Children's home run by Highfield North East Limited in Redcar and Cleveland

Inspection report for children’s home: SC408656 1 SC408656 Registered provider: Highfield (North East) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to four children who may have social and emotional difficulties. Three children were living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The suitably qualified manager registered with Ofsted in June 2010.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the staff at the home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC408656 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/02/2022 Full Good 5/11/2019 Full Good 12/03/2019 Full Good 16/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC408656 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people:

Children have trusted and secure relationships with the registered manager and the staff who are looking after them. This has resulted in the children making significant progress from their starting points. The staff know the children well, and the children are actively involved in the day-to-day decision-making on key matters, including meal plans for the week, choice of activities and holidays, and any issues that arise in the home that benefit from group discussion and agreement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people:

The home is warm and welcoming, and there is evidence of the children who live there through the photos on the walls in the communal areas. Children are encouraged to display photos of their family and friends in their bedrooms and to personalise their rooms according to their taste.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people:

Staff prioritise the happiness and well-being of the children. The registered manager and staff challenge others to ensure that the children receive access to services to support their physical and emotional health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people:

The registered manager carefully considers the impact of any new children moving into the home, not only for the new child but also for the children already living there. When a new child arrives at the home, the registered manager and staff ensure careful planning so that the child feels welcomed even before they arrive. The child is invited to visit the home, and the staff work tirelessly to get to know the child and understand their needs so that the child settles and feels more comfortable in the home. When children leave the home, excellent planning with evidence of strong communication with all parties ensures that the child is at the centre of the decision-making. The child is supported through the transition before, during and after the move, with the staff continuing contact and arranging a visit once the child is settled.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people:

Staff support the children to maintain contact with their families, and the staff transport the children to arranged visits. Staff encourage families to visit the children at the home and will often arrange a private space and refreshments so that children can have quality time with their family. One grandparent said, ‘Since being at the home, [name of child] is the happiest I have ever known, and this has greatly improved our relationship.’ As a result of this progress, the child is now able to visit the grandparents in their home every week. The staff support this family time and transport the child to the visits.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people:

All three children living at the home are receiving education. For one child, the current educational provision is not meeting their needs, and their attendance has been reduced. Staff at the home have worked closely with the school to arrange alternative provision better suited to the child’s needs. This will increase the hours of Inspection report for children’s home: SC408656 4 attendance. For all three children, there is a significant improvement in their view of education, and this has been encouraged and nurtured by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people:

The colourful children’s guide includes details of how children can make a complaint. There is a section in the guide on the rights of the child. This has been devised with children in mind and age-appropriate language. There are no incidents of bullying at the home, and children do not need to make complaints about staff due to their relationships. The children have trusted adults they can go to for support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people:

Children are treated with dignity and respect, and their individuality and diversity are recognised, supported and celebrated. The registered manager and staff ensure that children receive access to specialist support and services. The staff also ensure that they receive training in diversity awareness to enable them to support the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people:

The registered manager and staff arrange activities that both promote and celebrate all religions, ethnicities and celebrations. This includes cooking meals from different countries, doing arts and crafts and visiting museums and places of interest. An example of this was when the children made Chinese lanterns and learned about the Chinese New Year.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people:

The children participate in a wide range of activities, both inside and outside of the home. The registered manager and staff ensure that children experience day trips and holidays. One child said that they would like to go on holiday abroad. The staff have listened to the child’s request and are currently exploring the possibility of this later in the year. The staff take photos of activities and document these in a file. However, children do not have their own memory books, which would allow them to remember their time at the home and reflect in their own time.

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outstanding

Children say that they feel safe and happy in the home and that the relationships they have with the staff give them a sense of security. There is a consistent staff team, so the children know the staff well.

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outstanding

There has been one missing-from-home episode involving one of the children in the home. The child’s file contained a copy of the missing-from-home plan and a clear tracker of all actions taken. If a child is missing, the registered manager and staff are proactive in going out and actively looking for the child in the first instance before calling the police. There is a clear missing-from-home procedure in place, which clarifies the actions that staff need to follow. This procedure is introduced to staff during their induction. When a child returns home from being missing, staff at the home liaise with the local authority to ensure that the child is offered an independent return home interview.

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outstanding

There is an incentive scheme in place with additional pocket money bonuses for positive actions. If a child does well at school, this message is passed to the home, which rewards and celebrates the success. There are consequences in place if Inspection report for children’s home: SC408656 5 damage is caused in the home, and a monetary amount is deducted from pocket money in agreement with the child. This teaches the child the consequences of negative actions.

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outstanding

When concerns around internet safety are raised, staff act promptly by liaising with social care and reporting the matter to the police. Key-work sessions address the risks online, issues of consent and rights and choices. Posters on the notice board in the home educate children about services that can support them. This notice board is in the area of the home where key work is completed, and therefore it is not intrusive on the ‘homely’ feel.

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outstanding

The registered manager and staff only use physical interventions and holds as a last resort to keep the children and others safe. Staff use a number of de-escalation skills and methods to talk to the child if they are upset or distressed, get them to a place of safety and allow the child the time and support they need. When physical interventions are used, they are recorded with the details of what happened and why. Following the incident, a discussion is held with the child and staff as an opportunity to reflect. The registered manager’s oversight provides an evaluation of the suitability of the intervention used and ensures a feedback loop to promote learning for all involved.

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outstanding

Children are supported to develop their independence through effective risk identification and management. The staff in the home spend time with the children talking to them about budgeting, domestic chores and personal hygiene. Any identified individual needs are addressed in tailored one-to-one work with the child. The registered manager and staff work with external services and invite them in to do awareness-raising work with both the staff and children on contextual safeguarding concerns, including drug awareness and child exploitation.

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outstanding

Risk assessments for each child are regularly reviewed and updated. The risk assessments are individual, according to the identified risk, for example missing- from-home episodes or self-harm. Each risk assessment has been completed in discussion with the child, looks at how they would like to be supported and the strategies that staff can use to help them. The registered manager has a positive approach to children taking age-appropriate risks. For one child, this means that they can visit their friend and stay over at their house on a weekend. The staff spend a lot of time talking to the children about their choices and the risks involved, and this allows the children to understand and learn to keep themselves safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a permanent, long-standing, experienced and qualified registered manager and deputy manager. The staff team is well established, and they work well together and are committed to their roles. No agency staff currently work in the home. There is one staff member who is bank staff. The registered manager and deputy manager are highly committed to ensuring that the children have access to life opportunities and, therefore, have high expectations of the staff in ensuring that the children are safeguarded and have their needs met. Inspection report for children’s home: SC408656 6 Feedback from staff and professionals has been exceptionally positive. One professional stated that he had known the home for a lot of years and had directly seen the positive developments and improvements for the children who lived there. The professional further stated that communication from the staff at the home is

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

always timely and thorough and that they would have no hesitation in placing any child at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they feel valued, supported and listened to. The registered manager ensures that decisions about the home are discussed at regular team meetings and that staff are included in the decision-making to ensure that they are invested. Staff have lead roles and thematic responsibilities that they ‘champion’, which allows the staff to have their own areas of responsibility.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are highly motivated, and this is further encouraged by the vision of the registered manager. Supervision for both staff and the registered manager is regular and reflective. Discussions in supervision also include documented evidence when a challenge has been made to staff about any behaviours that may impact on the ethos and atmosphere in the home. This challenge has been made with an emphasis on the child being at the centre of the home and ensuring that their environment is positive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a training matrix that allows the registered manager to track statutory training for the staff and ensure that it is renewed when required. Training for the staff is frequent and provided by an external training provider. The registered manager can request specific training if it is identified that a child has certain needs and that the staff require training to understand the needs and support the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is clear evidence of safer recruitment systems in place. Staff recruitment files are well organised. Details of staff recruitment, induction, probation, supervision and appraisals are kept in individual files, making it easier to manage.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has concise recording systems in place to ensure that documents serve their purpose and include all required information. It was noted that there were shortfalls in some of the recordings, with gaps where staff had not signed the individual children’s plans once they had been reviewed. The consequence book also allows the opportunity for the registered manager and leader to reflect on the consequence and the impact this has had on the child. This section of the book had only been completed on a few occasions. Inspection report for children’s home: SC408656 7

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What does the children’s home need to do to improve?

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children have their own book or a file with photos from shared activities and their time in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 31 paragraph 6.7)  The registered person should ensure that all case records are kept up to date and that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62 paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC408656 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Highfield (North East) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 37 Emerald Street, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Cleveland TS12 1EE

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Inspector

Lisa Finch, Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report for children’s home: SC408656 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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