Children's home run by Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council in Walsall

Inspection report children’s home: SC063815 1 SC063815 Registered provider: Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority. The home provides care for up to four children with complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The current manager registered with Ofsted in March 2007 and is suitably qualified and experienced.

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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 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 27 February 2020

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC063815 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/02/2020 Full Outstanding 29/01/2019 Full Outstanding 09/03/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/09/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC063815 3

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outstanding

Children have excellent relationships with adults who care deeply about them. When talking about their son, one parent told the inspector that the staff ‘love him – what more could you ask for’. This typifies the view that all professionals have of the home. Children know that staff have their well-being at heart.

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outstanding

Staff are committed to children’s progress and their futures. They think years ahead about the impact they can have and the needs of children. For example, staff support children with age-appropriate independence tasks from their early teenage years. This means that children have time to prepare for adulthood.

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outstanding

Parents are exceptionally happy with the care children receive from staff and feel fully included in their children’s lives. Parents know that when their children visit them at their family home, they can contact staff to ask for advice if they need it. When children have plans to move home to live with parents, children and parents plan to stay in touch with staff. This emphasises the joined-up approach that staff and managers always advocate for. As a result, children experience transitions that are well prepared for and supported.

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outstanding

Staff support children with their varied interests. This includes physical activities, such as football and youth clubs, and online ‘gaming’. Staff have invested time in online gaming with children to understand this aspect of teenage life. To capitalise on this further, children and staff had an ‘all night online gameathon’ for charity. This was not only fun, but it also helped children to see the needs of others in society. They raised several hundred pounds and received certificates of thanks from the chosen charity.

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outstanding

Children make progress in all areas of their lives. Staff regularly use a progress monitoring tool and put support in place in any area where it is needed. This means that children’s progress does not falter.

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outstanding

All children are in school. Staff meet with school staff to offer advice and support about children’s needs. This joined-up practice embodies the view of the manager and staff that a team approach is the most effective way to help children grow and develop. As a result, children have joined-up care across all areas of their lives.

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outstanding

Children’s views are central to the home and the care they receive. There are no areas where children’s views and experiences are not considered by staff. Children have regular opportunities to talk about ideas for improvements, and staff act on these. When staff do not take forward children’s ideas for any reason, they help children to understand why. This reassures children that they are still listened to and central to staff practice. Inspection report children’s home: SC063815 4 Staff’s commitment to children and each other is typified by the period when the children had to isolate due to COVID-19. Two members of staff moved in to the home for the whole period so that children had consistent support and more staff were not exposed to potential infection. During this period, managers kept in touch with staff, brought the shopping, dropped off a takeaway breakfast for everyone and brought snacks for movie nights. This meant that staff and children knew they

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outstanding

were being kept in mind during this period. It also enabled the staff in the home to purely focus on the children.

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outstanding

Staff are keen to develop their skills and knowledge to undertake their role. Where children have individual needs or diagnoses, the manager seeks to ensure that staff have knowledge about this through training or research information. This helps staff to develop their individualised approach. It is clear that staff will gladly do whatever it takes to help children improve their life chances.

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outstanding

Staff help children to stay safe online. When children do put themselves at risk, staff act quickly and use the opportunity to educate children on safety. This enables children to build back trust and enter their online world again safely. Children understand why staff restrict their online activity when they are not safe. They feel staff are supportive and fair. Staff help children to take responsibility for their actions and learn from their mistakes without shame.

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outstanding

Children rarely show missing behaviour. When they do, staff take immediate action to find them and bring them home. Staff welcome children back and show their relief at their safe return. Staff work with children, families and partners to understand the reasons why a child may go missing. They then put plans in place to reduce these. As a result, there are very few occasions where children go missing as they feel understood and can see that staff will act to support them.

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outstanding

Staff and managers take any allegation against staff seriously. They work with external partners and investigate all concerns. As a result, children feel able to raise issues if they need to and they know they will get a considered response to any allegation. The manager helps staff to understand the underlying reasons why children make allegations. This helps staff to have a reflective understanding of children’s difficulties and means they respond kindly and thoughtfully at these times.

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outstanding

Staff know children exceptionally well. They put in place risk assessments that give each other guidance and support. Staff work closely with mental health services to develop a more rounded understanding of children’s past histories. Staff then connect this to current behaviours. As a result, staff deepen their relationships with children. This means that they are better able to manage any challenging behaviour that may arise.

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outstanding

Staff physically intervene with children when there is no other choice. They spend time with children afterwards to think about what happened and what might help in Inspection report children’s home: SC063815 5 the future. Staff reflect on these incidents, learn from them, and share this meaningful understanding with each other. This adds to the learning culture in the home. Staff record all required information when these incidents happen. However, the provider does not have a simple recording system that is accessible to any reader. This makes it harder for children to make sense of their records.

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outstanding

Staff respond with kindness and understanding to children’s unsettled behaviour. In contrast, staff give children sanctions that do not always make sense in the context of what has happened. Despite this, staff work hard to help children understand what needs to be different in their behaviour. As such, children accept these consequences and learn from them. This is due to the respect that children have for staff, and their belief that the staff have their best interests at heart, which they do.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is well respected by staff and children. She empowers staff and helps them to develop a risk management mindset rather than being risk averse. She is unafraid of challenging others about children’s plans and makes sure that children are at the forefront of thinking. The registered manager supports others to develop their own practice and skills. She regularly meets with children alongside staff and positively reinforces staff authority. This approach helps children to understand the role of adults in their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers commit to the home being a true home. It is full of children’s photos and artwork. During the period of restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the home has had less maintenance work done. Managers quickly identified the needed remedial works once restrictions were eased. They have requested them be completed without delay. This is because staff want the children to have the best possible environment to live in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers are clear that restorative approaches support the work of the home. This underpins interactions with children so they can learn and make amends if need be. Staff draw on theories, such as social learning theory, and apply this to their work with children. Staff’s intuitive care skills are enhanced by these underpinning concepts. This drives outstanding care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Monitoring in the home is effective. The home’s leadership team works seamlessly together to make sure that all aspects of the home and care children receive work well. This has inspired staff to make sure that their practice is as it needs to be. Where practice falls short of expectations, managers raise this with staff, reflect on it, and support their development. This means that staff understand their role and meet the managers’ expectations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff receive regular supervision and there are regular team meetings. Staff use these times to talk about children and learn from each other. Staff appreciate this support and leaders encourage reflection to aid learning. As a result, all staff have high aspirations for children and their managers support them to meet these. Inspection report children’s home: SC063815 6 Staff work diligently to challenge any issues of exclusion in the home. Staff complete work with children about understanding bullying and what bullying feels like. Consequently, this is not a concern in the home. Staff have worked with children to help them to understand the impact of racism and equality. This work inspired children and they created an excellent artistic representation for Black History Month. This is proudly displayed because it matters to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff and the manager have excellent relationships with partners and key professionals. Social workers are complimentary about the way staff work with children and the significant difference that they make to children’s lives. This mutual respect means that children have support from cohesive networks who all want the best for them. Inspection report children’s home: SC063815 7

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Recommendations

 Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should make sense in the context of the behaviour that led to the sanction. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  Records of physical intervention must be easy to follow and recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC063815 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, Civic Centre, Darwall Street, Walsall WS1 1TP

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Inspector

Karol Keenan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC063815 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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