Children's home run by Platform Childcare Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 1 Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is newly registered and holds a level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account good

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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Overall experiences and progress of

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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Overall experiences and progress of

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected. Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This was the home’s first inspection. At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the home. One child had moved on from the home. Staff and partner agencies worked together well to support the child to transition back to the care of their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to settle well into the home from very unsettled starting points. Staff know the children well, and their consistent child-centred approach takes account of the trauma children have experienced. This enables them to provide the children with individualised care. The children feel safe and secure. One child’s social worker told the inspector, ‘[name of child] felt comfortable and safe enough to have significant conversations with staff, which have really kept her safe.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff provide children with support to pursue their individual interests. They encourage children to try new and exciting activities in and around the home and out in the community. One child was seen by the inspector to be completing artwork during the inspection. The child also talked to the inspector about her love of rock music and how the staff support her to attend guitar lessons.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have secure, nurturing relationships with children. The children enjoy spending time with the staff, and they feel valued and cared for. One child told the inspector that although she likes going shopping and hanging out with her friends, she also likes doing activities with staff. Another child, who was undertaking a virtual lesson during the inspection, felt comfortable asking staff to sit with them for support while they completed the virtual lesson.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children maintaining relationships with people who are important to them and support them to see their families and friends. One family member told the inspector that although the child would prefer to live with family, the child was content living at the home. He shared that he had not seen the child for a period of seven months when the child lived at another children’s home. He said, ‘It is down to those good people where you are that I am seeing him regularly now.’ He commented that staff are caring and that the child felt safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage and support children to attend school and complete schoolwork. One child who did not previously attend school frequently told the inspector that since living at this home, she has attended school every day. The child’s parent spoke to the inspector and confirmed the improved school attendance and commented on how ‘brilliant’ living at [this home] has been for the child’s progress. However, one child does not have an educational placement. The manager has not robustly challenged the placing authority to ensure that this is put in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children enjoy living in a spacious, comfortable and homely environment. Children’s rooms are cosy, personalised, clean and tidy. Staff work hard to create an Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 4 atmosphere that is warm, child-friendly, relaxed, yet interactive. However, there are some areas of the home that require repair work to be undertaken to create a consistent homely feel throughout. For example, a curtain and curtain rail in the hallway have fallen off the wall and need repair.

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

Staff and the manager respond to safeguarding concerns well. For example, when children go missing from home, staff search local areas and the areas that the children may have links to. In addition, they contact all relevant professionals, such as social workers and the police, as well as parents. Overall, staff record incidents clearly, although shortfalls were identified in two records that did not detail all the steps taken when responding to incidents.

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

Children receive independent return home interviews that explore whether they have suffered any harm. Staff undertake resilience work with children to help them to feel safe and settled when they are feeling upset and to explore if there is anything they can do to prevent this from happening in the future. Consequently, there have not been any further missing-from-care incidents for a child who previously went missing almost daily before living at this home.

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

Staff and the manager are proactive in identifying any concerns around peer relationships. When children appear to be unkind to each other, staff monitor this and do resilience work with them. Staff emphasise the importance of celebrating difference and being empathetic. Consequently, staff’s encouragement of children to have empathy for each other has resulted in there being no incidents related to bullying, and children relate well to each other.

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

Leaders and managers respond to allegations immediately. If these do occur, staff prioritise the safety and well-being of children. Leaders are thorough in their investigations. However, outcomes are not shared promptly with the registered manager to influence learning and staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is passionate, motivated and keen to develop the service. Staff are supported by the manager. They have regular supervision sessions. These, alongside team meetings and training, contribute to staff development and have a positive impact on the care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and staff work together to provide children with a consistently nurturing and supportive environment where their needs are met and they are supported to work towards achieving positive outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals are complimentary of the care the registered manager and staff provide. A social worker said that before moving to the home, the child would regularly talk about moving to foster care. Since moving to the home, she said the child no longer talks about moving to foster care and has now turned their focus to Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 5 returning to school. The social worker believes this shows how settled they are. All the involved professionals and the family have commented on how effectively the registered manager and staff communicate with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the children well and is aware of the progress they have made. However, there are currently no monitoring systems in place to allow oversight of practice and review of incidents and learning. A recommendation has been made to ensure the required improvements are made. Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 6

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Recommendations

 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. In particular, ensure that all steps related to responses to incidents are clearly recorded. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason. If no education place is identified by the placing authority, the registered person must challenge them to meet the child’s needs under regulation 5 (engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15).  The registered person should ensure that children’s homes are nurturing and

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Recommendations

supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. In particular, ensure that identified repairs are progressed so that that all areas of the home are warm and welcoming for children to use. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should actively seek to make best use of information from internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. In particular, to have systems in place to evidence management oversight, lessons learned that influence continuous improvement in safeguarding practices. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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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: 2694819 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 2, First Floor, Millennium Court, First Avenue, Centrum 100, Burton-upon-Trent DE14 2WH

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Inspector

Sharon Bourne, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 8 inspects 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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