Children's Home run by Esland North Limited in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1229229 1 Registered provider: Esland North Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned and provides long-term care and accommodation for up to two children aged between nine and 17 who have complex social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. The staff have experience in caring for children and young people who have substance and/or alcohol issues, children and young people involved in gangs and those who present with extreme violence. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since February 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 10 to 11 September 2019

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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

Date of last inspection: 16 October 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1229229 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/10/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: 1229229 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

protect and promote each child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(ii)(iii)) 31/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour.

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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

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(ix)(xii)) 31/10/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1229229 4 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

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

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; and

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(vi)(vii)(b)) 31/10/2019

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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;

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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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(f)) 31/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and 31/10/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1229229 5 have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are 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’, April 2015, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress while living in this home. The care offered to children enables them to begin to stabilise and make progress in several areas of their lives. For two children, despite a very turbulent history, this is the longest placement that they have ever had.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Management and staff understand the importance of education for children. Consequently, children’s educational attendance and attainment improve. Bespoke teaching packages ensure that children begin to re-engage with education. Over time, children learn how to be successful at school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The health and well-being of children are priorities for the manager and staff. Children are registered with primary healthcare professionals and attend routine appointments. Referrals to external specialist agencies are also made when necessary. This multi- agency approach ensures that children’s broader health needs are fully addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to engage in activities of their choice. This enables children to have good experiences and to create happy memories. Positive experiences support children to become more confident and more resilient.

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improvement to be good

Safeguarding arrangements are not always effective in this home. During a recent safeguarding incident, staff failed to adhere fully to children’s risk assessments. This, along with other shortfalls during this incident, meant that risks to children were not Inspection report children’s home: 1229229 6 minimised.

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improvement to be good

At times, routines and boundaries are unclear and vary between different members of staff. This fails to give children the sense of security and control over their environment that they need. This lack of consistency and continuity of care is also confusing and frustrating for children. One child spoke about how, on occasions, they felt that they were treated unfairly in comparison to other children. This is not conducive to ensuring that children fully invest in the home.

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improvement to be good

Despite these shortfalls, children have generally adopted safer patterns of behaviour and have fewer incidents in the home. For one child, incidents of them going missing and displaying self-harming behaviours have dramatically reduced. For another child, incidents of them being restrained have almost stopped. When restraint is necessary to keep children safe, these incidents are well managed.

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improvement to be good

Children begin to manage their complex emotions and behaviours. They become more confident and have improved self-esteem. Good key-work sessions assist children to begin to understand their emotions and behaviours. A child said, ‘It feels like home here now. We are a family and I really like the staff.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably qualified and very experienced. She is committed to ensuring that good standards of care are embedded in the home. Good monitoring systems are in place, which ensure that the manager identifies shortfalls in practice. For example, training has been arranged that will support staff to improve the quality of record- keeping.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a detailed development plan in place. A key focus of the plan relates to making improvements to the internal and external presentation of the home. Children have worked with staff to agree new decor and furnishings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Agencies’ staff speak positively about their working relationships with staff and managers in the home. Managers and staff are confident to challenge other agencies when children are not receiving the services that they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team members have benefited from a host of mandatory training, which improves their abilities to meet children’s needs. However, regular supervision is not always taking place for each member of staff. This is a missed opportunity to address any shortfalls in practice. Inspection report children’s home: 1229229 7

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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: 1229229 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Esland Limited, Suite 1, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper, Derbyshire DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Davinia Lawton: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1229229 9 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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