Children's home run by Raise House Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2592361 1 Registered provider: Raise House 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 for up to three children who experience social and or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2020.

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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: 2592361 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/05/2022 Full Good 05/05/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2592361 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the previous inspection, two children have moved into the home and three children have left. In line with their plans, two children went to live in semi- independent accommodation and one child has reunited with their family. Senior leaders are proud that children remain at the home for a long time and have positive outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Neither child is accessing formal education. Senior leaders challenge other professionals when they have concerns about children’s educational journeys. In addition, staff intend to encourage study at the home with the use of revision material. Both children now aspire to attend further education to receive qualifications. However, these plans are not yet in place and there is work still to be done to ensure that children’s educational outcomes progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a spacious home. Their bedrooms are furnished and decorated on their request, so they have a personalised space of their own.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with health needs to take medication and attend health appointments. For one child, their health needs are not yet clear, and staff could do more to challenge professionals to better understand their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel safe in the home. They are happy living together and are happy with their positive experiences in the home. Both children enjoy their bedrooms and appreciate the decor that staff have put in place. Children describe staff as ‘respectful’ and ‘patient’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities that reflect their interests. For example, one child who lived at the home was a football fan. Staff arranged for him to attend a tour of his team’s football stadium. Staff appreciate children’s cultural backgrounds. Staff acknowledge religious festivals and support children to celebrate them in line with their own beliefs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take an active part in house meetings. They feel comfortable voicing their opinions. House meetings consider religious practices. For example, when a child was fasting, staff considered how to best support them. Key-work sessions are relevant to children’s experiences. One child is about to become a parent. Staff are having discussions about parenting and child development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s guide is child friendly and includes relevant information. Senior leaders included children in deciding different formats for the guide. As a result, one child designed the guide in the form of a website with a QR code to access it. Staff are very proud of children’s creative ideas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from positive endings when they move on from the home. Staff understand the importance of making children’s last moments at the home Inspection report for children’s home: 2592361 4 memorable. Senior leaders have a tradition to take children who are leaving out for a meal. Other children who have left the home sometimes join these house meals as well. This highlights the long-standing positive relationships between children.

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improvement to be good

Children go missing from the home often. Return home interviews are not always carried out when they return. This is a missed opportunity to understand children’s experience when they are away from the home, the risks that children may face and to help them to reflect on these risks. Staff are aware of safeguarding risks and escalate concerns to other professionals as needed. However, children’s files do not always reflect this practice.

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improvement to be good

Staff and managers do not always reflect on incidents after they happen. They do not consistently reflect with children to help their development. This means that they do not have the support to develop a deeper understanding of the risks they may face.

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improvement to be good

Leaders have not ensured that actions identified in the fire risk assessment are addressed in a timely way. This reduces the assurance leaders have that the physical environment is as safe for children as it could be. Leaders could also do more to strengthen staff’s knowledge of risks in the local area.

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improvement to be good

Senior leaders have reflected on the shortfalls with their medication recording that was noted previously. They have taken action to ensure accurate and safe administration of medication. This has led to improvements in this area of practice.

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improvement to be good

Staff use consequences as part of their behaviour management approaches. Staff do not always consider the effectiveness of these. This means that it is not clear whether children learn from this approach.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand children’s lived experiences and risks. In contrast, children’s files do not always reflect the level of risk they face in all areas, and some children’s plans do not reflect their overarching local authority care plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are happy working in the home. They are confident that they can care for children and keep children’s past experiences and current risks in mind. Staff are proud to say that previous children have not wanted to leave. Staff believe that children feel part of a family when they live in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and the manager follow the correct procedures when any allegations are made about staff or complaints are made. Children are spoken to before any allegation or complaint is closed to make sure that children are satisfied with how it Inspection report for children’s home: 2592361 5 was managed. This emphasises to children that their views are central to staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Senior leaders are trained to provide effective supervision. Records of supervision are comprehensive and indicate the high-quality conversations that take place. Staff welcome the support from leaders. In addition, staff appreciate annual appraisals where they have time to reflect and discuss their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders have not ensured that staff have access to training about children’s specific health needs. This is a missed opportunity to hone staff knowledge so they can provide an even more improved quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Senior leaders reflect on areas of improvement in the home, including succession planning for leaders. In contrast, the regular review of the quality of care children receive does not include actions to target improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professional feedback is positive. Professionals feel that the staff understand children’s needs considering their early life experiences. Professionals see noticeable progress in the children while they live in the home. For some children, this means educational progress, as well as social development. One professional said that staff are positive role models for the child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2592361 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 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

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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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

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of 1 May 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2592361 7 exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child who is above compulsory school age to participate in further education, training or employment and to prepare for future care, education or employment;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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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)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(ix)(x)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff and leaders should support children to make progress in their education.

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(1) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders should ensure that the physical premises are safe, and actions recommended by fire professionals in the fire risk assessment are responded to within the recommended time frames. 1 May 2024

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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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and staff should ensure that incidents when children go missing are well managed. 1 May 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2592361 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases, it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that the review identifies areas of strength and possible weakness in the care provided in the home. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next six months of delivery in the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the

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Recommendations

home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. This specifically relates to training about children’s diagnosed conditions and how these can influence their care needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: 2592361 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Raise House Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Riverdale House, 21a High Street, Wheathampstead, St Albans AL4 8BB

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Inspector

Chelsea Agyeman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2592361 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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