Adel Beck Secure Children's Home

Inspection report for secure children’s home: SC033457 1 Adel Beck Secure Children’s Home Registered provider: Leeds City Council East Moor Lane, Leeds LS16 8EB Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this secure children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority and is approved by the Secretary of State to restrict children’s liberty.

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Information about this secure children’s home

The home provides care for up to 24 children aged between nine and 17 years. Care is provided for up to 14 children placed by the Youth Custody Service and 10 children under section 25 of the Children Act 1989 who are placed by local authorities.

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Information about this secure children’s home

Admission of any child under Section 25 of the Children Act 1989 who is under 13 years of age requires the approval of the Secretary of State.

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Information about this secure children’s home

The commissioning of health services in this home is the statutory responsibility of NHS England under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Education is provided on site in dedicated facilities.

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Information about this secure children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in 2007.

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Information about this secure children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 23 children were living in the home.

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Information about this secure children’s home

The home has operated at full occupancy levels since the last inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and children , taking into account

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good

Children’s education and learning good Children’s health good Inspection report for secure children’s home: SC033457 2 How well children and children are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The secure 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 secure children’s home: SC033457 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/06/2023 Full Good 27/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/10/2021 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/05/2021 Full Outstanding Inspection report for secure children’s home: SC033457 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and children: good

Children benefit from living in a stable and structured environment which provides them with support and routine. They respond well to the staff’s high expectations around their behaviours. As a result, children begin to make progress in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and children: good

Children said they have staff who they trust and can talk to. Staff encourage and support children to build positive relationships. Staff receive training in therapeutic approaches that support them to communicate effectively with children and to understand the impact of children’s previous life experiences. One child was moving on from the home at the time of the inspection. This child said, ‘The staff are mint.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and children: good

Consultation with children is part of their daily care. Children’s views are sought and listened to. Children contribute to their meetings, and they understand and use the child- friendly complaints procedure. An advocacy service visits the home regularly, and children can contact the service directly. This gives children numerous opportunities to express any concerns that they may have.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and children: good

Children are encouraged to lead healthier lifestyles. Most children develop improved sleep patterns, have a more varied diet and participate in a range of physical activities. Children are supported to pursue their interests and hobbies. Recently, children have planned and performed in a musical production written by one of the children. This was a great success and helped children to grow in confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and children: good

Each child has an individualised care plan that includes targets agreed with the child and the team of professionals around the child. Regular one-to-one conversations take place between children and their key staff. During these discussions, children’s views are listened to and captured. As a result, most children make progress through undertaking offence-related work where this is appropriate. There is a reduction in impulsive and harmful behaviours, and children are more able to develop and maintain relationships. However, not all direct work is recorded in a timely manner. This means that this information is not available to inform children’s continuous assessment and the children cannot see the work they have done.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and children: good

Many children are a significant distance from their home. However, they can maintain relationships with their family through face-to-face and virtual visits. Appropriate monitoring arrangements are in place to ensure that these visits can take place safely and provide children with positive experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and children: good

Children are well prepared for moving on from the home. For some children, this means that they can spend time in the community with staff, following risk assessments being carried out and as agreed in their care plans. This supports the development of children’s independence and life skills. Staff work closely with the placements that children are moving to and provide children with the information they need to move on Inspection report for secure children’s home: SC033457 5 with confidence. This supports children to leave the home in a positive way and have the best start to settle in their new home.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Teachers and staff working across the home have high aspirations for children’s education and learning. Staff encourage children to access and enjoy formal and informal learning. This enables children to make progress and has a positive impact on their future education and career opportunities. Children value their education, and their attendance is good. Children are happy, proud and confident to talk about their work.

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Children’s education and learning: good

The curriculum is full and varied and includes a broad range of academic and vocational subjects which meet children’s needs and interests. The classrooms and workshops are stimulating environments. They are well equipped to aid learning.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Teaching staff work patiently to gain children’s trust, build their confidence and inspire them to achieve their full potential. Staff are tenacious in encouraging children to attend classes. Children can recognise how far they have come in developing their knowledge and their positive attitude to learning.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Initial assessments of children’s learning needs are carried out in a timely manner after children arrive at the home. These assessments identify children’s educational levels appropriately. Where appropriate, children are entered to sit their exams. When staff believe a child should have, or does have an education, health and care plan, they follow this up with the child’s local authority to access this information. Staff are not yet using this information well enough to plan an individualised curriculum and set specific targets to enable all children to make the full progress of which they are capable.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Children benefit from a dedicated key teacher to discuss their progress in lessons and explore challenges and future aspirations. Staff know the children well and work to their strengths. Older children, or children who have been living at the home for a longer period, are encouraged to help and explain things to other children. This enables children to recap their own knowledge successfully.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Teachers do not fully explore opportunities for future careers with all children well enough to help them identify the vast range of opportunities that exist. Children do not currently benefit from work experience either internally or externally.

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Children’s education and learning: good

In lessons, teachers and support staff work well together to support and meet the needs of each child. Children are taught in small groups, of mixed abilities and ages. Staff support children to manage their emotions and to stay focused. They provide lots of praise and encouragement and create a safe environment for learning. In music, children have overcome their shyness and performed their newly acquired skills to an audience of staff and children. As a result, children build confidence and pride.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Education leaders have developed a whole-school reading strategy. Leaders have invested in a wide range of books that are suitable for various age groups and abilities Inspection report for secure children’s home: SC033457 6 and cover many interests. Children are encouraged to take books back to their rooms to read. Children talk enthusiastically about the books they are reading. This easy access to books provides children with opportunities for learning and enjoyment.

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Children’s health: good

Children benefit from easy access to a skilled and experienced team of healthcare staff who work creatively to quickly build positive relationships with them. They know the children well and focus their practice on listening to children to understand their health needs. This approach helps children to feel comfortable when discussing their health needs.

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Children’s health: good

Children receive timely initial health assessments on their arrival to the home. The wider health team expands on this to include children’s mental, physical and sexual health and neurodiversity needs. This collaboration leads to consistent practice that supports children’s progress.

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Children’s health: good

Healthcare staff work with the wider multi-disciplinary team in the home to share information and develop children’s care plans. Children have comprehensive plans that detail their emotional and physical healthcare needs. These plans include children’s contributions, often in their own words. Children attend reflective practice sessions and carry out trauma-informed work which helps them to understand and address their previous life experiences. This helps to build the foundations for children to make progress in their lives.

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Children’s health: good

Children are routinely seen by a healthcare professional following a physical restraint or after any incident of self-harm. This helps staff to identify any additional needs that children may have and ensures that any immediate medical issues are attended to. These interventions also provide children with additional emotional support at times of distress.

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Children’s health: good

Medication is administered as prescribed. This is recorded on the electronic system. Care staff have been trained by the health team and competencies assessed to use this system. Care staff are not yet consistently recording the administration of medication on the clinical system. As a result, it is not always clear on this system if children have had their medication. This administrative issue has not resulted in any harm to children.

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Children’s health: good

The healthcare staff regularly refresh their mandatory training and have a range of training opportunities. They take part in reflective supervision sessions and appraisals. This ensures that healthcare staff have the skills, knowledge and training to identify and meet children’s health needs. The monitoring of the healthcare service by leaders and managers is effective and ensures that any identified shortfalls are quickly addressed.

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How well children and children are helped and protected: good

Inspection report for secure children’s home: SC033457 7 Children said that they feel safe and can go to staff if they have any concerns. They respond well to the calm environment and clear house rules. This helps children to become increasingly safe.

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How well children and children are helped and protected: good

Staff are aware of each child’s vulnerabilities and potential risks. There are written risk assessments and formulation plans that are reviewed and updated regularly. These plans set out how children are to be supported to maintain and improve their well-being and make progress. These plans support staff to care for children in ways which help to keep children safe.

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How well children and children are helped and protected: good

When conflicts arise, these are addressed through reflective individual work with children and restorative interventions. Discriminatory language is challenged appropriately to keep all children safe and to support children to understand the impact of their behaviour on others. Kind and respectful behaviours are reinforced through an incentives programme that children understand and generally respond well to.

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How well children and children are helped and protected: good

Staff are clear when the criterion is met for a child to be held. Children have a good understanding of why this happens. Children said that staff are fair in their approach and help to reduce their distress where they can. The physical intervention records demonstrate that children are only held to keep themselves and others safe.

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How well children and children are helped and protected: good

There is clear and thorough monitoring of the use of physical intervention techniques and the supporting records. Children are routinely consulted and are spoken to after all incidents involving the use of physical intervention techniques by care staff and health staff . However, the records of conversations with children lack detail and substance to demonstrate that a full debrief has taken place to obtain the child’s thoughts and views.

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How well children and children are helped and protected: good

There is appropriate use of single separation (where children are locked into an area alone) and managing away (when children are locked into an area but with staff always present). These practices are used to help children to calm, reflect and be able to reduce their emotional distress. Staff support and monitor children during these periods. There is regular management oversight of these practices to ensure that they remain in line with the home’s policy and the legal criteria.

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How well children and children are helped and protected: good

Managers and staff are clear on the procedures to follow to safeguard children. There is regular consultation with the local authority designated officer (LADO). The LADO is also part of the quality assurance panel used to oversee physical intervention practice. This panel is used effectively to learn from incidents and highlight best practice.

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How well children and children are helped and protected: good

When allegations are made against staff, leaders and managers share information quickly to protect children. Children are supported to understand that action will be taken to keep them safe. Staff who are subject to allegations receive appropriate support to ensure that they are treated fairly. Where there has been delay in concluding investigation into staff conduct, this has been outside the control of the leaders and managers in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report for secure children’s home: SC033457 8 The home continues to benefit from the leadership of an experienced registered manager. The registered manager’s commitment to the children in his care ensures that children’s time at the home has a positive impact on their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has a good understanding of practice across the home and a balanced view of strengths and areas for continued development. The responsible individual seeks information from a range of sources to inform his oversight of the home. He works with the registered manager to advocate effectively for additional resources. There are detailed strategic plans in place to support the ongoing development of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been recent appointments to the redefined roles of deputy manager with oversight of care and a manager with responsibility for casework and interventions with children. These will strengthen the senior leadership team and provide additional skills and expertise to further improve the oversight of the quality of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is skilled and dedicated. Staff said that they enjoy working at the home. They are focused on, and understand, the needs of the children in their care. Children said that being cared for by staff who mirror their own backgrounds makes a positive difference to their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home continues to have vacancies across the care staff team. Senior leaders are seeking creative ways to retain existing staff and attract new staff to the service. Staff and children said that they are being impacted by the reduction in staff and the additional pressure on the remaining staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff teams in the three separate ‘houses’ in the home benefit from regular team days. These are used effectively, and records of these meetings show that staff engage in discussions about practice. These team days are opportunities for staff to come together and focus on the children in their care and their own practice and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have regular supervision of their practice. Staff said that this is of value and supports them in their role. Some staff are not receiving written records of their supervision in a timely manner. The registered manager’s auditing of supervision has identified issues with some line management practice, and he has quickly acted to address these. Where staff need additional support, prompt action is taken to identify areas for improvement. Clear written plans are put in place to provide this support and clarify expectations around practice standards.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a strong culture of learning and development in the home and a desire to work with others nationally in the secure estate to learn from each other and improve practice. A comprehensive workforce development plan is in place, with good oversight of the delivery of the programme through the home’s workforce development lead. The recent implementation of a competency-based assessment for staff following formal training provides an additional mechanism to assess the impact of training on practice. Inspection report for secure children’s home: SC033457 9 Investment in the learning and development of staff underpins the continued improvements in the quality of care experienced by children.. Inspection report for secure children’s home: SC033457 10

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children who have been restrained can express their feelings about their experience of the restraint and that these are evidenced in the child’s records. This should ideally take place within 24 hours of the incident and no longer than five days after the incident. Children should be offered the opportunity to access advocacy support to help them with this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.16)  The registered person should ensure that written records of one-to-one work with children are kept up to date and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)  The registered person should ensure that education staff use the information collected about each child to plan an individualised learning programme that allows them to fill

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Recommendations

gaps in knowledge, achieve qualifications and progress in their learning. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.11)  The registered person should ensure that children can access careers advice and guidance and have opportunities to participate in internal and external work experience where appropriate. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.17)  The registered person should ensure that care staff follow agreed processes for recording the administration of medication on the clinical system. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should ensure that staff receive a written record of their supervision in a timely manner after each supervision meeting. The record should demonstrate that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation. (‘Guide to the

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Recommendations

Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraphs 13.3 and 13.4) Inspection report for secure children’s home: SC033457 11

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and children, 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 secure children’s home: SC033457 12

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Secure children’s home details

Registered provider address: Merrion House, Merrion Centre, Leeds LS2 8LX

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Inspectors

Dawn Parton, Social Care Inspector (lead) Debbie Foster, Social Care Inspector Cathey Moriarty, Social Care Inspector Hayley Lomas, His Majesty’s Inspector, Further Education and Skills Sandra Smith, Children’s Services Inspector, Care Quality Commission Inspection report for secure children’s home: SC033457 13 achieve excellence in the care of children and children, 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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