Children's home run by Semi-independent House Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2599659 1 Registered provider: Semi-independent House Limited

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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 four children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. A manager has been in post since January 2024. They have submitted their application to register with Ofsted.

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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: 2599659 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/05/2023 Full Good 09/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2599659 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children were living in the home at the time of the inspection. One child has moved into the home since the last inspection. The child’s needs were well considered by staff before their move. The child was included in the planning for their move. They were welcomed with a basket of personalised treats on moving in. When the child spoke of their move, it was clear that they felt a sense of inclusion, referring to the home as ‘my home’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All three children have made good progress. One child’s social worker spoke of how their child has been visibly calmer since living at the home. She felt that staff were ‘there’ for her child. This had helped her child to feel that ‘they don’t need to put an act on’. Another child’s independent reviewing officer said that her child was ‘more mature’ since living at the home. She felt that staff had done well in supporting her child when they did not achieve as well as they had wanted to at school and helping them recognise what they were good at. This has given the child a sense of achievement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have received support to spend time with their family. They have also been able to spend time with their friends at the house. This indicates that children like where they live and are comfortable introducing their friends to those who care for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support all children to attend school or further education. Success has been mixed. There has been some delay in advocating for some children and offering professional challenge. However, the current manager has shown tenacity in challenging one child’s school around the management of their behaviour while in school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff meet children’s health needs well. Staff encourage children to be active and have fun. Staff support children to attend ice skating lessons or try out for football clubs. However, on one occasion, staff failed to challenge doctors and left a child at the hospital alone. It is unclear whether the child was spoken to about this decision. Staff leaving them at such a key time is not consistent with the home’s therapeutic ethos.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is clean. However, some areas of the home are not as well maintained as others. One child’s tap was broken and had been for a prolonged time as the landlord had delayed the completion of this maintenance issue. The towel cupboard was locked despite there being no risks that would necessitate this. This means that children must ask for clean towels, which is unnecessarily bureaucratic. There are some photos of staff on the walls, but this is limited. When a child walks into their home, they are greeted by an institutional fire sign. This takes away from the homeliness of the environment. It also diminishes the effort that staff have put into areas of the home, such as personalising each child’s bedroom. Inspection report for children’s home: 2599659 4

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

Children are safer because of the support they receive in this home. Since the last inspection, there have been no allegations related to the staff, no physical interventions and no complaints. Children speak of the home with words like ‘this is my home’ and ‘this is my safe place’. The children’s social worker and independent reviewing officer agreed. They said that staff keep the children safe. One child’s social worker spoke of their child being visibly calmer since living at the home. She spoke of the child’s ‘vulnerability having decreased’.

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

No children have been reported as missing from home. Staff have not had to restrain any children. This shows that staff can use their training to de-escalate incidents safely. It also models safe conflict resolution.

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

The staff have comprehensive safeguarding training. This has helped them to understand how to raise concerns if they need to do so.

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

Risk assessments are comprehensive. Staff know what children’s vulnerabilities and strengths are. However, they are not consistently written in a child-centred way or shared with the children. This has the potential to limit children’s ability to keep themselves safe and is not in line with the home’s statement of purpose.

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

Overall, children are involved in few incidents. When these do happen, staff are good at responding to the child’s immediate safety needs. However, at times, there is a lack of curiosity and reflection within the staff group following incidents. For example, on one occasion, staff failed to link a child’s heightened state with their disclosure earlier that day. This resulted in staff giving the child a significantly disproportionate consequence. This approach is not in line with a therapeutic ethos.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Senior management has been proactive in promptly promoting a deputy manager after the registered manager left. The manager has been supported to apply to Ofsted for their registration.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they are happy with the manager. They speak of her with warmth and a level of respect. Staff say that she is inspirational and ‘knows what she wants of us, expects a lot of us, and I like that’. Staff are confident to share any concerns that they may have and describe their team dynamics as good, despite the significant staff changes recently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is supported by an enthusiastic deputy manager. They also have support from a knowledgeable and approachable head of care. The head of care provides the manager with regular and reflective supervision. This addresses the emotional labour of the role and challenges and supports her development. The manager has a development plan that is comprehensive and realistic. Inspection report for children’s home: 2599659 5 The manager completes staff supervisions. These are regular, but do not always include reflection and curiosity. Staff team meetings happen regularly but lack a consistent focus on reflective practice. This is important as many of the staff team are new.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent person visits the home regularly. However, they sometimes visit in school hours and do not consistently speak with children or professionals. Sections of their monthly reports are copied and pasted, including their safety statement. This limits their oversight and ability to rigorously challenge. Managers have not identified this shortfall and theme.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has an emerging level of oversight of the home. She has started to gather feedback from the children and professionals. She uses this to inform her review of care. However, there are gaps in her oversight. She has not identified and challenged staff’s language within recordings when it was not therapeutic. There was one occasion where she told staff to use a therapeutic approach with a child which they were not trained in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Social workers and independent reviewing officers praise the manager’s communication. They speak of the staff group as ‘proactive’ and ‘available’. However, one child’s independent reviewing officer did share concerns, including the lack of a consistent therapeutic approach in the staff team. Inspection report for children’s home: 2599659 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

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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)(a)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that management oversight is effective, that the therapeutic ethos of the home is embedded and central to work with children and that staff are supported to meet each child’s unique needs in a therapeutic manner. 1 June 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home provides children with a nurturing and supportive environment that is homely. The home should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. In particular, institutional signs upon entering the home should be moved. There should be consideration of how the environment can be more homely. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that children can access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the Inspection report for children’s home: 2599659 7 home. In particular, they should ensure that towel cupboards are not locked and that children can freely walk around all areas of the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes

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Recommendations

Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  The registered person should ensure that all staff receive supervision which allows them to reflect on their practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that staff act as champions for their children, expecting nothing less than a good parent would. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 12, paragraph 2.8)  The registered person should ensure that staff record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits

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Recommendations

to the home as an independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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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: 2599659 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Semi-independent House Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 51 Ploverly, Peterborough PE4 6HZ

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Inspector

Majella Russell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2599659 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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