Children's Home, Residential special school run by Ruskin Mill Trust Limited in Sheffield

Inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 1 SC423753 Registered provider: Ruskin Mill Trust Limited Full inspection 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 charitable trust, and it is situated in the grounds of a residential special school. Only the children’s home was inspected during this inspection. The home can provide care for up to five children with a range of complex needs, including learning disabilities. The children may be placed by various local authorities from across the United Kingdom. Children’s accommodation in the home can be agreed for up to 38 weeks during term time, or 52 weeks of the year.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in May 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

Ofsted last visited this setting on 24 and 25 February 2022 to carry out a full inspection. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, only one child was living in the home, on a part-time basis.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 24 February 2022

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good Inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 2 Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/02/2022 Full Good 10/03/2020 Full Good 16/01/2019 Full Outstanding 11/07/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 4

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improvement to be good

Children’s progress varies in this home as not all staff have a good enough understanding of children’s needs. One child has gained confidence in social situations due to their improved communication skills. This has supported better engagement in school and interactions with others. However, another child’s progress faltered in aspects of their self-care, health and well-being.

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improvement to be good

Children have not always had good relationships with each other in the home. Some behaviours displayed in the home have the potential for harm and professionals and parents shared concerns about these behaviours. Children raised concerns both with staff and with Ofsted through the online consultation forms and reported not feeling safe. Due regard was not given by staff to the impact of these behaviours. Staff later implemented strategies to manage relationships between children. However, these strategies were not effective in changing behaviours or preventing one child from feeling bullied.

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improvement to be good

Children move into the home in a planned way. They build up the time spent at the home gradually until they are ready to increase the duration of stays. Similarly, when they move out, this is done in a planned way. However, one child experienced an abrupt and unplanned end to their placement. This limited opportunities to undertake a thorough handover before the child left the home. This lack of planning leaves children feeling confused and rejected.

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improvement to be good

The children’s rooms are personalised and the communal areas comfortable and clean, with child-friendly resources. The views of children are recorded, and these inform their day-to-day care where possible. Children are supported to choose activities and identify the things that they enjoy. This helps the children to feel valued and improves their experiences in the home.

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improvement to be good

Children benefit from individualised care and support from staff. Managers and staff work with everyone involved with the children to ensure that information-sharing is promoted. Up-to-date information is recorded in children’s care plans. Children’s information is regularly discussed between professionals, which helps to promote consistency for children.

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improvement to be good

The requirement relating to the safe administration and storage of medication raised at the previous inspection remains unmet. The manager has taken steps to improve this area of practice, but a further incident occurred that involved a child having unsupervised access to the medication cabinet. This does not promote children’s safety. Inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 5 Children’s risks and vulnerabilities are recorded in their risk assessments and staff demonstrate an understanding of these. However, the assessed level of risk in these documents does not always align with the narrative and incidents that occur. This can lead to confusion and a lack of clarity about risks that may affect children and cause harm.

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improvement to be good

There have been no incidents of physical restraint within the home. This is due to the positive relationships that children have with the staff and the ability of staff to de-escalate children’s behaviour when it is heightened. This helps children to feel secure and maintains trusted relationships with the staff.

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good

The manager has tools and systems to monitor the quality of care that children receive. However, some of the documentation required under regulation needs further development. The quality-of-care report does not include the views of children in relating to the care they receive and any subsequent actions the manager will take. A recommendation was made at the last inspection about the Statement of Purpose being forwarded to Ofsted following any review. This document requires further review and amendment to ensure language aligns with that of a children’s homes. The workforce development plan does not detail how poor performance will be addressed or the additional training staff will undertake to meet the individual needs of children. The shortfalls in these records do not support the manager to improve the quality of care in the home.

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good

The manager has not always evaluated incidents of potential harm as serious and has not notified the regulator of significant events within the home, particularly in relation to bullying behaviours. This limits opportunities for the regulator to have oversight and check that appropriate actions are taken to keep children safe.

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good

The manager has made some positive changes to promote children’s safety and well-being. The manager has a strong aspirational vision for the home and is held in high regard by staff and others. Monitoring processes identified some areas for improvement and the manager has started to take effective action in this regard.

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good

Staff work closely with parents and professionals to build good relationships, and there are effective relationships with education colleagues. This helps to smooth transitions between the school and home. Concerns raised by care professionals or families are considered and steps to address these concerns are put in place, but these have not always been effective.

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good

The manager promotes reflective practice among the staff team. Regular discussions around how best to care for the children are well recorded to ensure absent members know what was agreed. The manager also ensures that training and Inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 6 additional workshops are provided that are specific to the children’s needs, which helps to improve staff practice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 7

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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 persons must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(xi)(xiii)) 31 December

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. (Regulation 23 (1)) 31 December

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 20 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months. 31 December Inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 8 In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”). (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s statement of purpose (regulation 16 and schedule 1) is developed and kept under review. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5)  The registered person should have a workforce plan that can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home, and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff, including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that all children’s case records are kept up to date, including their risk assessments. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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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, Inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 9 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: SC423753 10

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Ruskin Mill Trust Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Ruskin Mill, Mill Bottom, Old Bristol Road, Nailsworth, Gloucestershire GL6 0LA

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Inspectors

Rachel Ruth, Social Care Inspector Carol Jagger, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 11 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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