Children's home run by The Senad Group Limited in Derby

Inspection report for children’s home: SC358046 1 SC358046 Registered provider: The Senad Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is privately operated. There is a school on the same site. The home provides care for up to 32 children who have autism spectrum disorder, Asperger syndrome, acquired brain injury and/or communication difficulties. Most of the children living here return to their family home for the school holidays.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager became registered with Ofsted in 2014.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspectors only inspected the social care provision at this school.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A compliance notice was issued following the last inspection. At a monitoring visit on 4 July 2022, inspectors judged that compliance actions had been met. Inspection report for children’s home: SC358046 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/05/2022 Full Inadequate 06/07/2021 Full Good 10/07/2019 Full Good 26/09/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC358046 3

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improvement to be good

This is the second full inspection of this home. It follows a previous inspection in May 2022, at which significant safeguarding concerns were identified. Children have become safer. This is because of the actions taken by leaders and managers in response to the safeguarding concerns. The improvements achieved need to be developed and fully embedded to ensure that all children remain safe and have consistently positive experiences.

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improvement to be good

Children have developed positive relationships with caring and committed staff members. However, recent high staff turnover has had an impact on the consistency of care children receive and on some children’s sense of stability and security.

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improvement to be good

All the children attend the on-site school and their attendance is good. For some, this is significant progress from their starting points, when arriving at the home. During the inspection, some older children received their GCSE exam results, which were excellent.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to be physically healthy. This is achieved through diet and exercise. An internal group of professionals, which includes education staff, an occupational therapist, a speech and language therapist and a clinical psychologist, collaborate well to help children. They address a range of individual issues with children that affect their emotional health and well-being.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to participate in a range of activities. These are both on- site and within the local community. Children have fun. They make friends and enjoy socialising. This helps to develop their confidence and self-esteem and develop new skills.

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improvement to be good

Staff support older children to develop important skills for later in life. For example, older children learn to plan shopping trips, undertake shopping and then cook food. They develop budgeting skills and learn how to travel independently. This equips the older children for the future and gives them confidence.

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improvement to be good

Children are fully involved in the development of their care and safety plans. Not only does this help children to develop negotiation skills, but they are also motivated to work towards the goals that they themselves have been involved in setting.

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk assessments guide staff care practice to keeping them safe in many aspects of their lives. However, the quality of risk assessments is not consistent. Some are detailed and comprehensive. Others lack clarity, for example in relation to Inspection report for children’s home: SC358046 4 specific actions to take following significant incidents. For example, one child’s risk assessment regarding online safety had not been updated in the four months they had been living in the home. It was unclear whether the support measures in place were proportionate and appropriate to meet the child’s safety needs in this area.

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improvement to be good

There have been no incidents of children going missing from care. However, not every child has an individual missing-from-care protocol outlining their specific vulnerabilities and risk factors. Protocols do not clearly set out the actions staff should take should any child go missing. A more proactive and individualised approach would help keep children safer.

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improvement to be good

Since the previous full inspection, behaviour support strategies used by staff have improved. There have been no physical interventions. The use of behavioural contracts and consequences with children have been replaced by a strategy of ‘behaviour coaching’. This more restorative approach encourages children to talk about their difficulties. It is helping children to better reflect and learn from incidents rather than feel punished. This new behaviour support system needs to be embedded into staff practice. This will help to ensure that all staff are consistently using this approach and accurately recording the learning and impact of behaviour coaching.

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improvement to be good

The improvements identified at the monitoring visit in July 2022 in relation to the children’s care at night have been maintained. The use of waking night staff and motion sensors have made night-time routines safer. Leaders continue to assess the need for such measures, to ensure that they are responding proportionately to levels of risk and need.

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improvement to be good

The home’s location assessment has been updated. It now includes information about crime data in the immediate locality and nearest cities and towns. This, and improved links with the police, means that staff have a greater understanding of the risks children may face in the community. This is used by staff to educate and support children accordingly.

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good

The members of the management team are experienced, caring and committed individuals who work well together as a team. They have led the staff team through a very difficult period. They have been successful in maintaining morale throughout. Managers and staff are committed to doing their best to improve children’s experiences.

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good

The leadership response to the inadequate judgement in May 2022 has been positive. Managers and senior staff have been reflective and eager to learn from the identified shortfalls. Managers have reviewed staffing structures and monitoring systems. They have undertaken staff surveys to help understand the reasons for the recent high turnover of staff. They have reviewed the training needs and induction processes for new staff. In response, a detailed improvement plan is in progress. Inspection report for children’s home: SC358046 5 This now needs to be fully implemented and embedded before it can demonstrate the full impact this will have for children.

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good

Workforce capacity remains a challenge. Recruiting and retaining a skilled and experienced workforce is a priority for the management team. Some new staff have been recruited. A new staff rota is due to be trialled with an aim of giving staff more certainty over shift patterns. Additional training has been rolled out to develop staff skills. This includes specialist external training to help staff fully understand online safety risks and how they can help children learn about risks and become safer. Again, it is still too soon to see the full impact of these positive developments.

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good

Staff receive regular, good-quality and reflective supervision and they attend regular team meetings. These activities are helping staff to learn and develop their confidence and skills to meet the complex needs of children living in the home.

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good

Monitoring systems have improved since the last full inspection. A new management structure provides greater opportunity for oversight and monitoring of each of the three separate houses within the children’s home. Managers use both internal and external monitoring systems, alongside children’s views, to inform service development. Inspection report for children’s home: SC358046 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that risk assessments are completed to a consistent standard, are up to date, and provide clear guidance to staff on the action they need to take to manage risks. 15 October 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)  The registered person should ensure that the importance for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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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: SC358046 7 Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: SC358046 8

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Senad Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 St George’s House, Vernongate, Derby DE1 1UQ

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Inspectors

Rachel Griffiths, Social Care Inspector Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC358046 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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