Children's homes – interim inspection

Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 1 SC035105 Registered provider: Durham 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

The home is run by a local authority and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The registered manager has extensive experience of managing a children’s home and has been registered with Ofsted since 2007.

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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: SC035105 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/10/2018 Full Good 16/01/2018 Full Good 09/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 25/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 3

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Recommendations

 Many children placed in homes may undergo a difficult transition and what should be simple aspects of their care take on a substantial significance in this context. Staff should provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming, supportive, and which provides appropriate boundaries in relation to their behaviour. Homes must also meet children’s basic day to day needs and physical necessities. Staff should seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met – doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should

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Recommendations

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) In particular, that information on risk assessments is sufficiently detailed so that the context is explicitly clear.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people are settled in this home. Transitions are carefully planned and risk assessed, taking into consideration the needs of each child or young person including others residing at the home. Young people who move on stay in touch and sometimes join in on specially arranged activities. This inclusion shows children and young people that they continue to be important once they embark on a new chapter of their life, which embeds a sense of belonging. Children and young people, the manager and her staff team are going to be relocating to new premises which are currently being sourced. Children and young people take part in discussions about this move and, because of their involvement in this process, they share and explore their feelings which reduces anxiety. Areas of the home are in need of redecoration. If the quality of children and young people’s personal space is not a priority, it could impact on their feelings of self-worth.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people are helped to develop their individual talents and interests. One young person has been supported to fulfil her life-long dream to holiday abroad. Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 4 Children and young people have quality time invested in them by their caring adults and, as a result, form strong, trusting bonds. Children and young people make clear progress from their starting points. For some, it is sitting their exams that is evidence of this, while for others it is having taken part in social events, public speaking or educational residential programmes. Because of the encouragement that they receive, children and young people develop skills and confidence to take part in new things, which boosts their self-esteem. Children and young people who experience health issues are supported sensitively by a nurturing team. The manager and her staff promptly involve external professionals, such

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

as sexual or mental health specialists, so that children and young people gain additional support when necessary to meet their needs. This shows the children and young people that there are accessible services to help them during times of difficulty and that their health is important.

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

Children and young people are cared for by a team that understands and follows procedures to help ensure their safety and protection. Recruitment follows safer-caring guidelines which helps to reduce the likeliness of children and young people being exposed to harm. Children and young people benefit from these protective measures and express that they feel safe. Children and young people are consulted on the care that they receive. Case records contain children and young people’s comments, whether they are an expression of positivity or a concern, together with a response from either the staff and/or manager as appropriate. This demonstrates that children and young people know and use the systems in place to ensure that their voice is heard. Risk assessment processes effectively identify known areas of vulnerability and include strategies to reduce risk. Occasionally, historical incidents recorded in risk assessments

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

lack detail, making the context of this information unclear. Some risks, such as the frequency of episodes of children or young people going missing from the home, have significantly reduced. This shows that children and young people are becoming increasingly safe. Key-work sessions focus on helping the children and young people to develop an understanding of things that may pose a risk to them, such as use of the internet and bullying. This helps children and young people learn the skills required to enable them to keep themselves safe. Positive behaviour is promoted through individualised reward schemes. The achievements that children and young people make are praised and celebrated on an individual basis and together as a group. The children and young people understand the progress that they are making and are encouraged to share in each other’s successes, which helps them to live harmoniously. Children and young people benefit from clear boundaries and consistent expectations.

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

Staff use sanctions to help children and young people understand that there are Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 5 consequences for their actions. These measures are subject to the scrutiny of the manager, who includes seeking the views of the children and young people as to the appropriateness of the sanction. This involvement enables children and young people to gain a sense of control which helps them to feel secure.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager works closely with her staff to develop their skills and vigilantly monitors their practice. Supervisions and team meetings are held regularly and are used to identify the strengths of staff and to address areas of weakness. This results in an improvement in the quality of care that children and young people receive. The manager organises specialist training such as understanding trauma and gender identity for her staff team. Other agencies join these sessions to provide a multi-agency approach to understanding and supporting children and young people. The manager’s collaborative practice generates innovative strategies to enable children and young people to overcome issues and barriers to learning, so that they continue to make good progress. The manager utilises the skills of her senior team to audit and review the quality of children and young people’s care records. This monitoring process allows the manager to

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

have an excellent oversight of the quality of care that children and young people receive. The progress that children and young people make is recorded clearly, together with targets and the support in place to help them to achieve. The aspirations that the manager and her team have for each child and young person is a motivating factor that helps children and young people to reach their goals. The manager welcomes the input of external monitoring and guides her staff to do the same by encouraging them to invite challenge and learn from feedback. This means that the team continually strives to develop its practice and shows that the well-being of children and young people is its focus and priority. fac

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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: SC035105 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Durham County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Durham DH1 5UL

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Inspector

Paula Kelly, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 7 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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