Children's Home run by Leeds City Council in Leeds

Inspection report for children’s home: SC033723 1 SC033723 Registered provider: Leeds City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for up to five children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home reopened in October 2023 after temporary closure for a period of renovation.

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Information about this children’s home

Since November 2023, three children have moved into the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2024. She has recruited an experienced staff team.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC033723 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/03/2022 Full Good 17/09/2019 Full Good 13/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/07/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC033723 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that this is a good place to live and that they get on with the staff who care for them. One child said, ‘I would give the home 10 out of 10.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have built, and continue to build, positive relationships with children in the short length of time they have lived at the home. It is evident that children have started to trust those who care for them. This assists the children to listen to the staff’s guidance, and they start to make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have started to make good progress in most aspects of their lives. They have become increasingly safe, and their physical health needs are being met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to develop age-appropriate independence skills, which has increased their self-confidence. Children like to cook and bake, and they help to keep their own bedrooms clean and tidy. Children also help with other household tasks, such as doing their own laundry. Learning these skills will help children as they move on to adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend health assessments and most routine check-ups, such as dental and optician appointments. There is a focus on the children’s health. Children have a balanced diet and are encouraged to engage in leisure interests, including physical activities. This supports the children’s current and longer-term health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Each child has a care and support plan, along with other supporting records. These plans set out clearly how the child is to be cared for. Staff demonstrate that they know each child’s specific care needs and follow the plans. This assists the children to make continued progress from the consistent care they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from the good-quality direct work that the staff carry out with them. During these sessions, staff listen to the children and provide appropriate guidance. This essential work assists children to learn how to keep themselves safe, better manage their emotions and gain further social and life skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy and have opportunities to access several social activities. The staff support children with interests and hobbies. Children have regular social and leisure outings, including go-karting, trampolining, attending football practice and games, going to watch football matches, going out for meals and meeting friends. These opportunities help to increase children’s participation in leisure pursuits, develop their social skills and ensure that they have positive childhood experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Talking to children and gaining their views and opinions is part of everyday life. The staff include children in decision-making, such as the choice of meals and activities and about matters that affect their care and future. This builds children’s confidence in contributing to decisions about their lives. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033723 4 Children benefit from seeing their families. These relationships have been improved or maintained as staff understand the importance of this for children. This makes sure that important family connections continue to be positive. The children remain connected to those who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they have a really nice home to live in. The house has been refurbished, decorated and newly furnished. Communal rooms, including the lounge, conservatory and dining room, are personalised with homely touches of pictures, plants and soft furnishings. This makes this house a home for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children have a school or alternative placement, and there are reduced timetables for some children. Children receive a strong message from staff about the importance of attending school. When an education placement does not fully meet a child’s needs, the manager and staff are proactive to try and address these matters. However, the response from education professionals has not always been immediate. Furthermore, not all relevant educational goals are included in the children’s plans. Therefore, communication between the staff in the school and the home is not fully effective. This does not support all the children’s educational attainment and hinders some children from increasing their educational attendance.

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

Staff are clear about the identified risks and vulnerabilities of the children in their care, and the staff know how they should care and support the children to keep them safe.

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

The staff routinely update children’s plans and risk assessments. Staff implement the agreed approaches and strategies to support the children. As a result, children begin to settle and are better able to regulate their emotions. Children’s risk-taking behaviour has reduced. However, there have been some occasions when children have not settled at night as staff’s support and interventions have not always been successful. This has resulted in the children a being up until the early hours of the morning, which then impacts on them attending school.

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

Staff understand the children’s emotions and behaviours well. Therefore, physical interventions are rarely used by staff, who are suitably trained. Staff focus on redirection and help children to calm when they become upset. The staff reinforce positive behaviour and give praise and incentives to recognise each child’s achievements. Children respond well to this approach. Over time, children have become more settled and better able to manage their emotions.

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

There have been no incidents of children going missing from this home. Staff know the safeguarding procedures to follow if these incidents should occur. This includes trying to contact the child and the people who they know and trying to locate the child to return them to the home safely. Staff talk to children and explain the possible dangers of not returning home on time and going missing. This helps the children to understand and keep themselves safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033723 5 Staff demonstrate good awareness of what action to take to keep children safe. In the event an allegation is made, swift action is taken to protect the child. The manager refers the allegation directly to the local authority designated officer. This ensures that the matter is suitably investigated and that children are protected from harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The new staff team benefits from the consistent and supportive leadership style of the manager. The manager leads by example and is inclusive. She has set clear expectations for the staff to follow. The manager expects staff to provide good- quality care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a clear aim to provide consistent good care to children. This is achieved through the established communication systems. These include daily shift handovers, monthly formal supervision sessions and staff team meetings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are enthusiastic, positive, caring and want to spend time with the children. They state that they receive very good support from the manager. They say that this helps them to carry out their role and duties in caring for the children well. Staff say that morale is good and that they work well as a team. This has been quickly achieved through team-building work in staff meetings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The new team of staff are experienced. New staff are supported through an induction process. They complete the provider’s mandatory training, which includes first aid, behaviour management, safeguarding and physical intervention training. Some staff also have the required level 3 childcare qualification. This support and training ensure that the staff provide children with good-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from undertaking more-specialist training, including child sexual exploitation, county lines, internet safety and self-harm training. This ensures that staff are skilled and appropriately trained to meet the children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is positive partnership working with professionals. They confirm that the children are making progress and that there is frequent and excellent communication with the staff. This helps to ensure that key people are kept informed and the child receives the best care and support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas that require further development. She has a clear vision for this home and the care of the children. Suitable internal and external monitoring systems have been established. When deficits are found, these are quickly addressed. The manager is working to further develop the internal monitoring systems. This ensures that the home provides consistent and good-quality care. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033723 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 persons must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the educational targets for each child are set out in their plans. Staff must be aware of children’s learning targets and implement these.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that staff work more closely to establish and agree effective communication with school to further promote each child’s positive engagement. This is to further achieve the increasing attendance and learning for children. 28 May 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC033723 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff challenge the child’s education or training provider if the child does not receive sufficient support to progress as outlined in their relevant plans. Staff should act as effective advocates for or on behalf of a child who may be experiencing difficulties with education or training matters, including, but not limited to, attainment, admissions, attendance or behaviour, as a good parent would do. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.12)  The registered person should ensure that the expectations of standards of behaviour are high for all staff and children in the home. These standards should be clear and unambiguous. Children should be supported to develop understanding and empathy towards each other. In particular, review the strategies being used to help particular children to settle at night at a suitable

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Recommendations

time. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11) Inspection report for children’s home: SC033723 8

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Information about this inspection

The inspector has 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: SC033723 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Hall, Calverley Street, Leeds LS1 1UR

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Inspector

Debbie Foster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC033723 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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