Children's home run by Oracle Care Limited in Central Bedfordshire

Inspection report for children's home: SC378464 1 SC378464 Registered provider: Oracle Care 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 and clinical support for up to three children who may have experienced childhood trauma. Children may have social and emotional difficulties or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 23 November 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 requires improvement to be 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC378464 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/07/2022 Full Good 10/11/2021 Full Good 21/11/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/04/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC378464 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, the home has been closed for a period to enable the property to be refurbished and to recruit staff. There was one child living at the home at the time of this inspection. Three children have moved to the home and three children have moved on since the last inspection. Two of those children moved after notice was given by the provider to the local authority. The manager and staff have kept in touch with these children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child said that they are happy living at the home and feel safe. They feel listened to and find staff easy to build relationships with. Professionals all said that the child is making good progress and is benefiting from the stability of living at the home. They praised the positive and professional inter-agency working, which has helped with overcoming challenging incidents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the child to engage in education and attend school, and they set clear expectations for this. Staff reaffirm to the child what the timetable is for the school day so that the child can expect staff to wake them in preparation. Managers take an active interest in how the child is engaging with tutors daily. Managers quickly contact the providers of tutors to give feedback and suggestions to aid the child’s engagement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to prepare for next steps towards adulthood, teaching them to cook, plan menus, and write shopping lists. The child who is currently living at the home is supported to learn skills for looking after their belongings and organising their clothes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff have kind and respectful relationships with children’s relatives and former carers. A foster carer of a child who has moved on said that staff were particularly good at helping to arrange and organise weekends away together, which was very important to the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children keep busy and active, regularly using resources and opportunities in the local community. Children have enjoyed short-break holidays over the summer. Children’s health needs are met, including being registered with a doctor’s surgery and dentist. Staff know these needs well and monitor them when required. They work very closely with the in-house clinical psychologist, who provides ongoing clinical advice and monitoring.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is spacious, with ample room for children to socialise or be on their own. Children have been included in choosing furniture and colours for decorating and furnishing the home. There is outdoor space to enjoy. However, the garden area needs maintenance to remove weeds and old equipment. The windows have not been regularly cleaned and the kitchen needs to be refurbished. Inspection report for children's home: SC378464 4

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improvement to be good

Staff have not been sufficiently vigilant when monitoring a child who needs increased levels of staff support due to their vulnerabilities. On two occasions, a child has been placed at an increased risk of harm when staff have not followed the required steps in the child’s safety plan. This enabled the child to gain access to the medicines cabinet and leave the home unnoticed.

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improvement to be good

On occasions, staff have needed to use restrictive physical interventions. The recording and reviewing of these incidents have improved. The manager has clear plans for how best to support children in times of crisis. However, plans to support staff when a child uses discriminatory language are not suitably detailed. These plans do not contain agreed strategies for responding to these incidents or how the child will be supported to reduce them. This has put the child at increased risk of police involvement.

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improvement to be good

Risks to children’s safety when in and around the local community have been considered and assessed in detail. Missing-from-care incidents are evaluated for learning and improvement. Interviews for children when they return home are always completed.

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improvement to be good

The child feels safe. Staff have been trained in safeguarding children and understand the risks to children from exploitation. Staff took quick action to protect a child at risk from adults who were using social media to contact them. Staff are well trained in being vigilant on the use of technology that can hide software and applications, which mask unsafe behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Staff know how to raise concerns and who to raise them to. When concerns have been raised, these have been responded to quickly and in depth. Identified learning from investigations is quickly put into place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably experienced and holds a relevant level 5 qualification. She is respected by staff, children’s relatives and professionals alike. The manager is child focused and dedicated to helping children to make progress and feel safe. She knows the children who have lived and still live at the home well. The manager makes sure that she is approachable and spends time with children to strengthen relationships.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has quickly established positive working relationships with local authority professionals, who speak very highly of her. A social work manager said, ‘It’s been a very good team to work with and the support from the clinical team has been excellent.’ Inspection report for children's home: SC378464 5 The manager has put together a new staff team over the past year. The staff have worked together well and with resilience. Staff said that the challenges faced, at times, to support children in crisis have been overcome through positive support and leadership.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff all receive a comprehensive induction, support and training. Training is provided by experienced professionals with clinical experience. Staff have regular and in-depth supervision, which they say helps them to feel supported.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective systems to monitor the quality of support provided for children. She has mapped the progress of the home for consistency and safety since it reopened after a period of closure. When children’s time at the home ends sooner than expected, the manager undertakes learning exercises to look for improvements. When children have moved on, the relationship with local authority commissioners has remained positive. Inspection report for children's home: SC378464 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, 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(v)(b)) 22 September

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is well maintained. In particular, ensure that the garden area receives regular maintenance and is free from broken equipment, and that the work to replace the kitchen is completed without delay. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff understand factors that affect children’s motivation to behave in a socially acceptable way. Staff should encourage an enthusiasm for positive behaviour, using positive behaviour strategies in line with the child’s relevant plans. In particular, support the child to reduce the use of discriminatory language. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.13) Inspection report for children's home: SC378464 7

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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: SC378464 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Oracle Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suites 1 & 5, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper, Derbyshire DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Jamie Cousins, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC378464 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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