Children's home run by Derby City Council in Derby

Inspection report for children's home: SC036243 1 SC036243 Registered provider: Derby City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children's home

This home is run by Derby City Council. It provides care for children with social and emotional difficulties. The home can offer care provision for up to five children. There were four children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

p.1

Information about this children's home

There is an experienced manager leading the home, and they are registered with Ofsted.

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 outstanding

p.1

good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 5 September 2022

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC036243 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/09/2022 Full Good 21/03/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/12/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: SC036243 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a home that is kept to a beautiful standard. The home is cosy and inviting and attention to detail helps the space feel like a family home. Children have spacious bedrooms that they have personalised to their tastes. There is also a plentiful amount of communal space where children can choose to be together or apart. These too have been carefully adapted to meet the interests of children; for example, one space has been arranged so a child can complete artwork in there.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have comprehensive care plans in place that help staff to understand children’s traumatic life experiences and how they may impact their behaviour. Plans set out the aims of children’s care and what staff need to do to help children achieve and progress. Plans help staff to understand both the needs of children and their individual characteristics and interests. Good management oversight ensures that plans are consistently reviewed and remain reflective of the children in their care.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child at the home has a complex health need. Staff have received specialised training and understand how best to support this child, ensuring that oversight is built into daily recording. Clear documentation and storage of medications ensure that this health need is well monitored and concerns are responded to in a timely way. Staff support the child to manage their condition independently, recognising that this is a skill that will be needed into adulthood.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are well supported when they are moving into and away from the home. When children move to the home, their needs and personalities are carefully matched with the children already living there. In preparing to leave, children have the opportunity to live in an annex at the home. Here they can experience what living more independently would be like and to be purposefully prepared for adulthood. Staff support children to learn important independence skills and record their successes. Staff have a focus on staying in touch with children and ensuring that they know they are still cared for and thought of.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are engaged regularly in one-to-one discussions; these are both planned and unplanned. Staff have constructive conversations with children that build their resilience, confidence and self-belief. Where needed, these also challenge appropriately. Children are not regularly engaged in children’s meetings. This means that children may have missed opportunities to influence their care within their home and to hear the views of their peers.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are enrolled in education, and staff work collaboratively with teachers to adapt timetables to meet the needs of children. Despite this, attendance at school remains sporadic and children regularly choose not to engage in learning. Inspection report for children's home: SC036243 4

p.3

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

Staff are proactive when responding to children’s risk-taking behaviours. Staff act decisively and ensure a multi-agency response where this is needed. Staff work with children to understand their behaviours and the impact their actions could have on their lives. Staff approach children in a non-shaming way, and this encourages children to speak openly and to learn from their mistakes.

p.4

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

Children do go missing from the home. This is recognised as a risk for children by the manager, and plans detail children’s individual vulnerabilities when in the community. Staff understand their required actions and are proactive in looking for children when missing-from-home episodes occur. Recordings are detailed but could be clearer about when incidents were reported to social workers. Managers work with children to help them understand the importance of them staying in touch with staff when they are away from the home. One child’s plan had an appropriate, graduated response when they had not been in touch with staff, recognising the pattern of them returning to the home.

p.4

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

There have been two incidents where children have been missing from the home without staff being aware. This was recognised as poor practice by the manager and a robust investigation into the circumstances was undertaken. Staff were appropriately challenged, but also supported to learn from these occasions. Changes to practice were quickly implemented to prevent the same issue reoccurring.

p.4

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

Children have self-harmed while at the home. Staff respond to incidents proactively and empathetically. Regular room searches are used effectively to remove items that children may use to cause themselves harm. The manager also tracks incidents to help them understand patterns of behaviour or possible triggers. A recently commissioned therapeutic service will now focus on supporting children with their emotions and reducing self-harm.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is led by a dynamic and inspirational manager and deputy manager. They are ambitious for the children, staff and the home environment. They have nurtured excellent working relationships with involved professionals, and they spoke consistently highly of their commitment and open communication with outside agencies.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff are offered multiple opportunities where they can explore how they feel, discuss practice issues and learn. Staff receive regular, good-quality supervision, and team meetings occur regularly. Staff said that these were productive sessions that they found useful. Minutes of meetings and supervision sessions help to guide staff on specific tasks they must action to improve the care offered to children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff enjoy their work, finding it both challenging and rewarding. There is good morale among the team members, who are supportive of their colleagues and the Inspection report for children's home: SC036243 5 managers. Staff value the guidance of the manager, and she models good practice within the home. The manager is confident to challenge staff where needed and this is helping to improve practice. Consequently, the retention of staff has improved.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager understands the importance of thorough and insightful quality assurance systems. She has detailed oversight of the home, and this informs an ambitious home-development plan. The manager has created innovative ways to be assured of staff competence, giving staff potential safeguarding scenarios to ensure their understanding of how to respond. This is a proactive, rather than reactive, response to potential challenges in caring for children.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff receive regular training that is tailored to the needs of children, where required. Staff have been enrolled onto the necessary qualifications but are likely to miss the required deadlines for these.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is visited regularly by an independent visitor. The independent person's reports are provided to Ofsted but do not always include the required consultation with the children, parents or other involved professionals. This means the independent scrutiny of the care offered at the home is not at an acceptable level. Inspection report for children's home: SC036243 6

p.5

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.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children's home at least once each month.

p.6

Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

p.6

Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home's records (except for a child's case records, unless the child and the child's placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit ("the independent person's report") which sets out, in particular, the independent person's opinion as to whether—

p.6

Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children's well-being. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)(b) (4)(a)(b))

p.6

Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to ensuring the independent visitor's reports include consultation with stakeholders and have clear statements about the safety of children in the home. 19 February 2024

p.6

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are consulted regularly on their views about the home's care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child's cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened Inspection report for children's home: SC036243 7 to and acted on. ('Guide to Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 22, paragraph 4.11)  The registered person should ensure that, where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded, or not on a school roll for some other reason, staff work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume fulltime education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their

p.6

Recommendations

confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. If no education place is identified by the placing authority, the registered person must challenge them to meet the child's needs under regulation 5 (engaging with the wider system to ensure children's needs are being met. This relates to a child who is yet to attend school regularly. ('Guide to Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person should ensure that there is enough suitably trained staff (including someone in a management role) on duty to meet the assessed needs of all children in the home, and that those staff are able to respond to emergency placements, where accepted. The registered person must demonstrate every effort to achieve continuity of staffing so that children's attachments are not overly disrupted, including ensuring that the employment of any temporary staff

p.7

Recommendations

will not prevent children from receiving the continuity of care that they need (regulation 31(1)). ('Guide to Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 51, paragraph 10.1)

p.7

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: SC036243 8

p.7

Children's home details

Registered provider address: The Council house, Corporation Street, Derby DE1 2FS

p.8

Inspector

Louise Copping, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC036243 9 regulates and inspects 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.

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