Children's home run by Highfield North East Limited in Redcar and Cleveland

Inspection report children’s home: SC408656 1 SC408656 Registered provider: Highfield (North East) 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 home is owned and operated by a private provider. It provides care and accommodation for up to four children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since 2010 and is appropriately qualified.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC408656 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/03/2019 Full Good 16/10/2017 Full Good 13/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC408656 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people are able to build trusting and secure relationships with the staff at the home. The children and young people can approach the staff with issues or problems and know that the staff will listen and do what they can to help and support them. The staff invest time in the children and young people and promote their welfare at all times. This helps children and young people to invest in the home and feel secure in their permanent placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people are making good progress in their social and emotional development. Children and young people have a personal development file which sets out individual goals and how they will be achieved. This enables staff to track the progress of children and young people and support their ongoing development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are proactive in supporting children and young people to attend all of their health appointments. This includes optician and dentist and ensures that they have up- to-date medical assessments. This means their health needs are known and can be addressed by appropriate health professionals. Children and young people who wear glasses are encouraged to do so. Children and young people are supported to self- administer medication, where appropriate, and assessed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people receive a good level of care. Staff are responsive to their needs and place the children and young people at the centre of what they do. Young people’s meetings give them the opportunity to voice their views and contribute to the decision-making in the home. This allows children and young people a voice and they feel heard by the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Bedrooms are personalised and children and young people are encouraged to help choose the colour scheme for other communal areas of the home. This is a homely home, which does not stand out in its environment, and the interior is well kept, clean and in no way institutional.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children take part in a range of exciting activities, which helps their social development and their self-esteem. The staff encourage new opportunities, such as skiing and an educational trip to Barcelona. This gives the children and young people new experiences to enrich their learning and development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children and young people are progressing well in their education and, with the support of staff, are attending school every day. However, where children and young people are not in education, there are no records kept of the efforts staff have made to engage them in formal or informal educational activities. The staff do not provide the young person with an educational daytime routine and monthly key-work sessions do not address education. Inspection report children’s home: SC408656 4

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

Children and young people are not known to have ongoing issues with misuse of substances or alcohol, they do not go missing and they are not judged to be at risk of criminal or sexual exploitation. This is due, in part, to a robust matching process. The manager carefully assesses the needs of children and young people and considers whether the staff can meet their needs. The manager reflects on the potential impact on the other children and young people and how this can be mitigated. This means that the new children and young people’s placements are likely to succeed and children and young people already in the home, are unlikely to be disrupted.

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

Children and young people have stated that they feel safe and protected by the staff team. When unacceptable behaviour does occur, this is dealt with effectively by staff. One-to-one work with the children and young people to address their behaviour is prioritised and other professionals are informed as required. Children and young people are supported to reflect on their own safety and well-being in key-working sessions.

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

Positive behaviour is promoted within the home using incentives to encourage school attendance, self-care and independence skills. There have been very few incidents of negative behaviours and, overall, the home is a safe and secure place to live.

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

Risk assessments for children and young people are not always updated to reflect recent incidents or events. For example, in an isolated incident, a young person was found to be under the influence of alcohol. This event has not been reflected in their risk assessment, which does not support plans and strategies to mitigate the risk and safeguard the young person from harm in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has an effective and stable team of staff who are suitably qualified and experienced. There have been no staff changes in over a year, which helps the children and young people to build secure and stable attachments in the home. This is evidenced by the stability in the placement of the children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Before children and young people are placed in the home, the manager carefully considers what impact this might have. The manager makes child-centred decisions about the suitability of new children and young people, ensuring that the focus remains on their progress and well-being. The registered manager and his staff team have ambitions for what the children and young people can achieve and strive to create a balanced home where their potential can be fulfilled.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team works collaboratively to achieve good outcomes for children and young people. The manager delegates responsibilities to the staff team to encourage them to take ownership of tasks within the home. Staff are well supported in their duties and have access to supervision which is reflective and child centred. This enables the staff to develop professionally and supports their ownership of responsibilities within the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC408656 5 Reports from the independent visitor are valued and the manager responds quickly to any recommendations. These are discussed in team meetings and used to drive improvements. The manager also has effective internal monitoring systems in place to review the progress of the home. There are plans for the development of the home and the manager is currently incorporating a research-informed model of care to better support the children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective relationships have been established and maintained with professionals involved with children and young people. There is good feedback about the impact staff have on the lives of those in their care. Professionals said that the staff will advocate for the children and young people and challenge professionals where appropriate.

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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 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all information is taken into account when assessing the level of risk to a child or young person. 31/12/2019

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the 31/12/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC408656 6 registered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(v)(x))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should ensure that all children and young people have clear plans daily for educational activities and that efforts to re-integrate them into formal education are progressed.

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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: SC408656 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Highfield (North East) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 37 Emerald Street, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Cleveland TS12 1EE

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Inspector

Deb Duffy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC408656 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 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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