Children's home run by Sportfit Support Services Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2682524 1 Registered provider: Sportfit Support Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for children with social and emotional difficulties who are aged between 11 and 18 years. The home is registered for up to four children. Two children were living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 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

Date of last inspection: 1 November 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: 2682524 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2682524 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in this home. Children have personalised their bedrooms and enjoy spending time in the home. Engaging staff have encouraged children to assist in decorating the home with soft furnishings and canvases. This gives children a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Proactive staff support children to spend time with their family and friends. One child has friends to visit and spends regular time with their family at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager is actively addressing staff vacancies. The use of agency staff remains relatively high. However, consistent attempts are made to ensure the same staff work at the home on a regular basis. This offers stability and routine, allowing opportunity for children to build relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work well with external professionals to encourage children to attend education and activities. Participation has improved. One child is now attending education full time and is expected to achieve the necessary qualifications to support the child in their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to make a complaint and they can speak directly to staff or an independent advocate. Information is available and accessible to children. Written accounts of complaints and the actions taken are shared with children if they wish and are placed on their file for future reference.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The statement of purpose sets out the needs of the children that the home is set up and equipped to care for. When children arrive at the home, they are welcomed by a nurturing staff team and supported to settle into their new environment. Likewise, children moving on to the next chapter of their lives are well supported and are given a memory album. This enables children to reflect on their time at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and senior staff carefully consider any decision for a child to move into the home. However, some information is not always known at the time of placement. For example, children’s wishes and views are not always recorded. On one occasion, greater exploration of the referral information was required. Managers subsequently recognised this, when one child’s placement ended in an unplanned way.

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

Children are safeguarded by informed staff. Staff understand their roles and responsibilities to keep children safe. The registered manager has implemented some effective measures, providing good oversight of safeguarding in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2682524 4 Risk assessments are comprehensive, constantly updated and individualised to meet the needs of each child. Discussions take place during shift handovers to ensure that all staff are aware of new behaviours and how to manage them.

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

Children’s plans are personalised and structured. Children contribute to their plans and risk assessments. This ensures that the children understand why they are in place and work collaboratively with staff to reduce incidents of harm.

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

All staff have completed mandatory training to keep children safe. However, some gaps in staff knowledge were identified in relation to the risk and effects of drugs and alcohol on children. This reduces the effectiveness of their engagement with children on these subjects.

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

On occasions when children leave the home without permission, staff actively respond and follow each child’s care plan to ensure their safe return at the earliest opportunity. Incidents are well recorded and records provide clarity.

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

When specialist training is needed, for example, about self-injurious behaviour, the registered manager proactively ensures that staff complete this.

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

Physical restraint is only used as a last resort. The necessary and appropriate techniques are used by qualified members of staff. However, records of incidents do not clearly detail the use of de-escalation techniques and the reason for the physical intervention. As a result, opportunities for learning from incidents may be missed.

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

All serious incidents are notified to the relevant agencies and the regulator. Notifications are detailed and timely. This allows the regulator and stakeholders to monitor and address concerns at the earliest opportunity.

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

Feedback from other agencies is very good. The manager and staff have built excellent working relationships with the children’s wider networks. Feedback from other agencies notes the staff’s willingness to try something new and adapt their care to meet the needs of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a proactive and curious registered manager who strives to make continuous improvements to the quality of care provided to children. The manager is supported by an experienced deputy manager. Together, they have high aspirations for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has effective monitoring systems in place. Action is taken swiftly to address shortfalls and senior managers have good oversight of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team and senior leaders have good relationships with stakeholders. As a result, effective information-sharing enables informed decision- making. Inspection report for children’s home: 2682524 5 There are some vacancies in the staff team. The registered manager and senior leaders are actively trying to recruit to these positions. A review of previous recruitment processes identified some gaps. For example, there was limited recorded exploration of what skills and experience new staff would bring to the role. As a result, there has been a period of rapid staff turnover.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff team meetings are held off site, to minimise any institutional feeling in the home. The manager encourages reflective practice and values the support of the independent counsellor at team meetings to inform practice and children’s care planning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff receive practice-related supervision. Staff said that they find supervision helpful to identify areas for development and receive support from the management team. Training is monitored carefully by the registered manager and is prioritised to ensure that children receive good-quality care from qualified staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager completes their own review of the quality of care. An independent visitor provides an additional layer of scrutiny. This is valued by the leadership team and enables continuous progress and improvements in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2682524 6

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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

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used, or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the record should clearly show the events leading to the use of physical intervention and the de- escalation techniques used. 31 October 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff have relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change, negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-being such as, but not limited to, nutrition and healthy diet, exercise, mental health, sexual relationships, sexual health, contraception and use of legal highs, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. The statement of purpose is an important document in the process of care planning as it sets out the needs of children the home is set up and equipped to care for.

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Recommendations

(‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should ensure they maintain good employment practice. They should ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguard children and minimise potential risks to them. In particular, ensure gaps in employment are recorded and necessary checks completed, and Inspection report for children’s home: 2682524 7 that staff have the necessary skills or abilities to start work in the role. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 59, paragraph 13.1)

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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: 2682524 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sportfit Support Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Portman House, 53 Millbrook Road East, Southampton, Hampshire SO15 1HN

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Inspector

Jill Sephton-Wright, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2682524 9 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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