Children's Home run by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council in Rotherham

Inspection report children’s home: 2597567 1 Registered provider: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered in July 2020 and is owned by a local authority. It provides care and accommodation for up to four children with social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is registered with Ofsted and is also the manager of another home within the local authority.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, Ofsted suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

The home received an assurance visit from Ofsted on 2 and 3 December 2020. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2597567 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2597567 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in most areas of their lives. Since coming to live in this home they have developed their social and independence skills, and are becoming more able to manage their feelings and emotions. One child has had a successful move to live with a foster family as a result of the progress they made at this home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the importance of children seeing their families and others who are important to them, and make sure that this happens. Children say that they see their family and friends regularly and use technology to see and speak to them when they want to. This helps to ensure that children’s essential relationships and support networks are well maintained.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle. They benefit from attending routine health check-ups. The staff have access to therapeutic services to assist them in promoting children’s emotional well-being and mental health. Initially, the COVID-19 pandemic did have an impact on the access to this support and guidance. However, more regular collaborative working is now taking place. This is helping to further improve the health of the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s learning is well promoted. They routinely attend school and other education placements. Consequently, they are making good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children participate in and enjoy a variety of social and leisure activities, such as rock climbing, playing football and baking. Children are encouraged to have appropriate friendships and they enjoy seeing their peers on a regular basis. This promotes children’s social development and extends positive childhood experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff actively listen to the children’s views through regular consultation that is of great benefit to the children. This means that they have a say in the way they are cared for. Consultation happens through the children being involved in their own children’s meetings, and through daily discussions and key-work sessions. This demonstrates that the staff act on the children’s views, opinions and suggestions.

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

The children benefit from the strong and trusting relationships that they have built with staff. This provides them with a firm foundation from which to achieve and do well.

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

Staff are clear on the care, vulnerabilities and identified risks for each child. Written risk assessments provide specific strategies and guidance on how the staff should support individual children. These records are up to date and support the continuity of care provided for the children. This helps to better protect the children. Inspection report children’s home: 2597567 4 A positive, restorative approach and the use of sensory calming equipment help children to self-regulate and manage their emotions better. This reduces the number of episodes in which children present challenging behaviour. Children are physically held, only to keep them safe, but such measures have rarely been used. There have been no episodes of children going missing.

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

Staff have discussions with children in order to help them understand how to keep safe. A child told the inspector, ‘I do feel safe here and staff always come to bring me home when I go to see my friends.’

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good

Since the home was registered in July 2020, several staff have left their positions. Following a recruitment drive, some of the staff vacancies have now been filled, which means that progress is being made towards rebuilding a stable staff team. However, the turnover of staff has had an impact on staff morale and, on occasion, has affected the continuity of care for children. The registered manager and senior leadership team have acknowledged this, and have taken action to address this matter. Current staff say that staff morale is ‘good’ or ‘improving’.

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good

Overall, the staff work positively with other agencies and professionals, which includes staff keeping in regular contact by telephone, attending meetings and supplying written reports. However, this is not consistently good, and professionals commented that relevant information is not always passed on to all staff. On occasion, this has meant that not all of the agreed approaches and actions have been followed to support the continuity of care for children.

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good

The staff rota includes details of the staff working in the home. The manager indicated that he is currently working at the home two days a week, and when required he is in contact by phone and through face-to-face conversations over the internet. There is also an on-call manager system for the staff to access if needed. However, the registered manager’s working times are not recorded on the home’s staff rota. This means that there is no clear evidence of the time that the manager spends at the home, to demonstrate that he has sufficient oversight of the care delivered to the children and the support provided for the staff.

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good

Action has been taken to address the requirements and recommendations made at the assurance visit in December 2020. This includes the ethos of the home being more clearly established in line with the statement of purpose. Staff are routinely receiving formal supervision. They demonstrate an awareness of safeguarding procedures. Careful consideration is given to the matching of children who are admitted to the home, which ensures that the needs of an individual child can be met along with the needs of the children already living at the home.

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good

The home’s environment is personalised and reflects the interests of the children. Homely touches, including photographs, soft furnishings and pictures, make this Inspection report children’s home: 2597567 5 house a home. This provides a relaxed, comfortable and well-maintained home for children to live in.

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good

Children’s records are kept up to date. The terminology and language in these records are suitable.

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good

Staff daily shift handovers and regular staff meetings are starting to make a difference in supporting good communication in the team and maintaining the delivery of good-quality care.

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good

The home’s internal and external monitoring systems are improving. For example, case-file audits take place regularly and practice matters are identified and addressed. However, shortfalls have been found. These include shortfalls in the fire safety records. Not all casual and agency staff are recorded as having been instructed in the fire procedures, and/or having taken part in a fire drill. This means that not all staff know what action to take in the event of a fire. Inspection report children’s home: 2597567 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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—

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph(1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff are supported to work as one team. Make sure that attention is given to staff retention in order to maintain continuity of care for children. Vacancies should be filled without delay. Continue to build on the auditing and quality assurance systems. Record the manager’s time working at the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(b) (2)(b)(c)(d)(e)(h)) 28 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

make arrangements for persons working at the home to receive suitable training in fire prevention; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure by means of fire drills and practice at suitable intervals that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedures to be followed in case of fire. 9 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2597567 7 In particular, ensure that all staff who work at the home are shown and/or undertake fire practice or a drill, including casual and agency staff. (Regulation 25 (1)(c)(d))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should have a key role in seeking to develop the home’s effective working relationships with each child’s placing authority and with other relevant persons. These working relationships will also be key to success in delivering the care planning standard (regulation 14). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3) In particular, ensure that information and updates are shared with all staff members to support continuity of care for children and consistent collaborative working with all other agencies and professionals.

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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: 2597567 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council,

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Riverside House, Main Street, Rotherham S60 1AE

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Inspector

Debbie Foster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2597567 9 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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