Children's Home run by Compass Children’s Homes North East Limited in Gateshead

Inspection report for children’s home: 1232649 1 Registered provider: Artemis Support Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private provider. The home can care for up to five children who have emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspectors spoke with three of the five children who live in this home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 1 April 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: 9 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: 1232649 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/11/2021 Full Good 24/09/2019 Full Good 18/09/2018 Full Good 30/01/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1232649 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress. Staff know the children well, which means they understand how to support the children to make positive changes in all aspects of their lives. Staff consistently have high aspirations for the children. One child said, ‘They are my family.’ Another child said, ‘Staff are on your back but it’s because they care.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff advocate well for the children to ensure that the children’s health care needs are met and reviewed on a regular basis. Children are educated about healthy lifestyles and making healthy choices, which includes promoting and supporting the children with their sexual health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s education needs are known and understood. While the staff are aspirational for the children, and exhaust all of the opportunities available to them to support the children to work towards their individual goals, not all of the children are in education, employment or training.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported well when they move into the home. Introductions are led by the child’s needs, and the staff take their time to get to know the child. Children already living in the home are involved in the process. This makes the new child feel welcome. However, the children’s guide is lengthy and complicated. This may deter children from fully reading and understanding its contents, and therefore prevent them from having access to important information about living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who move out of the home are supported well by the staff, who they often stay in contact with. These ongoing relationships enhance the children’s support network.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy nurturing and trusting relationships with those who care for them. These trusting relationships enable the children to tell the staff about aspects of their lives that they are unhappy about. The staff support the children well during these times and advocate strongly for them to ensure that they do not miss out on important events.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to develop positive relationships with each other. They enjoy spending time together, taking part in a wide variety of activities and going on holiday. Children also develop friendships with other children who do not live in the home. Staff support these relationships well by getting to know the families of these children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise and celebrate children’s individuality. Staff support the children to explore their sexuality, and they identify groups and festivals that the children can attend. This provides the children with independent support. Staff help the children Inspection report for children’s home: 1232649 4 to practice their faith and forge links with local multi-faith and multi-cultural communities. As a result, the children develop a sense of belonging in the home and in their wider community, and this helps them to broaden their support networks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager encourages the children to share their views freely within the home. Children have access to an advocate and attend regular children’s meetings. Children are informed of the outcome of any requests that they make, which means that they feel listened to. However, the language used to record these meetings is not always easy to understand. This prevents the children from having access to a clear record of their discussion. Some of the language used in these records may stigmatise children. This has the potential to undermine the children’s positive relationships with the staff if the children were to read these records.

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

Staff understand the risks that the children face, and they respond appropriately in order to keep the children safe. The staff and the manager respond quickly to any changes in the children’s behaviour, amending the child’s safety plan to support the child to be safe. When the manager recognises that external factors prevent the staff from keeping a child safe, she responds quickly and escalates any concerns. Risks to the children reduce because of this.

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

Staff rarely use physical interventions with the children, or search the children’s bedrooms. These practices are only carried out when it is necessary to keep the children and others safe. The children are spoken to after their bedroom is searched, or a physical intervention has been used, so the children understand why these actions are necessary.

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

Children are supported to understand the outcome of their complaint, which means that they feel listened to. Any allegations made by the children about the staff are investigated appropriately, and there is a clear record of the outcome. However, on one occasion, the manager has failed to notify Ofsted of an allegation that a child made against a staff member. This oversight prevents Ofsted from being assured that the manager has taken the necessary action to safeguard the child.

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

Children are helped to understand the consequences of their actions. However, the manager has failed to identify when financial sanctions are ineffective, and she has not implemented a more restorative approach. This oversight prevents the children from being given other opportunities to learn from their behaviour so that they can manage this more effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and her deputy show a strong commitment to improving the outcomes for the children in their care. The manager leads by example, which is seen by the good level of care that the staff provide to the children. The home has a stable staff team, which is a testimony to the manager’s leadership. The staff and the children talk about the home being a caring place. Inspection report for children’s home: 1232649 5 The manager is aspirational and challenges services if they are not meeting the children’s needs. One professional describes the manager as ‘tenacious’. The children can easily approach the manager with any requests that they may have, which are addressed appropriately. One child said, ‘She [the manager] gets things done.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager promotes a culture of learning. Individual supervision, group supervision and team meetings are used as opportunities for reflection and staff development. When children’s needs change, or new risks are identified, training is provided to support the staff to help to keep the children safe. The manager has good links with specialist services, and the knowledge gained from experts is used to improve staff practice. The manager invites staff and managers from other homes to her training and development days, to promote consistent and effective safeguarding training across the organisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager regularly reviews any changes to the home’s local environment. She achieves this through proactive partnership working with external agencies. This information is then used to evaluate newly identified risks or consider where risks have decreased, which then informs the children’s risk assessments.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Generally, recording is clear, and the manager has review systems in place to track the completion of tasks by staff. However, the manager’s oversight of the recording of the administration of medication is inconsistent. While an investigation was completed into one shortfall that the manager identified, the manager did not identify errors in the records predating this investigation. Therefore, the manager cannot be satisfied that medication is being safely administered and disposed of.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Commissioners, parents and children are prevented from having a detailed understanding of what the service has on offer as the statement of purpose does not contain all of the required information to meet regulation 16. Some information is confusing and is unclear, such as how the staff approach the need to hold children to keep themselves and others safe. Inspection report for children’s home: 1232649 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 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. (Regulation 16 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the statement of purpose contains: details of who to contact to complain and how to contact them; details of how to access the complaints policy; details of how to access the home’s child protection policies or behaviour management policy; and the name and work address of the registered provider, the name and work address of the responsible individual and the name and work address of the registered manager. The registered person must ensure that the statement of purpose contains details of the staffing structure of the home, and any criteria used for the admission of children to the home, including any policies and procedures for emergency admissions. 1 October 2022

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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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the details of any medicines kept for the child in the home, including details of the administration of any medicine to the child, and the disposal of any medicine are recorded. 1 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if– 1 October 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 1232649 7 there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s guide is age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21)  The registered person should ensure that any sanctions used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature and help the children to recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In particular, the registered person should regularly review sanctions to evaluate their effectiveness. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered manager should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a

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Recommendations

non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. In particular, consideration should be given to this recommendation when documenting children’s meetings. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 1232649 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Artemis Support Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 17 Queens Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1RN

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Inspectors

Julia Hagan, Social Care Inspector Laura Grundy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1232649 9 regulates and inspects 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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