Children's Home run by Sheffield City Council in Sheffield

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 1 SC066747

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Registered provider: Sheffield City Council

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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 local authority and provides care for up to five children who may have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

In addition to supporting children already in care, the home acts as a bridging placement to allow children to achieve permanence in a foster family, with birth family, or, for older young people, in the community. There were four children living at the home at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is qualified and experienced and has been registered with Ofsted since February 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspectors evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 2

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Findings from the inspection

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection.

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The care of children

Children develop trusting relationships with staff. The quality of these relationships enables children to seek advice, guidance and support from staff about the matters that affect them the most, for example their emotional and physical health and well- being. This helps the children living at this home to feel secure in knowing that they can turn to an adult for help.

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The care of children

The children benefit from the time they spend with staff and the regular conversations they have about the children’s day-to-day lives. Staff talk with children about their education, relationships, personal interests and identity. For some children, this has enabled them to discuss their cultural heritage with staff and the others living in the home.

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The care of children

The home is tastefully decorated and there is ample space for children to relax together or take time out and have privacy. The hard work from staff to maintain the environment enhances the children’s ability to live comfortably.

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The care of children

Children are supported to attend all of the primary healthcare services. Specialist help is also available for children through the team’s working partnership with the local multi-agency psychological support (MAPS) team. This ensures that children have the help they need. The clinical psychologist from the MAPS team said, ‘The team at [name of home] works very well with us and has been significant for [name of child].’

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The care of children

Staff encourage and support children to attend their respective schools and colleges. When difficulties arise with the children’s attendance and engagement, staff work with the relevant education professionals to agree a way forward and reduce the impact of the disruption on the children’s education.

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The care of children

The team of staff strongly promote and develop the children’s ability to travel independently. They offer guidance and direction to children when additional help is needed. Children also benefit from learning other life skills, including cooking meals, attending their own appointments, budgeting and shopping.

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The care of children

Staff use ‘you said, we did’ forms to capture important conversations with children. The simple process shows how staff listen to the children’s voice and what action they take as a result, for example arranging for children to enjoy their favourite hobby or activity, such as singing lessons. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 3

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The safety of children

The staff develop trusting and secure relationships with children. This has helped to reduce the level of risk and concern for the children’s welfare. There have been fewer missing-from-home and behavioural incidents and a reduction in the level of staff supervision needed to keep children safe.

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The safety of children

The children have mixed feelings about their experiences of living together. Staff listen to them when they share their feelings about the frustrations they hold. This is helping the children to build their tolerance and acceptance of each other. When emotions spill over, staff members intervene to reduce the risk of children being harmed.

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The safety of children

The staff provide children with a structured daily routine that helps them to feel safe. They have a strong insight to the children’s emotional needs and adjust their responses to help children cope with difficult emotions.

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The safety of children

When missing-from-home incidents occur, staff follow the children’s protocols and take the necessary action to help them to return home safely.

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The safety of children

Restraint incidents are rare. However, when staff have had to hold a child, it has been necessary and proportionate. Managers have oversight of the incidents and provide children and staff with a debrief to explore practice concerns and support staff reflection.

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The safety of children

The direction recorded in a child’s risk assessment for staff to follow with regards to calling the police in response to unsafe behaviours is unclear. On a couple of occasions when police assistance has been requested, the purpose of their attendance increased the risk of children being unintentionally criminalised. This may also have a detrimental effect on the progress children make.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Managers use the feedback from external monitoring and regulatory inspections to develop the service to good effect. They have used the scrutiny of both processes to improve the quality of care for children and their leadership of the staff team. The requirements and recommendations from the last inspection have been met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered manager is supported by experienced assistant managers. Together, they share a focus for change and are aspirational for children. This has helped to nurture a positive team culture.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff feel well supported by managers. As a result, they feel stronger as a team. This has enhanced staff’s ability to have open discussions about the care needs for children and improve the consistency of their practice. Staff plan the day ahead to ensure that the strengths in their practice are matched to the daily care needs of the children. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 4 When children make a complaint, managers explore the concerns and agree on the necessary actions to resolve matters. However, for some children, their concern of living together feels unresolved as it cannot be easily rectified by managers. Managers and staff are aware of this and continue to work on improving the children’s experiences. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 5

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/07/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/02/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/12/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 14/08/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should review the children’s risk assessments to ensure that the threshold for calling the police is clear for staff to follow and there is a plan so that post-incident actions help to improve the children’s outcomes. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.40) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sheffield City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sheffield City Council, Town Hall, Pinstone Street, Sheffield S1 2HH

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Inspectors

Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Inspector Joanne Birtwhistle, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 8 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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Inspectors

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