Children's Home run by Right-Trak Limited in Newcastle upon Tyne

Inspection report children's home: SC394909 1 SC394909 Registered provider: Right-Trak 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 and managed by an independent provider. The home provides care and accommodation for up to four children who have social and emotional difficulties. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since March 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, 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: 17 December 2019

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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: SC394909 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/12/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/06/2019 Full Good 17/01/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/08/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: SC394909 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are settled and relaxed. They have positive and trusting relationships with the adults in the home. This supportive and nurturing environment is helping children to feel safe and make progress in all areas of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a positive experience of moving in and out of the home. They are embraced emotionally when they arrive by staff who take time to get to know them. Transitions are well-planned to support children to settle. Children who move on to independence equally receive good-quality support. This encourages and enhances relationships. This is especially true with children keeping in touch when they move on to independent living. This support helps children to develop emotional resilience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to attend their educational provision, be it school or college. Staff have high aspirations for children and support them to prepare for employment. This includes helping children prepare for interviews. This helps children to develop confidence, independence skills and improve their self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff engage as a team in regular therapeutic consultations with the provider’s own clinical psychologist. This supports the staff to help children with complex emotional behaviours. During the COVID-19 pandemic and times of restrictions, this has continued ‘virtually’ via technology. This enables the staff to reflect on practice, and to assess the strategies used to protect children. This is a highly valued area of support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s general health needs are met, and access to services is supported by staff. In times of crisis the staff understand their roles and support the children to attend specialist health services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are developing independence skills with relevance to their age and understanding. The use of a small budget enables the children to go shopping and prepare for a weekly shop under supervision. These small steps improve children’s confidence and are developing useful social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop friendships in and out of the home environment. As a result, children spend time going to the cinema, enjoying a range of activities and pursuing their sporting interests.

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

Risk assessments identify individual risks to the children, and risk management plans are in place to support the staff to manage risks effectively. They are also subject to regular review to ensure effectiveness. Staff know the identified risks, follow the risk management plans and use strategies to reduce risk. As a result, the children are better protected. Inspection report children's home: SC394909 4 There have been incidents of physical intervention. Staff use different strategies to support children in crisis and record the incidents in a timely manner. The management team reviews and signs off the records. However, on occasions, the debrief and sign-off are not completed by an independent person.

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

Staff use incentives to promote good behaviours rather than sanction poor behaviours. Sanctions are restorative in nature and appropriate. Children can earn extra monies if they meet their agreed incentives, which has proven to be beneficial as the number of sanctions is low. This shows that the children respond well to the behavioural management practice within the home and model good behaviours.

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

Staff have received training relevant to the needs of the children. This includes training in information-sharing, dealing with substance misuse and to help the staff understand self-harm behaviours. Staff use their knowledge to provide individualised care for children.

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

Children like living in the home and they speak warmly about the staff and management team. Staff support the children to take age-appropriate risks, and permissions are in place for some children to spend a longer time outside of the home. Since the last inspection, there has only been one isolated missing-from- home episode for a child who has now moved on to independence.

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

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) is used in the home outside of the office. However, the use of this surveillance in the communal area is not necessary as the children are not at immediate risk of going missing from the home. This means that the children’s privacy is not respected in all areas of their home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is passionate about her role and leads by example. She is appropriately qualified and is supported by a deputy manager. They show a strong commitment to improving the outcomes for the children in their care. The staff team responds in this positive working environment by providing good-quality care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is both visible to the staff and the children. The relationships that she has with both are based on respect, trust and nurture. During the inspection, this was emphasised by her positive and warm communication with the children and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision offers opportunities for reflection on practice and personal development. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the regularity of supervision has not been as frequent as expected. In particular, the new members of staff have not received a higher level of formal supervision. Potentially, this is a missed opportunity for them to review and reflect on their practice provided to children. Inspection report children's home: SC394909 5 The manager maintains a professional and quality overview of the children’s records. The systems that she has in place to audit and monitor are thorough and enhanced by staff who know their responsibilities. Children’s progress and experiences are clearly recorded and are shared with relevant professionals. Children’s social workers can view these directly via the electronic recording system. The staff are creative in working with children and provide child-friendly copies of individual parts of their

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

care plans. This helps children to feel involved and listened to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and her staff have positive relationships with professionals. The quality of communication and care provided to children was expressed by a worker as being ‘exceptional’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The physical environment of the home feels and looks like a family home. There is visual artwork on display, created by the children, and wall charts that highlight seasonal celebrations and the promotion of children’s well-being. However, the home is looking tired cosmetically, and there are several repairs to be completed. This does not encourage children to have high aspirations for their future living environment. Inspection report children's home: SC394909 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1) (a)(b) (2)(b)(vii)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the overall appearance of the interior decoration and individual items of furnishing being updated and replaced. 29 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance; 29 October 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC394909 7 so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to the removal of the CCTV monitoring and surveillance camera covering the space outside of the internal office door and the fitting of an appropriate sign for the public in respect of the camera that captures the pathway leading to the front door.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any person involved in a physical intervention with a child is not directly involved with any debrief following the incident. This provides children with opportunities to speak to an independent adult following physical interventions. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should ensure that the staff receive regular supervision of their practice. In particular, the increased levels of supervision and support for inexperienced staff should be clearly recorded and implemented. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: SC394909 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Winovation, Houghton’s Yard, Shields Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 2YP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Melanie Spriddell

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Inspectors

Michael Dack, Social Care Inspector Cherie Chen, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC394909 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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