Children's home run by Oracle Care Limited in Central Bedfordshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC469686 1 SC469686 Registered provider: Oracle Care Limited

p.1

Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It provides care for up to three children who may experience complex social and emotional difficulties and require attachment-aware and trauma-informed care and support.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 27 May 2021. She has an appropriate qualification and is suitably experienced.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC469686 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/07/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/12/2022 Full Good 09/03/2022 Full Good 03/09/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC469686 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children were living at the home at the time of the inspection and both children were spoken with as part of this inspection. The children like living at the home and have developed positive relationships with staff. Since the last inspection, one child has benefited from a planned move into the home. This helped the child to settle quickly.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are well supported by staff with their learning and attend schools that can meet their educational needs. Staff encourage children to access additional learning at home. As a result, one child has achieved an accredited award in fire safety.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to follow their interests and to try new things, for example, one child is looking forward to seeing their favourite rock band in concert soon. Children are offered opportunities to develop their life skills. For example, they are encouraged to cook and to keep their bedrooms clean. This helps them to prepare for adulthood.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff place children’s well-being at the centre of their practice. They are confident in working with the home’s therapeutic model. Monthly team around the child meetings take place with the home’s therapeutic lead and are well attended by staff. This provides staff with an opportunity to reflect on and discuss each child’s current needs and seek advice, which shapes their practice and supports children’s progress.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children maintain their relationships with people who are important to them. Staff arrange and, when necessary, supervise activities for children with their family members, in line with their local authority care plan.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Healthy lifestyles are promoted. Children maintain a good standard of personal care and staff support them to attend routine health appointments. Staff have discussions with children to help them to develop their understanding of issues that may impact on their health and well-being.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have individual incentive reward charts. They have the opportunity to earn extra money in recognition of their achievements and this, together with praise and appropriate support, promotes positive behaviour.

p.3

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

Staff understand risks to children and manage these effectively. For example, staff speak to children about the dangers associated with substance misuse and ensure that they are given the opportunity to access specialist help if needed. Good support enables children to learn about risks and encourages them to make safer choices. For one child, risks relating to substance misuse have reduced considerably. Inspection report for children’s home: SC469686 4 Managers and staff share information with relevant professionals when there are concerns about children’s safety. They have good relationships with social workers, local police and mental health support services. One social worker said, ‘Staff have been consistent. They are determined and put plans in place to keep [name of child] safe.’

p.3

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

When children go missing from home, staff follow the child’s agreed plans. They actively look for children and support them to return home. Staff talk to children about why they went missing from home and try to reduce the chance of this happening again. These actions help to promote children’s safety and welfare.

p.4

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

Staff understand the importance of keeping children safe and they are vigilant around children’s safety. They are confident in raising concerns and understand how to escalate concerns should they need to, including using the whistle-blowing process.

p.4

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

Incidents are managed well, and records kept by staff are detailed. Reflective reviews are completed by the manager and include follow-up actions if any are identified. Staff speak with children to obtain their views and to try and understand how they can better support them in the future.

p.4

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

Since the last inspection, no complaints have been made. Children know how to raise any concerns and worries they might have.

p.4

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

Staff support children to stay safe online. There are effective internet monitoring systems in place to ensure that children are not exposed to online risks. Staff act quickly when they suspect a child may be at risk of radicalisation and seek support from Prevent services. This is beneficial and has reduced risks for one child.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and leaders have taken time to ensure that positive changes are made to develop the home. They are motivated and committed to continually improving the quality of care the children receive. Most monitoring systems in place are effective and managers maintain good oversight.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported. They receive regular supervision and speak highly of managers and leaders. One staff member said they could not ask for better managers and ‘they recognise how much progress I have made’.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good knowledge of children’s starting points and what they have accomplished since living at the home. She is clear about the progress that children are making and implements strategies to support them to continue to make progress and overcome any challenges.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff receive training to meet the individual needs of the children. This ensures that the children receive appropriate care and support from staff who are well trained. Inspection report for children’s home: SC469686 5 Children benefit from individualised care plans. Although these provide some useful information, they not always updated following children’s most recent reviews. For example, one child’s personal educational targets were not up to date. This makes it difficult for new staff to have a clear understanding of what targets children are working towards. Inspection report for children’s home: SC469686 6

p.4

Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. In particular, ensure that children’s plans are kept up to date. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

p.6

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: SC469686 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Oracle Care Limited

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suites 1 & 5, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper, Derbyshire DE56 0RN

p.7

Inspectors

Kirsty Truesdale, Social Care Inspector Helen Dunn, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC469686 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.

p.7

Inspectors

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspectors

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8