Children's home run by Paddock House Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 1 Registered provider: Paddock House Limited 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. It provides care for up to six children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2017 and is appropriately qualified.

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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

Date of last inspection: 7 December 2022

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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: 1252120 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/12/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 15/03/2022 Full Good 15/11/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/05/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children speak positively about their relationship with the manager. This is someone they trust and can share their worries with. When asked if they would confide in anyone else, the children said no. They need opportunities to develop deeper relationships with other people who care for them. This would ensure that they have someone to talk to if the manager is unavailable.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children are in some form of learning. Arrangements are individual, with some children in school and others in alternative provisions. The focus is not just on academic work but also on practical skills, for example bricklaying. This helps children to decide what they want to do in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have opportunities to do some amazing activities. These include quad biking, going to theme parks, weekends away and holidays. Activities are a large focus of the everyday routine. Children enjoy these times, and they provide them with positive experiences and fun memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to learn about independence. An in-house programme helps them to develop their cooking, cleaning, ironing and laundry skills. This prepares them for future life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is spacious and well kept. If children want to spend time alone, they can. There are also areas where they can spend time together or play snooker. The children see this as their home, giving them a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children see important people such as friends and family. Friends can stay over. This gives children everyday opportunities to socialise and build relationships.

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

The children have complex emotional needs and, at times, find themselves at risk. Staff have a good understanding of the concerns for each child and there are risk assessments in place, with clear strategies to help reduce potential risk.

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

Children do not usually go missing from the home. However, recently, there has been an increase in such episodes. There is a missing-from-care policy in place and staff know what to do when a child goes missing. The manager has conversations with the children involved. This helps the children to understand the risk they are at when they are missing. The situation seems to have settled again, lessening the risk of harm to the children.

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

Relationships between the children sometimes result in bullying behaviour. Staff challenge this and bullying is discussed in one-to-one sessions or children’s meetings, helping children to understand what is acceptable and what is not. Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 4 There have been some issues with knives being brought into the home. Staff deal with this, removing items through room searches. Updates to risk assessments take place after these events. The manager arranged for local police to talk to the children about knife crime. This helps children to understand the dangers involved in carrying weapons. The staff are alert to this issue, helping the children to keep safe both in and out of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is committed to his role. He spends a lot of time with the children, and they appreciate this. Due to the staff team being small, the manager has also chosen to cover some shifts rather than use agency staff. This helps gives some consistency of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a stable staff team working at the home. Staff support each other well. Supervisions happen regularly, and there are opportunities to reflect on what has gone well and what to improve. However, records of team meetings and group discussions do not reflect individual views. This was a recommendation from the last visit and will be reissued. A recent team development day did not go to plan. The manager intends to revisit this to continue to develop the skills of the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Before a decision is made about admitting a child to the home, the manager considers whether the team can care for the child, as well as the impact on the children already living in the home. This ensures that staff have the skills to look after children, so that children receive the care they deserve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Sometimes, due to an increase in risks, the manager ends children’s placements. The manager advocates for children, making sure that future arrangements outside the home are safe. However, the manager has not met with placing local authorities to find out what other help and support are available, which might prevent unnecessary moves for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The views of the children who live in the home are important. They have a say in different day-to-day aspects of the home. Recently, there has been a discussion about how to spend time in the summer holidays. Alongside the usual activities, children have also asked for some chill-out days. Plans have factored this in. This shows the value of the children’s views, helping them to feel listened to. Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs. (Regulation 5(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, when safeguarding issues increase for a child, the manager needs to ensure that safety planning meetings are arranged with the placing local authority to establish what additional help and support can be provided. 31 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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 staff— strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(viii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager needs to help the children to develop deeper relationships with the staff team, so that they can confide in staff should the manager not be available. 31 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 6

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Recommendation

 The registered manager 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, the manager should ensure that records of supervision sessions and minutes of team meetings accurately reflect discussions held, including whether opinions reflected in these discussions are the opinions of staff or children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 1252120 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Paddock House Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: B3 Kingfisher House, Team Valley, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE11 0JQ

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Inspector

Miriam Dolman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1252120 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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