Children's home run by Newcastle City Council

Inspection report for children’s home: SC033645 1 SC033645 Registered provider: Newcastle City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated and managed by a local authority.

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to six children with physical and learning disabilities. One child may reside in the home and five children may stay under short-break arrangements.

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Information about this children’s home

There are 57 children using the service. Four children were staying in the home during inspection. The inspector met with all the children.

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Information about this children’s home

The newly appointed manager has not yet registered with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 15 November 2023

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC033645 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/11/2023 Full Good 26/09/2022 Full Good 13/06/2022 Full Inadequate 01/03/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC033645 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Families speak exceptionally well of the outstanding experiences that their children have during their short-break stay. One parent said, ‘For 13 years I did not know what made my son happy. Now I do, it’s [name of home].’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are dedicated to supporting children to achieve their potential. Staff and the manager set personalised targets for the children, to help them to make significant progress in all areas of their lives. This includes helping children with their transition into adulthood. Individual achievements are celebrated with rewards, as well as an annual awards ceremony.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff understand the difference it makes to children by offering them a variety of new experiences. The manager and staff develop relationships with local restaurants, museums, and sports centres to facilitate this. This provides children with complex needs, a sense of belonging in their local community. Staff also access charitable funds to provide children with challenging events, such as water activities and dry slope skiing. Children’s lives are enhanced by the experiences they have during their time at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff take photos of children’s experiences to capture these precious moments. These are shared onto a social media page which is accessible only to children, their families, and staff. This resource helps families to connect with activities their children experience and share in those memories. It also provides a forum for staff to share information about local resources and events. This advice supports families to give children ongoing experiences before their next stay at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are exceptionally well supported when they are introduced to the home. Staff have a range of ways to obtain information about the child, such as observing them in school. This contributes to the assessment of whether staff are able to meet the child’s individual needs. This attention to detail extends to children who need an urgent place int the home. They are equally creative in personalising a child’s room prior to their stay and update this regularly in line with the child’s changing likes and dislikes. This helps children to feel valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff value the friendships that children have with their peers. Where possible, the manager will arrange stays so that children can spend time with their friends. This is particularly important when relationships are fragmented due to children changing schools. This helps children to maintain important relationships. This helps children to make progress with their social skills and self-confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children and their families are able to build trusting relationships with staff. Staff contact the children’s families for an update in advance of their stay so that any necessary adjustments can be made to their child’s care. During children’s stays, families know they can contact staff at any time to check in on their child. Families Inspection report for children’s home: SC033645 4 are then provided with a detailed report after each child’s stay. This communication is vital for parents to reassure them that their child is safe and well cared for during their stay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff ensure that all children attend their school. One child who struggles to attend when at home, will go to school with the support of staff when they are on their short break. This is considerable progress for this child. Staff attend meetings with schools and communicate regularly to share relevant information about children’s progress and time spent in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The manager is innovative when seeking children’s views. Children can attend a ‘voices group’ which feeds into the local authority’s youth council. This helps children to have a say about their home. This has helped to build children’s confidence, resulting in some children successfully participating in their school council.

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

Staff understand the needs of the children well. Children’s care plans and risk assessments are detailed and personalised. They are updated regularly and contain clear strategies that support staff in caring for the children.

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

Incidents are recorded in detail by staff. This helps the manager to be satisfied that staff are following the necessary safeguarding procedures. Physical interventions are only used to help to keep children safe during an incident and are rare. Incidents and physical interventions have reduced in frequency because of the relationships the staff have with the children. Staff always communicate with a child after an incident to try to help them understand the need for the intervention. This helps children understand that staff want to help the children to stay safe.

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

The manager operates a safer recruitment process. This includes verifying references and completing overseas safeguarding checks for those applicants who are not British nationals. This helps to ensure that children are cared for by safe adults with the necessary skills and knowledge.

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

Staff support the children with their medical needs well. When staff notice a change in a child’s health needs, this is discussed with the family and shared with medical professionals as appropriate. The staff contribute effectively towards reviews of children’s prescribed medication to ensure that it meets the needs of the child.

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

Due to the complex needs and vulnerability of the children accessing the service, all external doors are operated by a key fob, to help to keep children safe. External doors are also connected to an alarm system. However, alarms are only used in specific situations to keep children safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033645 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has been without a registered manager since August 2023. A new manager has been appointed. The manager is ambitious for the children in his care. He is supported well by two equally dedicated deputy managers. Between them, they share managerial tasks and have oversight of staff practice. Professionals speak highly of the staff and manager. One professional said that the home is the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the services that the local authority offers to children with disabilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home benefits from a stable staffing team. Those staff members who have left have done so to progress their careers. The manager is keen to support staff with their development and has introduced additional leadership responsibilities for them, such as communication aids champion. The manager helps to build staff relationships by holding team building days. Staff say they feel well supported and describe the manager as ‘enthusiastic’ and ‘approachable’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager sources specific additional training for staff, such as a session with the community dentist. This helps them to have a holistic approach to the care they provide to children. He ensures that any specialist training is led by the medical practitioner involved with the children. This ensures that the learning provided for staff is bespoke to the individual child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is responsive to the needs of children and makes adjustments to help to improve their stay. When necessary, the manager employs additional agency staff ensuring the same four staff are used to provide continuity of care. The manager evaluates the benefits to children that this extra staffing brings. Consequently, he has developed a business plan for senior managers, to support his request for additional permanent staff. This is because he wants children to have the best experience possible.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective monitoring systems. He welcomes external scrutiny and consults with managers form other homes and exports to review practice to help to provide improved experiences for children and to develop staff’s skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff receive regular supervision. Casual staff receive supervision from a member of the management team. However, records of supervision sessions do not consistently capture discussions about practice. This prevents the manager and staff member from having an accurate record of the discussions held.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager completes a regular review of the home. However, this does not consider what has gone well or have a plan to address areas for further development. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033645 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that a record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3) In particular, the registered person should ensure that supervision records are an account reflection of the supervision session.  The registered person should ensure that the review identifies areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within 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 home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.4)

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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: SC033645 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Newcastle City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Newcastle Civic Centre, Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 8QH

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Inspector

Julia Hagan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC033645 8 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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