Children's home run by Shropshire Council

Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 2584908 1

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Shropshire Council

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered in October 2020 for two young people who have social and/or emotional difficulties. At the time of this monitoring visit, one young person was living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has a level 5 diploma in leadership and management.

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This monitoring visit

This is the home’s first visit since registration. This visit was carried out to enable the regulator to make an initial assessment of young people’s lived experience at the home.

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This monitoring visit

Due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, Ofsted did not carry out a physical visit to the home. The inspector gathered evidence in several different ways, including talking to the manager and the staff, and asking them to provide electronic documents for the inspector to review.

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This monitoring visit

One young person has lived in the home since 20 October 2020. Managers ensured that the young person had a well-planned move into the home. This included staff receiving good-quality training before the young person moved in. Staff talked knowledgeably about how their training has enabled them to meet the young person’s needs and keep him safe.

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This monitoring visit

The manager has worked hard to make the home a warm and welcoming environment for the young person to live in. Staff have helped the young person to personalise the home by creating a music room and by putting gym equipment in the garage which the young person uses with staff support. This has helped the young person to continue with his hobbies and interests during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 2584908 2 Managers and staff respond swiftly to emerging risks and follow agreed processes. For example, when the young person goes missing from the home, staff follow well- established protocols which are agreed with the local police. Staff welcome the young person when he returns home, and ensure that he is given an opportunity to talk with an independent person. As a result, the young person is beginning to recognise that people really care about him.

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This monitoring visit

Managers and staff take their duty to safeguard the young person extremely seriously. Managers work closely with social workers and the local police, and attend multi-agency risk management meetings. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, managers have ensured that there is good communication with other agencies, to maintain a joined-up approach in meeting the young person’s needs. However, despite all the efforts of staff and managers, there have been a few incidents where the young person has been at risk. Sometimes, staff have forgotten to revise the level of risk in the young person’s risk assessment plan after an incident has occurred, including adding relevant information from return interviews. This omission means that the record of how to manage the young person’s risks becomes compromised.

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This monitoring visit

Staff celebrate special events with the young person, such as his birthday and Christmas day. Staff take photographs to capture these happy times and have created a memory book for the young person to keep.

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This monitoring visit

Feedback from professionals working with staff and managers at the home is extremely positive. An independent reviewing officer told the inspector that staff are aspirational for the young person and there is a culture of positivity in the home.

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This monitoring visit

Staff support the young person to follow a bespoke educational timetable that meets his needs. This includes supporting the young person to attend vocational work on a farm as well as classroom learning with a tutor, as part of a creative programme of education. This has enabled the young person to make significant progress from his starting point.

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This monitoring visit

The young person has been supported to attend health appointments, and consequently his health needs have been met. When necessary, bespoke support has been sought.

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This monitoring visit

Staff have not yet given enough thought to how they will help the young person to prepare for his future. This creates a missed opportunity to help him to build up his independence skills so that he has the chance to reach his full potential. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 2584908 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

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)) This relates to ensuring that a revision is made to the level of risk in the young person’s risk assessment plan after an incident has occurred, including adding relevant information from return interviews. 21 February 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home will have a day-to-day understanding of young people’s capabilities and needs, children’s homes staff will have a valuable contribution to make to the pathway planning process. They should actively seek to make the fullest contribution, working with other relevant persons. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.28) This relates to managers working with the social worker and the young person to set out a plan to assess and then support the young person’s independence skills.

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 2584908 4

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY2 6ND

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Inspector

Karen Gillingwater, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 2584908 5 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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