Children's home run by Kirklees Council in Kirklees

Inspection report children’s home: SC034441 1 SC034441 Registered provider: Kirklees 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 children’s home is owned and operated by a local authority. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to eight children or young people who may have sensory impairment, learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities.

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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: 24 October 2018

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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: SC034441 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/10/2018 Full Outstanding 14/11/2017 Full Outstanding 30/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 12/07/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC034441 3

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Recommendations

 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 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. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1) In particular, the location risk assessment should include any information or intelligence on county lines and other forms of criminal exploitation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides a safe, stable and nurturing environment where the children and young people make great progress in all areas. This environment enables the children and young people to have a sense of belonging and security as they are able to work towards their agreed care and pathway plans. They are supported to develop levels of independence to enable them to transition positively from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and young people develop positive relationships with the staff, who know the children and young people well and are resilient and ambitious for the children and young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the young people access education, have good school attendance and are making educational progress. One young person has a bespoke education plan which supports his specific learning needs, as he was unable to manage in specialist school. Since introducing his bespoke education plan, he has made significant progress and his engagement in education is much improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children and young people have complex needs which are understood by the staff team. The staff work in partnership with social workers, the school’s health team, specialist health nurses, children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and the children and young people’s families to meet the holistic care needs of the children and young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have developed a deeper understanding of the children and young people’s needs and are able to consistently respond to these needs. The staff go over and above to support them when they are unable to manage their emotions and need reassurance to return to their baseline. Inspection report children’s home: SC034441 4 The children and young people have managed two transitions during the last year, as the home was relocated due to refurbishment. The manager and staff ensured that comprehensive consultation took place with all the children and young people about both moves, and the children and young people were able to have a say in what they wanted in their home when they returned, in respect of the decor in their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children and young people in accessing positive activities in the home and the wider community. They help children and young people to watch films at the cinema, go shopping, visit museums, watch football and rugby, and the children and young people have experienced positive holidays.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children and young people in achieving goals, which are celebrated. The children and young people are able to achieve positive rewards for their successes, which helps them to be motivated to achieve and develop skills in all areas of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have put in place communication tools to support the communication and participation of all the children and young people to have a voice in their care plan and day-to-day running of their home. They use different systems of signs, signals and pictures, objects of reference, and social stories which help the children and young people to express their emotions and make positive choices about menus, activities, the staff who look after them and their care plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and young people have journey journals which reflect their time, growth, development and the positive experiences that they have enjoyed at the home and in the wider community on their many adventures.

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

The home has robust risk assessments and behaviour management plans in place that the staff can implement to help meet the complex behavioural needs of the children and young people. At times, the children and young people can present with a high level of physical aggression and place themselves and others at risk of harm.

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

The staff have completed specialist training in removal of ligatures, attachment theories, autism spectrum disorders, medication administration and rescue medication to support them in being able to provide a safer environment for the children and young people. The staff work with the clinical psychologist and specialist nurse to ensure that they can complete complex medical procedures and have a clear understanding of the high levels of risk that one of the young people can place himself in.

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

When incidents happen, the manager has clear oversight and supports the staff and the children and young people to debrief. The manager will liaise with CAMHS and the clinical psychologist to review interventions and update risk assessments. This supports the staff in managing any changes or patterns in the children and young people’s behaviours. Inspection report children’s home: SC034441 5 The children and young people rarely go missing from the home. There is a high level of supervision in the home and in the community. When a young person is being supported to develop their independence, the staff implement this at a pace which is reflective of the child or young person’s development needs.

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

The staff use key-work sessions to support the children and young people to develop an understanding of their behaviours and how these could have an affect on them and others. They worked with one young person in partnership with the police and youth offending team concerning his behaviours, which could have led to him being criminalised. This work has helped the young person to reflect on, and improve, his behaviours. Previously, his behaviours had an effect on whether he could access activities which he is now participating in again positively.

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

The staff have access to regular training and supervision. They have regular team meetings, daily handovers and debriefs which are focused. The staff benefit from having monthly clinical supervision as group which supports them in understanding the behaviours of the children and young people, and helps them to use research to support their practice.

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

The home has imbedded a positive model of restorative practice. This enables the children and young people to work through any behaviours through key work or planned work. These sessions help children and young people to address any behaviours of concern or incidents. As a result, they begin to process and understand their actions and the effect these have on others, and put in place a restorative action plan which they can achieve.

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

The home has recently relocated back to its original base and the children and young people are now accessing their community with staff and independently. The location risk assessment must be updated alongside individual risks assessments to reflect changes which may have an effect on the safety and the vulnerabilities of the children, young people and staff in the community as the children and young people start to develop their independence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post for over two years and has a good understanding of the home. He is aspirational for the children and young people and for his staff and is responsive to any demands that the home presents. He successfully managed the home through two significant transitions, helping to minimise the impact on the children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is ambitious and is striving to lead his team to continue to develop and achieve high standards he sets for himself and the staff, which leads to positive outcomes for the children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides bespoke training for the staff and works with other agencies to ensure that the staff are able to use the skills and knowledge of professionals from Inspection report children’s home: SC034441 6 CAMHS, specialist nurses and clinical psychologists to support the development of their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides a structure of focused and reflective supervision for his staff, who said that they feel supported and able to access the support of all the management team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands the strengths of the home and the areas for development. He has a clear action plan to improve the service, develop his staff and improve the home environment for the children and young people. This will support them in further enriching their experiences in the home and the community.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager challenges other professionals and agencies to ensure that the children and young people’s care and pathway plans progress without drift and delay. When there are barriers, he is able to escalate actions through his service manager to ensure that provisions are in place to meet the children and young people’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that the matching of children and young people to the home is a robust process and admissions to the home are planned. Staff are proactive in ensuring that children and young people experience positive transitions from the home. Two young people have successfully transitioned from the home and maintain positive links with the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has supported his staff to access other environments, such as schools, to help the children and young people manage transitions to and from school and within school. He has also supported the staff to provide a high level of transportation to and from school when other agencies have failed to provide a consistent service required by children and young people.

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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: SC034441 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kirklees Metropolitan Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre 3, Huddersfield, Yorkshire HD1 2EY

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Inspector

Noel Cooper: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC034441 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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