Children's Home run by Nurture Childcare Services Ltd in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: 2511614 1 Registered provider: Nurture Childcare Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private provider. It is registered to care for three children who are unable to live at home due to emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2019.

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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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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2511614 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/07/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 2511614 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children living in this home make good progress. For example, bespoke educational timetables are implemented for children who are not in school full time. This has supported children with their education, helped them to develop confidence and, for some children, enabled them to undertake their GCSEs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is decorated to a high standard with good-quality soft furnishings, which makes it a nice place for children to live. Children say that staff care about them and that they feel listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make very good progress in developing independence skills and taking responsibility for decisions that they make. Children are also involved in decisions about their care. For example, a child requested a change of key person. As a result, the manager ensured that the child’s request was granted.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who move in and out of the home do so in a planned way, which means that children experience positive beginnings and endings. However, the needs of one child, who has recently moved into the home, were not within the range of needs set out in the home’s statement of purpose. Consequently, staff are not equipped with the skills and experience to meet the needs of this child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A child who recently left the home telephoned the manager while the inspector was present. The child had called to invite the manager to a personal celebration, which demonstrates that positive relationships between staff and children are secure and well established.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff plan and arrange for children to see their families in line with their current care plans. Staff promote children’s physical and emotional needs by undertaking meaningful direct work, which helps children to learn.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children know how to complain. However, a child with additional needs was not provided with a suitable children’s guide for him to be able to understand how to complain.

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

Staff help children to recognise risk and how to stay safe. They understand the need for children to become independent and to take appropriate risks. They help children to manage their behaviours and regulate their responses.

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

Staff provide the children with a safe place to live. They have a good understanding of the children’s needs and use well-written and clear risk assessments that support children’s safety inside and outside the home Inspection report children’s home: 2511614 4 Children rarely go missing from the home. If this does happen, staff are proactive in their responses. They follow each child’s missing-from-home protocol and report to all relevant agencies in a timely manner.

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

Staff and managers undertake training in safeguarding matters. This ensures that they have some basic knowledge of safeguarding practice.

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

Staff use key-work sessions effectively to help children understand how to keep themselves safe. The staff demonstrate a good understanding of the risks that children take and why. This leads to empathetic, balanced and sincere responses from staff, which results in children learning from their experiences.

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good

The manager is well established in her role. She has a passion to improve outcomes for children. The manager has a warm and nurturing approach, which has helped to develop a culture that is characterised by high hopes for children.

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good

Staff say that they feel supported in their roles. Supervision takes place regularly and is reflective in nature. There is a low turnover of staff. Therefore, children receive consistent care.

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good

Communication is a key strength of the manager. Regular team meetings are held, which are informative and provide opportunities for staff to reflect and develop.

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good

Poor decision-making around one child moving into the home resulted in the child being cared for by staff without the necessary skills and experience to meet his needs.

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good

However, all staff are appropriately qualified. This means that children receive support from suitably qualified staff.

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good

The manager uses learning from complaints to reflect on practice and improve standards for children.

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good

External feedback is positive. This evidences that the manager and staff work effectively with professionals. Inspection report children’s home: 2511614 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 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

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(f)(g)(i)) 3 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. 3 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2511614 6 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should specifically ensure that each child’s missing-from- care protocol is clear for staff to follow in the event a child is missing from the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. The registered person should ensure that staff receive training that is aligned to children’s specific needs. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: 2511614 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Nurture Childcare Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 71 Edge End Lane, Great Harwood, Blackburn BB6 7QD

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Inspector

Rachel Springford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2511614 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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