Children's Home run by Newcastle City Council in Newcastle upon Tyne

Inspection report for children’s home: 2530086 1 Registered provider: Newcastle City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a local authority and may provide care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were living in the home at the time of inspection, and the inspector spoke with both children.

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Information about this children’s home

The suitably experienced and qualified manager registered with Ofsted in August 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2530086 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/07/2022 Full Good 23/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 20/04/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 2530086 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by experienced staff who are proud of the progress that they make. Children have planned introductions when they move into the home whenever this is possible. Staff are also experienced in supporting children to help them settle when they arrive at the home in an emergency situation. This support enables children to have positive experiences and build their confidence, despite the challenges they experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a warm and welcoming environment. Staff help children personalise their bedrooms and communal areas. One parent described how staff made efforts to replicate her child’s bedroom at home to support the child’s specific needs while living away from home. This approach by staff helps instil a sense of belonging for children while showing their knowledge and understanding of the children they care for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are strong advocates for children who live in the home. Staff support children to lead healthy and active lifestyles and introduce them to new activities and engagement with sport clubs. This enables children to develop their social skills and widen their experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are listened to by staff, and their views are sought and respected. This involves speaking with children and asking them to contribute to decisions about their care. These conversations are developed through relationships formed between staff and the children. When children are resistant to forming new relationships, staff continue to spend time with them to help build trust. Staff ensure children have access to advocates and independent adults, and they encourage children to express their views in these forums. This means children feel valued by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff work well with children’s families to promote familial relationships and help children spend time with the important people in their life. Staff communicate effectively with parents. This is beneficial to children as their families are made aware of important decisions and are kept up to date about what children have been doing before meeting with them face to face.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have support from a children’s psychologist for consultation and advice. The psychologist contributes to the planning for children and provides opportunity for reflective practice and needs-led training for staff. This resource means that staff are supported to meet some children’s complex needs while also developing their practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move out of the home in a planned way, their transition is managed and supported by staff to best support children’s experiences and contribute to positive outcomes for them. Staff help develop individual transition plans and provide support to children to help them return home to their family when this is Inspection report for children’s home: 2530086 4 appropriate to do so. One parent said that staff provided ‘great support’ when helping their child move home. The parent valued the relationship that staff had developed with their child and said the staff ‘loved’ the child.

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

Staff know how to manage risks for children when they go missing from home. Protocols and safety plans for the children are known and followed by staff as children’s safety is a priority. Children benefit from being offered return home interviews from an independent person.

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

There is a clear focus on safe practice, and this is consistent throughout the staff group. All staff who work in the home are included in safeguarding and behaviour management training, including those who do not directly care for the children. This means all staff respond to the children in a consistent way.

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

Physical intervention to manage challenging behaviour from children is used as a last resort. All incidents are recorded appropriately with oversight from the manager, who assesses how incidents can be avoided in future. The children and staff involved are provided with an opportunity to debrief following an incident. Children are offered an independent person to speak with, should they wish to.

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

Consequences within the home are referred to as ‘making amends’ and are restorative in nature. Consequences are appropriate for the child and time-limited. These are recorded in detail and have full oversight from the manager, which ensures staff respond with consistency for the children.

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

The manager takes children’s allegations seriously and takes steps to ensure children feel protected. Due to this approach, children feel safe in this home, and this is reflected in a reduction in incidents of unwanted behaviours.

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

Known risks for each child are detailed and understood, with systems in place to monitor these risks. However, not all children’s care plans and assessments are up to date to reflect current risks or risk management plans. Some important records, such as an up-to-date care plan and placement plan, were not available. Accurate recording of arrangements for and any restrictions between a child seeing their parent were also out of date on one child’s records. This means children and staff do not have access to important records that inform a child’s day-to-day care arrangements. Leaders and managers had not challenged social workers about the quality of plans or the absence of such documents on behalf of the children.

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

Routine room searches take place sometimes when there is a known risk relating to a child. Although staff keep records about room searches, there is limited evidence to show that a child’s permission has been sought for the room search to be carried out. On some records, it was also unclear whether the child had been informed a search had taken place. The shortfall in speaking with the child before and following searches and the recording of this, shows there are times when staff have not given due consideration to the effect that these searches have on the child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2530086 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by an experienced registered manager and deputy manager. Leaders and managers are ambitious and want the best for the children they care for. The registered manager leads by example, is child-focused and strives to make a difference in children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers support their staff through regular supervision and team meetings. This provides staff with opportunities for reflective practice focused on children’s experiences. New staff are supported through an induction programme. They are given opportunities to shadow more experienced staff while they develop their skills and relationships with the children that they care for.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is staffed by a team of permanent experienced professionals, which is a benefit to the children who live in the home. Safe recruitment practice is adhered to. This ensures that adults who are in a caring role for children receive appropriate checks. Managers support their staff to achieve the necessary qualifications to care for children and provide training opportunities to develop staff practice. This ensures children are safely looked after by skilled staff, and this enhances the child’s experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager effectively challenges professionals when necessary support is not available for a child. The registered manager has been proactive in challenging children’s placements when their assessed needs say they should be placed elsewhere. This ensures children receive the right response to their individual care needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has effective monitoring systems in place to ensure that staff keep children’s records up to date. The registered manager guarantees that actions are progressed when children’s health or education assessments take place. However, a shortfall in children’s records being up to date and present on children’s files was overlooked. Therefore, the monitoring of this is not always effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from professionals and parents focuses on the commitment of the registered manager and the staff to the children in their care. Only positive feedback was received, with one parent commenting: ‘They are amazing’ and ‘I could not ask for anything more than they already do for my child.’ This shows that leaders and managers have built effective working relationships to secure positive outcomes for children, which their families and professionals are able to see through the progress children make. Inspection report for children’s home: 2530086 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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 persons 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; and

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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

that each child’s relevant plans are followed;

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Requirement Due date

that, subject to regulation 22 (contact and access to communications), contact between each child and the child’s parents, relatives and friends, is promoted in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children’s care plans are correct and up to date.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that risk assessments are updated when allegations are made by children and that these are detailed in children’s care plans.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure children’s arrangements for contact with their parents are updated in their care plans. 17 May 2023

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that a child’s bedroom should not generally be entered without their permission, though it may be necessary to establish routines to allow for rooms to be cleaned regularly. Usually, rooms should only be searched if the child has been informed or asked for their permission. Immediate searching may be necessary when there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s or another person’s safety or well-being. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 16, paragraph 3.20) Inspection report for children’s home: 2530086 7

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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: 2530086 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Newcastle Civic Centre, Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 8QH

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Inspector

Joanne Wallis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2530086 9 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection. 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

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Inspector

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 .

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Inspector

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Inspector

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

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