Children's home run by Unity Residential Care Services Limited in Newcastle-under-Lyme

Inspection report children’s home: SC412385 1 SC412385 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

A private provider operates this home. The home provides care and accommodation for up to three children and young people who have experienced childhood instability, resulting in trauma and associated complex behaviours.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in October 2014.

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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 outstanding

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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 November 2018

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC412385 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/11/2018 Full Good 20/02/2018 Full Good 07/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/11/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC412385 3

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outstanding

Children who have previously experienced disrupted placements quickly build strong relationships with staff and begin to trust them. This enables children to have stability in their lives. Consequently, they start to blossom physically, emotionally and educationally.

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outstanding

Internal care planning processes are flexible, and centre around each child’s identified needs. Staff deliver bespoke care packages. These reflect the longer-term objectives of the local authority, and children’s individual aims. Children set their own goals and targets during one-to-one sessions with staff. Staff use pictures and age-appropriate charts to create visual examples of children’s progress. Consequently, children are better able to recognise and acknowledge the progress that they make.

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outstanding

Staff prioritise children’s education. This tailored support enables children who have had difficulties in attending school in the past to begin to make excellent progress in their learning. For example, one child was recognised by their school for achieving 100% attendance. Another child has been selected by his teachers to go on a skiing trip. This encouragement enables children to see school as a positive feature in their lives.

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outstanding

Staff support children to live a healthy lifestyle. Children enjoy physical and sporting activities, and staff encourage them to eat a healthy diet. Staff work very effectively with physical and mental health practitioners. Staff base their practice on a secure attachment model and personalise children’s care accordingly. For example, routines in the home are led by children’s needs for attention at certain times of the day, such as when they return from school and bedtime, rather than the need for staff to complete records and paperwork. This means that children realise that they are the focus.

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outstanding

Staff provide children with the practical and emotional support that they need to develop and maintain positive relationships with their families. When appropriate, staff encourage children to make regular telephone calls, and they facilitate visits. This means that children are not isolated from their families. Staff work very well with parents and have worked with them to ensure that the time that children spend with their families is meaningful.

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outstanding

The individual work that staff carry out with children is excellent. Work is informed by children’s individual plans, and staff use their professional curiosity to help them to understand children’s individual circumstances and how to keep each child safe. In addition, staff consult academic research to help to inform their practice. For example, one child struggled to settle at night and staff used research around settling routines and trauma to develop a personalised plan. As a result of this, the child now feels safe and settles to sleep at night. Inspection report children’s home: SC412385 4 Staff maintain high-quality records. They use a range of recording tools to ensure that positive memories are captured. These include keeping diaries, photo albums and memory boxes for each child. Consequently, children have beautiful keepsakes of their times at the home.

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outstanding

The home environment is safe and very well maintained. Staff regularly carry out health and safety checks, and quickly report any concerns. This creates a warm, welcoming and comfortable home for children. The home is decorated with photographs of children undertaking fun activities with staff.

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

Children are happy and feel safe living in the home. Children who have previously displayed extremely complex and challenging behaviour engage positively with staff. They understand (and are accepting of) the boundaries that are placed around them to keep them safe. This contributes to a feeling of well-being and security for children.

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

Staff understand that when children display challenging behaviours, these are symptomatic of children’s frustrations, anxieties and previous experiences. Staff are extremely skilled in looking beyond the immediate situation to identify specific risk factors and antecedents that may result in children harming themselves or others. This diligent approach helps staff to devise highly effective risk assessments and behaviour management plans. These highlight children’s individual risks and provide all staff with detailed strategies. Consequently, staff manage risks exceptionally well. This promotes children’s safety and protects them from harm.

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

The close and trusting relationships between staff and children allow children to share their worries and concerns. These relationships help children to feel safe and reduce their risk-taking behaviours. However, staff have not received specific training about substance misuse. This could be relevant to one child. However, this shortfall has not had a detrimental impact because of the close, supportive relationships that the child has with staff.

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

All staff complete training in the use of physical restraint and de-escalation techniques. They only use physical restraint to prevent children from hurting themselves or others. Records of these incidents are extremely detailed and reflective. Staff make sure that they consistently seek children’s comments and feedback, and use these thoughts to review behaviour plans and risk assessments. The registered manager takes responsibility for monitoring all incidents of restraint. She is supported by a skilled deputy manager who analyses the records to identify any patterns or trends that may indicate a change in children’s emotional stability, anxieties or frustrations. As a direct consequence of the manager’s close monitoring and analytical scrutiny of incidents, both the frequency and duration of physical restraints have reduced. Inspection report children’s home: SC412385 5 The registered manager has taken action to address the one recommendation raised

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

at the last inspection. Staff rotas have now been amended to ensure that there is more time for an effective handover between staff. This has improved staff communication.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

An experienced, knowledgeable, skilled and committed manager is in day-to-day charge of the home. She registered with Ofsted and holds the relevant social care and management qualifications.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children make excellent and sustainable progress because the registered manager prioritises their needs. She makes sure that children’s needs are central to the routines in the home, and continually promotes this ethos with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager’s meticulous monitoring of the home is a significant strength. She uses different tools to gather and evaluate information relating to all aspects of children’s behaviour, emotional development, learning and physical needs. This information is considered alongside an evaluation of staff actions, knowledge and skills. Consequently, the registered manager understands the impact that the service has on children and how this supports their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff are very positive about the support that they receive from the registered manager. Supervision sessions are regular and of high quality. They help staff to generate ideas and reflect on their practice. New staff are appropriately vetted and are supported through a clear, effective induction process. This ensures that children receive high-quality care from adults who are safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

A key strength of the registered manager is the relationships that she develops with other professionals. This close partnership working ensures that children make and sustain progress. All professionals speak highly of the staff and managers and how they help children to achieve better outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager advocates strongly on behalf of the children in her care and constructively challenges services when she considers that they are not meeting children’s needs. Children benefit from having a registered manager who constantly strives to improve their lives. Inspection report children’s home: SC412385 6

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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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13(1)(b)(2)(c)) 30/04/2020

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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: SC412385 7

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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

Annemarie Parker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC412385 8 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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