understood. When children are at risk of being excluded from school, staff strongly advocate on their behalf. This support has helped some children to succeed educationally beyond expectations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children when they are ready to leave the home. Staff prepare children to become independent through teaching them essential life skills. This support means that children are equipped with skills that will enable them to live independently.

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

Inspection report children’s home: SC370982 5 Staff follow guidance in children’s plans to limit opportunities for bullying and unkind behaviour to occur between children. Staff promote positive behaviour by talking to children in a way that promotes personal responsibility and tolerance. Children say that staff act to stop bullying and keep them safe.

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

Staff know how to respond when children go missing from the home. Staff are diligent in searching for them and, when necessary, they contact the police to report them missing. Going missing protocols contain clear guidance for staff, including details on each child’s associates and their addresses. At the time of the inspection, a child had been absent from the home for a substantial period. Staff have kept in contact with him by telephone and have met with him in person. They have worked closely with the police and social workers and with his family to keep him safe.

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

Staff understand the importance of safeguarding and the need for vigilance so that children stay safe. Staff use key-working sessions to talk to children about how to reduce and manage risk. Staff support children to take age-appropriate risk by using informed risk assessments. However, staff do not assess some areas of risk, for instance on-line safety.

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

Medication is safe and effectively managed.

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

Staff use a proactive approach to managing challenging behaviour. They only use physical restraint as a last resort to keep children safe. Following restraints, staff hold conversations with children about their behaviour. However, records made by staff of physical restraints are not always accessible to all members of staff and the recording made does not always hold enough information to enable learning to take place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is a strong advocate for children and ensures that they receive the services and support that they need. The registered manager has plans to improve the quality of care for children by developing the staff team. This includes attachment- based training for all staff and training in supervision practice for managers and team leaders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have a relevant range of training opportunities, including essential courses such as safeguarding and first aid. In addition, they receive training that is specific to individual children. This helps staff to understand the complex needs of the children in their care. However, there is no clear plan that shows an accurate, up-to-date record of training and qualifications received by staff while working at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive support and guidance from managers through regular supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers do not always ensure that monitoring systems are effective in reviewing the quality of care. For instance, the safe area risk assessment does not assess the potential for already vulnerable children to be drawn into gang crime or anti- Inspection report children’s home: SC370982 6 social behaviour in the local area. Leaders and managers have not always consulted and sought the views of relevant people when reviewing the safe area risk assessment. Although staff have carried out regular fire drills, the level of detail recorded on the effectiveness of the drill is minimal. Routine checks on first aid kits are carried out. However, these checks fail to pick up when sterilised dressings have expired. These can be more than two years out of date. The home’s children’s guide does not help children who experience barriers to learning to understand how staff will help them. This failure

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

to monitor the service effectively means that potential weaknesses in practice and safeguarding can go unchallenged.

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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: Shropshire Council, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire 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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