Children's Home run by Redwood Childcare Ltd in Leicestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2785973 1 Registered provider: Redwood Childcare Ltd

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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 four children who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered on the 26 June 2024. The home’s manager also registered with Ofsted in June 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2785973 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2785973 3

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improvement to be good

Children have made progress in some areas of their development since moving into the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote children’s health needs by supporting them to attend health appointments. Staff understand children’s mental health and emotional well-being. However, due to a lack of escalation and advocacy on behalf of children, not all children have the right support in place to meet their overall health needs.

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improvement to be good

The quality of key working completed with children is inconsistent and often reactive following an incident, rather than promoting children’s overall development.

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improvement to be good

Children develop positive, trusting relationships with staff and share that they are happy. Staff encourage children to share their views and express their emotions safely.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to take part in activities in the home and community, including attending extracurricular clubs, to promote their socialisation and confidence. Children have opportunities for positive experiences, such as day trips, which they enjoy.

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improvement to be good

Staff have supported one child to access full-time education, and they are making positive progress. Staff are advocating for another child’s college education and are supporting the child’s positive engagement with home tuition in the meantime. This means that, the child has a structured routine to their day, which is supporting their overall mental well-being.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to see their families and people important to them. This includes transporting one child to visit their friends now that they live a distance away from them.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff regularly update children’s care plans and risk assessments. However, information is not consistent across documents. This dilutes the importance of information that needs to be shared with staff and limits the effectiveness of risk management relating to children’s specific risks and vulnerabilities.

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improvement to be good

Staff use physical intervention appropriately and proportionally. Staff record incidents of physical intervention. However, management oversight of incidents is inconsistent and at times delayed. Staff offer children medical attention and debriefs following an incident, and children understand how to make a complaint. Managers investigate children’s complaints, but the method of feedback to children in response to their complaints is unclear. Inspection report for children’s home: 2785973 4 Managers escalate safeguarding concerns to partner agencies, and they follow processes to ensure that children are safeguarded. However, management oversight and recording of allegations is not robust enough. Additionally, the manager has not notified Ofsted when allegations have been made as required by regulations.

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improvement to be good

Staff keep children safe online and in the community. When concerns arise, they review safety plans to reduce risk. The safety plans restrict development of children’s independence and day-to-day opportunities. A balance of promoting independence and managing risk needs to be developed to ensure that children’s life chances are enhanced.

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improvement to be good

When children go missing, staff follow missing-from-home procedures and work with local safeguarding partners to protect children. Children’s plans are individualised and detail what measures staff should take if children go missing. Staff understand the risks faced by children when they are missing and respond appropriately to any missing-from- home episodes. The manager has escalated requests for return interviews to be completed when there has been delays.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager’s oversight of care provided to children and incidents is not consistent. Clear systems to oversee and monitor care of children are not in place. This impacts on the manager’s ability to scrutinise the quality of care provided to children and identify staff development needs. Leaders and managers are reflective of this shortfall and are in the process of identifying ways to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The staff team’s experience and knowledge are variable, which can be seen particularly in the quality of recordings. Staff require additional training to improve their skills in this area. Not all members of the team have completed mandatory training, including safeguarding and physical intervention training which, on one occasion, contributed to a safeguarding concern.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager has established good working relationships with partner agencies. One child’s social worker shared that the manager understood the child’s needs well and maintained communication throughout the child’s time living in the home. The manager is confident to escalate and chase professionals, although this is not consistently reflected in recordings and monitoring systems.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Despite the above areas for development, the manager and staff are aspirational for children and the home. Staff display a clear commitment to understanding the children in their care and are committed to their work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager has created an open culture within the home and staff share feeling able to voice their views and feel listened to. Staff report good support from the manager with supervisions and team meetings taking place. The responsible individual and director visit the home regularly, offering support to the manager and staff team. Inspection report for children’s home: 2785973 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

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met;

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h)) 2/1/2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2785973 6 This particularly relates to leaders and managers having clear, consistent oversight of all aspects of children’s care plans, risks and incident reports.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to leaders and managers ensuring that staff complete mandatory training.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child —

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 16/10/2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  Children’s home staff should take reasonable precautions and make informed professional judgements based on the individual child’s needs and developmental- stage about when to allow a child to take a particular risk or follow a particular course of action. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.7) Inspection report for children’s home: 2785973 7

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Recommendations

This specifically relates to ensuring that staff support children to develop their independence and enhance their life opportunities safely.

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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: 2785973 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Redwood Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Staverton Close, Leicester LE5 2AS

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Inspectors

Chloe Harvey, Social Care Inspector Becky Thompson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2785973 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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