Children's home run by Heathfield (Parkgate) Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2667771 1 Registered provider: Heathfield (Parkgate) Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care for up to four children who may have special educational needs. At the time of the inspection there were three children living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 31 March 2022.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2667771 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive individualised care from skilled and knowledgeable staff. All children have identified trusted adults who they can go to if they have any worries. Detailed care plans are in place to support staff to meet the needs of the children. However, timeliness of updating these plans is mixed. This means that staff do not always have the most up-to-date guidance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consistently support and encourage children to make significant progress in key areas of their lives, such as education, daily life skills and communication. Staff celebrate children’s achievements through discussions with children and awarding them with certificates in recognition of their achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s physical health, mental health and well-being are promoted. All children are registered with local health professionals. Children attend health appointments and any changes to their health needs are well documented.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to communicate according to their individual needs. Staff use communication aids, such as symbol-based language. This ensures that children’s views are understood and their needs are met. Children are supported to communicate through meetings and one-to-one discussions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, staff advocate for children and respond to their wishes and feelings. This has resulted in improved arrangements for one child to see their family. In addition, children have opportunities to contribute their views on the décor of the home and what activities that they would like to do.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have attended a variety of training courses that are specific to the individual needs of the children. This bespoke training allows staff to have a greater understanding of the children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Equality and diversity are both well understood and celebrated at the home. Staff are passionate about ensuring all children have positive opportunities and are not restricted by their individual level of ability. Children have enjoyed specifically planned and carefully risk assessed activities including bike rides, fishing and farm activities. One child celebrated their birthday, and staff arranged a party and invited friends from the child’s school.

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

Staff demonstrate a good knowledge of safeguarding procedures and how to keep children safe. Safeguarding is a consistent topic of discussion in staff supervision sessions and team meetings. This ensures that good safeguarding practices are shared and prioritised. Inspection report children’s home: 2667771 3 When children move into the home, their risks are well known and shared. If information is missing, staff and leaders request the information to allow informed decisions to be made prior to children moving into the home. Detailed impact assessments ensure that risks are well known and understood by staff. As a result, staff know how best to support children.

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

Children do not go missing from home. This is progress for one child who previously went missing from home prior to moving in. Staff have a good knowledge of the procedures should children go missing from home.

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

Staff use effective de-escalation techniques to support children. These reduce the use of restraint to manage children’s behaviours. However, when staff have used a restraint, the recording of such incidents is inconsistent. Some reports do not describe the type of hold that was used or its effectiveness. The process for reflection and learning varies, and subsequent changes to behaviour plans are not always timely.

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good

The registered manager is highly ambitious and has high aspirations for staff and children. However, the monitoring of the home is not consistent and is not in keeping with her ambition. During the inspection staff struggled to find some key information about children because it was not filed effectively. This, combined with the lack of rigour regarding restraint management, does not enable staff to be consistently aware of key information when making decisions about children.

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good

A review of safer recruitment processes highlighted significant gaps. Relevant checks had not been completed, including reference checks and Disclosure and Barring Service checks. This information was collated during the inspection from a variety of key personnel across the organisation. However, it is not clear how the registered manager has assured herself of the integrity of people working at the home.

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good

The staff are supported and motivated to continually develop, improve and broaden the experiences for children. They receive regular supervision to consider the impact of their work. Staff describe an approachable and supportive manager and a team that is friendly and welcoming. When asked about the home, one member of staff said, ‘I love it here.’

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good

Leaders have developed positive relationships with external professionals, ensuring that everyone is held accountable when trying to get the best outcomes for children. There is an especially strong relationship with school staff. Ongoing meetings and daily communication have meant a consistent approach for all children in supporting their education. This has resulted in improved attendance for all children.

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good

Despite the home only being open for a short period, the registered manager has identified areas of the home that she is aiming to develop. There has been a review Inspection report children’s home: 2667771 4 of how some of the communal rooms are used, with changes made quickly to improve them. One example of this is a storage area that has been turned into an art and music space that the children love to use. Inspection report children’s home: 2667771 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

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. (Requirement 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, care plans should be updated when required. 28 February 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. (Requirement 32 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager should ensure that recruitment checks are completed to a satisfactory standard and include reference checks and Disclosure and Barring Service checks. 28 February 2023

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration. (Requirement 35 (3)(a)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, restraint records should be reviewed and contain all relevant information. 28 February 2023

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 2667771 6 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: 2667771 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Heathfield (Parkgate) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Harrison Clark Rickerbys, 5 Deansway, Worcester WR1 2JG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jacqueline Smeeth

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Inspectors

Tony Waite, Social Care Inspector Mark Newington, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2667771 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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