Children's home run by SENAD Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2781592 1 Registered provider: SENAD 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 the residential provision of an independent special school. It provides care for up to twelve children aged from seven to sixteen years who have a learning disability.

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Information about this children's home

One child was living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2781592 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy good experiences. The staff are dedicated and knowledgeable childcare practitioners. The staff nurture children. They are positive adult role models, who teach children a wide range of life skills. As a result of this nurturing approach, children thrive and enjoy positive outcomes. Staff provide children with daily activities to expand their potential. Children enjoy opportunities that they may otherwise not have.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have started to build positive relationships with children in a short period of time. They create a positive atmosphere in the home. Children seek time with the staff, and staff respond with care. The staff offer different perspectives and experiences that children respond to. The staff have been proactive in exploring children’s interests. They support children’s love of music and dancing and help them to access places where they can express themselves freely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team have high aspirations for children. Managers are creating a cohesive team that works across care and education. Staff teach children a wide range of skills including cooking and baking. Staff support children to develop their self-regulation skills. Staff are nurturing and patient in their approach and ensure that children understand what is being asked of them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff have good knowledge of children’s individual communication needs. They always have various tools to support effective communication. Detailed social stories are used to ensure that children are aware of their daily routine, or if there is to be a change to routine that may cause anxiety in children. Staff learn Makaton with the aim of using this in addition to other forms of communication. This means that children have several ways to communicate their needs, which will promote their voice being heard.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children access a wide variety of activities. Staff work hard to reduce barriers that could hinder a child’s ability to experience an activity so children remain included in society. These varied opportunities help children to improve their confidence and support them to develop their social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met. For some children this is significant. They are progressively becoming more independent with their personal care, and less reliant on adults. The children eat a varied diet and can choose which foods they want to eat. All children are registered with the appropriate health care services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is well maintained and suitably furnished. Staff are also adept at changing the environment when needed to maintain the safety of children. The children Inspection report children's home: 2781592 3 have made decisions about how their home has been decorated, including their bedrooms.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to spend time with their family. The staff understand the child’s experiences and that family time is important to them.

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improvement to be good

Staff have failed to report a concern about children’s care. This has meant that children may have been left at risk of further poor practise for several days. Staff have not recorded safeguarding incidents factually. However, managers did put in place appropriate safeguards to reduce the risk of harm once they were aware of the concern.

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improvement to be good

Managers have not been effective in lowering risks that were known about children. This has meant children have been put at increased risk. Additionally managers have failed to keep families informed of concerns about their child in a timely way.

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improvement to be good

Children are helped to manage their behaviours by staff that are trained in physical interventions. When staff use this training, the least restrictive method available to them is used alongside a graduated approach when required. Most interventions have a reflective oversight by a manager.

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improvement to be good

When children have struggled to control their emotions, this has led to incidents. However, children have responded positively to the consistent, caring, and nurturing approach used by staff. Staff understand and implement actions from the child’s behaviour support plan. This is helping children to regulate their emotions more effectively over time.

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improvement to be good

This children’s home, and school, share several trained and experienced designated safeguarding leads. Together this provides consistent and reliable safeguarding support to staff. The staff work in partnership with agencies and have links with local authority designated officers. This collaboration enables the sharing of practice to keep children safer.

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improvement to be good

When managers become aware of complaints or allegations, these are escalated and investigated appropriately. Managers ensure that they inform the local authority designated officer following any allegation. Complaints are responded to thoroughly.

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improvement to be good

There is a clear medication process in place. Staff receive detailed training and are observed administering medication before they can take the lead in this process. When errors occur, these are identified by an effective scheme of auditing. Practise is adapted and made safer as a result.

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improvement to be good

The manager oversees the safer recruitment processes. This helps to ensure that only those adults who have been assessed as safe to work with children are employed in the home. Inspection report children's home: 2781592 4

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A committed registered manager leads the home. They are supported by a dedicated deputy manager. As this is a newly registered children’s home, the staff team is new and is developing experience. The manager and deputy manager know the strengths and weaknesses of the team and what they need to do to further develop the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is keen to continually promote staff development. Staff begin their training as part of an induction programme. They continue to enhance their skills and knowledge with both general and child specific training when required. Children therefore receive individualised care and support to meet their complex needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the managers and enjoy working in the home. There is a strong ethos of teamwork and supporting each other to meet the needs of children. Managers have ensured that children have the right number of staff. Managers spend time with care staff and with children. This gives the opportunity to offer coaching, advice, and hands on support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are not yet receiving regular supervision. This means that staff lack regular opportunities to reflect on their development and to speak individually to a manager. However, the manager does hold regular team meetings and there are effective systems in place for communicating information. Staff read updates to care plans and effectively plan shifts.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is good management monitoring through a variety of quality assurance systems. This helps the manager to ensure that timescales are met for a range of activities that relate to the running of the home. Independent scrutiny is built into the quality assurance systems.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This is the homes first inspection since registration in June 2024. One statutory requirement and two recommendations have been made. Inspection report children's home: 2781592 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, 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

that staff— 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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home's child protection policies.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to several staff failing to report a concern about children's care. This has meant that a child may have been left at risk of further harm. This relates to measures not in place that could reduce the risk that children may hurt other children. 22 November 2024 Inspection report children's home: 2781592 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that they have systems in place so that all staff, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. ('Guide to children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Recommendations

 Registered persons must ensure that all staff have a key role in seeking to develop the homes effective working relationships with parents. ('Guide to children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 52, paragraph 10.3)

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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 children's home: 2781592 7

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Children's home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 1 St. Georges House, Vernon Gate, Derby DE1 1UQ

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Inspector

Simon Hunter, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: 2781592 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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Inspector

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