Children's Home run by Evolution Children Services Limited in Newcastle upon Tyne

Inspection report for children’s home: SC382595 1 SC382595 Registered provider: Evolution Children Services 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. It provides care for up to five children who may have emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2016.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC382595 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/06/2021 Full Good 03/09/2019 Full Good 29/10/2018 Full Good 24/10/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC382595 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy and settled in the home. Staff have a caring and nurturing approach. This supports the children to build positive bonds with the staff and know that the staff are people who they can turn to for support. One child said, ‘The staff are all really caring, there is always someone there if I need them. I really like them.’ One professional described the progress made by one child as ‘phenomenal’, while another professional said they were ‘extremely impressed’ with the standard of care that staff provide to the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress with their education. Staff have high aspirations and expectations for children to attend and engage at school. Staff prepare the children well for their day ahead, which has a positive effect on the children’s ability to learn. Staff encourage the children to be aspirational about their futures and they support them to access higher education. Staff work with education specialists and children’s social workers to address any barriers to learning that the children may face. Staff celebrate with children educational achievements, which further encourages children to make continued progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain relationships with those who are important to them. The staff are skilled at talking with the children about their relationships and their individual anxieties. Staff develop good relationships with the children’s family members, and with the adults who are responsible for caring for the children’s friends. Regardless of geographical distance or location, the staff plan and arrange this time. This enables the children to develop their relationships and have a positive experience of seeing their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s voices are heard. Children are encouraged and provided with opportunities to share their views about their home and to inform their care. The children can see, or are informed of, the outcome of their requests. One child said, ‘Staff spend time with us, and we look at what food we would like to eat, and things we want in the home. We all have a say.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a wide range of activities and they are consulted about the activities that they would like to do. Staff encourage the children to have new experiences, such as trying pottery, origami, boxing and wild swimming. One child said, ‘I play football for a team. The staff take me to training every week, and come and support me on weekends with my matches, just like a family would.’ Living at this home means that children enjoy positive experiences, and this helps them to develop confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children flourish in this home as the manager and his staff create an environment which promotes diversity, equality and inclusion. Children are encouraged to develop positive relationships with each other. Staff support children well to manage and develop safe friendships and mutual respect. Inspection report for children’s home: SC382595 4 Some areas of the home are well kept and provide cosy and comfortable places for the children to spend time with the staff. However, a locked door within a communal area creates unnecessary separation and prevents children from accessing all areas of their home. Furthermore, there is some damage in the hallways and high standards of cleanliness are not consistent throughout the home. These shortfalls prevent the children from living in a physically stimulating environment.

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

The local police force commended the home’s staff for their safe management of children who go missing. Children rarely go missing from the home. When they do, the staff follow the identified processes so that they can find the children and return them home safely. Once a child returns home, the manager ensures that an independent return interview takes place. This ensures that the child can talk about their time away from the home. When there is a delay in the children receiving this interview, the manager escalates this with the child’s placing authority. The manager recognises that this information may be important and may lead to a change to the child’s risk assessment. Therefore, the manager also ensures that the staff spend time talking with the children when they return to the home. This practice promotes the children’s welfare and safety.

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

Children are helped to stay safe online. Children receive education from staff around internet safety, and suitable measures are in place to control the children’s access to the internet. This helps to promote good routines for children, which has had a positive effect on children’s sleep patterns and attendance at school.

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

Key-work sessions take place regularly and focus on the children’s needs. The staff are sensitive to the children’s experiences and have an empathic, nurturing approach, which helps the children to feel supported and understood. Staff use a range of tools to provide the children with targeted work to promote their safety. For some children, there has been a significant decrease of displays of self-injurious behaviour.

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

The staff use a restorative approach towards managing the behaviour of children. Children’s positive behaviour is reinforced using rewards and praise. This helps children to reflect and consider the impact of their behaviour on themselves and others. Children are helped to develop an understanding of socially acceptable behaviour which further promotes relationships between children living in the home.

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

Recruitment procedures follow safer recruitment guidelines. This gives assurance that adults are suitably vetted prior to caring for the children.

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

Some children’s health and well-being is compromised. The staff do not consistently address the children’s inappropriate use of vapes or challenge children who smoke, as the strategies to manage these behaviours are not clearly recorded in all of the children’s risk assessments. Inspection report for children’s home: SC382595 5 CCTV surveillance is used as a security measure to protect the home from intruders. However, there is no policy for the monitoring device, and the manager has not obtained the necessary permission from the child or their placing authority. Therefore, it is unclear if they are aware of this practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is experienced and he is supported by a stable staff team, which is committed to providing good-quality care to children. Although at times there have been staffing shortages, the staff have undertaken additional shifts, which helps to ensure that the children experience consistency and familiarity. Collectively, the staff spoke about feeling supported by one another and the management team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision by appropriately trained staff. Supervision is reflective and considers the needs of the children, areas for staff development, any identified training needs and the personal welfare of the staff member. Staff use supervision to raise and discuss any practice issues. When practice falls short of the standards expected by the manager, this is addressed in supervision and a clear plan is put in place to review performance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have completed the provider’s mandatory training, as well as bespoke training to further understand the needs of the children. Staff have completed training to help them to understand gender identity. This has helped some children to understand and accept their identity, which has increased their confidence and self- esteem.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager encourages open and transparent communication between the staff and other professionals. Professionals compliment staff communication. One professional said,

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

‘The staff include me in regular email updates about how [child’s name] is doing, not just the difficult times, but letting me know about the activities that [child’s name] enjoys. I receive monthly updates which show me how much progress [child’s name] has made.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place with good staff attendance and there is a strong focus on the children and the learning from practice. Key workers use monthly trackers to inform purposeful discussions at the team meetings. This enables the staff to have current knowledge of how to meet each child’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has a good understanding of the children’s progress, and of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. The registered manager has robust monitoring systems in place, which identify any patterns to children’s behaviour, allowing for early intervention and preventing escalation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Documents seen during the inspection reflect the needs of the children well. However, some documents were not complete, and some documents are not signed Inspection report for children’s home: SC382595 6 and/or dated. These shortfalls have not been identified by the manager’s review and audit process. Inspection report for children’s home: SC382595 7

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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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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 premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)) 8 December 2022

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)) 8 December 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC382595 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s risk assessments consistently contain details of how the staff should manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that all the children’s case records are kept up to date and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)  The registered person should ensure that there is a written policy describing how CCTV supports the safeguarding and well-being of those living and working in the home in accordance with regulation 24. Homes must gain consent to any monitoring or surveillance by the placing authority in writing at the time of placement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality

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Recommendations

standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16)  The registered person should ensure that the children can access all shared areas of their home, unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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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: SC382595 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Evolution Children Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 17 Queens Lane, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 1RN

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Inspectors

Claire Webster, Social Care Inspector Paula Kelly, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC382595 10 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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