Children's Home run by Prime Nurture Services Limited in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2665204 1 Registered provider: Prime Nurture Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a manager who is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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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: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A compliance notice and a restriction notice were issued following the last full inspection. The compliance notice was judged to have been met at a monitoring visit on 22 August 2022. The restriction notice expired on 10 October 2022. Inspection report for children’s home: 2665204 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/07/2022 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2665204 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders and managers have made rapid progress since the last full inspection. Children are now safe at this home. Children are making very good progress, with good support from staff. Additionally, children have been able to develop some positive relationships with leaders, managers and staff. Children have become more relaxed and have better routines. They have the confidence to welcome and talk to professionals who visit them. One child now has an advocate and is starting to attend meetings about his own care planning. This enables the child to take part in decisions being made about his care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff work effectively with involved agencies to help children attend school. This has been particularly difficult for two children. Managers were required to escalate their concerns about delays to children being enrolled at school and college. There has been some progress in this area. For example, one child is now going to school and has a home tutor and mentor. This is helping him to establish formal learning again after a long period out of education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support and encourage children to take part in a range of activities. For example, children enjoy baking and artwork, and going to the local park and trampolining. This enables them to take part in physical exercise and keep fit. Managers and staff take photographs of these activities, so children feel valued and have memories of the fun and significant times in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff pay close attention to children’s health needs. They ensure that children attend appointments so that they receive timely medical attention. One child has experienced ongoing emotional distress requiring specialist help. Leaders and managers have worked tirelessly with external agencies to support the child through these very difficult times. This has ensured that he is now accessing the care he needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with their families and those close to them. This can be at the home, online or at other venues. The arrangements for children to see their families are regularly reviewed to ensure that they are consistent with any changes made to children’s care plans. The manager and staff ensure that children have written information about their visits to family. As a result, children can look forward to these times and make plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff undertake regular direct work with children, talking to them about important issues. The records of this work do not always reflect the thoughtful ways in which staff are working with children. The manager has plans in place to introduce new ways of portraying the work, for example through pictorial and interactive resources. This will help records to be more meaningful for children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2665204 4

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

Leaders and managers understand the risks posed to and by children. Risk- management plans are greatly improved. They are now thorough, contain relevant information and are proportionate to manage known risks. Where risks are identified as high, relevant agencies contribute to the plans to provide specialist knowledge. Staff update children’s plans and keep them up to date, particularly following an incident. Managers are continuing to improve the format of the document so that patterns and trends can be more easily identified.

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

The manager has embedded a therapeutic model of parenting to help staff manage children’s behaviour. This has helped staff to grow in confidence and incidents are reducing, particularly for one child. The staff have been required to manage some acute incidents where children have become distressed. Leaders and managers have supported staff well during these incidents, taking the lead where necessary. External professionals have provided excellent feedback in relation to one child, who has been kept safe in some very difficult circumstances. This has prevented him from coming to harm.

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

Incidents are generally recorded well; however, some details are not consistently included, such as details of techniques to help a child regulate their feelings, and staff debriefings. Managers have devised new documents to ensure that these details are recorded in the future.

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

The manager and staff respond well when children are missing from care. The staff are proactive in searching for children and ensure that all relevant external agencies are informed. This ensures that children return home safely. Return home interviews are carried out, which means that important information can be gathered about missing-from-care incidents and used to assess risks of harm, such as exploitation.

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

Leaders and managers have a very good understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities. They act quickly when concerns are raised about children’s safety. Children and staff are supported in these circumstances. Leaders and managers maintain good relationships with all relevant external safeguarding agencies. As a result, professionals have good oversight of any concerns and have confidence that children are protected.

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good

There has been instability in the management arrangements. The previous manager left recently with immediate effect, and there has been no registered manager since July 2022. The responsible individual has provided excellent leadership during this time. She has ensured that staff have been supported during periods of change and instability and that children’s care has been consistent. The children and staff speak positively about her commitment, which has been commendable. Inspection report for children’s home: 2665204 5 A new manager is now in post. He is supported by a newly appointed deputy who has good knowledge of the home. The new manager is highly motivated to bring stability, and plans to register with Ofsted. The responsible individual continues to lead the home until the manager has been fully inducted. This is providing children and staff with the stability they need during this transition.

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good

Leaders and managers continue to work on establishing a stable staff team. Some staff have worked at the home since its registration. However, some staff have left, and agency staff have been used on occasion to support the core staff team. Recruitment is ongoing, with a new member of staff recently appointed. Leaders and managers have ensured that staff are recruited in accordance with safer recruitment procedures. However, some electronic documents are missing. Leaders are currently resolving this shortfall as they recognise that information always needs to be available.

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good

The responsible individual has worked hard to meet the requirements and recommendations from the last full inspection. She has motivated the team to work alongside her to achieve this. There have been considerable improvements, particularly in keeping children safe. Managers are currently working on unifying the team to ensure that children receive the consistency of care they need. They also recognise the importance of ensuring that all care staff make progress with obtaining the required qualification for residential childcare in a timely way. This will ensure that staff are working within the required professional framework. Inspection report for children’s home: 2665204 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 provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

is an organisation or a partnership. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the recently appointed acting manager registers with Ofsted within the required timescales and informs Ofsted of the reason for any delay to this process. 23 December 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff record information about work with children in a way that is helpful for children. The relates in particular to key- work sessions and incident reports. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that records kept electronically (Regulation 38) can be easily accessed by anyone with a legitimate need to view them and, if required, be reproduced in a legible form. Electronic records should be held at the individual home in accordance with data protection principles. IT systems should ensure the safe storage of these records and business continuity planning should be in place to prevent loss or damage to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)  The registered person should demonstrate every effort to achieve continuity of

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Recommendations

staffing so that children’s attachments are not overly disrupted, including ensuring that the employment of any temporary staff will not prevent children from receiving the continuity of care that they need (regulation 31(1)). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 51, paragraph 10.1) Inspection report for children’s home: 2665204 7  The registered person should ensure that staff in a care role, including external agency or bank staff, have the qualification in regulation 32(4) within the relevant timescale listed in regulation 32(5). The registered person may extend the time period if the member of staff hasn’t worked in the role for a prolonged period, such as sick leave or maternity leave, or if it is not reasonable to expect the member of staff to complete in this timescale due to the nature of the hours they work. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality

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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: 2665204 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Prime Nurture Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Newstead House, Pelham Road, Nottingham NG5 1AP

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Inspector

Laura Walker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2665204 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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