Children's Home run by Spark of Genius North East LLP in Stockton-on-Tees

Inspection report for children’s home: SC484242 1 SC484242 Registered provider: Spark Of Genius North East Limited Liability Partnership Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a private provider to care for up to five children with emotional and social difficulties. The manager of the service has an appropriate qualification and registered with Ofsted in May 2017.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspector observed the children in the home and spoke with three of them during the inspection.

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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 outstanding

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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: 22 February 2022

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC484242 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/02/2022 Full Outstanding 21/08/2019 Full Outstanding 22/08/2018 Full Outstanding 21/06/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC484242 3

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outstanding

Children make significant progress in this home because of the care they receive from a consistent and dedicated staff team. One parent said, ‘[Name of child] no longer needs to conform to fit into her environment… they fit in with her.’ This parent said that the staff’s approach to providing care has resulted in an improvement in their child’s behaviour. One professional commented that it was ‘the most stable’ they had seen one child for whom they have therapeutic responsibility. An education professional said that the staff advocate strongly for children’s needs and support the children to make ‘amazing progress’.

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outstanding

Children who move into and out of the home are well supported by the staff and manager. The manager takes time to obtain information from various sources to make safe, informed decisions about a child moving into the home. Introductions are at the child’s pace and, where possible, include adults who are important to the child. Staff maintain contact with children who are reunified with their families to provide both the child and their families with support. This helps children to form and maintain trusting relationships with safe adults who can support them even after they have moved on.

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outstanding

Staff support children to make exceptional progress in both their attendance and achievements at school. One child who professionals believed was not capable of achieving GCSEs has done so with the dedicated support of the staff. Another child whose attendance at school was 17% is now achieving 100% attendance. Staff also advocate for children’s individual career choices, such as attending an apprenticeship rather than attending college. One child has been supported to start up their own gardening enterprise. This support creates outcomes for children that give them a sense of achievement while allowing them to prepare for independence.

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outstanding

Staff provide excellent support for children’s emotional and physical health needs. When health services are not available to a child in a timely manner, staff proactively identify alternative provisions. This ensures the child is supported as quickly as possible to promote their physical and mental well-being. When a child experiences a crisis, staff visit the home on their days off to help the child to understand how important their welfare is to the staff. This contributes towards the strong ethos of relationships in the home.

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outstanding

All the staff and the manager want the children to be proud of their home. This results in children inviting those who are important to them into the home to visit and socialise. Children regularly have input into the way the home is decorated as well as the house rules. This contributes towards the homely culture that the children, staff and manager have achieved. One neighbour said, ‘You hear them in the garden like any family, laughing and playing.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC484242 4 Staff support the children to have a sense of belonging in their community. Staff and the manager have worked hard to forge positive relationships with the home’s neighbours. One child has made friends with a neighbour’s child, and they play locally together. Neighbours visit the home to participate in charitable events such as coffee mornings, with the invitation being extended to important adults, friends and

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outstanding

When children have experienced difficulties in their relationships with adults who are important to them, staff find creative ways to repair these relationships. This helps the children to have additional support networks.

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outstanding

The manager and the staff thoroughly understand the needs of the children. When children make unsafe choices, the staff respond quickly and support the children to learn about the behaviours of both themselves and others. Where necessary, staff obtain the support of external agencies. This has contributed towards the exceptional progress that the children have made in becoming increasingly safe, including those at risk of exploitation.

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outstanding

Children rarely go missing from home. Since the previous inspection, there have been three occasions when children have been missing from the home. On each occasion, staff were able to locate the whereabouts of the children quickly. This is because the staff are skilled at building positive and supportive relationships with individuals who are important to the children. This helps to improve children’s safety. The local police have invited the manager and his team to a conference to talk about the successful strategies they use to prevent children going missing from the home.

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outstanding

Physical interventions have not been used in the home since the previous inspection. This is due to the exceptional relationships the staff have with the children, and staff are skilled at quelling incidents by speaking with children without physically intervening. The manager has devised a child-focused approach to speaking with children following an incident, in the unlikely event that the child needs to be held. This is intended to help the child to feel supported and understood.

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outstanding

Consequences are rarely used in the home, and when they are, they are restorative in nature. The manager supports children to complete tasks in their local community when necessary, such as carrying out repairs to damage and writing letters of apology to relevant people. This helps children understand the impact and consequences of their behaviours while maintaining relationships in the community.

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outstanding

Staff and the manager have good relationships with the police. Staff are vigilant and share any unusual community intelligence with the police to help improve the safety of the community. This role-modelling behaviour helps children to understand what they can do to keep themselves and their peers safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC484242 5 The manager has created a detailed assessment of the local area, which is kept under regular review. It is informed by the manager’s own risk assessment and information from local agencies, such as the police. It informs staff about nearby places where children may be at risk of exploitation and considers risks to children in the home, such as social media and the links to criminal and sexual exploitation. This helps the staff to keep the children safe.

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outstanding

The children know how to make a complaint and feel confident in telling the staff when they feel unsafe. Allegations are taken seriously, and the staff and the manager take immediate steps to ensure that the children are physically safe while providing the children with emotional support. This helps to make the children feel safe and listened to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is led by a determined and ambitious registered manager who is supported well by an equally committed deputy manager. They are aspirational for the children and lead by example. The positive impact of their role-modelling behaviour is seen in the exceptional standards of practice that the staff demonstrate across the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager continues to successfully manage and lead the home to an exceptionally high standard while still having a visible presence in the home and forming strong relationships with the children. All children actively seek out the registered manager to speak with and spend time with him.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager constantly looks to improve processes in the home, which is reflected in improved safeguarding documentation. The registered manager has also updated the audit process, which has improved monitoring and oversight of the home. The registered manager is proud to support staff to make progress and has supported several staff members to move on to become deputy managers and managers across other homes. This is an excellent reflection of his role-modelling behaviour, which is seen across the home and the wider service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager believes in sharing good practice to drive forward positive outcomes for children. This has included sharing knowledge with the manager from a different provider. The sharing of knowledge and skills improves outcomes for other children who live in other homes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff receive supervision that is reflective and regular. There is a robust system in place, and the quality of these supervision sessions can be clearly seen by the quality of care afforded to the children. The registered manager ensures that the staff are accountable for meeting the children’s needs and equally ensures that they are fully supported. The registered manager has high expectations of the staff team. When the registered manager has recognised that staff members’ practice falls short of the standards expected, this has been addressed through learning and development. Inspection report for children’s home: SC484242 6 The staff and the registered manager advocate vigorously on behalf of the children. This has resulted once again in some of the children being reunited to the permanent care of their families. Other children are supported to spend time with family members or other important people who they did not previously have

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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: SC484242 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Spark Of Genius North East Limited Liability Partnership

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: King Edwin School, Mill Lane, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland TS20 1LG

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Inspector

Julia Hagan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC484242 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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