Children's home run by Inspirations Leicestershire Limited

Inspection report children's home: SC437825 1 SC437825 Registered provider: Inspirations Leicestershire Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private provider. The home can provide care for up to three children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is registered with Ofsted and is suitably experienced.

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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 26 October 2020 to carry out an assurance 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

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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 good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 14 January 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children's home: SC437825 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/01/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/08/2018 Full Outstanding 02/08/2017 Full Outstanding 08/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC437825 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like living at this home. They have positive experiences and make good progress in many aspects of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to achieve educationally. For some, progress is significant. For example, one child, who was not engaged in any education when they were admitted to the home, now attends school full time and has developed aspirations for the future. Another child is being supported well to make the difficult transition from primary to secondary school. Staff celebrate educational achievements. This provides children with a sense of pride. Staff recently organised a party for a child in recognition of their exam success.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children well in respect of their physical and emotional health. Children attend all routine health appointments and engage with specialist support services to meet their needs. A psychologist has been commissioned to help some of the children work through specific issues, relating to their traumatic past experiences, with the aim of improving their sense of identity and emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children participate in a wide range of exciting activities, both individually and with their peers. Children have fun. Staff encourage them to try new activities and praise them highly for their achievements. As a result, children lead active lifestyles, develop socially and their self-esteem improves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop important life skills while living in this home. Children themselves have recently developed house rules, and they take it in turns to take on the responsibility of being the home’s ‘cleaning marshal’. As well as developing life skills, this is helping them to invest in their home environment and take pride in it.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Although there has been some significant staff turnover in the home in recent months, observations of the current staff team are that they are caring, committed and supportive. One child commented that he likes the fact that staff do activities with them and have fun with them, rather than being bystanders. For some children however, the turnover of staff has been very difficult for them. They felt upset when people they have built relationships with left. This has had some impact on their sense of stability and security.

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

Children report that they feel safe living in this home because of the care they receive from the staff team. One child said: ‘It feels 100% safe here. The staff just being there really helps me.’

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

Children are helped and protected because of the detailed and regularly updated risk assessments being implemented by staff. Additionally, staff engage children in Inspection report children's home: SC437825 4 individual direct-work sessions in response to issues that arise. For some children this has helped reduce risk-taking behaviour such as threats to self-harm.

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

There have been no incidents of children going missing from this home. This is because staff diligently follow children’s individual missing protocols. If a child leaves the home without permission, staff follow them, talk to them and successfully encourage them to return home.

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

Positive and proactive behaviour-support strategies are helping children to reflect on what they find challenging and to explore different ways of regulating their behaviours. These strategies include the implementation of therapeutic parenting techniques. One child reported that, because of the support they have received from staff, they have learnt to calm themselves when feeling overwhelmed.

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

Physical intervention is only used as a last resort when a child or member of staff is at risk of harm and when all de-escalation techniques have failed. All physical interventions are thoroughly recorded and analysed by the registered manager, operations manager and training manager, to ensure practice in this area remains effective.

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

Close supervision by staff is helping to protect children from internet related risks. One child has the role of ‘online champion’. This child has developed a PowerPoint presentation. This has been disseminated within this and other children’s homes, to help educate children in respect of the risks associated with social media.

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

Managers and staff understand what procedures to follow should a child make an allegation against a member of staff. However, on one occasion following an allegation being made, gaps in recording made it unclear as to whether the immediate actions taken were sufficient to immediately safeguard the child. Fortunately, this was a recording issue and did not have an impact on the immediate safety of the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The committed, highly organised registered manager knows the children well and has high aspirations for them. She is held in high regard by staff, parents and professionals alike.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a sound understanding of the home’s strengths and what the areas for development are. Securing and retaining a consistent, highly skilled staff team is her absolute priority, in recognition of the importance of children being able to develop trusting, positive relationships to help them reach their full potential. This remains work in progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive a range of training in order to develop their skills. This, as well as effective team meetings, clinical guidance from the commissioned psychologist, debriefs following any incident and regular reflective supervision are helping to ensure that children’s needs are appropriately met. Inspection report children's home: SC437825 5 Partnership working in the home is strong. Feedback, obtained during the inspection, was unanimously positive about the quality and frequency of communication between the manager and staff, parents and partner professionals. The manager is not afraid to challenge partners so that children receive the help and support they need and deserve. For example, the manager’s persistence in pursuing an education, health and care plan was successful for one child. It resulted in an improved bespoke package of education being developed for them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Quality assurance monitoring, both internally and externally, has significantly improved since the last assurance visit. Monthly audits, undertaken by the manager, and an analysis of practice following any incident, allegation or complaint, mean that strengths and areas for development are understood and acted upon. This and the managers plans for development of the home demonstrate that this is a service committed to continual improvements. Inspection report children's home: SC437825 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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to their full 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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(e)) 8 October 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse and neglect; and

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Requirement Due date

sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect.

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Requirement Due date

The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular—

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Requirement Due date

provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response. (Regulation 34 (1)(a)(b) (2)(d)) 8 October 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC437825 7

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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: SC437825 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspirations Leicestershire Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 131a London Road, Oadby, Leicester LE2 5DP

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Inspector

Rachel Griffiths, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC437825 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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