Children's home run by Semi-independent House Limited in Peterborough

Inspection report for children’s home: SC452107 1 SC452107 Registered provider: Semi-Independent House Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2022.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC452107 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 20/07/2021 Full Good 22/01/2020 Full Good 04/06/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC452107 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of inspection, there were three children living at the home. Children are positive about the home. Staff and children have good relationships. Children feel able to talk to staff and the manager.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff gain children’s views regularly through discussions and at children’s meetings. This ensures that children are able to discuss matters which are important to them. Children’s views are listened to. The garage is being used as a games room following children’s requests. Children enjoy paintballing and have been to a theme park in line with their interests. One child has made a complaint against another child. The manager investigated this complaint, and it was concluded. Relationships between the children are generally positive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend school. This is an important step for some children, who were previously out of education. Staff communicate regularly with the school staff to support the children with their education. However, copies of children’s education, health and care plans are not available for the staff. This means that staff do not have all the information available to support the children to reach their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to lead healthy lifestyles. Staff encourage children to exercise and eat a healthy diet. This is leading to positive results for one child, who is proud of their achievements. Staff offer support to children in regard to smoking and vaping, which helps them to understand the associated risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to maintain relationships with their families and friends. Staff build good relationships with children’s families. Children are supported to develop friendships in the local area. Staff are knowledgeable and curious about children’s friends and their families to ensure that the children are safe when out with friends.

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

Staff understand the protocols to follow when a child is missing from the home. There has been a reduction in missing-from-home episodes for one child since living at the home. Staff liaise with families and professionals when they are not aware of a child’s location.

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

The staff team is small and consistent. Safer recruitment processes are followed for new staff. The use of temporary staff is minimal. This helps children to build trusting relationships with staff.

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

There is an incentive system in place. Each child has a personalised incentive chart to follow. This system works well, and the children enjoy receiving rewards. Staff review the targets to ensure that they are relevant to the children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC452107 4 Staff encourage children to keep safe online. There are agreements in place regarding phone use, which the children sign. Staff monitor online interactions when required to ensure that children are safe. There are posters in the games room about online safety, which the children can easily view.

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

There are few incidents or physical interventions. Incident reports are written clearly; however, some of these reports are duplicated. Missing-from-home incidents are recorded in two files. This makes monitoring incidents difficult. One concern following a room search was not discussed with the child. This is despite staff finding a covered smoke detector in a child’s bedroom. Staff have not discussed the dangers of this with the child.

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

Children’s placement plans and risk assessments are regularly reviewed. However, staff do not remove historical information when new information is added. This could cause confusion about what is current and relevant. Information about one child’s historic risks is not included in their risk assessment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably experienced and qualified for the role. Professionals and families said that working relationships with the manager and staff are good. The staff say that they feel supported by the manager and that he is readily available for advice, guidance and support. The manager is child-focused.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals are positive about the care and support that children receive. Families are also positive. One parent said that they ‘can’t praise them [staff] enough’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some of the records lack detail. Despite a historic risk around fire setting, this is not detailed in the child’s risk assessment or the fire risk assessment. This means that this risk is not clear enough in risk assessments.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision sessions and team meetings are held regularly. These meetings focus on the children’s experiences. An induction programme supports new members of staff to learn about the procedures and routines. Staff receive training that is relevant to their roles. However, some staff have not had appraisals. This means that opportunities for staff to discuss their development are not always prioritised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager welcomes external scrutiny from the independent visitor. However, there is a lack of consultation with children, parents, professionals and staff in the reports. In addition, the reports are not sent in a timely fashion. This prevents Ofsted from having effective oversight of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has undertaken a review of the quality of care provided by the home. However, the manager has not used children’s voices or the views of professionals and families as part of the review. This failure to consider the views of those involved limits a full evulation of the service. Inspection report for children’s home: SC452107 5

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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, The 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

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children’s plans are up to date and accurate, and that copies of education, health and care plans are available. 28 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(c)) 28 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

In particular, reports must be sent in a timely manner following visits. 15 September

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that if a child makes a choice that would place them or another person at significant risk of harm, staff should assist them to understand the risks and manage their risk-taking behaviour to keep themselves and others safe. In particular, staff should talk to children about the risks associated with covering smoke detectors. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.7) Inspection report for children’s home: SC452107 6  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 documents are not duplicated and are easily accessible. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of

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Recommendations

the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. In particular, the children’s views should be included within the report. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)

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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: SC452107 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Semi-Independent House Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 51 Ploverly, Peterborough PE4 6HZ

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Hakeem Cummings-Quarry

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Inspector

Leanne Lyon, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC452107 8 regulates and 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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