Children's home run by Pear Tree Projects Limited in County Durham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC000803 1 SC000803 Registered provider: Pear Tree Projects Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a private provider. The home provides care for up to three children who may have emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspector spoke with all three children who live in the home during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 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 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: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC000803 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 29/09/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/09/2019 Full Good 07/08/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC000803 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in this home. They enjoy trusting relationships with the staff who know the children well. Children speak positively about the staff and feel confident in speaking to them if they have any worries. All the children scored living in the home as nine out of 10 or above.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are made to feel welcome when they move into the home. They are offered a visit and stay for tea before moving in. When they do move in, the staff spend time with them helping them to settle in and supporting them to personalise their bedrooms. This allows children to settle quickly and gives them a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of the children spending time with the people who are important to them. Children are encouraged to build friendships and spend time with their friends outside of the home when it is assessed as safe to do so. Staff promote family time, transporting the children when needed and family are welcomed to visit the home. This supports the children’s sense of identity and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities with the staff that appeal to their individual interests. Staff support the children to join clubs so that they can pursue their chosen hobbies. Photographs of the children enjoying these activities are then captured within albums that are presented to the children every year at Christmas. This allows the children to reflect on their previous year within the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the children’s education needs are met and, as such, they are all making good progress in this area. Staff transport the children to and from school, even if this means lengthy car journeys, to provide continuity in their education provision. Staff attend all education meetings and are proactive in supporting the children with homework and revision. This supports continued education progression.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has recently been redecorated and is furnished to a good standard. One room downstairs, which was not used by the children, has now been turned into a sensory room for them. Children have been able to choose the soft furnishings for this room. Upstairs, one child does not have a lockable cabinet in their bedroom and another child’s lock is broken. This means that the children cannot store their personal items securely in their own bedrooms.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The recording of information in some of the children’s records is poor. Language used is at times blaming, negative and not helpful for the children should they choose to access their records. This shows a lack of empathy and understanding of their vulnerabilities and adverse childhood experiences. Inspection report for children’s home: SC000803 4

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

Children say they feel safe living in the home. Appropriate procedures are followed by the staff when there is an incident. This includes follow-up actions such as accessing medical attention when necessary and providing the children with emotional support and reassurance. Identified risks then inform key-work sessions. Actions are taken which are in the best interests of the children and help to reduce further incidents.

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

Staff provide clear and consistent boundaries to the children, which gives them a sense of stability and security. Children respond well to this and, for one child, this has enabled him to make decisions about the future. The manager understands the need to manage the identified risks for the children, while equally providing them with opportunities to develop their independence. This provides the children with greater freedom and the opportunity to explore their wider community in a safe way.

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

Children’s risk assessments are regularly updated and accurately reflect the children’s current identified risks. However, strategies in place to mitigate the risks are not always clear and detailed enough and are not specific to the individual children’s needs. This means that the staff do not have a clear understanding of the children’s individual behaviours and triggers, or an approach to use which meets their own specific needs.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. When they do, the staff follow the correct reporting procedures. As there is only single staff cover in the home, the member of staff is unable to go and search for the child. The out-of-hours manager is contacted and the expectation is that they go and look for the child. While the manager said that this did happen on both occasions, the records do not reflect this.

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

Few sanctions are given in the home. However, when sanctions are given, they are not restorative in nature and the recording of them is poor. The recordings do not include details of any methods used to avoid the need to use the measure, there is no debrief with the member of staff giving the sanction, and there is a lack of evaluation from the manager of the effectiveness and consequence of the measure used. The means that the manager cannot be assured that the sanctions are appropriate and fair.

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good

The home is managed by a permanent and suitably qualified registered manager. He is supported by a small and stable staff team. The manager has auditing systems in place to monitor the progress of the children as well as the effectiveness of the staff. However, these auditing systems have failed to identify the shortfalls raised, which means that the systems are not effective and embedded into practice.

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good

The statement of purpose is not accurate. It states that the home can provide care for children with learning disabilities; however, the home is not registered to do so. While there has been no impact on the children as they do not have a learning Inspection report for children’s home: SC000803 5 disability, this provides incorrect information to parents, children and commissioners when considering whether the home can meet a child’s needs. Previously raised shortfalls in notifying Ofsted of serious incidents remain. This means that Ofsted is unable to review the information to ensure that the provider has taken appropriate action to keep the children safe. This leaves children vulnerable to the risk of harm.

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good

Supervision records are dated regularly. However, some records are not formal sessions, but email exchanges between the manager and the member of staff. Records lack detail, and there is no reflection on practice or professional scrutiny. This means that the staff are not being provided with an opportunity to reflect on their practice to support them to develop as practitioners.

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good

Shortfalls have been identified with regards to the accuracy and attention to detail in the children’s records and the recording of incidents. One child’s care plan was significantly out of date and referred to a previous placement throughout. This raises concerns about the validity and accuracy of all the records in the home.

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good

The current staffing arrangements of being a single-cover home continue to have an adverse impact on the children’s lived experience. While some minor changes have taken place since the last inspection, the children are still being asked to go to their bedrooms if the one member of staff on duty has tasks to undertake. This is because the required levels of supervision cannot be offered. All the children indicated that activities would be cancelled if one child were unable to attend due to the current staffing arrangements.

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good

Feedback received from the staff working in the home is positive. One member of staff said: ‘I feel very lucky to have [Name] as a manager. I feel he goes above and beyond in many aspects. He is supportive and always open to new ideas.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC000803 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; and

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(v)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the children’s records ensuring that they are child friendly and do not contain blaming or institutionalised language. 12 September

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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

that staff— 12 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC000803 7 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to risk assessments.

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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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; and

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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)(d)(h)) 12 August 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (3)(a)(b)) 12 August 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

Within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— 12 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC000803 8 details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (3)(a)(v)(vii)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to sanction records.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 12 September

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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—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry). (Regulation 40 (4)(d)(i)(ii)) 12 August 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children are provided with appropriate furniture, including a lockable cabinet or drawers to securely store personal items, including any personal information. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 16, paragraph 3.19)  The registered person should ensure that there are systems are in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive formal supervision so that they can reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to Inspection report for children’s home: SC000803 9 the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: SC000803 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pear Tree Projects Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Peartree House, Bolam, Darlington, County Durham DL2 2UP

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Inspectors

Paula Shepherd, Social Care Inspector Emma Ridley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC000803 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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