Children's home run by Evolve Childcare Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2623790 1 Registered provider: Evolve Childcare Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home’s statement of purpose states that the home can provide care for up to four girls with social and emotional difficulties, self-harming behaviour and those at risk of exploitation. It is part of a larger organisation. At the time of this inspection, three children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home does not have a registered manager currently. The manager in day-to-day charge of the home has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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: 24 January 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2623790 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/01/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 15/09/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2623790 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are relaxed and comfortable in this well-maintained and homely house. The atmosphere is like that of a positive family home. Children confidently approach staff for their company, advice and help. Interactions between the children and adults are warm and respectful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s introductions into the home are carefully considered and well planned. Before it is agreed that a child can move in, the manager gathers essential information about the child’s needs. The manager carefully assesses whether the home can meet the child’s needs and the potential impact each child’s needs may have on each other. Further assessments are completed at 28 days and then again at three months. These reviews monitor how the child is settling in. Action is taken in response.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from one-to-one support and continuity of care. The manager and staff know the children well and are strong advocates. For example, two children’s educational needs are not being fully met. In response, the manager has been persistent in escalating her concerns with the children’s placing authorities and the headteacher of the virtual school. This has resulted in a review of the children’s education programme and a suitable alternative timetable being agreed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s needs are understood and prioritised. The staff provide creative opportunities for children to reflect on how they are feeling and the impact their choices have on themselves and others. For example, one child does not like being praised for her achievements. In response, her key worker writes her a letter about her achievements that week. The letter is then left in the child’s bedroom for her to read at her leisure. Children say that they like the adults who care for them, and that their carers are the best part of living at this home. C hildren make steady progress from their starting points because of the support and nurturing care they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported well to maintain and develop relationships with their family and friends. Children enjoy spending time with their friends in the local community, and where appropriate, at the home. If concerns are identified, the manager carefully considers the free-time plans and implements strategies to manage and mitigate any potential risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views, wishes and feelings are sought in a variety of ways. Children’s meetings are used effectively. These meetings provide children opportunities to learn about online safety and current worldwide events. These learning opportunities increase children’s awareness about online grooming, and what actions they need to take to keep themselves safe. Discussions about recent world events have also provided children with a better understanding of the life of a refugee and the impact of war. Inspection report for children’s home: 2623790 4 Children’s social needs, personal talents and interests are promoted well. Children enjoy spending time meeting friends as well as engaging in activities of their choice. Staff are successful in helping children learn new skills by providing work experience opportunities. For example, jewellery-making and hair and beauty activities have been enjoyed by children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s current care planning records are informative but extensive. Consequently, for staff to locate current information on how to respond to children’s current needs is time-consuming. The manager recognises this and says that she will look at ways to simplify these plans.

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

Children say that they feel safe living at this home. They like the adults who care for them and recognise that decisions made that affect their preferred daily routine are in their best interests and made to keep them safe.

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

Staff attend regular safeguarding training courses and are clear about their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children. They recognise and report concerns to the manager appropriately. The manager correctly escalates these concerns to safeguarding agencies. Records of the actions taken and the outcome of the concern are recorded well.

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

Complaints are managed well. Since the last inspection, the manager has responded appropriately to two complaints. Records are well maintained and demonstrate that when a child raises a concern they are listened to. Children say that they are confident that staff listen to them and they help resolve concerns.

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

Staff take the right action when children feel angry or upset. Consequently, for some children, incidents have reduced in frequency and duration. There has been one reported incident that required staff to hold a child since the last inspection. The staff’s intervention was for a minimal amount of time and only used as a last resort.

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

When children have gone missing, staff take appropriate action to ensure their safe and swift return home. Staff follow children’s missing plans effectively, and if necessary, they search for children throughout the night.

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

The manager reviews the locality assessment effectively. This provides staff who are not local to the area with detailed information of the potential risks in the immediate and wider area and the impact on the current group of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, senior leaders appointed a new manager whose application to register with Ofsted is in process. The new manager is reflective and tenacious. She demonstrates learning from previous inspection findings and independent monitoring and uses this information to improve the quality of care that children Inspection report for children’s home: 2623790 5 receive. Poor staff performance is managed well, and appropriate action is taken in response.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring by the manager, independent person and senior leaders is effective. A centralised recording system provides senior leaders and the manager with a detailed overview of events that have happened in the home. This information is used effectively to identify patterns and trends of behaviours and to evaluate the children’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff receive regular formal supervisions. Records are well maintained; they detail discussions about children and the agreed actions. Despite this good work, the manager has not considered using supervision sessions to share the findings from monitoring activities. This is a missed opportunity to promote staff’s professional development and understanding of regulatory requirements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly and are well attended. The agendas for these meetings provide staff with an opportunity to reflect on their practice, share effective strategies and review children’s progress. Staff are well informed of organisational changes, training opportunities and care planning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that all staff are compliant with basic mandatory training. Good use is made of the newly appointed training officer, who ensures that staff attend refresher training within the required timescales. Specialist training opportunities are provided; these are identified from lesson learned reviews of incidents. This helps staff to have an improved understanding of the children’s changing needs. Seven staff and the manager have completed the required national qualifications in residential childcare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s written development plan does not reflect the manager’s ambition to improve children’s experiences and access to resources. For example, leaders and managers are reviewing the use of the building adjacent to the home and considering developing a sensory room and a visiting area. Inspection report for children’s home: 2623790 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to simplifying internal care plans to make them easier to read. 15 July 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that best use of information from independent and internal monitoring is made, to ensure continuous improvement. This particularly refers to ensuring that discussions about outcomes from monitoring activities are included in supervision sessions and that the written development plan is formalised to include ideas that the management team have to improve the quality of care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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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) Inspection report for children’s home: 2623790 7 Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2623790 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Evolve Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rumwell Hall, Rumwell, Taunton, Somerset TA4 1EL

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Inspector

Sharron Escott, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2623790 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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