Children's home run by Nottingham City Council

Inspection report children’s home: 1277041 1 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 is a local authority-run home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and who are unable to live with their family. Some young people have never lived in a children’s home before. The aim of the home is to provide young people with settled care so that they are able to make progress in a caring environment.

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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

Date of last inspection: 21 November 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1277041 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/11/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1277041 3

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Recommendations

 Ensure that children feel safe and are safe. Staff should support children to be aware of and manage their own safety, both inside and outside the home to the extent that any good parent would. Staff should help children to understand how to protect themselves, feel protected and be protected from significant harm (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.9) This is in relation to internet safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s experiences are good. The home provides a kind, nurturing environment. Young people know that staff genuinely care about them. Young people feel settled and feel that they belong. Their comments are positive about their life at the home. Professionals also made very positive comments about the care that young people receive. Young people learn a lot about themselves and their capabilities. Activities are plentiful and are about making progress as well as enjoyment. One young person recently planned an activity and included points at which a mobile phone could be charged if needed. Young people learn about their personal safety and being ready for independence as part of one-to-one fun activities with staff. A number of activities are available for young people, depending on their interests. They enjoy the opportunities that living at this home brings. Young people have a say in what happens in their life. They choose their activities, they

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

have a say in the meals provided, and are supported to express their views and feelings about their care. They are listened to and they learn that their views are important. They also understand the reasons why staff might not agree to a request. Young people develop the skills that they will need to speak up and exercise their rights as adults. There are extremely positive relationships between staff and young people. This relationship-based approach supports young people to make good progress. Young people learn to trust staff and they can speak to them about their problems and worries. Guidance and support from staff helps young people to make sense of why they are living at the home. From their starting points, young people have made educational progress. Sometimes this progress has been slow, but for some young people even small achievements are significant, particularly for young people who have not engaged in education for a long

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

time prior to coming to the home. Inspection report children’s home: 1277041 4

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

Staff are very open and creative in the way that they engage with young people about being safe. For example, there have been quizzes, presentations and training packages for young people on a range of subjects such as criminal exploitation and racism. Young people can explore their own feelings in a safe way. Staff confidently give sound advice to young people and help them to keep safe. Good relationships with staff mean that young people are more likely to talk to staff about their problems. Young people are invested in their own care plans and risk assessments because they have worked with staff to agree what they feel is a fair approach. Young people learn that the staff care about them unconditionally, as staff understand their behaviour. This is an important message for young people. Their behavioural outbursts slowly decrease. They learn about boundaries, some for the first time. Progress is slow but very significant, as the staff team remains steadfast and consistent

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

in its approach. Staff try their very best to understand the reasons for young people’s behaviour, rather than seeing the behaviour in isolation. Incentives work well to motivate young people to make progress in a number of areas, particularly in relation to their behaviour and safety. High-quality joint working and collaboration with the local police ensures that young people are not unnecessarily criminalised. When young people go missing, staff take action to make sure that they return home as soon and as safely as possible. Joint working with other professionals is good. This means that staff have the most up-to-date information to be able to make good-quality safeguarding decisions. Risk assessments in relation to young people’s use of the internet are not of good quality. Staff do take action to protect young people, but there is the potential for important information to be overlooked and for young people to be at risk if this is not

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager, deputy manager and responsible individual expect staff to deliver consistent, outstanding and professional care to young people. They have extremely high expectations. Staff know what is expected of them and all work cohesively together to make sure that young people feel valued, wanted and safe. One young person said: ‘Staff do their job and they are good at it.’ There are very positive comments from staff about the manager and his leadership style. Highly creative management strategies are cascaded to staff, who invest in the leaders’ aspirational approach. The registered manager and deputy manager are very confident in their staff team. They enable and empower staff to be able to make decisions. At the same time, they support staff and check their practice. This management style is very well suited to the team members, who are highly motivated and competent. Staff are well trained and they are supported to make very safe and highly effective decisions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff are self-assured and provide stability, consistency and a very thoughtful approach to young people. Inspection report children’s home: 1277041 5 The responsible individual adds greater value to the leadership of the home. She is an excellent ambassador for young people in care. She carefully assesses the wider issues and challenges for young people in the care system. She is leading on a project to enable young people to feel more cherished, through the eradication of institutionalised language and practices. For example, one young person reported that they did not like the way that reports were used to influence their lives. The responsible individual wants to listen and respond. This work is likely to bring about change for young people in this home and in the wider organisation. Young people are truly at the centre, and how they feel has an exceptionally high priority. Development planning is aspirational and child focused. No idea is seen as too big. Staff

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

take time out to think creatively about plans to help the young people to make more progress. Managers try to find ways to be imaginative and invest in their staff team through support and team building. The four requirements made at the last inspection are met. There have been improvements to placement matching, restraint records, listening and responding to young people’s views, and to the supervision process for staff.

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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: 1277041 6

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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: 1277041 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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