Children's Home run by Nottinghamshire County Council in Derbyshire

Inspection report for children's home: SC051513 1 SC051513 Registered provider: Nottinghamshire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a local authority and provides care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties and/or a hearing impairment. At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably experienced and qualified and has recently returned from a period of long-term leave.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC051513 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/03/2022 Interim Declined in effectiveness 15/12/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/05/2019 Full Good 05/06/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC051513 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff engage well with children who have previously had poor experiences in residential care, or whose previous placements have ended in an unplanned way. Staff are resilient and determined. Children feel that they are valued and cherished by staff. The child currently living at the home has made good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met. For example, children are supported to develop skills in maintaining their own personal hygiene. This has enabled the child at the home to develop their independence and become more confident.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to lead healthy lifestyles. Staff encourage healthy eating and physical exercise. Children enjoy a range of enjoyable and stimulating activities in the home and in the community. These experiences have helped the child living at the home to grow in confidence. Their self-esteem and physical health have improved. Staff have worked closely with health professionals to work on medication reduction programmes for the child. This has led to improvements in the child’s emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in their education. The child living at the home had not been making the expected academic progress and needed time to catch up. This resulted in the child feeling frustrated. Staff identified the barriers to the child’s learning and worked closely with professionals to support the child to change schools. Consequently, the child is now making progress and is achieving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s views are listened to and respected. The child feels able to talk to staff and managers about any issues they might have, as they know that they will be taken seriously. Staff respond positively to requests from the child and staff always take time to explain the reasons why a request cannot be granted or why a decision has been made.

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

Staff devise and implement a range of risk assessments to ensure that children remain safe, while enjoying age-appropriate activities. For example, one child has recently been given a mobile phone. The risks associated with having a phone have been discussed with the child and the risks are thoroughly detailed in an assessment. However, checks carried out by staff are not always well recorded. As a result, there is a risk of the child accessing sites unchecked.

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

Staff only use physical intervention to manage behaviour when it is absolutely necessary and there is a risk of harm to the child or others. Staff have not used any physical intervention for over five months. Staff are skilled in identifying triggers for behaviour and they use de-escalation techniques well. Over time, children learn to manage their emotional responses in more appropriate, safer ways. One parent Inspection report for children's home: SC051513 4 praised the home for helping their child to develop safe strategies to manage their feelings and emotions.

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

Children have not gone missing from this home. Detailed missing-from-care protocols and risk assessments ensure that risks are reduced, and staff are aware of what actions to take if a child goes missing. A range of topics, including how to respond if a child goes missing, are discussed in supervision and in team meetings. This ensures that staff maintain up-to-date knowledge.

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

Staff use debriefing and supervision to reflect on any incidents. Managers and staff use these reflective discussions as learning points. This enables them to identify alternative approaches and strategies. Staff support the children in their care to be considerate to others, including thinking about their use of language and how words might impact on others.

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good

The home was without a permanent manager for a substantial period, due to the registered manager being absent. During this time, the home was supported by managers from within the organisation and an agency manager. The registered manager has since returned and has begun to implement systems in the home.

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good

At the time of this inspection, the management arrangements were relatively new. Management monitoring and systems are in place but are not yet embedded.

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good

The registered manager brings a wide range of experience and skills to the post and has returned with a strong desire and motivation to improve the quality of care provided. Following the appointment of a new assistant manager, they are developing and strengthening their team. This additional management capacity is beginning to improve the overall leadership of the home. This is also helping in the introduction of effective monitoring systems, addressing shortfalls identified in this area.

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good

There are plans to move away from the use of sanctions and focus on positive reinforcement. However, there is still some inconsistency in the approach to behaviour management.

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good

There have been instances when staff have entered information on the home’s recording system on behalf of colleagues. This was due to computer access issues. This compromises the accuracy of the information and also has the potential to cause confusion about who the author is.

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good

The manager has failed to ensure that staff enrolled on the level 3 qualification are making progress. Delays in accessing external assessors have impaired staff’s access to the guidance and support required to successfully achieve the qualification.

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good

Staff receive regular and effective supervision. Staff say that they feel well Inspection report for children's home: SC051513 5 supported. Records of supervision are detailed. Training opportunities are good. When children come to the home with specific care needs, specialist training is provided to staff as appropriate. Staff who want to develop their careers within the organisation have opportunities to do so, for example through the delegation of additional responsibilities. Inspection report for children's home: SC051513 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

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

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that appropriate monitoring systems are in place for when children access social media on their mobile phones.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring that care records are not entered on behalf of another person. 11 July 2022

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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; and

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 11 July 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC051513 7 This relates to ensuring effective management monitoring systems are embedded.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager ensuring that all staff enrolled on the level 3 qualification have access to an assessor. 11 July 2022

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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: SC051513 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Nottinghamshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Nottinghamshire County Council, County Hall, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 7QP

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Inspector

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC051513 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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