Three Gables

Inspection report for children’s home: SC065553 1 SC065553 Registered provider: Derbyshire 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

This home is operated by a local authority. It provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since July 2012 and is suitably qualified and experienced.

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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: SC065553 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/05/2023 Full Good 12/01/2023 Full Inadequate 25/01/2022 Full Good 01/10/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC065553 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are two children who have lived in the home for over a year and two have recently moved in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to form and maintain good relationships with the children. Staff are nurturing in their approach. This has benefited the two children who have recently moved in, as they have settled in well and are happy living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are considered as individuals and staff respect and encourage children to develop their identities. The children’s bedrooms have been decorated according to their wishes and their personalities shine through. The home would benefit from being consistently decorated throughout and all areas being made homely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have trusting relationships with staff. Staff do not portray any form of judgement in their responses to the children. Instead, they allow the children to explore their emotions, and they empathise with them. Therefore, when individual sessions are undertaken with the children, sensitive topics can be explored as the children trust staff and know they care about them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend their education provision and are making good progress. Staff are aspirational for children and continually support them to attain recognised qualifications that will support their future careers. For one child, this has meant that with staff support, they recently completed exams. Initially, the child had no belief in themselves, but staff encouraged the child to recognise their own knowledge and capabilities. Furthermore, staff have enabled children to seek opportunities to extend their own skills for when they seek some form of employment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff recognise the importance of children maintaining connections with significant people in their lives. They work hard to develop relationships with these key individuals and ensure that children have opportunities to spend time with them. One child has progressed from talking on the phone with a parent, to now catching the bus on their own and meeting their parent to spend quality time together. Another child regularly has friends visit the home and staff make them feel very welcome.

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

The children’s risk assessments are detailed and show that the staff know the children well. There is an established system in place so that staff know to read any updates and record that they have done so. This assures the leadership team that staff know how to support and care for children. In addition, children are enabled to take age-appropriate risks to develop their own resilience and coping strategies. Inspection report for children’s home: SC065553 4 Safeguarding children is a priority in the home and staff work hard to keep children safe. Staff engage children in individual sessions focused on specific risks, such as online risks. Staff explore the risks while teaching children how to protect themselves. This equips children with essential knowledge, ensuring they know what action to take if they encounter such risks.

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

Staff are proactive when children go missing from care. They work in partnership with various agencies to locate the child. When the child returns home, they are welcomed back and can talk through their time away. As the relationships have developed between the children and staff, there has been a reduction in missing-from-care episodes. Currently, no child has been missing for the past 6 months.

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

It would be beneficial for any child moving into the home to participate in a fire drill as soon as possible. This would reinforce to the child what their actions need to be should the alarm sound.

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

When there is a specific worry relating to a child, their bedroom is searched. It is recorded if the child’s permission has been provided. However, no rationale is recorded as to why the child’s permission has not been sought prior to the search. If staff added this detail, the records would appropriately reflect the decisions made and why.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by an experienced manager, who is supported by a recently appointed deputy manager. They work in partnership to ensure that the home is managed effectively and efficiently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The members of the staff team have changed over recent months with staff leaving and new staff being recruited. The manager expressed that new members of staff have brought innovative ideas into the home. These ideas have been welcomed and some implemented already. This has reinforced to staff that their views matter, and they feel valued.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff follow a corporate induction process that is monitored by the leadership team. The recent change in the team means that some staff do not have sufficient knowledge in the homes key approach and child specific training. It has been recognised that this is an area of development, and senior leaders are actively trying to source the necessary training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The members of the leadership team have good oversight of work undertaken in the home. They monitor the quality of the work and note areas for further development. There is not an established process in place whereby the members of the leadership team highlight lessons learned and share these with staff. The members of the leadership team could be more proactive in sharing feedback with their team. In doing so, it would promote learning and reflection following incidents. Inspection report for children’s home: SC065553 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 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 promotes their welfare.

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to ensuring that monitoring systems are in place that allow the registered person to have oversight of actions required and ensure they are completed. 23 Sept 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children feel and be safe. When children move into the home, as a priority, they need to be advised and shown what to do in an event of a fire. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff undertake training that supports them to understand the needs of the children and how to appropriately support them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s home is consistently decorated throughout and ensure the home remains homely. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that a child’s bedroom should only be searched if a child has been informed or asked their permission. Immediate searching may be

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Recommendations

necessary where there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the Inspection report for children’s home: SC065553 6 child’s or another person’s safety or well-being. If a child’s permission is not or cannot be sought, the rationale for this needs to be recorded. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20)

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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: SC065553 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Derbyshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Derbyshire County Council, County Offices, Matlock DE4 3AG

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Inspectors

Lizette Watts, Social Care Inspector Jess Baines, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC065553 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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