Children's Home run by Kisimul Group Limited in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 1 Registered provider: Kisimul Group Ltd 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 six children with severe learning disabilities. The home was registered in July 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since August 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/10/2021 Full Good 10/12/2019 Full Good 06/03/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children with learning disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, benefit from established routines that are thoroughly embedded in their daily lives. Staff have effective and well-established working relationships with external professionals from school and health services. This means that children are helped to settled and make progress in several areas of their lives and receive the services they need to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

External professionals and parents are confident in the care provided to the children. They say children make progress. When older children are planning to move on to an adult care provision, there is increased focus on these children learning the required independent living skills. This helps the children to go on and achieve in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to take part in exciting activities at the home and in their community. Changes to the home environment mean that children can now enjoy painting and other creative activities in a dedicated room. Children have enjoyed pampering sessions in the home and one child chose to go to a theme park with a friend to celebrate their birthday.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consistently follow children’s care and communication plans. For example, when children need extra help with independent eating, resources are readily available. This means children increase their skills and reduce dependence on others. When children require aids to help them communicate their views, wishes and feelings, electronic devices are freely available.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to personalise their bedrooms, so that rooms reflect the children’s individual tastes and interests. However, in some children’s bedrooms, minor improvements to decor would enhance children’s living experiences. This does not detract from a warm and inviting home environment.

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

The children’s individual risk assessments provide staff with guidance on how to reduce and manage children’s risks and vulnerabilities. Because the staff know the children so well, they can identify potential risks and triggers and take action to keep children safe.

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

Staff have not had to resort to restraining children. Staff receive training on how to work effectively with children to avoid the need for restraint. Annual refresher training ensures that the knowledge and skills of staff remain up to date. The staff use a variety of strategies to lower children’s anxieties. This includes using social stories with children to help them understand their feelings and emotions and supports them to start to self-regulate powerful emotions. Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 4 Children do not go missing from care. However, managers and staff are not complacent. Staff have access to detailed information which describes what action they must take if children do go missing. Additionally, this provides crucial information to share with the police and other safeguarding agencies if this is required. This helps to keep children safer.

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

Managers have ensured that children can see an independent advocate each month. Advocates have skills in using non-verbal communication methods to seek the children’s views, wishes and feelings. This independent overview strengthens the safeguarding culture in the home.

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good

The previous registered manager left in August 2022. The new manager has been in post for a short time. They are in the process of applying to be registered with Ofsted. In this intervening period, the home has been led by deputy managers, with oversight from the responsible individual. This has been a challenging period, and the home is looking forward to a period of stability with the new manager.

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good

Staff shortages have affected the experiences of children and staff morale. Staff vacancies have continued to be covered by temporary staff, sometimes from one of the provider’s settings that looks after adults. Other vacancies have been covered by staff from independent agencies. Staff say that this is improving, with the staff team becoming more consistent, leading to better staff morale.

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good

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that all staff receive regular supervision. Temporary staff covering shortages have not had the opportunity for formal supervision. This means that opportunities may have been missed to share safeguarding concerns, and for staff competency to be formally monitored by the manager. However, established staff receive regular and effective supervision meetings.

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good

Managers have ensured that there is a safe medication administration process. Staff are confident in the processes and know what to do if a mistake is made. However, not all staff have undertaken the required training. Due to this, staff from other homes have had to offer support with the medication administration process.

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good

Managers have ensured that staff have undertaken a high level of child-specific training, together with the required mandatory training. When specific training needs are identified for staff, the training is often provided by the therapy team who are based at the school the children attend.

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good

Following the last inspection, four requirements and three recommendations were made. Following this inspection, two requirements and two recommendations have been made, to ensure continued improvement. Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to temporary staff not receiving formal supervision with a manager. 2 March 2023

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 2 March 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 6 ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to staff without relevant experience of this group of children not being effective in managing challenging behaviours.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s homes are nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure they make suitable arrangements to manage, administer and dispose of any medication. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)

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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 for children’s home: 1277726 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kisimul School, The Old Vicarage, High Street, Swinderby, Lincoln, Lincolnshire LN6 9LU

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Inspector

Simon Hunter, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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