Children's Home run by Esland South Limited in Hertfordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC425418 1 SC425418 Registered provider: Esland South Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and provides care for up to four children who have complex needs and require specialist support.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC425418 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/10/2021 Full Good 02/07/2019 Full Good 03/05/2018 Full Good 26/04/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC425418 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, there were two children living at the home. The overall experiences for these children are positive and they are making good progress. The manager and the staff know the children well and treat them with kindness and respect.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s placement plans are comprehensive and detailed. These plans ensure that staff work consistently with children. The plans are reviewed with the children, which helps them to understand how the staff are working with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff actively encourage children to attend education and see education as an important part of daily life. When children struggle to attend school or college, the staff advocate for the children and work with providers to find an alternative education plan. One child was supported to take his GCSEs and gain part-time employment. This is a significant achievement for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff organise regular meetings where they encourage children to discuss a variety of topics. Staff use these meetings to ascertain children’s wishes and feelings. The manager responds to children’s views and feeds back to them on the decisions that are made. This helps children to feel that their views are important, listened to and acted on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support a range of activities that reflect the children’s interests and hobbies. Activities have included days out in London, an aeroplane flight to Scotland, a caravan holiday, and helping the maintenance man with repairs. These experiences increase the children’s self-esteem, develop their skills and support them to explore new interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a modern and clean home. However, the upstairs hallway is showing signs of wear, which detracts from what is otherwise a welcoming home.

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

Children feel safe because the staff provide them with a stable and safe home. The children can identify staff who they can speak to if they have any worries.

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

There are no concerns about bullying at the home. The staff adopt a zero-tolerance approach towards bullying. Staff support children individually to understand appropriate interactions with each other. Children enjoy each other’s company and sometimes choose to do activities together.

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

Staff understand the risks for the children and actively help them to manage these. Children have individualised missing-from-home protocols which support staff should the children go missing. Missing-from-home incidents are rare. However, when they Inspection report children’s home: SC425418 4 do occur, staff actively search for children and debrief them on their return. Children have return home interviews with an independent person. Staff use information from the interviews to develop further risk-reduction measures.

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

Staff access safeguarding training. The training helps them to recognise and identify exploitation, county lines and online abuse. Safeguarding concerns are shared appropriately with external professionals. This allows the most relevant professionals to respond to any incidents and to contribute to children’s safety plans.

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

The monitoring and maintenance of fire doors are not effective. Two fire doors do not self-close. This increases the risk to children and staff in the event of a fire.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has the qualifications and experience for the role. He is child centred and has a detailed knowledge of the children’s needs. He responds promptly to any incidents involving children and discusses these with children to understand their behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff morale is high. Staff speak highly of the management team. They feel well supported, valued and equipped to fulfil their roles. Staff receive regular child- focused supervision. Supporting staff in this way helps to retain staff and enables them to provide good care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are well attended. These provide a supportive forum for staff development, team-building and training. Team meeting topics are innovative and child focused. Continuous development of staff means that staff have the tools and knowledge to provide good, individualised care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managerial monitoring is effective. Children’s records are well organised, thorough and fully inclusive. The manager has effective systems in place to ensure that there is good oversight and meaningful evaluation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have good working partnerships with other agencies and professionals, such as the local authority, social workers and the police. One professional said that the staff are great advocates and that they support children to develop independence skills in a structured way. Another professional said that communication is excellent and staff are proactive and committed to the children. Working collaboratively enables the team to support children in a more coordinated and effective way. Inspection report children’s home: SC425418 5

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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

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, carry out regular checks to ensure that fire doors are maintained effectively. 28 December

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home is decorated and maintained to a consistently high standard throughout. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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 children’s home: SC425418 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland South Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suites 1 and 5, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper, Derbyshire DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Paula Lewis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC425418 7 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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