Children's home run by Esland North Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1274670 1 Registered provider: Esland North 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 privately owned children’s home accommodates up to two children and young people who are at risk of child sexual exploitation, sexualised behaviours, self-harm, aggression, criminal behaviour and not engaging in education.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since May 2019. The registered manager is undertaking a level 5 diploma in leadership and management, with an expected completion date of April 2020. This is within the required timescales.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 6 February 2019

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1274670 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/02/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 28/11/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1274670 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 registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month. (Regulation 44 (1)) 31/01/2020

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Recommendations

 The term ‘equivalent’ as used in the Regulations in relation to qualifications will be a judgement for the registered person based on whether the content of any qualifications held by the individual closely corresponds with the qualifications set out in regulation 28(2)(c) (for managers) or regulation 32(4) (for those in a care role). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.13)  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  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

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Recommendations

review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. Providers should refer to the non-statutory advice about the location assessment process: Children’s homes regulation amendments 2014: Advice for children’s homes providers on new duties under regulations that came in to effect in January and April 2014. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1) This is specifically in relation to including information about local area safeguarding hotspots in the location risk assessment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

One young person has continued to live at this home since the last inspection. Nurturing, thoughtful and child-focused care from consistent staff means that she is exceptionally Inspection report children’s home: 1274670 4 well supported and has continued to make significant progress educationally, socially and emotionally since the last inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Encouragement from staff and good relationships with tutors have helped the young person to achieve entry level qualifications in mathematics and English and complete a level 1 award in hair and beauty. The young person is proud of her achievements and, with renewed confidence in her ability to learn, is aspiring to undertake an apprenticeship.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Extremely trusting and supportive relationships between staff and the young person mean that she feels able to talk with staff freely about everyday teenage worries and concerns. In particular, staff have been remarkably creative in using fun activities to help the young person gain a better understanding of healthy relationships and how to maintain good sexual health. Increased knowledge and awareness are helping the young person to make choices that enable her to keep good physical and emotional health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Training tailored to the specific communication needs of the young person has helped staff to reflect on how they can adapt their practice to support the young person to understand complex information and communicate more effectively. As a result, staff have been imaginative but subtle in helping the young person to enhance her communication skills and extend her vocabulary. For example, playing describing games and writing down what she would say in a particular scenario have helped the young person to build the skill and confidence to be able to book her own appointments, including those with the doctor and at the nail bar.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff work hard to ensure that the young person feels cared for and is listened to. Significant attention is given to involving the young person in all aspects of her care and helping her to understand what’s going on in the wider community. Staff have recognised that the young person is a visual and hands-on learner and have used this knowledge to help to capture her interest and her views. For example, staff have taken time to make records attractive to the young person through adding pink front sheets, sticking on gems and adding pictures. As a result, the young person will make comments about her care and has a sense of ownership of her information. As a result of listening to the young person’s views, there have been improvements to the home. For example, new equipment in the garden now makes it a more inviting space. In addition, social media is used to aid discussions on topical items. This led to the young person

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

responding to a birthday card appeal for a poorly child. This enhances the young person’s sense of social responsibility.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

A particular strength is the way in which staff have sought to support the young person to extend her skills in preparation for her leaving the home. Considerable effort has been made to tailor plans to her level of understanding and preferred learning styles. A mixture of practical tasks, quizzes, word searches and step-by-step guides have helped the young person to enjoy learning about how to maintain a home, buy and prepare food and manage money. A photographic diary of her completing the programme means that she has an aide memoire when she leaves the home. This helps her to be suitably equipped for a planned move to semi-supported accommodation. Inspection report children’s home: 1274670 5 Staff understand how important family relationships are to the young person and make a considerable effort to ensure that she spends quality time at home with her family every week despite the considerable distance. The commitment of staff has helped the young

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

person build her relationships to the extent that her family is supportive of plans for her to move back to her home area.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The young person has continued with hobbies and interests, including going to the gym and playing pool. She has also had the opportunity to holiday in Spain. Having varied interests supports the young person’s good physical and emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The young person’s social worker and a parent spoke with enthusiasm about the positive impact that living at the home has had on the young person’s day-to-day experiences and overall progress. The young person’s parent told the inspector, ‘They have done excellent and exceeded anything I thought could be done.’

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

The young person is safe and protected from harm. Staff continually identify, assess and plan to reduce risks to the young person’s safety. A combination of well-thought-out protective measures and education helps the young person to understand risk and how to keep safe. This means that risks posed to and by the young person have decreased over time.

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

Staff have an exceptional knowledge and understanding of the young person’s needs and vulnerabilities. They work creatively with the young person around keeping safe. For example, visual displays of the harmful effects of smoking to health have supported the young person to reduce her nicotine intake. Word searches have reinforced the coping strategies the young person can use if she starts to become anxious.

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

Thoughtful direct work by staff enabled the young person to recognise how peer pressure can lead to experimentation with drugs. This work helped raise the young person’s awareness to the risks of substance misuse.

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

An approach rooted in positive relationships, warmth and encouragement means that challenging incidents are rare. Staff emphasis on the young person’s strengths, achievements and rewards boosts her confidence and self-esteem. When there is a ‘blip’ in behaviour, a restorative approach encourages the young person to reflect on and take personal responsibility to make things right. For example, talking with staff helped the young person to understand why she had become cross and to make an apology.

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

The young person enjoys spending time at the home and rarely goes missing. This is significant progress. On the one occasion that the young person did go missing, staff were extremely diligent and persistent in their attempts to locate her. This included speaking with the parents of a friend and continuously searching areas where the young person may go. On her return, a warm welcome by staff helped the young person to talk about the reasons why she didn’t return to the home and her experiences during the Inspection report children’s home: 1274670 6 time she had been away. Sensitive and gradual work with the young person on her return has helped her to recognise friendships that are not positive to her physical and emotional well-being and how she can take steps to move away from these.

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

Staff benefit from a range of training to help them understand their safeguarding responsibilities, including the potential risks posed to children and young people by child sexual exploitation, radicalisation and criminal exploitation. Consequently, staff were swiftly able to recognise a situation where the young person may be vulnerable to exploitation. Exceptional work by the manager and staff, in collaboration with the young person’s tutor, helped them to identify locations and people that may pose a risk to the young person. Information sharing with other agencies and increased vigilance about the young person’s contacts and whereabouts helps to keep her increasingly safe.

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

The registered manager has a strong professional relationship with the local police who make regular visits to the home. This collaborative approach helps to keep staff alert to soft intelligence about any risks posed to the young person within the local area. However, despite staff being aware of information about local hotspots, the registered manager does not ensure that this information is included within the location risk assessment. This administrative shortfall has had no impact on the safety of the young person to date.

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

Staff regularly undertake fire and health and safety checks and concerns are dealt with quickly. This means the young person lives in a comfortable and well-maintained home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is ambitious for the young person and has a creative, insightful and enthusiastic approach. She has a good understanding of the young person’s needs and keeps good oversight of her care. The registered manager’s commitment to a ‘can do’ culture, and making sure that the young person is fully involved in her care, helps to ensure that the young person continues to make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are passionate about their work and are positive about the support that they receive from the registered manager. New staff benefit from an induction period and have the opportunity of time to observe the practice of experienced colleagues. The opportunity for regular supervision, an annual appraisal and bespoke training helps staff to reflect on and develop their practice to meet the young person’s specific needs. Attention to staff support means that staff have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities in providing individualised, safe and child-focused care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership work with professionals and families is positive and highly effective. A joined- up approach has helped the young person to learn, improve her safety and build family relationships.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is extremely organised and routinely audits the young person’s progress against her plans. This means the registered manager quickly identifies and takes action when she identifies areas for improvement. Inspection report children’s home: 1274670 7 The organisation has not ensured that independent visits to the home have taken place as is required by regulation. This reduces the external scrutiny of the operation of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff are vetted to ensure their suitability prior to starting work. However, managers were unable to provide evidence that they had verified the reasons for three staff leaving a post where they had worked with children or vulnerable adults. This compromises the organisation’s recruitment procedures that support the safety of children and young people by reducing the risk of unsuitable adults from working with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager was unable to confirm whether one member of staff’s qualifications were equivalent to those required by regulation. This means that it is unclear whether the member of staff has all of the underpinning knowledge for the role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager responded swiftly during the inspection when it was found that parental controls to the internet were faulty. The impact of this was minimal, as there are clear arrangements in place to ensure that the young person’s use of the internet is safe and appropriate.

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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: 1274670 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 Ltd, Suite 1, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper, Derbyshire DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Alison Cooper, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1274670 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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