Children's home run by Kirklees Council in Kirklees

Inspection report for children’s home: SC034441 1 SC034441 Registered provider: Kirklees Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and run by a local authority. It is registered to provide medium- to long-term care for up to six children who may have sensory impairment, learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in 2018. He is suitably experienced and qualified for the role. At the time of the inspection, five children were living at the home.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

p.1

outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

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.

p.1

outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

p.1

outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC034441 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/05/2021 Full Outstanding 04/02/2020 Full Good 24/10/2018 Full Outstanding 14/11/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC034441 3

p.2

outstanding

The home is managed by an ambitious manager who is knowledgeable and dedicated to the children and his team of carers. Carers are adaptable in caring for children who have varying degrees of need. The manager and carers know all the children well and their love for them is evident throughout the home.

p.3

outstanding

Children’s individual personalities and characteristics are celebrated. Children’s interests and hobbies are showcased around the home, particularly in their bedrooms. When there are safety considerations that restrict the number of personal possessions that children can have in their bedrooms, the manager creatively overcomes these. The inspector saw various examples of innovative practice that promotes children’s identity.

p.3

outstanding

Carers make good use of technology to keep children’s families informed and involved in their children’s lives. Additionally, all children have journey books that are brimming with photos and narratives of the children’s experiences. Carers have designed and compiled children’s journey books so that children can enjoy looking through them with members of their family.

p.3

outstanding

The manager and his team have an in-depth awareness of the children who they look after. The manager knows intricate details of all the children’s needs and has discovered sophisticated ways to better understand the children’s behaviours and emotions. The manager’s innovation enables necessary care adjustments to be made that provide children with a better quality of life.

p.3

outstanding

Children’s daily living plans are written by carers, using language that brings the child to life. From reading the children’s daily living plans, the inspector could easily understand children’s needs, personalities and individual traits. Furthermore, carers compile short stories that describe social situations for children, which they use to great effect. This better prepares and supports children to access activities in the community. This is particularly crucial given the need to support children to manage their anxieties associated with social situations. This area of practice showed the inspector the extensive efforts that carers make to promote a better quality of life for children.

p.3

outstanding

Children are supported to maintain strong links with their families. Carers make excellent efforts to involve families in their children’s lives. Carers work alongside families to meet the children’s cultural and religious needs. This has enabled families to make a significant contribution to their child’s care. When there are communication barriers with children’s families, the manager works alongside the child’s social worker to overcome these. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034441 4 Children do exceptionally well in school and their progress is evident. Professionals who work alongside the care team are all complimentary about the care of the children in the home. A teacher commented that their school had noted that, for children who live at the home, progress is ‘immense’ and that carers ‘absolutely and thoroughly know the children’. This gives professionals confidence when making important decisions around children’s care and learning needs.

p.3

outstanding

The manager has developed a system that enables him to better safeguard non- verbal children in the home. The manager uses this system to apply a curious eye on any emerging trends or concerns. The system shows the manager’s innovation and skill to better protect children and better promote their quality of life.

p.4

outstanding

Carers rarely need to restrain children to keep them safer. However, the manager approaches all incidents, whether restraint is used or not, with a curious eye. Following all incidents involving children, the manager ensures that there is meaningful and effective reflection and review. Additionally, for children who have significant communication difficulties, the manager tracks the child’s behaviours and emotions through reading their written records. This provides the manager with confidence that, days after the event, the child is no longer showing signs of emotional distress.

p.4

outstanding

In case of a fire, carers know what to do to safely evacuate children out of the building. All children have up-to-date personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs). Children’s PEEPs are personalised and account for day and night evacuations. The plans are easy for carers to understand and apply.

p.4

outstanding

Carers use mechanisms built into the daily routine of the home effectively to improve the flow of information. During a handover between carers, the inspector saw carers skilfully apply their knowledge of a child’s risk assessment. This promotes the child’s continuity of care when new carers enter the home to begin their duties.

p.4

outstanding

Children’s risk assessments and associated behaviour support plans are trauma informed. The manager makes excellent use of expert guidance from other professionals when compiling children’s risk assessments and plans. Subsequently, the manager makes extensive efforts to ensure that carers understand how to best apply children’s risk assessments and behaviour support plans. This improves the quality of care for children who live in the home.

p.4

outstanding

There is a safeguarding culture in the home. This is driven by the manager, who has instilled a sense of collective ownership towards the children’s welfare. The manager seeks out safeguarding reviews following high-profile social care events. The manager is keen to learn what he can do to better protect children from any poor or abusive practices. This has created a child-focused environment and a culture of learning to continually improve practice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034441 5

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager consistently works collaboratively with other safeguarding professionals who are involved in the children’s care. However, the manager has not notified the regulator of all significant incidents involving children. Although no children have been affected by this shortfall, the manager has not duly applied the relevant regulation. This practice increases the risk of the manager overlooking important statutory processes that are in place to better protect children.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager influences creative planning when children move into and out of the home. This ensures that carers are equipped to better support children to manage uncertainty associated with the child’s move. It also better prepares prospective carers who will assume care of the child. However, in respect of one child’s move, the manager could not show how he vetted carers, from another agency, who spent prolonged periods in the home as part of the child’s transition plan. This reduces the manager’s accountability around his day-to-day oversight of the home.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager oversees a dynamic team of carers. The manager drives ambition in the team, which is reflected through the number of qualified carers. The manager has cultivated a culture of learning and a team of staff who are confident and skilled in professional challenge of each other’s practice. This improves carers’ ability to drive positive change in the home.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands the value of formal supervision for carers. This has created a sense of connection between the manager and his team. Carers who spoke to the inspector said that they value supervision and the support that they have consistently received from their manager. This has been pivotal in supporting the team’s morale during times of challenge.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager orchestrates a sense of wraparound care from other professionals who are involved in the child’s life. The inspector saw examples of how the manager analyses other professionals’ differing perspectives. This has enabled the manager to learn and drive a higher standard of care in the home. This diminishes the prospect of defensive practice and ensures that the team constantly evolves its standards of practice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034441 6

p.5

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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

p.6

Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

p.6

Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

p.6

Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

p.6

Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 15 April 2023

p.6

Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. In particular, the manager should be satisfied that any care staff who are employed by other agencies have been appropriately vetted prior to entering the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

p.6

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: SC034441 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kirklees Metropolitan Council, Civic Centre 3, Huddersfield, Yorkshire HD1 2EY

p.7

Inspector

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC034441 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8