Children's Home run by Northumberland County Council in Northumberland

Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 1 SC486604

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Registered provider: Northumberland County 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 operated and managed by a local authority to provide care for up to four children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

The inspector spoke to all three children.

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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: SC486604 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/08/2023 Full Good 22/08/2022 Full Good 25/05/2021 Full Outstanding 06/01/2020 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a strong and nurturing relationship with staff in the home. Children develop secure bonds with staff through shared activities. For example, children and staff cook together, and children associate recipes with individual staff. This is creating special memories and helping children to learn new skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children engage in their education and are making progress from their starting points. Staff support them by working closely with each education provider to ensure they are meeting the needs of children. Staff create an expectation that children will attend school every day. One child, who had not been attending education, has been able to regularly attend on a part-time basis, and this is steadily increasing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that all children are up to date with routine health appointments and are encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle. Staff work with a range of professionals to help ensure that children’s physical and health needs are prioritised appropriately. Children access specialist health services when this is needed, and staff provide ongoing support in line with any recommendations, for example practising exercises to improve children’s speech or supporting them to take medication.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take part in a wide variety of activities, either independently or with other children in the home. These include swimming lessons, attending cadets and going on trips to the beach for picnics. This provides the opportunity to experience new things and develop confidence .

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who have moved on have benefited from a warm and caring experience when they leave. Each child has a memory book with photos and comments about their experiences. This provides a lasting record of their time at the home. Children are given a strong message that they will be missed. One child said, ‘I gave them a hard time, but look, they still love me.’ This shows children that they are valued unconditionally.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children do not have free access to all parts of their home, and their movements in and out of their rooms are always monitored. For example, a bathroom and a games cupboard were kept locked, and the children’s bedrooms are alarmed. These restrictions have not been assessed as necessary to safeguard the children, and they detract from the homely feel.

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

Staff know and understand the children and their risks well. All children have up-to- date risk assessments. Staff follow these risk assessments and work alongside other agencies to manage risk when new concerns emerge. This ensures quick action by staff in responding to each child’s needs, helping to keep them safer . Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 4 Children are aware of what the rules are and understand that they are in place to keep them safe. Staff provide clear and consistent boundaries so that children are aware of the expectations for their behaviour. Staff give children positive reinforcement and feedback when their behaviour is appropriate and encourage children to make amends for their mistakes. This helps children to understand the consequences of their actions.

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

When children become angry or upset, staff sometimes need to use physical interventions to keep the child and others safe. The recording demonstrates the actions that staff take to avoid holding children and why it was necessary. Staff complete direct work with children to help them understand their difficult feelings.

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

When children go missing from the home, staff will go out and look for them and bring them home when they are found. Staff keep accurate records of what action is taken to help children return home and ensure that return home interviews are offered. Staff work with children to build trust and create an environment where children do not want to go missing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed effectively by the manager and supported by the deputy. The manager has a good grasp of the home’s strengths and areas for development. He is dedicated to the continuous development of the home and improving the care given to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a high turnover of staff, including the previous manager leaving. This created an unsettled period of time for the children. The newly manager has worked to restore stability in the staff team and minimise the impact of these changes on the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly, and group discussions provide an opportunity for reflection. Staff discuss each child’s risks and progress and how they will best meet their individual needs. This helps to ensure a consistent approach to supporting children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager cultivates productive working relationships with partner agencies involved with the children. Communication is seen as a particular strength, and professionals commented on the positive impact of the staff on the progress made by children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s monitoring does not consistently track all events or incidents in the home. For example, the monitoring does not include an evaluation of the effectiveness of measures used to manage children’s behaviour. Consequently, the manager cannot always be assured that staff practice is consistent with expectations and proportionate to the situation. Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 5 Supervision has not taken place consistently. There has been steady improvement since the start of the year; however, staff have missed out on valuable opportunities to reflect and learn from their individual practice. This has also inhibited the manager’s ability to maintain oversight of the strengths and development needs of the team. Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 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

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 31 August 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)  The registered person should ensure that systems are in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive regular supervision so that they can reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 7 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: SC486604 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Northumberland County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Morpeth NE61 2EF

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Inspector

Lisa Gordon, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 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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