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

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 1 SC423753

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Registered provider: Ruskin Mill Trust Limited

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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 is in the grounds of a residential special school. It provides care for up to five children who have a range of complex needs and learning disabilities. At the time of the inspection, only one child was living in the home, on a part-time basis.

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Information about this children’s home

The residential placements are for 38 or 52 weeks of the year. The school also caters for day pupils. Admission to the home and school is based on the service being able to meet the needs contained within a child’s education, health and care plan.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspector only inspected the social care provision at this school.

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Information about this children’s home

Date of last inspection: 15 November 2022

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Information about this children’s home

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspector evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. The inspector has looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 2 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 3

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Findings from the inspection

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection.

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The care of children

The staff help the child to maintain a good daily routine that keeps them stimulated, active and occupied. Positive and well-thought-out changes to the child’s education plans mean that their education attendance has improved since the last inspection. The daily structure of the school and the home helps to prevent boredom, and the child’s engagement in social activity is helping the child to build suitable relationships with staff.

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The care of children

The child has been involved in the planning and preparation for another child’s move into the home. Although this admission has not been finalised, the children have been able to meet, and the dynamic of the children together has informed the manager’s assessment of this potential placement. This approach helps the child to remain stable in the home and to continue to make progress.

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The care of children

Staff oversight and checks of medication have prevented a child receiving an incorrect dose of prescribed medication. Although staff help the child to understand what the purpose of their prescribed medication is, at times they refuse to take it. When this happens, staff follow the related procedures to prevent harm to the child and to ensure that all relevant professionals are aware.

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The care of children

The child’s communication with staff continues to improve, as they now initiate and hold conversations. The staff are supporting the child to talk about matters that can impact on their day-to-day life. However, there have been no focused discussions with the child about specific behaviours that can cause harm to others. These behaviours could be identified as bullying. Staff do not help the child to understand the impact that their behaviours may have on others.

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The safety of children

Staff understand the child’s needs. This knowledge means that staff are able to help the child to start to form trusting relationships. When the child is expressing their wishes and feelings, the staff actively listen and respond. The staff’s confidence to respond to the child’s non-verbal cues means they can identify when to support the child to manage periods of anxiety. This helps to reduce risks to the child’s safety.

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The safety of children

The child receives a high level of supervision and they do not go missing from this home. Should an incident occur, the staff are guided by missing-from-home plans to enable a proportionate response and assist in the child’s safe return. The manager has created a ‘grab bag’ to ensure that staff have quick access to the things that they need, such as information about the child. However, currently, this emergency Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 4 ‘grab bag’ does not have a fully functional mobile phone to enable staff to follow the child’s missing-from-home plan.

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The safety of children

The child’s risks and vulnerabilities are recorded in their risk assessments. The staff understand how the child’s behavioural responses can be affected by the safety restrictions in place. These restrictions specifically relate to the child’s use of a laptop for ‘gaming’. The manager has not taken steps to seek the information to fully understand the need for the child to receive specialist support around this risk, or for information about this risk to be included in the child’s care plan to inform staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The manager has worked on improving the quality of care for children. She has been supporting staff to improve their practice and to create more child-focused records. The manager has clear expectations of staff practice and performance and takes immediate action to address any shortfalls.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The manager’s internal monitoring systems support her oversight of the home. A requirement from the last inspection was that the quality-of-care report required further development. This report template has been reviewed to help the manager capture the impact of consultation with children and other agencies. At the time of this inspection, this report was not due to be submitted to Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The independent visitor regularly completed external monitoring of the home. However, the consultation in these reports is limited. This prevents the independent person from providing a clear overview of the child’s safety and welfare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The manager does not record her review of incidents involving the child on the integrated electronic recording system. This system alerts the manager to these incidents, but currently she records her review and analysis in other documents. This potentially means that crucial information about the incident, and if this was managed effectively, may be lost.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

A recommendation was made at the last inspection about the statement of purpose being forwarded to Ofsted following any review. Ofsted has received updates of this record, and this shows how this document has been reviewed and amended to ensure that the language used is appropriate. However, the statement of purpose needs to document the supervision arrangements for those professionals in the clinical team delivering therapy to children. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 5

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 24/02/2022 Full Good 10/03/2020 Full Good 16/01/2019 Full Outstanding Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 6

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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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(ii)(c)) 5 May 2023

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (2)(a)) 5 May 2023

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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.

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Requirement Due date

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 5 May 2023 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 7 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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Requirement Due date

This refers to ensuring the content aligns with the regulator's expectations. Further detail is set out in the Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s statement of purpose is developed in line with Regulation 16, Schedule 1. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5)  The registered person should ensure that the staff help the children to recognise and address different types of abuse such as peer abuse, cyber-bullying and bullying in day-to-day relationships in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.16)  The registered person should ensure that, in the event of a child going missing, the emergency ‘grab bag’ has a fully functional mobile phone to enable staff to follow the children’s missing-from-home procedures. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)  The registered person should ensure that they capture the monitoring of all

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Recommendations

incidents in the provider’s integrated electronic records systems. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 8

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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: Mill Bottom, Old Bristol Road, Nailsworth, Gloucestershire GL6 0LA

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Inspector

Jennifer Fenlon, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC423753 9 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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