Children's home run by Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council

Inspection report for children’s home: 2701187 1 Registered provider: Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by the local authority. It provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties. Four children were living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager registered with Ofsted in August 2022.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection, and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: not applicable.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2701187 2

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outstanding

Children have made and continue to make exceptional progress. The staff and the manager are highly skilled in building and maintaining positive and trusted relationships. There is strong evidence that staff and the manager set clear expectations, are consistent and dependable. Staff care about the children and listen to them. Children say that they like the staff and the manager, have good relationships with them and can talk to staff about any concerns. Staff communicate well so that children can develop a clear understanding of issues, particularly relating to the decisions that affect them. This shows how staff use the recognised model of care to help children to develop positive ways to express their feelings, solve problems and feel secure and loved. There are no complaints recorded, but children know how to make a complaint if they need to.

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outstanding

Staff enable children to be highly involved in their care. They work well with children to make sure that their care plans contain their views and are holistic and individualised. Staff keep excellent records of how they get regular feedback from children about their care, their aspirations, and the action they take to improve children’s care and experiences. This process is called ‘how we listen to you’. The manager also writes the children letters to explain how staff have listened to them. These records are very child focused, which helps children to know that the adults value their views and that they are listened to.

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outstanding

Children are making excellent progress in their education, academically and socially, and are achieving milestones. All the children have education provision which they attend regularly. Staff and the manager work effectively with the virtual school. They advocate on behalf of children in their best interests. Where needed, staff participate in assessments of educational needs and reviews of education, health and care plans.

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outstanding

Staff support children to access the community to participate in activities they enjoy, such as day trips, holidays and spending time with their friends. Children take part in key events in their local community, such as celebrating special occasions and holidays. When an incident occurred nearby, staff spoke to children about the impact of their behaviour on neighbours. This helped them to learn about being a good neighbour. Children wrote a letter of apology and bought a box of chocolates for the neighbour, which was well received. This shows that children are active and positive members of their local community.

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outstanding

Staff make sure that children attend appointments to support their physical and mental health. They communicate with the looked after children’s nurse and follow their advice to meet children’s physical health needs. As a result, children are in good health. Inspection report for children’s home: 2701187 3 Staff decorate and furnish the home well, which means that it is looked after and feels welcoming and homely. The home has locks on communal doors and the pantry door, although only the pantry door was locked during this visit. Staff have recorded that this is because sharp knives are kept in the pantry, and they may need to lock rooms to manage potential incidents. Their use is detailed in risk assessments and children have not raised this as an issue. However, staff and the manager are not regularly considering ways to reduce these limits on access. This means that opportunities for reducing restrictions, which supports the home to be

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outstanding

more like a family home for children, could be missed.

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

Children say that they feel safe. Staff and the manager make sure that children have clear risk assessments and risk management plans. This provides staff with clear strategies to follow. This better protects children by reducing the risks to their safety and the safety of others.

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

Staff and the manager support children to take age-appropriate risks. Staff understand the issues that can affect children’s safety, including types of exploitation, radicalisation and online safety risks. They talk to children to help them understand risks to their safety in the outside world, to help them better protect themselves. This means that children are developing independence.

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

Staff help children to manage their feelings and develop positive coping skills. For one child, this means they have not gone missing for a long time. There are no incidents of missing from home for the other children. The manager and staff always bring children home at any time when needed.

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

Staff use de-escalation techniques effectively and can diffuse incidents well. This means that they rarely use physical intervention. Leaders are reviewing the suitability of the physical intervention model to make sure that it is effective for all children who may live at the home. They identified that it is not suitable for one of the older children due to their size. While this work is underway, staff have a suitable plan to follow to manage any incidents involving the child. Children are well supported by staff who understand how to help to reassure them when their emotions are heightened.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

An experienced and qualified manager leads the home effectively. The manager has a clear vision and values which place children and improving their lives at the centre of the home. She leads by example and sets clear expectations for staff and children. Staff say that they feel highly supported and like part of a family. This supports the quality of care provided and the outcomes for children positively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager makes sure that all staff have clear roles and responsibilities. She inspires staff, provides high-quality support for their development and enables them to take on additional responsibilities. There are examples where staff have Inspection report for children’s home: 2701187 4 progressed into more senior roles in the home through the opportunities provided for their development. The manager supports and gets involved in the creative ideas from staff but bases any actions on the current model or new research. The culture of the highly invested team means that children are receiving high-quality, child- focused care that enables them to progress and thrive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager’s comprehensive monitoring systems and processes mean that leaders oversee the running of the home well. These enable clear oversight of the quality of care and performance of the staff. Staff’s record-keeping is exceptional, which means that there are complete records of children’s care and clear audit trails of all actions taken. The manager identifies areas that the home can further develop and makes clear plans to make these improvements. For example, the physical interventions model is being reviewed to better protect all children, and a new independent visitor will be appointed to improve consistency and scrutiny of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home has a skilled and established team of staff to meet children’s needs. The manager has filled vacancies for staff through effective recruitment. This means that agency staff are not used, and children are cared for consistently by staff who know them well. There are plans in place to fill remaining vacancies and to make sure that staff keep up to date with all their mandatory training. The manager also sources additional training for staff to ensure that their knowledge and skills develop.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The team values the expertise of partner agencies and builds positive working relationships to benefit children’s lives. There are positive examples where the manager has worked well with a charity to educate children on the dangers in and around the transport network following a recent incident. This means that children are better protected from these risks and there have been no further incidents around the railways. Inspection report for children’s home: 2701187 5

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Recommendation

 The registered person should review the limits on access to the pantry and the locks on communal doors to make sure that limits on access are only in place where this is necessary to safeguard each child in the home. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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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: 2701187 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Doncaster Council, Civic Office, Waterdale, Doncaster DN1 3BU

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Catherine Richardson

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Inspector

Honor Hamshaw, Social Care Inspector Sue Atkinson Millmoor, Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report for children’s home: 2701187 7 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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