Children's Home run by The Place Young People’s Company in Leicestershire

Inspection report for children's home: 2565421 1 Registered provider: The Place Young People’s Company Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This service registered as a children’s home in January 2020. This is the first full inspection of the home since its registration.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a private provider. It offers care and accommodation for children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is registered to accommodate four children.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since January 2020.

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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 carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 22 December 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: This is the homes first full inspection since registration.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: Not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2565421 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children's home: 2565421 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A positive and enthusiastic staff team creates a warm, nurturing environment where children feel very settled and can be themselves. The home enables children to develop a sense of belonging and make some great progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have access to a good range of toys, games and play equipment, appropriate to their ages. Children are encouraged to play and have fun. Staff help children to develop good social skills through play. Each child has a very well- personalised bedroom, which they take pride in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children have settled education routines. Each child has a bespoke education programme. They all have excellent attendance and are making progress. Children receive lots of encouragement and support from staff. This helps them to catch up on the education that they missed before moving to the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel part of their local community and take an active part in community events. For example, they have been involved in the parish council’s historical battle re-enactment and entered cake-baking competitions. Children are all involved in extra-curricular activities that enable them to develop new interests and learn new skills. Children go to a gymnastics club, play in local football teams and enjoy swimming lessons. This helps them to make friends, builds their confidence and improves their self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are dedicated to the children, are prepared to work extra hours and give up their own time. One recent example of this is when a child’s key worker went to pick them up from school as a surprise on their birthday. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some staff moved into the home for a period. This ensured that the children’s care was not disrupted.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have had to cope with some changes in the team of adults who care for them. Although some new staff have recently been recruited, the staff team is still not as settled as managers would like. Despite this, all children enjoy very positive relationships with the core group of staff. The manager is careful about how he plans the shifts, making sure that there is always at least one person who the children know well.

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

Children are safe in this home. Staff at all levels understand their safeguarding responsibilities. There is a very open, transparent safeguarding culture. This ensures that staff are able to report any concerns that they may have and feel confident in challenging any practice that they consider inappropriate. Inspection report for children's home: 2565421 4 When children’s behaviour is particularly challenging, staff demonstrate an extremely calm and empathetic approach. They use strategies in line with the home’s therapeutic model. Staff deliver high-quality one-to-one work that provides children with opportunities to reflect on their own behaviour. This allows children to develop better coping strategies for the next time they feel angry or upset.

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

Staff are well trained in how to safely restrain children but only take such action when absolutely necessary. However, restraint records written by staff do not always give sufficient detail about the incidents. This does not support managers to thoroughly review restraint practice. Should there be an investigation in the future, it would be difficult to establish a full account of the incidents.

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

Risk assessments are practical and clear. As a result, they help staff to understand and manage risk. Risk assessments are reviewed and updated each month. However, when there are significant changes in children’s behaviour between monthly reviews, the assessments are not promptly updated to reflect increased risks. The home’s care plans also do not cover important areas of risk. Although this has not yet affected the quality of care, it has the potential to do so if not put right.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s leaders have brought about significant improvements since the home was last inspected in December 2020. All previous shortfalls have been rectified, and the organisation has now established a good baseline for further improvement. The manager monitors the operation of the home thoroughly. He has recently undertaken a study into the quality of staff supervision and has identified lessons that can be learned from the care of children during the pandemic.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that children’s care is delivered in line with the home’s therapeutic model of care. He leads by example, always presenting as kind and compassionate. He ensures that staff always ensure that children feel cherished.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The organisation has recognised that the staff are particularly good at looking after younger children. Their skills are very well suited to the current group of children. The organisation has supported the manager to build on this strength and develop a speciality in caring for younger children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported and speak highly of their managers. They all have opportunities to discuss their practice in formal supervision. Managers also regularly provide informal support and guidance that the staff value.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that children have a strong voice in their own care. He listens and responds to their concerns and wishes. Children develop confidence in the manager and staff over time. This gives them a sense of safety and security. Inspection report for children's home: 2565421 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any child who has been restrained should be given the opportunity express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident, taking the age of the child and the circumstances of the restraint into account. In some cases, children may need longer to work through their feelings, so a record that the child has talked about their feelings should be made no longer than 5 days after the incident of restraint (regulation 35(3)(c)). Children should be encouraged to add their views and comments to the record of restraint. Children should be offered the opportunity to access an advocacy support to help them with this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.60)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the

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Recommendations

risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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 for children's home: 2565421 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Place Young People’s Company Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2, Lymevale Court, Lyme Drive, Parklands, Stoke- on-Trent ST4 6NW

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Inspector

Caroline Brailsford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2565421 7 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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