Children's home run by Skyline Child Care Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 1265096 1 Registered provider: Skyline Child Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private company. It is the only home that this company currently operates. The home is registered to provide care for up to two children who may have learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since 20 May 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: 10 November 2021

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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: 1265096 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/11/2021 Full Good 29/01/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 30/09/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 1265096 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home. Children have strong and trusted relationships with staff. This means that staff increasingly understand children’s needs and provide them with individualised care. Children are looked after by committed staff who work hard to meet their needs. As a result, children feel settled and make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children attend school and have excellent attendance records. Teachers told the inspector that children make good academic and social progress. In addition, effective working relationships between staff and teachers ensure that children benefit from joined-up and consistent care. For example, staff, teachers and family members communicate on a regular basis to share key information about children’s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff work well with a range of key partners including parents, health professionals and teachers. This means that children receive consistent and well-informed care. The registered manager uses these professional relationships to gather key information and set individual targets for each child. This includes targets focusing on personal care, developing communication and independence skills. This enables the children to make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to participate in their care. Staff use a range of communication tools to help children express their views. Staff regularly consult children and encourage them to make important decisions, such as planning activities or purchasing new equipment for their home. This inclusive ethos supports children to take ownership of their care. However, most of the staff have not yet completed the recognised language training programme. Staff told the inspector that one child can become frustrated on occasions as some staff do not understand her. The manager plans to provide this training imminently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a range of experiences and activities. Children enjoy swimming, arts and crafts and trips to the park. This encourages them to try new experiences and develop new skills. As a result, children become more independent and feel increasingly confident.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff skilfully provide children with regular one-to-one support that is imaginative, personalised and informative. They use a range of picture aids to help children understand and make sense of the discussions. As a result, children learn valuable life skills such as building independence or managing difficult emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children spending time with those people who are important to them. Family members are positive about children’s progress because of the nurturing care they receive from staff. A child’s parent told the Inspection report for children’s home: 1265096 4 inspector, ‘She [child] has very close relationships with staff. She will sign and ask for staff when she is with us. She is doing very well. I can’t fault the staff.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to make a complaint and do so when needed. The registered manager recently provided a child-centred and robust response to a child’s complaint. This approach helps children to feel listened to and reassured.

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

Staff understand and manage the risks associated with each child. They provide appropriate supervision and support to keep children safe. This means that children are kept safe and are not exposed to risk. Overall, children’s risks are known and staff are provided with clear guidance to manage risk. However, some risk assessments are out of date. The manager took immediate steps to rectify this shortfall during the inspection. In addition, a child’s impact risk assessment did not fully explore their historic behaviours before moving into the home and their potential impact on the child already living in the home.

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

Effective communication and a proactive approach help staff to recognise the triggers to children’s challenging behaviour. For example, staff work well to provide both children with appropriate supervision when they spend time together. This effective planning helps to minimise risk while providing children with a natural and supportive environment.

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

Staff use a range of strategies to support children to settle when they are distressed. In addition, children learn new strategies to self-regulate. For example, one child responds well to a five-point de-escalation plan to help her to make sense of her emotions. As a result, her incidents of challenging behaviour continue to reduce.

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

Staff are trained in key topics, including safeguarding, child sexual exploitation, children going missing, physical interventions and behaviour management. This means that staff are well informed and can manage potential risk.

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

On occasions, children can become unsettled due to a range of complex needs. On rare instances, staff use very brief restraint to keep children safe when they become distressed and unsettled. This practice is appropriate and proportionate. However, records do not fully capture the events leading up to the incident, for example, staff do not fully record why children were unsettled before the incident. This means that the manager is not able to make a fully informed analysis of these incidents.

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

Staff provide children with clear and consistent boundaries and routines. They reward children for positive behaviour and meeting a range of targets. Children thrive on this approach and celebrate their successes. There are significant improvements in children’s behaviour from their starting points. Inspection report for children’s home: 1265096 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is experienced and knowledgeable about the service he leads. He holds a level 5 qualification in leadership and management. He has effective monitoring systems in place. For example, he works alongside staff and the independent visitor to regularly review children’s care and identify learning. The registered manager is passionate about children in his care and continually strives to enhance their experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An established and diverse staff team means that children are cared for by staff who have a range of personalities and expertise. Staff are committed to children and genuinely care about them. Staff know children well and speak confidently about their complex care needs, targets and progress. They provide a strong, well- thought-out and consistent approach.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the registered manager and their colleagues. They use the strengths of the staff team to provide children with good-quality care. A member of staff told the inspector, ‘I feel lucky to work here. We are all different, but we have lots of experience. We work closely with the manager. It all runs very smoothly.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Parents and carers play an integral role in their children’s care. They feel involved in their children’s care and speak very highly of staff and the management team. A parent told the inspector, ‘There are no issues with communication. We all share information about her [child]. This works really well. I cannot fault the home.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive good-quality and regular supervision, which supports them to reflect on their roles and helps to challenge their practice. Staff also benefit from a comprehensive training programme that covers specialist areas of care. Their team meetings are detailed, with a key focus on children’s progress and developing practice. This healthy learning environment continues to improve the quality of care that children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s internal plans clearly identify their needs. The registered manager and staff work closely with social workers and a range of other professionals to secure positive outcomes for children. A social worker told the inspector, ‘Staff have done really well to meet her [the child’s] needs. Their communication with me is really good. I have no concerns with them at all. They have done a great job.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, the home environment is child-friendly and is personalised throughout. For example, multiple pictures of children and staff are on show. However, some aspects of the decor appear tired and need redecoration. The registered manager has received some quotes for these improvements and plans to have this work carried out soon. Inspection report for children’s home: 1265096 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire 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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to ensuring that all staff are trained in the recognised language training programme. 4 July 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home environment is well presented. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that children’s risk assessments and behaviour management plans provide staff with appropriate guidance to manage risks and behaviour. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that records of challenging incidents are detailed and fully outline the context of incidents. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that children’s impact risk assessments fully reflect all known behaviours and potential risks. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.2)

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Recommendations

Inspection report for children’s home: 1265096 7

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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: 1265096 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Skyline Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 29 Old Farm Drive, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV8 1GF

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Inspector

Gareth Leckey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1265096 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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