Children's home run by Hollybank Trust in Kirklees

Inspection report for children’s home: SC034415 1 SC034415 Registered provider: Hollybank Trust 1043129 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 operated by a charitable trust. It provides a mix of short- break and long-term care for children or young people. The home is registered to provide care for up to seven children at any one time. All the children and young people have complex physical disabilities and associated communication, sensory and/or learning 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 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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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: 18 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC034415 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/02/2020 Full Good 05/08/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 16/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/12/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC034415 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive a high level of care from a dedicated staff team. The home is part of a wider network of settings situated on a sprawling site owned by a charitable trust. This has provided children with a sense of community within a purpose-built environment geared towards meeting the children’s specific needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have significant challenges in their ability to communicate their wishes. The manager encourages her staff to develop their ability to understand the children better. This propels staff to make every effort to interpret what the children are trying to express. This reduces the risk of children becoming frustrated through staff misunderstanding them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Communication passports clearly highlight how children express themselves. The communication passports are individualised, colourful and have photos of the child’s expressions, which illustrate the point that the child is attempting to make. Staff complete children’s communication passports in the child’s written voice and start with an overview of the child’s likes and dislikes. The communication passports bring children’s unique characteristics to life. This enables staff to see the child beyond their disability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The flow of communication between home and school is constant and intertwined. Teaching staff know the children well, in part due to the close relationships that they have with the children’s care staff. There is excellent collaboration between staff and the children’s teachers. This improves the quality of life for children, as teachers and staff can quickly tend to the children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff maintain structure and routine to the children’s day. Children therefore thrive from having a sense of predictability to their day. Staff share the children’s achievements from home and school by holding a daily ceremony in the home, which the children attend. This creates an opportunity for the children to socialise as a group in their home and bolsters the child’s sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are sensitive and empathetic in the relationships that they build with the children’s parents. A thread of feedback to the inspector from parents was that staff consult them on every aspect of their child’s care. One parent noted that staff simply ask them, ‘What do you think?’ when staff ponder aspects of the child’s behaviours or care. This has enabled effective co-parenting of the children and, as a result, parents feel valued and connected to their child’s care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well resourced to enable children to experience a variety of activities in their wider community. One parent commented, ‘I had not heard my child laugh for the first decade of their life. The first time I heard them laugh was there. How do you quantify that?’ Staff effectively use the resources that they have at their disposal to enable children to broaden their life experiences and pursue their interests. The Inspection report for children’s home: SC034415 4 efforts made by staff to achieve this for the children bring joy and excitement in the children’s lives.

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

Staff have established effective working relationships with a range of paediatric healthcare professionals. This enables the team to build a comprehensive understanding of the children’s sensory and mobility needs. Staff compile children’s plans in collaboration with health professionals. This enables staff to effectively use complex equipment which improves children’s mobility and comfort.

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

For hospital visits, children have their personalised ‘Very Important Person’ (VIP) passport in their possession. Staff write the VIP passports in the child’s written voice, which makes them personal and brings the child to life. VIP passports enable health professionals to quickly learn how to best communicate with the child, in addition to containing lots of key information about the child. The VIP passport is an insightful tool for health professionals to use and improves the experience of children visiting hospital.

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

Children are fully dependent on the staff to meet their everyday needs and keep them safe. In the event of a fire in the home, every child has a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP). Staff have written PEEPs in the child’s written voice and ensure that they are visible in the children’s bedrooms. Staff undertake regular fire drills so that they are well versed in the implementation of the children’s individual PEEPs. This keeps children safer.

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

The human resources department undertakes the safer recruitment process as it has expertise in this area. The recruitment process is thorough and fluid. Once staff embark on their role, they have a clear induction and probation period, during which there is a high level of supervision with good management oversight. New staff, therefore, develop confidence in caring for children who have complex care needs. This ensures that children benefit from consistency of care.

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

The manager ensures that the children have frequent medication reviews. Staff undertake thorough medication stock checks and the children’s medication files are well organised. In addition to this, children’s medication files and their medication storage are personalised with the child’s photo. This reduces the risk of staff mishandling the administration of children’s medication. The manager’s general oversight of incidents involving children is good. However, in one instance, the manager failed to notify a local authority of a series of potential safeguarding events. The manager had consulted several health professionals, but failed to implement the appropriate safeguarding processes. This practice is not widespread, and the manager has a plan to minimise the risk of a recurrence. This will enable the team to consistently work efficiently with all safeguarding agencies. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034415 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s commitment to her role is admirable. Staff emulate their manager’s drive and passion. The senior staff in the team are well established and provide significant support to their less-experienced colleagues. This creates an environment containing highly motivated and confident staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has considerable experience and has a good understanding of the strengths and areas of development throughout the team. The manager has a vision to further improve the setting and invites staff to contribute their own ideas. This provides staff with a sense of ownership and accountability. Although staff receive regular supervision, there is delay in recording their supervision notes. Staff understand the purpose of supervision. However, the timeliness of staff receiving their written supervision notes undermines the manager’s effort in maintaining accountability across the team. The manager stores children’s documents in paper files as well as electronically. The children’s filing system is, therefore, disorganised in places. Key information can be hard for staff to locate as the filing systems are complicated to navigate. This increases the risk of staff losing or mishandling children’s information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s oversight of a limited number of incident reports has been fleeting. Consequently, the manager has failed to notify the regulator of significant events involving a child. This reduced the efficiency of multi-agency collaboration. The manager has a plan in place to reduce the risk of any further inaccuracy in respect of safeguarding events. The manager applies thorough planning when admitting children who require short- break care to the home. The manager ensures that there is capacity within the team to consistently meet all the children’s needs. The potential for disruption to children who permanently live at the home is therefore minimised. Good planning also increases the likelihood for children accessing the home for short-break care to have a positive experience. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034415 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that area assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(e)) 4 April 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child — 4 April 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034415 7 is instigated; or

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

A notification made under this regulation—

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Requirement Due date

the other persons, bodies or organisations (if any) who or which have been notified; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

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Requirement Due date

must be made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 40 (4)(d)(i)(ii)(e) (5)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

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Recommendations

 The registered person must make a record of supervision which should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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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: SC034415 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hollybank Trust, Far Common Road, Mirfield, West Yorkshire WF14 0DQ

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Inspector

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC034415 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 after children looked, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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