Children's home run by Core Children Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2700000 1 Registered provider: Core Children Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who have had adverse childhood experiences.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since March 2023 and holds a leadership and management qualification at level 5.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2700000 2

p.1

Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2700000 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This is the first inspection of the home since it registered in March 2023. At the time of the inspection, one child was living in the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress and benefit from effective, high-quality support from staff. Children are supported with well-planned, personalised care that meets their needs effectively. Children enjoy good-quality relationships with staff. They receive continuity of care, which supports the development of positive attachments.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school; their attendance is good. Staff encourage children’s learning and work closely with schools to maximise the children’s educational achievements. Staff consistently have high aspirations for children. One child told the inspector that they enjoy school. There are plans in place to support a positive transition to secondary school for the child.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Instances of crisis are generally managed well by staff at the home. However, during one significant incident, staff did not follow the behaviour plans for supporting periods of aggression. This resulted in police attending the home to manage behaviour.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff listen to the views of children and act on their reasonable requests. They provide children with positive activities and encourage their individual hobbies and interests such as Scouts and horse riding.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a physically safe, homely and comfortable environment. Children’s bedrooms are furnished and personalised according to their tastes and wishes. One child has moved bedrooms recently so that they can see the horses from their bedroom window.

p.3

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

The registered manager analyses trends in children’s behaviour. This analysis is used to identify any triggers which may cause changes in behaviour. For example, the information gathered in relation to one child’s episodes of going missing helped staff and police locate them on a number of occasions.

p.3

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

Children are protected if they go missing from the home. Staff ensure that they actively look for children and follow the home’s policies and procedures to secure children’s safe return.

p.3

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

The frequency of missing-from-home episodes has reduced in relation to the children’s individual starting points. Return home interviews take place to ensure that staff understand any underlying reasons why children might go missing. Inspection report for children’s home: 2700000 4 The use of holds to protect children from injury or harm is rare. When physical interventions have been used, these are a last resort to keep children safe. Holds have been used twice since the home registered.

p.3

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

There is one shortfall in the provider’s processes for the safe recruitment of staff. The responsible individual was responsive to this and made assurances that this system would be included in future recruitment.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers demonstrate excellent knowledge and understanding of the child’s needs. They are child-focused and nurturing in their approach. This level of understanding ensures that staff are responsive to the needs of the children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well managed and supported. They benefit from regular team meetings and practice-related supervision. This enables staff to reflect on their practice and review the needs and progress of the children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff maintain effective partnerships with all external professionals to ensure that children benefit from effective help and support.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team demonstrates effective leadership of the day-to-day operation of the home. They provide good oversight of staff practice and regularly monitor the performance of the home. The registered manager uses both internal and external monitoring activities to secure improvement.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Incident reports are not always recorded clearly. Emotive words are used that make it difficult to determine what is fact and what is opinion. This use of language will not be helpful for children when they read their records. Inspection report for children’s home: 2700000 5

p.4

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.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

p.5

Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

p.5

Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.5

Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

p.5

Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1) (a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(iv)) 4 August 2023

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should maintain good employment practice. They should ensure that recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them, specifically, verifying the reason that staff have left positions of trust. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure that staff record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 2700000 6

p.5

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: 2700000 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Trent House, 234 Victoria Road, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs ST4 2LW

p.7

Inspector

Mark Dickinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2700000 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