Children's Home run by Essex County Council in Essex

Inspection report children’s home: SC044975 1 SC044975 Registered provider: Essex County 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 home, which is run by a local authority, provides a short-break service. The aim of the service is to support families so that their children can live at home. The registered manager has been in post since April 2017.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC044975 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/07/2018 Full Good 28/09/2017 Full Good 24/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/05/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC044975 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

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained— the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (‘the Level 3 Diploma’); or a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma. The relevant date is— in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1 April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1 April 2014, 1 April 2016. (Regulation 32(4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b)) 30/06/2020

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children who come to stay at this home are looked after by staff who care passionately about them and who have the skills to understand and meet their complex needs. Parents and professionals said how happy and excitable their children are when they know that they are going for a ‘sleepover’. The staff meet the children’s physical and emotional health needs. They work closely with healthcare professionals to address the children’s complex needs. The children learn the importance of looking after their health. This has a significant impact on their long- term development. The entire team contributes, in dedicated child-focused meetings, to the children’s individual care plans. The staff talk with parents and work in partnership with other Inspection report children’s home: SC044975 4 professionals to ensure that the plans include every relevant detail. These plans guide the staff’s care of the children. The children respond well and make excellent progress

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

from their starting points. A parent said, ‘My child is getting better at making his bed and his independence and social skills have improved immensely.’ The home offers ongoing support to the children when they move on. Consequently, the children continue to receive help and support from staff they already know and trust. For example, a child who has known the staff her entire life moved into her own supported accommodation. The staff went with her to help her to settle and they continue to support her. The staff took part in a team-building challenge, ‘Dragon’s Den’, during which creative ideas could be put forward to the managers. The winning team created a new, individualised way to gather the thoughts, feelings and views of all the children on their arrival at the home. For example, the children, whether verbal or non-verbal, can pick a picture of their favourite meal and activity and how they are feeling. This helps the staff

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

to tailor a plan for each child’s stay. The children learn that their views matter and can influence their world. The children take part in a variety of stimulating and fun activities. These have included trips to see Disney on Ice and a Snow White Christmas pantomime, attending youth clubs, celebrating Black History month and taking part in the anti-bullying week ‘Odd Sock Day’, when the children wore odd socks to celebrate what makes us all different. These opportunities help the children to develop their knowledge of the world and to boost their confidence and self-esteem. The home is decorated and furnished to a high standard. Displays celebrate special events throughout the calendar year, like Valentine’s day, Halloween, Remembrance Day and Easter. The gardens are filled with stimulating and fun toys and games to keep the children engaged and active.

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

The staff build strong relationships with the children. The children like and trust the staff and they respond extremely well to the staff’s efforts to keep them safe and meet their needs. The staff understand, document and share their knowledge of the risks to the children and they work hard to reduce these risks. Consequently, there have been no incidents of the children going missing from the home and the staff have not used sanctions. Restraint is only used as a last resort to protect children from harm. When restraint is used, the staff make a comprehensive and detailed record that includes a summary of the debriefs held with the children and staff involved. The manager and staff document and monitor the children’s progress well and provide informative monthly feedback to professionals and parents. The staff work closely with a range of safeguarding professionals to ensure that the children are safe. External professionals said that when a concern arises the manager

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

and staff act swiftly, keep everyone informed and put extra safeguarding measures in place. Meticulous records show the action taken, the involvement of all agencies and the Inspection report children’s home: SC044975 5 outcome. All staff are trained in and demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding procedures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

This home is led by an inspirational registered manager and deputy manager. They have introduced new ideas and focused on constantly improving the outcomes for children. The manager inspires the staff to do the very best for the children in her care. Consequently, the staff want to do well and to constantly improve their skills. The staff said that the manager helps them to see what they can achieve for the children, even if they had not thought it possible. The managers make excellent use of new and resourceful ways of working. An example is the research that they undertook and subsequent meetings with education professionals to develop a structure of child-focused meetings. This resulted in highly effective tailor-made care plans, behaviour plans and risk assessments that guide the staff to meet each child’s very specific needs. The manager has adapted the generic organisation-wide performance development

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

review to better meet the residential staff’s needs. The impact is that the staff benefit from a bespoke approach to their professional development. The established staff work very well together. Managers use team development strategies to improve team cohesion. For example, the staff team took part in the ‘World Social Work Day’ challenge, which was based on the theme of human relationships. The event enhanced the team’s understanding of social work and how the decisions to place children are made. Staff supervision and appraisals are of a very high standard. The well-structured and recorded team meetings take place regularly. The staff feel able to share their experiences, and they respect the manager. The manager excels in supporting and developing the staff. The home has recently come through an unsettling period. During this time, however, the entire staff team has continued to provide excellent care for the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

children. Targeted training focuses on the staff’s roles and their responsibilities to meet the children’s needs and keep them safe. Some staff are trained trainers, which ensures that all staff are continually assessed as competent. However, due to external factors that are out of the home’s control, some staff have not achieved a suitable level 3 qualification within the required timescale. The impact of this on the children has been limited because the staff receive high-quality training and oversight. The manager has met two of the three requirements and the one recommendation raised at the last inspection to good effect. One requirement is restated because some staff do not hold a relevant level 3 qualification. Inspection report children’s home: SC044975 6

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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: SC044975 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Essex County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Chelmsford CM1 1QH

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Inspector

Cathy Russell, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC044975 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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