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Inspection report children’s home: SC488943 1 SC488943 Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to four children whose adverse childhood experiences and trauma can lead to them exhibiting complex behaviours. A private provider operates this home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has submitted her application for registration to Ofsted and is completing a level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 11 to 12 February 2020

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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

Date of last inspection: 19 February 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: SC488943 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2019 Full Outstanding 22/01/2018 Full Outstanding 15/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/11/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC488943 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This is the first inspection since a variation to registration conditions and conversion of the garage, and four children are now living in this home. The house is large enough to meet the needs of the four children. It is beautifully decorated and well maintained. The house is personalised with photos which remind children of the fun times that they have had together. One child has a pet bearded dragon. Staff support the child to feed and care for it.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three of the children have lived in this home for significant lengths of time. This demonstrates that staff provide good-quality care which helps children to feel settled and progress. One child told the inspector: ‘I have lived here for four years and it’s the best care home I have been in… it’s a beautiful house, staff are kind and there is always money to do things and go on activities.’ For this child, living in this home is the most positive and stable experience that she has had while being cared for away from her family. Staff are nurturing towards children and enjoy fun times together. They encourage children to make good choices. Children receive praise and recognition for their achievements. A favourite reward is a visit to a local ice-cream farm to celebrates success, and this also promotes positive time for children with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to pursue activities that they enjoy. One child attends scouts and has taken part in a scout camp. He animatedly told the inspector of his climbing achievements, which both he and staff are proud of. Staff encourage children to invite their friends around for tea and to take part in school trips. This social interaction promotes the emotional health and well-being of children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager works well with professionals to ensure that staff meet children’s needs. She has developed good links with the police and agencies that help to keep children safe. Staff also have good relationships with health professionals, which ensures that children remain physically and emotionally well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have excellent school attendance and are making good progress. One child performed in a school concert at Christmas and was delighted that her mum could come and watch.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child recently moved into this home. The manager considered this child’s needs thoroughly to ensure that staff could meet his needs. She supported both the child and the children already living in the home to prepare for the move. This has helped the new child to settle in quickly and reduced children’s anxieties. Staff already have a good understanding of the child’s behaviour. The manager has prepared risk assessments and placement plans to guide staff in caring for him.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This child is currently waiting for the correct education provision to be identified and is receiving education at home. He describes missing learning in a classroom and being with other children. The manager has advocated on this child’s behalf by Inspection report children’s home: SC488943 4 suggesting schools which she has previously worked with. In addition, the manager has requested the required documentation from the local authority to help her to understand his educational and care needs. She has not, however, always escalated this challenge effectively to achieve the required outcome and best possible results for this child.

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

Young people’s behaviour improves because of the support that they receive from staff. Staff help young people to manage their emotions and to keep themselves safe. Children engage well in key-work sessions, where they talk with staff about their worries about friendships and how to keep safe online. This demonstrates the good relationships and trust between the children and their carers. Children receive high levels of verbal praise from staff, and staff create opportunities for positive interaction.

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

Staff follow the principles of restorative practice to manage children who display inappropriate behaviour. This helps children to understand the impact that their behaviour has on others.

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

Staff develop positive relationships with children’s families. One parent described the staff as ‘lovely and caring’. She explained that staff keep in touch with her and do everything that they can to keep her child safe.

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

Staff develop good relationships with other professionals, including doctors, mental health and sexual health workers and the police. Their communication with other children’s homes has been instrumental in supporting staff to proactively manage risk to keep children safe. When risks escalate, the manager shares concerns and requests support from other agencies. She usually notifies Ofsted of any significant incidents. However, on one occasion the manager did not notify Ofsted of a serious incident, which prevented the regulator from having oversight of events in the home.

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

Children have not complained of bullying from each other, and staff supervise their interactions closely to ensure that they are safe. Where children have experienced bullying at school, staff have worked with teachers to manage and safeguard the children. Staff ensure that children access services where specialist support is available for children who have been victims of violent relationships. This helps children to feel secure and protected by staff.

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

Staff respond in a well-coordinated way and in line with behaviour support plans when children go missing. Staff respond immediately to find missing children and return them home. This includes following children on public transport, contacting family and carers of friends and carrying on regular searches of the known areas where children go. Independent return-home interviews have been conducted each time a child has gone missing. This helps the manager to identify patterns of risk. Inspection report children’s home: SC488943 5 On one occasion, staff did not record information as effectively as they could have, to detail their communications with the police. Leaders did not notify police that they needed support in searching for the child. This resulted in a delay in returning the child home.

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

Some children who live in this home are prescribed medication, which staff administer correctly. There was an isolated incident in which staff did not store medication correctly after its administration. The manager has learned from this. She has undertaken an internal investigation and reviewed and updated the medication administration and storage policies, and all staff have had further, advanced training. Her actions have improved practice and significantly reduced the likelihood of this shortfall recurring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This is the manager’s first inspection, having moved from a deputy role within the home. She therefore has a good understanding of her oversight and reviewing role. The manager monitors the quality of care and responds immediately to any recommendations made by the independent visitor.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has awareness of her areas of strength. She also identifies areas that she would like to strengthen and is ambitious to deliver the best-quality care to the four children who live in this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has excellent knowledge of the children. She advocates for them. A social worker told the inspector that the manager explained, when a child was unable to express this herself, what qualities she would like in a foster carer when she moves on from this home. The manager, by sharing this, helped her social worker to search for the most suitable foster carer for this child, and therefore the most likely to succeed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children contribute to decisions on their care and the running of the home. The inspector found that children engaged fully in their house meetings. Children have fun talking about their week, which they call their gossip time. Children listen to each other and staff support them to problem-solve and plan for the week ahead.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and her leaders support staff in their roles. Staff state that they enjoy working in this home. They describe working well together as a team. All staff are proud of the progress that the children are making. Staff receive supervision which is regular and child focused. Supervision includes time for professional reflection and development. Staff in their probation period complete mock examples of records using a range of scenarios which they may encounter. This helps to improve staff practice and the support that young people receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager chairs effective team meetings. The meetings include discussions about young people’s progress and generate ideas about how to manage the risks that they face. The manager shares new guidance to staff to improve the delivery of safe care. Inspection report children’s home: SC488943 6 The manager ensures that staff are highly trained. She commissions training to respond to the specific needs of the children who live in this home, such as on caring for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The manager and some of her staff have had therapeutic training which enhances their practice. They disseminate the learning from this training. In addition, the inspector saw staff participating in an externally facilitated therapeutic model workshop. The session reviewed the progress of children and explored ways to help, according to the therapeutic principles of the model. This equips staff with the knowledge and skills

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

required to provide the best possible care to the children living in this home. Inspection report children’s home: SC488943 7

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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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff–

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs; and

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(b)(c)) 25/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that–

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Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them. (Regulation 23(1), (2)(a)) 25/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which–

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)(c)) 25/03/2020

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Recommendations

 Examples of incidents that are likely to be considered serious affecting the welfare of a child include: a child being the victim or perpetrator of a serious assault; a Inspection report children’s home: SC488943 8 serious illness or accident; a serious incident of self-harm, or serious concerns over a child’s missing behaviour, particularly where the child is considered to be at grave risk due to age or vulnerability or where they have been missing for a considerable period of time and their whereabouts is unknown. This is not an exhaustive list and homes must assess each case individually taking into account any patterns of behaviour or unusual behaviour which may indicate an increased risk to the child. Homes should also consider the frequency of incidents and judge whether their cumulative effect makes notification appropriate even if in isolation each event would not warrant this. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.11) Inspection report children’s home: SC488943 9

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC488943 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Belvoir Farmhouse, Woolsthorpe Road, Redmile, Nottingham NG13 0GN

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Inspector

Joanna Warburton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC488943 11 to 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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