Children's Home run by Coventry City Council in Coventry

Inspection report for children’s home: SC414347 1 SC414347 Registered provider: Coventry City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a local authority. It provides care for up to four children who may experience social and/or emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since December 2011 and is suitably qualified.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC414347 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/03/2022 Full Good 14/08/2019 Full Good 25/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/08/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC414347 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, two children have moved into the home and two children have moved out of the home. One child has moved to supported accommodation and one child has moved to foster care. At the time of the inspection, there were three children living in the home. Two of the children have lived in the home for over two years and one child has been living in the home for nearly a year.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good-quality care and support. A strength of the home is the positive relationships between children and staff. The children develop a sense of belonging and have a range of positive experiences. As a result, children are nurtured and feel secure. When asked what the best thing is about living at the home, one child said, ‘I get to do loads of fun things with the staff.’

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children have positive experiences when moving into or out of the home. Staff ensure that children have well-planned transitions. For example, prior to moving in, children visit the home to see what it is like and to meet the staff. This supports children to reduce their anxieties and settle into their new home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to access appropriate education to meet their needs. All children are in full-time education and their attendance is improving. When children have difficulties attending school, staff work closely with education professionals to ensure that children are supported back into school as soon as possible. This supports the children to progress educationally.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to try new things and develop hobbies and interests. One child attends weekly music and swimming lessons and is part of a radio broadcasting club. Another child is now part of a local community football team and commented that they have been on ‘the best holiday ever’ with staff. Sharing activities enables children to grow in confidence, improve their self-esteem and build positive relationships with carers.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy good physical and emotional health and well-being. Staff ensure that children are supported to access specialist mental health services and seek support from medical professionals when required. Staff work with children to help them to understand any health issues. This promotes positive health outcomes for children.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children’s voices being heard. Children’s views are highly valued by staff and managers. Children have many opportunities to have their say through general chats, children’s meetings and extensive key-work sessions. This provides children with opportunities to influence the care and support that they receive. They also have the space to talk about their achievements and reflect on and learn from incidents. This means that children feel valued and listened to, and they are supported to build trusting relationships. Inspection report for children’s home: SC414347 4 The home is spacious, clean and well decorated. Staff support children to personalise their bedrooms. Children are involved in decorating the home. This helps children to feel comfortable and gain a sense of belonging.

p.3

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

Managers and staff know the children well. They understand their needs, risks, and the actions they need to take to keep children safe. There have been times when children have displayed behaviours that have been challenging. Staff have managed most of these periods well.

p.4

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

Staff work extensively with the children so that the children understand their behaviours, risks and triggers. This work has supported the children to become safer. Overall, incidents have reduced.

p.4

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

Physical intervention is only used as a last resort. Since the last inspection, incidents requiring physical intervention have reduced. Records are detailed. Managers have oversight of all incidents, and they provide staff and children with a reflective debrief following the use of the intervention. This ensures that, when used, physical intervention is proportionate and necessary.

p.4

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

Incidents of children going missing from home are infrequent. When children are missing, the staff follow the missing-from-home protocols. When children return, they are warmly welcomed back, and they understand that staff worry for their safety. This means that children can talk to staff about what happened while they were missing and feel reassured.

p.4

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

Staff respond with sensitivity and compassion when children harm themselves. This means that children know that they will get help if they need it and so they seek this from staff.

p.4

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

Children are supported to understand the consequences of their actions through a restorative approach. For example, when children damage furniture, they are encouraged to repair the damage that they have caused. Staff have also supported one child to participate in a behaviour management workshop with local police. This has helped the child to understand how their behaviour impacts on others and what the repercussions could be if the behaviour continues.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by an experienced registered manager, who has been in post for over 10 years. She and the staff are ambitious and passionate about the care they provide to children. They have excellent relationships with professionals. Feedback from professionals about the standard of care and the progress that children make is positive.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have effective monitoring systems which support them to review the quality of care. They use these well, along with development plans and independent Inspection report for children’s home: SC414347 5 visitor assessments, to continually assess and improve the quality of care for children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers support the staff well. Staff receive regular high-quality practice-related supervision and annual appraisals. This helps staff to feel supported and develops their practice. There are also regular team meetings, to reflect on children’s care and discuss how the team can work best. This ensures that children receive consistent, good-quality care. Most staff are positive about the support they receive.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well trained. As well as mandatory training, they have been provided with child-specific training. This means that staff have the skills and knowledge to keep children safe.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers respond quickly to complaints. However, records do not always show the actions taken in response, and the outcomes of complaints are unclear. For example, when there have been complaints from residents in the local community, it is not clear what actions managers have taken to repair relationships.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has not ensured that records for children are always child focused. For example, in some records, the language used is not nurturing and could be seen as blaming. This is a weakness. It is not helpful to children and will not support children to feel consistently valued and cared for. Inspection report for children’s home: SC414347 6

p.5

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3))

p.6

Requirement Due date

This is in respect of the manager recording the outcome of any complaints. 8 March 2023

p.6

Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information about individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. They should ensure that records are completed in a way that is helpful to children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

p.6

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: SC414347 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Coventry City Council, Council House, Earl Street, Coventry CV1 5RR

p.7

Inspector

Sonia Sullivan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC414347 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

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

p.8