Children's home run by Stockton on Tees Borough Council in Stockton-on-Tees

Inspection report children’s home: SC456710 1 SC456710 Registered provider: Stockton On Tees Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority. The home provides care for up to four children who may have social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is working towards the relevant leadership and management qualification. The manager is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 11 March 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account good

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement

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Overall experiences and progress of

Date of last inspection: 28 January 2020

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Overall experiences and progress of

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC456710 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/01/2020 Full Good 16/01/2019 Full Outstanding 08/01/2018 Full Outstanding 17/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC456710 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children make good progress in all areas of their lives. The staff know the children well. Their knowledge enables them to ensure that care is individualised. The staff spend quality time with the children, building strong and trusting relationships with them. As a result, the children feel a sense of value and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff invest in the children’s education. Consequently, the children’s confidence grows, and they make progress at school. All the children have educational placements and they have good attendance. For those who cannot access a full timetable at school, additional tutoring is in place in the home. Those leaving school have secured college placements. The children are all very proud of their achievements and have high aspirations for the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Good health is well promoted. The children learn how to stay physically fit and eat well. The staff help the children to attend routine health appointments. The children’s immediate and long-term health improves. For those children who need additional mental health support, the staff help them to attend specialist services and to understand how these sessions will support their development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children learn skills appropriate to their age that will support them to be as independent as possible in later life. The children learn how to cook, budget, clean and do their laundry.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff help the children to maintain contact with their families and friends. The positive contact with families helps the children to maintain a sense of identity. The staff support the children to safely rebuild and manage family relationships, so that they have an understanding of their past and appropriate support for their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s confidence and social skills improve. They enjoy a range of activities which help expand their life experiences, such as holidays to cities, trips to the seaside, cinema and football.

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

The children’s risks reduce. The children take part in work with the staff and engage in support from specialist services. The work they complete includes topics such as keeping safe in the community, the dangers of going missing from home, and online safety.

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

There have been no children going missing from home for three months. This is a significant reduction for some children who were regularly missing every week. When the children do go missing from home, the staff follow protocol and work closely with the police to find the children as quickly as possible. One professional Inspection report children’s home: SC456710 4 commented, ‘There has been a vast reduction in the child’s missing episodes. They have put so much work in, they have turned his life around. It’s amazing.’

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

The staff know the procedures to protect the children. The staff have recently completed a range of safeguarding courses and they are confident to report any concerns. When any safeguarding concerns arise, the managers and staff are quick to act and share information with appropriate services to keep the children safe.

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

The children learn how to manage their own feelings. They learn strategies to help them calm and manage their emotions. The staff use their relationships with the children to manage any challenges and there is no use of physical intervention.

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good

This home has been without a registered manager since January 2021. An acting manager has been in place since this time. There has been a delay in her submitting the application to register with Ofsted. A new proposed manager has now been employed and is submitting her application to Ofsted. The acting manager is supporting the proposed manager to promote consistency for the children and to offer leadership and guidance to the new manager. The two managers are working closely together daily, leading the staff team by example.

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good

The staff feel supported by their managers. One member of staff commented, ‘You can talk to them anytime, the door is always open.’ The staff receive regular and reflective supervision that enables them to look at the children’s needs and to look at their own practice and development.

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good

The manager’s monitoring of the service for children is effective. Monitoring systems help managers to identify any issues quickly and address them. The systems provide leaders and managers with good oversight. The oversight ensures that the children’s needs are met and that they continue to make progress. The quality of care review, however, does not include the opinions or views of children or professionals. This lack of consultation is a missed opportunity to further develop practice.

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good

The managers are keen to help the staff develop their skills to continue to improve the care for the children. The managers are providing training through team meetings, and ensuring that staff undertake formal training to improve their knowledge to better support the children.

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good

The children have access to the services and support that they need. The managers ensure that there are good communication links between schools, healthcare services, police and social workers. The strong links between agencies ensure that the children’s needs are met and that they receive the services they need. Inspection report children’s home: SC456710 5

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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 registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager in day-to-day charge of the home must apply to register with Ofsted without delay. 1 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (5)) 1 September 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC456710 6

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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: SC456710 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Stockton On Tees Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Municipal Buildings, Church Road, Stockton-on- Tees, Cleveland TS18 1LD

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Inspector

Jamie Richardson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC456710 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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