Children's home run by Stepping Stones Children’s Homes Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 10291020 1 Registered provider: Stepping Stones Childrens Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately operated home provides care for up to five children with social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home. Both children spoke to the inspector about their experiences of living in the home.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home was registered in February 2023. The registered manager has been in post since February 2023.

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: 10291020 2

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they are happy at this home and feel safe. They are supported to develop positive relationships with staff who care about them. Children have adjusted well to living together.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children’s positive relationships with their families and friends. One child has regular overnight stays with a friend, which has helped them to maintain their relationships since coming to this home and enabled them to feel stable and secure.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are listened to regularly and know how to make complaints or raise any concerns. The staff and management act on the children’s ideas, and this has been reflected in the children’s activities in and outside of the home. Through these activities, children are helped to develop positive relationships with each other to enable them to live together safely.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend education regularly and staff consult effectively with schools and virtual heads to support children to attend school and do well in their education. One child has just completed their GCSE exams and has enrolled in a local college to continue their education. The manager has created an area in the home with books, which children can use for independent study.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There has been a delay in the manager requesting up-to-date care plans for children. The home’s own care plans and documents are concise and contain relevant information. However, the absence of key placing authority documents limits the effectiveness of understanding children’s needs fully.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s transitions in and out of the home are completed with their needs in mind. Children are visited prior to moving in and information is sent to children so they can become familiar with the home. Children are helped to move on from the home in a planned manner, which is helpful to them.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Door alarms are always activated on children’s bedrooms. Specific risk assessments and permissions have not been sought and they are not routinely reviewed in relation to safeguarding risks. This limits children’s right to privacy.

p.2

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

Children say that they feel safe living in the home and the staff are good at communicating well with them to understand their risks.

p.2

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

This is the first inspection of this home. The manager and many members of the team are experienced in working in other homes, and this is demonstrated in the care that they give to the children. Inspection report for children’s home: 10291020 3 When appointing new staff, the manager follows safer recruitment practice guidelines. This means that only staff who are suitable to work with children can work in the home.

p.2

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

Children are only held when necessary to keep themselves and others safe. The staff understand de-escalation techniques well and the recording of incidents is completed in a timely manner. Children are given the opportunity to reflect on these interventions to better help staff and themselves to prevent further incidents.

p.3

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

Children have individual care and attention from staff, who have been able to have in-depth discussions with them on topics such as online safety, making positive choices, and developing their independence skills.

p.3

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

When children go missing, staff understand the procedures and strategies in the children’s risk assessments well. Staff are good at talking to children and helping them to reflect on their behaviour. Consequently, one child who has previously had a high level of missing episodes, has had none in the last month.

p.3

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

Safeguarding matters and allegations are managed well and shared with appropriate agencies in accordance with statutory guidance. This protects children from harm. The home has effective links with safeguarding agencies.

p.3

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

One child set fire to a small piece of card in their bedroom, which resulted in no damage. However, burning to window restrictors had not been identified. Additional measures were added to ensure that restrictors are checked regularly, and they were replaced on the day of the inspection. The manager identified the appropriate risks and updated the risk assessment accordingly. She also arranged for the fire service to speak to the child to embed learning on fire safety.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff are child focused. The manager has a good knowledge and understanding of children’s needs and oversight of practice in the home. They are proactive in ensuring that staff are responsive to meeting children’s needs.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have good working relationships and they say that they are supported well. They have been involved in the opening of the home and their ideas are listened to, which helps them to feel valued.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some staff are not supervised in accordance with the provider’s policy, and the workforce development plan is not specific in relation to the frequency of supervision, especially for new staff. Staff say that they feel well supported; however, opportunities to spend time reflecting on practice in a formal way have been missed.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Quality assurance visits conducted by a responsible individual provide an additional layer of scrutiny for the manager. It has already been identified that there is the Inspection report for children’s home: 10291020 4 need to change the independent person provider as the reports have not been providing the robust scrutiny that the home requires.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and what needs to be improved. She uses external and internal monitoring systems alongside the views of staff and children to develop the service. Inspection report for children’s home: 10291020 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii))

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager should ensure that children’s rooms are checked regularly for fire risks and the risk assessments updated accordingly. 26 October 2023

p.5

Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

p.5

Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

p.5

Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

p.5

Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv)) 26 October 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 10291020 6 This specifically relates to ensuring that the use of door alarms are risk assessed and have appropriate permissions in place.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

p.6

Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

p.6

Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b))

p.6

Requirement Due date

Specifically, this relates to ensuring that new staff receive supervision that is appropriate to their experience. 26 October 2023

p.6

Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

p.6

Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

Specifically, this relates to the manager having the correct local authority care plan to be able to plan effective care. 26 October 2023

p.6

Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should include the necessary management and staffing structure, including any staff commissioned to provide health and education, the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure, and any further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8) Inspection report for children’s home: 10291020 7

p.6

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: 10291020 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Stepping Stones Childrens Homes Limited

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 34 Church Street, Hyde SK14 1JJ

p.8

Inspector

Colin Jones, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 10291020 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

p.8

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.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

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

p.9