Children's Home run by Holistic Approach Limited in Salford

Inspection report children’s home: 1159903 1 Registered provider: Holistic Approach 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

The home provides care and accommodation for up to five young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities. The home is privately owned.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager’s application to register with Ofsted was received in August 2019 and is currently ongoing.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 31 January 2019

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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: 1159903 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/01/2019 Full Outstanding 13/12/2017 Full Outstanding 23/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1159903 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 health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the child’s health and well-being needs, and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs; and

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well-being. (Regulation 10(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that any risks to an asthmatic child’s health are carefully risk assessed. 09/12/2019

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Recommendations

 Where the placing authority or another relevant person does not provide the input and services needed to meet a child’s needs during their time in the home Inspection report children’s home: 1159903 4 or in preparation for leaving the home, the home must challenge them to meet the child’s needs (see regulations 5(c)). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 12, paragraph 2.8)  For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  Children should have access to a computer and the internet to support their education and learning, unless there are specific safeguarding reasons why this would be inappropriate. In such cases, the home should consider whether and

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Recommendations

how it can support the child to access a computer and the internet safely. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 29, paragraph 5.19)  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)  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the

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Recommendations

needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most young people have made measurable progress from their individual starting points, particularly in relation to their emotional, social and behavioural development. Young people benefit from living in a highly supportive, caring and nurturing environment. A young person spoken to said, ‘ I love it. I feel I have a good connection with the staff. I am happy.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person has not maintained their progress and despite the best efforts of staff is disengaging with the home. Staff have identified that this is linked to family contact and the young person’s wish to live back at home. Staff have encouraged the young person to access an independent advocate to help with this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people build strong attachments with the staff team and enjoy spending one-to- one time with their key workers. Records of key-working sessions clearly demonstrate that staff talk to young people about matters that are important to them. Young people Inspection report children’s home: 1159903 5 who previously lived at the home are in regular contact with the staff team, which is testimony to the strong bonds they built with key staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A key strength of the home is the value that staff place on young people’s education. Staff work well with educational professionals to support young people’s attendance and help them to overcome any barriers to their learning. That said, one young person has been reluctant to fully engage with their education. A young person’s teacher delivered training to staff at the home in relation to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autistic spectrum disorder. This helped staff to develop the skills they need to support the young person effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to attend their health appointments, and work with the children looked after nurse to ensure that young people’s health needs are addressed. Despite this, one young person is refusing to attend their health appointments and take their required medication.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy a range of activities that reflect their individual interests, for example trampolining, bowling and horse riding. Young people enjoyed a summer holiday in a caravan. Some young people have lots of friends in the local community and prefer to spend time with them rather than engaging in activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide young people with the opportunity to gain practical skills dependent on their age and abilities. Since the last inspection, one young person has successfully moved on to semi-independent living.

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

All staff are sufficiently trained in safeguarding, which ensures that they have a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities to help keep young people safe. Staff have a good understanding of young people’s risks. However, staff could not locate the risk assessment/safety plan for managing a young person’s asthma. This does not ensure that the young person’s health is fully protected.

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

Clear protocols are in place for managing incidents of young people going missing from the home, which include staff searching for young people and trying to maintain contact with them via mobile phones. There has been a delay in a tier-one multi-agency meeting taking place to discuss the concerns relating to a young person’s missing behaviour. The home has not challenged the placing authority to ensure that this happens, so that any concerns regarding to the young person’s safety are shared and a multi-agency approach is implemented.

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

Young people know how to complain. There have been six complaints from three young people. These mainly relate to young people complaining about each other. Records show that young people’s complaints are dealt with promptly and any conflict between young people is resolved effectively. Inspection report children’s home: 1159903 6 Staff have appropriately referred a young person to specialist services relating to drug misuse and knife crime. However, work in relation to these risks is still outstanding, and the home has not chased this up.

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

Staff are well trained in a behaviour programme that enables them to understand and support young people’s behaviour. Young people respond well to clear and consistent boundaries. Incidents of restraint are kept to a minimum and restraint is only used as a last resort.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home has been without a registered manager since March 2019. The new manager has submitted an application to register with Ofsted. He is suitably qualified and experienced.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Young people benefit from receiving excellent care from a stable and very experienced team of staff, who are committed to meeting individual young people’s needs. Supervision records show that staff are not receiving regular supervision as specified in the statement of purpose. This reduces the opportunity for staff to reflect on their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff have access to a wide range of training opportunities, which means that they are able to offer consistent care that supports young people to make progress. Staff have strong links with placing authority social workers and parents. A parent said, ‘All staff are absolutely great with X, I can’t fault them. He respects the staff. Of all the places he could be this is the best.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

A recommendation made at the last inspection to replace the hall and stair carpet has been addressed. However, the lounge carpet is looking worn and there is a water stain on the ceiling in the games room from the bathroom above. The manager has plans in place to make a number of improvements to the home environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager acknowledges that improvements are required in some of the home’s records. For example, a disclosure made by a young person has not been adequately recorded. This means there is not a clear picture of what action has been taken to ensure the young person’s welfare and safety. In addition, the supervision files are poorly organised and appraisal records could not be easily located.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: 1159903 7 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: 1159903 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Holistic Approach Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 99 Parkway Avenue, Sheffield, Sheffield S9 4WG

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Inspector

Michelle Bacon: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1159903 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 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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