Children's Home run by Inspirations Leicestershire Limited in Leicestershire

Inspection report children's home: 2504494 1 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 provides care for up to three children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. There is currently no registered manager.

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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 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: 24 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2504494 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/07/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: 2504494 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience nurturing care, with structured routines and appropriate boundaries.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children build and maintain positive relationships with staff even though there have been some changes within the staff team. Staff and managers have prepared children for changes and consulted with them, taking their views and feelings into account. This has reduced children’s anxieties about changes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There have been improvements in the décor and furnishings in the home and improvements in the garden. Children have been involved in choosing the décor and they are proud of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress from their starting points. There is participation in education. The older children are doing well in their courses and have good options in place for training and employment for next term. Staff are having contact with relevant education resources during the school holidays to ensure plans are in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Progress in education is supported by good communication and information-sharing arrangements between staff and key contacts in schools and colleges. For one child, communication between school and the home takes place daily. It is effective and provides an essential assessment of this child’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The culture of the team is to provide praise, celebrate achievements and reinforce positive behaviours and progress. This is evident in the way staff speak to children, and in children’s records. This enhances children’s confidence and self-esteem, and is particularly effective in motivating children to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of individual work with children is improved. There is a clear purpose for each session, staff are using age-appropriate and ability-appropriate resources, and the impact of the work is evaluated. This means that where there are emerging concerns about behaviours or when children require additional support, staff respond and work with children in a purposeful way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are identified. Staff ensure that children are attending appointments with health services. Consequently, children’s health needs are met and their health improves. There has been one incident in respect of the administering of medication, but this incident did not impact on a child. As a result of this, protocols were revisited and improved, and staff received refresher training.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has complex health and emotional well-being needs. Managers and staff are working closely with the professional network to meet those needs. Currently this child does not have an up-to-date specialist assessment of their needs to inform care planning. Inspection report children's home: 2504494 4 Children are being supported to develop life and independence skills. They are doing their own laundry, cooking meals and developing budgeting skills. Some children have been able to take responsibility for their own medication. Children have the opportunity to build confidence to manage responsibilities in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff listen to children’s views about small changes and opportunities in the home, as well as bigger, important decisions. Children’s meetings are well recorded, and their requests are tracked to ensure that they always receive a response and an explanation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has become the e-safety champion in the home. They have developed an information leaflet about the use of social media sites and have given a presentation to children and staff. This demonstrates children’s inclusion in developments in the home and children’s confidence in their knowledge and skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There has been one complaint from a child. This was investigated and responded to by the home’s manager. This resulted in some changes to the way that laundry processes are managed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to pursue hobbies and interests and are provided with opportunities to take part in a range of extra-curricular activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All three children enjoy and participate in social activities together with staff, despite their age differences. Staff encourage positive relationships between peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children maintaining relationships with family and they proactively promote and facilitate visits with family. Children are able to have overnight visits, where these have been assessed and agreed with the placing local authority.

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

There have been a small number of safeguarding incidents since the assurance visit in October 2020. All incidents are reviewed by the home’s manager and the operations manager.

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

This increased monitoring of safeguarding and behavioural incidents has resulted in improved, consistent recording, as well as learning for the team. Following every incident, children’s views are sought. If there is an occasion when a child does not want to talk about the incident, this is revisited, or an explanation is recorded. A reflective discussion also takes place with staff to consider what led to the incident and what could have been done differently. Consequently, strategies to support children are reviewed and amended based on children’s views and/or learning about what works with particular children.

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

Detailed up-to-date risk and behaviour management plans provide a measure of the concern and useful guidance for staff. Inspection report children's home: 2504494 5 For some children, risks have significantly reduced from their starting points. Staff support children to learn and develop confidence in keeping themselves safe.

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

Where a child has complex needs and there are new behaviours, staff are conscientious in monitoring these new behaviours. Staff maintain chronologies of concerns to inform continuous assessment.

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

Staff work closely with a therapeutic team, in addition to professionals involved in each child’s network, to inform effective responses to children’s behaviours and needs. The therapeutic team has provided training and information-sharing sessions in team meetings to enhance staff skills and knowledge. This has been particularly useful in identifying the best methods of communication for each child.

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

Staff have improved the range of child-friendly records and ability-appropriate records so that staff can share and use records in their work with children. This supports children to understand what staff are worried about and how they can reduce risk.

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

Some children have raised concerns about the impact of other children’s behaviours and how it affects the home environment and their experiences of living in the home. Managers are giving consideration to how best to address these concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been change in the staff team and managers. Senior managers have recognised the impact of change for children and staff, and have put systems and resources in place to support stability and oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager is in the process of applying to become registered. She is experienced, enthusiastic and child-centred. Her focus is on building staff skills and confidence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff induction has been enhanced and training has been delivered online and face to face. Staff receive regular supervision; it is recorded and identifies targets for development. Targets are child-centred and achievable.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of supervision is audited by the operations manager and the findings are shared with the home’s manager. Staff say that they feel supported and that they have opportunities for training and development which they find helpful in meeting their responsibilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are improved mechanisms to seek and evaluate the views of professionals, family, staff and children within the home. Professionals and family are positive about the care children are receiving and the progress they are making. Communication is good, as is the quality of reports staff produce. Visitors to the home comment that the atmosphere in the home is caring and nurturing. Inspection report children's home: 2504494 6 The manager is improving partnership working. Local police have visited the home and shared information about initiatives for children during the school holidays.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring of the home is effective and is making a difference to the quality of care and practice in the home. Management monitoring has identified the need for planning for challenges and learning from incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are robust, safe recruitment processes in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has provided opportunities for staff development, for example one member of staff has delivered presentations regarding children’s needs in team meetings. In children’s meetings, staff discuss festivals and events to raise awareness of equality and diversity. Another member of staff has responsibility for consulting with children about the decor at the home, and improvements have been made both in the home and in the garden. Inspection report children's home: 2504494 7

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Recommendations

The registered person should ensure that staff work with a child’s placing authority to enable proper and immediate access to any specialist medical, psychological, or psychiatric support required. This is with reference to ensuring there is a specialist assessment of a child’s specific health and well-being needs. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 34 paragraph 7.10)

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Recommendations

The registered person should ensure that the design of the home includes any necessary adaptation to meet the needs of children with specific health issues. This is with reference to ensuring that facilities in the home, and the design of the home environment, mitigate the impact of some children’s health conditions. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 17 paragraph 3.24)

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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: 2504494 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

Cathey Moriarty, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2504494 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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