Children's Home run by Kisimul Group Limited in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 1 Registered provider: Kisimul Group Limited

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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 privately owned and provides care for up to eight children with severe learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, eight children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably experienced and qualified.

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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: 17 October 2023

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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: 1277726 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/10/2023 Full Good 06/02/2023 Full Good 05/10/2021 Full Good 10/12/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is beautifully presented. It is warm and inviting, and it has the feel of a family home. The manager and staff have worked hard to improve the environment. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to reflect their interests and hobbies. The indoor and outdoor areas are colourful and there is now a real sense of pride from the staff working at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy very good relationships with staff. The staff genuinely care about children and place the interests of the children first. Staff use their knowledge, skills and experiences to meet the needs of the children in a nurturing manner. The children trust staff and know that the staff will help and support them. Consequently, strong relationships and bonds have become established between the children and staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff support children to participate in a wide range of activities. Staff use the home’s resources and those in the wider community very well. This has included children participating in a charity car wash at the local fire station and attending a youth club. Children have lots of fun and laughter. They create memories while enjoying new experiences. This enables them to grow in confidence and self-esteem, and develop the crucial social skills they will need later in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met well by staff. Children’s individual healthcare plans are detailed; staff have an excellent understanding of these, and work in accordance with these plans. Staff have worked closely with the speech and language team to create social stories for children. This has enabled one child to overcome fears of attending health appointments and has now attended all the required appointments. One social worker said: ‘I couldn’t ask for a better home, the child has come on in leaps and bounds.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with children and their families to help strengthen these important relationships. Staff have built good relationships with family members, and this has helped facilitate good-quality family time for children. One parent said: ‘It’s lovely to see the positive impact the home has had on not only his life, but for us as a family.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made excellent progress in their education. Attendance for some has significantly improved. Staff understand children’s educational strengths as well as areas where they need additional help. Staff from the home support children in collaboration with staff from school. This enables them to work together to provide help, support and enable children to make progress. Should there be challenges for children in their education, staff work closely together to help overcome these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child did not have a plan from the placing local authority. Another child’s local authority plan included out-of-date information. Despite requests for these to be updated or changed, the local authority to send up-to-date plans. As a result, the manager Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 4 cannot ensure that staff are supporting the child to achieve the placement objectives and that the local authority plan informs the plans and assessments used in the home.

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

Children are protected from harm by staff and managers. Detailed risk assessments outline any known or potential risks to children and their vulnerabilities. These are updated regularly to reflect incidents and any new or emerging concerns for the children’s safety.

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

Staff have been required to manage multiple incidents of behaviours from children that have challenged staff. The manager has ensured staff receive appropriate training and support to help them manage children’s behaviour. Overall, this has been effective. However, not all records of physical intervention are accurate. There has also been an occasion when a child and staff did not have the opportunity to communicate their experience of the restraint after it had happened. This is a missed opportunity for learning from the incident to help prevent a repeat.

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

Leaders and managers have implemented several measures to ensure staff understand what they should do if they have any worries or concerns about children’s welfare. This has included safeguarding questionnaires, and discussing safeguarding in every individual supervision session with staff. Additionally, there is an anonymous whistle- blowing helpline and QR code which can be scanned to report any worries or concerns staff may have. The staff have a good and solid understanding of whistle-blowing procedures. Any concerns for a child’s safety or welfare are promptly shared with the relevant external safeguarding professionals on being identified. When internal investigations are necessary, these are dealt with thoroughly.

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

The home provides a safe environment for children to live in. Staff complete regular health and safety checks and follow the correct safety procedures to protect children from environmental risks. Children are protected by the organisation’s safe recruitment practices, which help prevent unsuitable adults from working with them.

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

The home’s location assessment has been updated. This now includes consultation with relevant people, such as the police, neighbours and other involved professionals. This consultation is important and has enabled relevant people to comment on the suitability of the home’s location and for them to have the opportunity to share information which may have an impact on children’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is committed and dedicated to the staff he manages and the children in his care. He is supported by two deputy managers who share the same commitment and dedication. They work well together and have created a culture of high expectations and an excellent standard of care for children. As a result, children thrive in a nurturing environment. Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 5 The manager is aware of the areas of strengths and weaknesses and where further development is needed. There has been some turnover of staff since the last inspection, but a small, stable group of staff remains. This has ensured children receive care from people who know them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they are well supported by managers. The manager has arranged additional bespoke training to support the staff to further meet the needs of children, understanding the benefits of investing in staff through training and development. The quality of individual and professional supervision for staff has improved. This ensures that staff are supported to reflect on their care practice within these discussions. As a result, there is a committed core staff team who continue to develop by virtue of reflective practice discussions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly and enable in-depth discussions about each child, including their progress, concerns and their overall care. The meetings provide a time for learning and development. This has led to ongoing improvements in practice through supporting the staff to coordinate their efforts and as a result benefits the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager uses a range of quality assurance and monitoring systems. These include daily, weekly and monthly checks. This helps the manager to maintain good oversight of the care that children receive and to assure himself that they are making progress. The organisation has recently implemented an electronic recording system which the manager is in the process of embedding throughout staff care practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been some turnover of staff, although a core staff team remains. The manager has worked hard to recruit to vacant positions, although recognises the importance of appointing the right candidates. Agency staff are required to bolster staff numbers at times, ensuring children are staffed in accordance with their allocated ratios. A number of agency staff have joined the team on a permanent basis. Agency staff now undertake the organisation’s mandatory training to increase their knowledge and skills and this equips them with the knowledge and skills to provide individualised care to the children. Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 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

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers ensuring that the child’s care plan is accurate and up to date with information from the relevant local authority. 28 October 2024

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; 28 October 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 7 has signed the record to confirm it is accurate;

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation (35) (3)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that records of restraint are completed accurately and children and staff are spoken to about the measure.

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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: 1277726 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kisimul Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Old Vicarage, High Street, Swinderby, Lincoln LN6 9LU

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Inspectors

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Linda Mason, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1277726 9 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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Inspectors

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