Children's Home run by Resicare Alliance Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2747336 1 Registered provider: Resicare Alliance Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home registered with Ofsted in November 2023 and is owned by a private organisation. It provides care for up to 10 children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a permanent and qualified registered manager at the home.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2747336 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a good experience living at this home. At the time of this inspection, three children were living at the home, all of whom have benefited from bespoke and planned introductions. As a result, children have settled well and are making progress. Children take part in a range of activities at the home and go out regularly to places they enjoy, such as a local specialist youth club.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is extensive and there are many specialist facilities and spaces at the home for children, including a dance studio, a games room and an indoor trampoline room. This brings vast opportunities for children to enjoy a range of experiences that meet their needs and interests. However, there are some hazards that have not been addressed, such as stinging nettles in the gardens. No children have been harmed, but this detracts somewhat from the excellent facilities at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are developing relationships with children, and children seek out their interaction. Managers understand and utilise the skills of individual staff, to build trusted relationships with children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff place a high priority on children’s education. There are clear routines at the home that promote school attendance. One child has tuition in the home. Staff are actively involved in facilitating this alongside the tutor. The manager is working in partnership with the relevant agencies to identify a suitable school placement and is an effective advocate for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to enjoy reading, for example by taking a book to the park for a child to read under a tree on a sunny day. Staff read storybooks to children as part of their bedtime routines. Staff know what children’s favourite stories are and they are skilled at helping children to interact with this experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s health needs. They help children to attend their health appointments and use creative resources to aid their understanding of these experiences. For example, they use photos and illustrations to help to prepare children for an appointment with the optician.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s associated clinical specialist enhances the care of children at the home. This is through upskilling staff, assessment of children’s needs and input into care planning. For example, a clinician’s input is helping a child to stabilise their school placement. The clinician implemented a plan that enabled the child to settle at the home and then successfully reintegrate back into school in a planned and supported way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand and are skilled in children’s methods of communication. Consultation with children is strong and children are making choices for themselves. For example, using the wishes and feelings box, children have chosen bedroom furnishings and toys. Inspection report for children’s home: 2747336 3 The manager is creative in helping children to achieve their wishes. For example, one child wanted pink hair. As she is too young to dye her hair, alternatives of pink clip-in hair and coloured hair chalk were sought.

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

Staff know how to keep children safe at this home. They are attentive to the supervision and care of children. They have made strides in their understanding in these areas and are now consistently vigilant. Care is well organised and arranged so that staff understand their roles and duties. Staff supervise children in line with their assessed needs.

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

A child went missing from this home on one occasion. This was serious due to the child’s level of vulnerability. The manager has taken this seriously and a full investigation and comprehensive review were carried out. Clear lessons have been learned from this incident. Staff have been further upskilled and additional security measures have been put in place. This has reduced the risk of this incident reoccurring.

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

Staff provide children with clear guidance and boundaries. As a result, children are learning what is expected of them. When necessary, staff physically intervene to keep children safe when they display behaviours of concern. The manager provides a detailed review into these incidents and learning is cascaded to the staff team.

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

Staff help children to learn about keeping themselves safe. Staff are creative in their approaches to this and use resources in line with children’s abilities. Staff help children to respect each other’s personal space. One child has made good progress in this area and now understands the need to ask for consent for physical contact. Staff provide care to children in a respectful way that promotes their dignity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager benefits from being part of a wider management team and from the support of the organisation. However, changes in senior staffing at the home have reduced the manager’s ability to delegate tasks. For example, the manager writes all the children’s plans, and there is no additional management oversight of these. This has resulted in some inaccuracies, which reduces the effectiveness of these plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff receive supervision. However, at times, the quality and consistency are poor. Training sessions have been logged as supervision. As a result, staff can go for long periods without having the opportunity to receive good-quality, individual supervision. For example, for one staff member, a decision was made to extend their probation and they did not receive supervision for eight weeks. This is not supportive of staff’s development or well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff’s record-keeping is not always accurate. When the manager identifies shortfalls, staff are prompted to make improvements to the quality. However, managers do not consistently identify poor record-keeping. Furthermore, staff do not consistently record Inspection report for children’s home: 2747336 4 and report children’s incidents and new behaviours. This inhibits the manager’s oversight. For example, one child induced vomiting. The manager remained unaware of this, so this has not been considered in their care planning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There was a shortfall in the manager’s oversight of staff training. A senior staff member was tasked with assessing the competency of staff in administering medication, before completing their own mandatory learning in this topic.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff receive training in a wide range of topics. This prepares them well for caring for children. The organisation is highly responsive when new training needs are identified. As a result, a wealth of bespoke training is provided to staff. Staff embrace learning and development opportunities. In addition, staff have quickly progressed with their qualifications, and several staff have now completed these. As a result, the team is increasing its skills and expertise in caring for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There is a consistent staff team at the home, with only minimal changes of staff. There have been no agency staff used. Staff have benefited from having experience working at other homes, as part of their planned induction period. Staff provide positive feedback about working at the home and feel valued and well supported by managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers are committed to ensuring that there is a planned and phased approach to increasing the number of children living at the home. Managers have high expectations for the quality of care provided at the home. They also have a good understanding of the areas for development and are aspirational for continuous improvement and for children to achieve their best outcomes. Inspection report for children’s home: 2747336 5

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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 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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that all potential hazards are identified and rectified in a timely way. 25 July 2024

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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; and

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child

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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)(c)(e)(h)) 25 July 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2747336 6 This specifically relates to ensuring that senior staff who provide training and who assess the competency of others are suitably experienced and trained to do so.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring that children’s plans are current and accurate, to enable staff to provide consistent care to children.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to managers having monitoring systems to identify children’s incidents and behavioural changes, to enable management review and updates to their care planning as necessary.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that good-quality supervision is provided in a consistent way that promotes staff’s well-being and development. 25 July 2024

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information about individual children in a non- stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. 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)

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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: 2747336 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 147 Stamford Hill, London N16 5LG

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Inspectors

Alison Snell, Social Care Inspector Amy Richards, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2747336 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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