Children's Home run by Sheffield City Council in Sheffield

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 1 SC066747

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Registered provider: Sheffield City Council

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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 local authority and provides care for up to five children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Senior leaders have reviewed the function of the home and changed the statement of purpose, removing the previous hub model of support for children and families. The home offers a wraparound support package to help children to secure improved outcomes. Staff provide outreach work with children that are moving on to semi- independence or independence within the community.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is qualified and experienced and has been registered with Ofsted since May 2021.

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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

Date of last inspection: 31 October 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/10/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 27/07/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/02/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/12/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff’s use of empathy in their response to children is helping to nurture the children’s confidence in the adults who care for them. They work exceptionally hard to meet the children’s highly complex emotional needs. As a result, children are developing a sense of belonging at this home after experiencing so much disruption in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Positive reinforcement is promoted through staff constantly celebrating the children’s individual achievements. Staff’s balanced approach to children’s behaviour reminds the children of their strengths. This approach is helping children to focus on their goals and outcomes and prevents the progress they have made being overshadowed by the ongoing risks and concerns that staff have for their welfare.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend their health appointments and access support from specialist services, such as the substance misuse and the child and adolescent mental health services. Although some children are reluctant to engage with these services, the staff’s established relationships with these professionals ensure that the services remain open for the children to access when they feel ready to engage.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Input from the speech and language therapist is helping children to reflect on their own communication needs. The strategies developed by the speech and language therapist are in consultation with the children. This enables staff to have more meaningful conversations that are focused on helping the children to overcome their adversities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children with a history of disruption to their education are helped to explore education placements that are suited to their needs. Staff talk to the children about the prospect of having a bright future and overcoming their challenges. One child has a college placement, while the other children are exploring other possibilities for their future. A worker from the virtual school commented about the significant change in the child’s aspirations. They said, ‘This is the most stable placement [name of child] has had. [Name of child] now wants to go to college.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by staff to spend time with their family members in line with their care plans. For some children, this means having family time independently. Staff are sensitive to the emotional impact of these relationships on children and use empathy to create a place of safety for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are supported to engage in positive, structured activities, as well as having time in the community with their friends. One child’s progress is demonstrated by them now attending a youth club and making new friends. Staff are persistent in their efforts to engage children. They consistently try to support a child to develop a better sleeping pattern, as this affects their morning routine of getting out of bed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 4 Children develop practical independence skills, such as shopping, cooking and budgeting, through a structured learning programme. Staff encourage the children to progress through the programme and are sensitive and caring when supporting children with moving on from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children spoke about some of the frustrations they have living at the home, such as not being allowed to live where they want and changes to rules in response to behavioural incidents. However, decisions made by staff are done so with the children’s best interests at heart and in consultation with the children’s social workers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff keep memory boxes for children, but the style of capturing memories is disorganised and lacks attention to detail. This limits the children’s ability to look back on their time living at the home and may contribute to children having muddled memories about their experiences.

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

The risks for some children are extremely high, and concerns relate to criminal exploitation, gang affiliation and possession of weapons. Staff understand the children’s highly complex risks and work closely with safeguarding professionals, including the police, to manage these risks safely. Staff search the premises and children’s bedrooms when concerns about knives and other weapons are identified. Strategy meetings include the relevant multi-agency partners, and children’s safety plans are kept under review and are followed by staff effectively.

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

Children have trusted members of staff who they can turn to and share their worries and concerns with. Staff responded to a child’s concerns for their safety and escalated this quickly to the police and the child’s social worker. The child’s independent reviewing officer commented, ‘[Name of child] wouldn’t have shared this [with staff] in the other places they have lived in.’

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

Staff follow the children’s missing-from-care protocols to help children return to the home safely after they have been missing. For some children, missing-from-home incidents have significantly reduced. Staff’s welcoming approach encourages the children to return to the home. However, the lack of analysis and pulling together of intelligence about children missing from home, late returns and other incidents of concern does not promote effective oversight and proactive care.

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

The use of physical intervention is rare. However, staff have meaningful conversations with children to help them reflect on their behaviour. Follow-up work with children enables them to repair their relationship with staff after incidents occur. Staff role model to children the importance of taking accountability for their actions.

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

Risk assessments are kept under review and align to the children’s needs. They provide instructions to the staff about the strategies needed to keep children safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 5 However, the format may cause delays for less-experienced staff accessing risk management information.

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

Up-to-date training on gangs and knife crime has not been provided to staff. Given the serious nature of the risks for some children, managers have not reassured themselves that all staff know the finer details of the children’s safety plans. Some staff have been inconsistent in applying the rules and boundaries of the home. This does not help children, and there is a risk that this could develop into bigger challenges should this not be addressed by managers and the team.

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

Staff appropriately challenge children’s choice of language and when they use hurtful words against others. Issues relating to children misusing substances are also appropriately challenged by staff through direct work and are referred to specialist services for support. Staff have reached out to other services for help, but more work needs to be done by staff to review the current strategies and help for children on these important social matters, such as using racist language.

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

The home’s new anti-bullying policy has been developed with input from a child and staff. The policy captures what bullying is like from a child’s perspective and has agreed strategies about how to make things better. The policy has yet to be fully embedded but adds further strength to the safeguarding culture of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The child-focused manager is determined to achieve positive outcomes for the children. Regular reflective conversations about the children’s needs help managers and staff to have a better understanding of the children and their progress. A newly adapted way of discussing the children at team meetings has strengthened staff’s approach, giving them a more attuned understanding of the children’s presenting behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Strong management and colleague support gives staff confidence to cope with challenges and remain focused on the help the children need. The introduction of therapeutic training and the concept of systemic practice has widened staff’s lens and understanding about the children’s journey in care. A new learning culture in the home is helping staff to develop their confidence and effectiveness in their roles. The impact is already visible in the team’s practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported. They benefit from the peer support they offer one another and speak positively about the team’s supportive culture. A new working rota offers a better work-life balance for staff. One staff member said, ‘We feel listened to by managers.’ Shift handovers are used to good effect to promote consistent communication between staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Delays in children being discussed at a multi-agency child exploitation panel and being allocated specialist support are appropriately challenged by leaders. Senior leaders at the highest level in the local authority are aware of the risks managed by Inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 6 the staff. This promotes oversight of the children’s care and shares the responsibility for keeping them safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 7

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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; 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all staff are fully aware of the details in the children’s plan and risk assessments, and that staff have up-to-date training relevant to the current needs of the children. 28 July 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff review the rules and boundaries at the home to ensure that they have a clear understanding about how to confidently promote these boundaries. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11)  The registered person should ensure that staff explore different strategies to use when supporting children to reflect on their language towards others. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.13)  The registered person should review the format and structure of the children’s risk assessments, to make information on the steps staff will take to manage any assessed risk on a day-to-day basis easy to read and accessible for staff. (‘Guide Inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 8 to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42,

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Recommendations

paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should have a system that supports their analysis of missing-from-home incidents and late returns, to help identify patterns and trends to help improve the quality of information shared with other agencies, staff practice and the safety of children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)  The registered person should have a system that captures the children’s experiences of living at the home so they can take their memories of living at the home with them when they leave. Photos taken of the children’s experiences should have the dates of the events to help the child understand at what point in their time at the home the events occurred. Photos should be kept in a way that helps the children and their family to reflect on their time living at this home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page

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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: SC066747 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sheffield City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Pinstone Street, Sheffield S1 2HH

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Inspector

Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066747 10 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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