Children's home run by Inspire Children’s Services Limited in St. Helens

Inspection report for children’s home: SC422481 1 SC422481 Registered provider: Inspire Children’s Services 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 owned and managed by a private provider. The home provides care for up to two children with social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted in 2020. The registered manager post has been vacant since July 2024. The new manager has submitted an application to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

There was one child living at the home at the time of this 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 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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC422481 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/05/2023 Full Outstanding 14/09/2022 Full Good 08/02/2022 Full Good 23/07/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC422481 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has lived at the home for several years and is making good progress in many areas of their life. The home is warm and relaxing. Since the last inspection, the child has been supported to move to a larger bedroom. This is personalised in line with their needs and is nicely decorated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Prior to this inspection, a complaint was received regarding concerns of asbestos being present in the home. The provider took appropriate action to address this, and an asbestos survey was completed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are caring in addressing the needs of the child while assisting them to take part in activities and enjoy mealtimes. As part of the daily routine, staff support the child to make choices and decisions through their preferred method of communication. Interactions were observed during the inspection where staff demonstrated high mutual regard and warmth for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has continuity of care from a dedicated and stable staff team. Staff speak enthusiastically about the progress the child has made and the skills and achievements they have undertaken. Photos and memories are displayed across the home and in albums as keepsakes. The child’s achievements are celebrated, such as their attendance at prom, last day at school and events such as Halloween, Easter and Christmas. This helps the child to develop a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is engaging in full-time education. There are clear routines in place, which the child responds well to. One professional spoke about the difficulties the child has faced in their move into the college provision and how the school staff could not have asked for better support from the staff at the home. One professional said: ‘Staff always ensure that [name of child] is always immaculately presented, and has everything they need.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the child to develop independence skills. The child is learning about budgeting through taking part in the daily ‘Tuck Shop’ activity and direct work sessions cover a variety of aspects of learning. Good use of social stories is helping to support the child in learning about puberty, their identity and transition to college.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the child’s unique methods of communication and are skilled at interpreting their body language and reading changes in their presentation. This is a key strength of staff practice. There is high-quality multi-agency working in place which supports the child’s complexities. One professional said: ‘[Name of child] is living their best life in the home.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC422481 4

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

Staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities. The child has complex needs and requires a high level of supervision. Consequently, there are no incidents of the child going missing from the home. Staff receive training in safeguarding disabled children and are aware of the child’s additional vulnerabilities.

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

Good-quality risk management plans provide strategies for staff to help manage all the child’s risks. However, the child is subject to a court-directed order. This order requires two staff to be in place to keep the child safe. However, there have been occasions when the agreed staffing levels were not in place in line with the local authority plan. Action was taken to address this during the inspection.

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

There are robust procedures in place to ensure that the child receives the correct dose of medication. Staff are suitably trained in the administration of medication. There is regular auditing in place on the part of the manager. Medication is stored in a safe place and records are detailed.

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

Since the child has returned to school from the summer break, they have been a little unsettled as they learn to adapt to their new college environment. This has resulted in some incidents. However, these are managed well and where restraint has been used this is rare and only used as a last resort. Following all incidents, the child has taken part in child-friendly debriefs and the use of the ‘zones of regulation’ to help them to understand and explore their emotions.

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

Fire practices in the home are safe. The child has a personal emergency evacuation plan that provides staff with details of the support the child requires in the event of a fire. All staff are suitably trained in fire awareness and the child regularly takes part in fire evacuations using their picture-based instructions.

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

Recruitment procedures and practices are safe and effective. The manager has completed safer recruitment training. All staff are checked and vetted prior to starting work. These checks ensure that only suitable adults are employed to work with children in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, the registered manager has left the organisation. There is a new manager who has recently been appointed. She was previously working in the home as the deputy manager. Staff say they feel well supported by the new manager. They say they enjoy working in the home and that it is well organised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have a clear understanding of the child’s needs. There are good systems in place to monitor staff practice. There is good management oversight of incidents and learning is taken from incidents. Inspection report for children’s home: SC422481 5 The home’s statement of purpose does not address the current needs of the child living in the home and does not contain all staffing details regarding bank staff who regularly work at the setting.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision and new staff take part in a thorough company induction. Team meetings provide a forum for discussion around research-informed practice, including autism and epilepsy, puberty, and sleep disorders. This demonstrates that staff have opportunities to develop and grow their knowledge and practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff take part in a wide variety of training. The training is effective and specific to the child’s needs. This includes needs associated with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, deprivation of liberty safeguards and communication. The manager continually looks at what training staff would benefit from to enhance their skills. Inspection report for children’s home: SC422481 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; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the 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

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (2)(c)) 6 December 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must provide a copy of the statement of purpose to HMCI and make a copy of it available upon request to—

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Requirement Due date

a child, or a child for whom accommodation in the home is being considered;

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Requirement Due date

a parent of a child, or a parent of a child for whom accommodation in the home is being considered;

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Requirement Due date

in the case of a qualifying school, the Secretary of State.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— 6 December 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC422481 7 keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision.

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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: SC422481 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspire Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 3, Craig Court, Standish Street, St Helens WA10 1GJ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michael Bradshaw

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Inspectors

Judith Birchall, Social Care Inspector Nicola Rutherford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC422481 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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