Children's home run by Kirklees Council in Kirklees

Inspection report children's home: SC033387 1 SC033387 Registered provider: Kirklees Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides residential short breaks and emergency support for children and young people aged up to 18 years old, who may have physical disabilities, learning disabilities and/or sensory impairments.

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Information about this children’s home

The local authority applied to vary the condition of registration to provide care and accommodation for up to two children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The variation was approved on 17 August 2021. Two children have been admitted to this home who required care and accommodation due to emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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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 carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on the 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 29 September 2020 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

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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: 11 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good Inspection report children's home: SC033387 2 Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/02/2020 Full Good 16/05/2018 Full Good 24/10/2017 Full Good 13/02/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC033387 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children enjoy their visits to the home, and they are very well supported by staff who know them well. The staff are child centred and committed to ensuring that children feel safe, settled and engaged in a fun-packed stay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are experienced in supporting disabled children. They know the individual needs of the children well and are fully aware of their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use a range of resources to assist communication that are child friendly. For example, Makaton and Picture Exchange Communication System are used to help children choose what activities they would like to do. This results in the children feeling empowered and able to express their views.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy lots of positive activities during their stays. The home environment is child centred and, as a result, the children are able to enjoy activities like arts and crafts, cycling, basketball, listening to music, soft play, sensory room and playing in the purpose-built garden. All of these activities enable the children to develop positive peer relationships and experience opportunities they may not be able to access with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff work effectively with schools, professionals and families to ensure that the holistic care needs of the children are being met. From admission, children and their families are consulted about their care plans. This ensures that staff are fully prepared and trained to meet the needs of children staying in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children have agreed targets for independence which are reviewed regularly. When children achieve their targets, their successes are celebrated and rewarded. This means that the children are supported to try new experiences. For example, children are more able to manage their own self-care, prepare and cook meals, and work towards travelling independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have regular children’s meetings, consultations and one-to-one sessions with staff during their stays. This clearly demonstrates that children’s views and opinions are valued and actively sought.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are very knowledgeable about the complex health needs of the children. Staff support children to have their health needs met effectively by working in partnership with specialist health professionals and families, and by developing their own knowledge base through specialist training. This increased knowledge helps to ensure that children receive the support that they need during their stays at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Professionals told the inspector that the service is ‘brilliant’ and that it provides a valuable service ‘for children and families’. Other comments include that the ‘staff Inspection report children's home: SC033387 4 work in partnership and share good practice’. This helps to ensure that children and their families can access support when they need it.

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

The home has had low levels of safeguarding incidents since the last inspection and has continued to improve practice to fully safeguard the children during their stay. This includes pre-admission checks with health professionals, social workers, families and schools. As a result of this improved practice, the children are better protected during their stays.

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

Staff visit children at home and at school before they are admitted to the home. Staff start to build trusting relationships with the children and their families, schools and other professionals at the point of referral to the service. This enables the staff to have good risk assessments in place prior to a child’s first stay. Children’s risk assessments and support plans are reviewed prior to each stay to help better protect the children.

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

The compatibility of children during their stay is considered very carefully. This enables the staff to support children to have stays alongside peers that they know from school or other environments. This helps to ensure that children are surrounded by familiar people and a consistent staff team during their stays. For example, one child was upset when their peer was not at the home, and staff reassured them and ensured they have had stays together since.

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

The staff are experienced, motivated and child focused. They are resilient and, together with the manager, they work to find resources to help keep children safe during their stays. Staff have worked effectively to safeguard one child who has been missing from care on several occasions. They have considered the child’s potential destinations and associates, searched the local area and followed the child’s risk assessment. As a result, missing-from-care episodes reduced significantly.

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

Risk assessments and support plans are regularly reviewed, they are clear and have good management oversight. This means that staff can respond promptly and effectively when the children are in crisis.

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

The staff complete specialist training in addition to mandatory training, which supports them in their roles and enables the staff to support the children to begin to manage their emotional and behavioural needs.

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

Physical intervention is only used when all other interventions have been exhausted and the welfare of the children and staff are at risk. There have been no physical interventions for seven months. The staff use their knowledge, experience and understanding of the children’s behaviours to enable them to provide a safe home environment for the children during their stays. Inspection report children's home: SC033387 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager of the home has a clear vision for the service, children, their families and his staff. He exhibits good leadership qualities for his staff team. He encourages his staff to be creative and reflective in their practice. This helps to improve the quality of the care the children receive during their stays.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides the staff with bespoke training and personal development opportunities. He also uses monthly supervision, appraisals handovers and team meetings as areas to improve the knowledge and experience of the staff. This means that staff have a pathway to progress, and it ensures good staff retention and that children receive good care and attention.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good oversight of the home. He ensures that care plans are updated routinely by his deputies and seniors. He uses the whole staff team to help ensure that care plans are good and reflect the evolving care needs of each child. All the children have development targets in their care plans, and these are supported by one-to-one sessions with the children. This means that the children are able to enjoy positive experiences and develop good levels of independence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that his staff work effectively in partnership with all agencies. He provides opportunities for staff to attend care planning, health and educational meetings to enrich their experience and understanding of other professional roles. This enables the staff to contribute to children’s plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager actively challenges senior managers and other professionals to help improve the service and to ensure children who have high-level and complex needs can continue to access the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals said that the manager and the staff team are experienced in their field. They communicate well and share good practice with other agencies to improve the care and support provided to the children and their families. Inspection report children's home: SC033387 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: SC033387 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kirklees Metropolitan Council, Civic Centre 3, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, HD1 2EY

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Inspector

Noel Cooper, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC033387 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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