Children's Home run by YMCA Robin Hood Group in North Yorkshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2775374 1 Registered provider: YMCA RHG

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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 voluntary provider. It provides care for four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

There is one child currently living in the home.

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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: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2775374 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is settled and they received a warm welcome when they moved into the home. The home environment is comfortable and the child’s bedroom is personalised to their wishes. Staff take a lot of care and attention by replacing any damage that occurs in the home. This helps the child to feel a sense of pride and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are patient and nurturing and they understand the needs of the child. As they get to know the child better, staff are more alert to the child’s language expressed through behaviours and how they can best offer emotional and physical comfort. This supports the child to feel loved and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s views are understood and considered. The child has regular meetings with the manager and staff where they share and make contributions to the home. Staff support the child to attend review meetings, which can be challenging for them, but staff know how to offer the child comfort and a safe space. Additional well-being support is provided by the clinical team who provide the child with personalised discussions to talk about their feelings. This tailored support helps the child to develop positive emotional health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has personalised care plans which are kept under review. Their physical and emotional health needs are a focus of the staff. Staff encourage the child to practise good hygiene, enjoy a good diet and take exercise. This helps the child to stay fit and healthy and develop good self-care skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders and managers prioritise education for the child. The child has recently moved into the home and managers work in partnership with virtual school and local authority professionals. Managers contact schools directly and they challenge professionals when there are delays in securing a school place. When the child is not in school, they are encouraged to learn every day through reading and writing at home or engaging in various social activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All staff have discussions with the child about different topics, which include mental health and self-harm. A strength of the staff team is how they record the discussions with the child following an incident. Discussions are meaningful, child- focused, open and honest, and what the child says is captured in their own words. This has resulted in a reduction in significant emotional upsets and self-harming behaviour as the child is able to manage their emotions better.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of family time. When this does not work well for the child, staff consider the wishes of the child, and decisions are made with the lead professional to make plans that are in the child’s best interest. Staff enable disrupted relationships and trust to be rebuilt so that family time continues to be Inspection report for children’s home: 2775374 3 positive. This improves the quality of relationships and time spent with their family for the child.

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

The child said that they are happy and they like living in the home. The child feels safe and supported by staff.

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

Staff are trained to hold and guide children in times of crisis. When the child is held, they are offered an opportunity to talk about what has happened and how to move forward positively. This helps the child to learn how to manage their emotions better. Furthermore, staff are trained in bespoke therapeutic parenting. This has resulted in a significant reduction in the child needing to be guided and held.

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

Risks and vulnerabilities of the child are known. The risk management plans and necessary restrictions in place are aligned to the local authority’s care plan. There is a clear safety plan which staff follow to reduce harm to the child; for example, removing certain items from the child’s room which might create risk. However, on one occasion, staff did not follow this guidance and an item that could have been used to cause harm was left in the child’s room overnight.

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

When children go missing, staff are trained to respond quickly and to follow the individual missing-from-home protocol. On some occasions, staff restrict the movements of the child to keep them safe from harm. The manager provides full oversight to ensure that the restrictions are necessary and proportionate. As a result of this, the child does not go missing.

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

Consequences and rewards are used. Additionally, staff have discussions with the child when negative and unwanted behaviours are seen. This helps the child to talk about their feelings and to reflect on how their actions affected them and other people. To minimise the risk of harm when they are out in the community, staff use a tool to plan trips which guides the child to think about behaviours that could make activities an enjoyable time. This has been highly effective in reducing the incidents of disrupted social outings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers share an enthusiastic and aspirational vision for the home. There are high expectations for staff to provide high standards of care. The training staff receive at induction is intensive and staff have bespoke training to meet the needs of the child. The manager keeps track of training and development. However, the workforce development plan is not reflective of the training that has been completed or outstanding. This has resulted in a confusing picture of the progress that staff have made with their training. Inspection report for children’s home: 2775374 4 Staff speak highly of the support provided by the manager. Staff say that they enjoy working at the home and that they work well together as a team. Staff speak positively about the progress the child makes and they share the manager’s enthusiasm for the child to achieve and be settled and happy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers know the strengths of their staff team. Recruitment is ongoing to ensure a full complement of staff at the home with managers using a minimum number of agency staff. This ensures continuity of care for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is newly registered with Ofsted and staff have worked quickly to develop professional relationships with the team around the child. One professional spoke highly of the nurturing support and commitment by staff. Considering the child’s starting point, professionals are impressed that staff have been effective in providing stability and safe care to the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision sessions take place monthly and there is a strong focus on staff well- being. These discussions track the progress that the child makes. When training and development needs are identified, development plans are agreed. This ensures that staff feel valued and stay motivated to ensure good outcomes for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective reviewing and monitoring systems. The home’s health and safety checks are reviewed with additional input from the independent visitor to ensure that the home environment stays safe and secure. Inspection report for children’s home: 2775374 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; and

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff comply with actions outlined in risk assessments. 30 October 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should keep appropriate records for staff in the home. The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff, including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8) Inspection report for children’s home: 2775374 6

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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: 2775374 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Malt Cross, 16 St James’s Street, Nottingham NG1 6FG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Anthony Gallaher

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Inspector

Tenji Wesa, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2775374 8 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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