Children's home run by Platform Childcare Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2576423 1 Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private company. The home provides care for up to five children with social and emotional difficulties. There were five children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a registered manager.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 2576423 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/06/2022 Full Good 15/11/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2576423 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children said that they enjoy their home. They have fun, and they make good childhood memories, including trying new experiences. Children and staff regularly go swimming together. This helps to develop children’s relationships with each other and staff. One child spoke appreciatively of staff support through some difficult times; they felt that staff did not give up on them. Some children seek physical comfort from staff, and this helps to develop important and strong bonds. Children benefit from this stability and gain a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, two children have moved into the home and one child has left. The manager has devised a plan to support another child’s imminent move from the home. The manager and staff have prepared the child well and the child is excited about their next steps. The manager has acknowledged that some information relating to a child who has recently moved into the home was missing at the point of the move. The child is not yet receiving education and staff are trying to help this child to settle. This transition has negatively affected the stability of the other children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is clean and spacious. Children enjoy the communal areas and outside space, for example building dens or playing in an orchard. The manager ensures that repairs and maintenance tasks are quickly undertaken to maintain good standards. Children are helped to make their bedroom special to them. Most children have many personal belongings in their room, which helps them to settle and feel comfortable. One child has few possessions in their room, but this is part of their care planning and is designed to keep them safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress in developing independence and personal care skills and in expressing their individuality. One parent described the home as ‘a little jewel’. The staff are key to helping children make progress. A child’s social worker said, ‘Staff support has increased, and the child’s confidence and aspirations have grown.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children have made progress in education. For one child, access to education has improved; however, there is still work to do in increasing educational provision for this child. Staff are working in collaboration with the child’s tutor to provide additional educational opportunities. There has been significant drift in progressing a school place for this child and the manager’s efforts in escalating this have had limited impact.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to stay in touch with family members and those close to them. Staff work well with allocated social workers and family members to maintain significant relationships for children. Staff know this is important for children to maintain their identity and keep these crucial relationships into adulthood. Inspection report for children’s home: 2576423 4

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

Staff help children to reduce the risks they face from behaviours that can jeopardise their safety and well-being. Children rarely go missing from the home. There has also been a reduction in self-harming behaviour for one child. This is significant progress for the child. Staff have supported another child to progress from having close supervision and monitoring by staff to now safely enjoying time without the need for close supervision. The child is proud of their progress and looking forward to their future.

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

Children are helped to build resilience through support and help from a psychotherapist working with the home. In addition, staff carry out ‘keep me safe’ sessions with children. These cover a wide range of topics that might have a negative impact on a child, such as bullying. Staff also use additional resources to meet children’s individual needs. Children’s progress is reviewed through individual resilience plans. However, there is limited evaluation of how the one-to-one work contributes to children’s progress and safety.

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

Staff have significantly reduced the frequency with which they have to hold one child to help them manage difficult feelings. When staff do use holds, this is for brief periods. Individual debriefing sessions help the child to recognise their feelings when they are upset. However, there are emerging risks during incidents, relating to a specific area of the home. This is not reflected in the child’s risk assessment. This means that staff do not have specific guidance to manage this situation.

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

The manager has not updated current expectations of staff in helping a child to travel safely by car. This leaves the potential for confusion and upset if staff use outdated guidance.

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

Children said that house rules do not always make sense, for example if they are being asked to go to their bedroom early. Staff do not clearly communicate the reasons for these decisions to children. This is confusing.

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good

Staff feel that the manager supports them well. There has been little staff turnover since the last inspection. The manager is dual-registered as a manager for this home and another home owned by the organisation. In recent months, their presence in this home has been limited as they have spent most of their time at the other home and have relied on the deputy manager, who is new to the role. The manager is now able to provide the home with more oversight and support.

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good

The manager’s oversight of allegations is not yet rigorous. The manager’s own steps to investigate and evaluate information are unclear, and their oversight and monitoring systems have not been fully effective in identifying and progressing outstanding actions. This has led to Ofsted not receiving a notification about an Inspection report for children’s home: 2576423 5 allegation. This prevents Ofsted from being able to fully evaluate the information to be confident that children are safe.

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good

The manager has not yet embedded opportunities for staff learning and development. One member of staff reported that ‘team meetings are hectic’ and there is ‘little time for team building because of the rota’. There is a lack of reflection in staff supervision records and team meetings to help staff reflect on their care practice to support ongoing development.

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good

The language used by staff in records of team meetings and the children’s plans does not reflect the nurturing care that staff show children. Additionally, following incidents and debriefs with staff, the manager is not identifying learning and developmental opportunities. For example, o ne child’s risk assessment does not reflect the child’s stage of development and understanding.

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good

The manager and leaders are satisfied that staff have the capacity to meet the needs of the children. More recently, staff have experienced challenges in helping a new child admitted to the home to settle in . This has affected children’s routine and caused other children additional anxiety. Leaders have not ensured that children are helped to come to terms with the impact of a new child’s arrival in the home and to alleviate their anxieties.

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good

Most social workers and school staff reported that staff support children well. For one child, a higher-level teaching assistant reported that communication is not always forthcoming from staff. Staff did not share information about a new child’s arrival in the home. This limited the ability of school staff to support their child with this change. Inspection report for children’s home: 2576423 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

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager reviewing and evaluating the care provided to children. The manager should robustly investigate and record allegations. Staff should be supported to learn from incidents so that they have a clear understanding of how they can help children make progress . The registered person must ensure that monitoring systems are in place and that they are effective, and that shortfalls are recognised and responded to effectively. 22 December

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. 22 December Inspection report for children’s home: 2576423 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children already living in the home are prepared and supported when another child moves into the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(c)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must notify Ofsted of any incident deemed as serious, and without delay. The registered provider must ensure that all relevant information is shared in this notification. 22 December

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that general principles for behaviour management in the home include: treating each child with understanding, dignity, kindness and respect; building, protecting and preserving positive relationships between each child and the adults caring for them; understanding each child’s behaviour to allow their needs, aspirations, experiences and strengths to be recognised and their quality of life to be enhanced; involving children and relevant others wherever practical in behaviour management; supporting each child to balance safety from injury (harm) with making appropriate choices; making sure the child’s rights are upheld. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.35). Inspection report for children’s home: 2576423 8

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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: 2576423 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 2 Millennium Court, First Avenue, Burton-on- Trent DE14 2WH

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Inspector

Helen Gronhaug, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2576423 10 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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