Children's home run by North Tyneside Council

Inspection report for children’s home: 2602142 1 Registered provider: North Tyneside Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is a solo provision. It is operated and managed by a local authority. The home provides care for one child who may have a sensory impairment, a learning disability, a mental disorder, and/or a physical disability.

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Information about this children’s home

During this inspection, the inspector met the child living at the home and observed staff supporting the child.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2024.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2602142 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 31/08/2022 Full Good 30/11/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2602142 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has lived at this home for several years. They are familiar with their surroundings and make independent choices about which part of the home they want to be in. Predicable care and routines have helped nurture the child’s positive relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child enjoys a range of activities that provide opportunities for learning and social interaction. Staff carefully support the child to have new experiences, such as a weekend holiday. This helps the child to learn and adapt to unfamiliar situations and increases their resilience to change.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child attends school regularly following a significant period of non-attendance due to a lack of suitable provision. The child is meeting their individual targets and making good progress in their social, emotional, and behavioural development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the child’s health needs are met. Staff collaborate with various health specialists to ensure that the child has appropriate health oversight and to manage lifelong conditions. Staff carefully monitor the child’s diet and avoid foods that the child is unable to tolerate due to their health needs. They ensure the child has a varied and healthy diet. This means the child has a wide range of nutrients, which has helped the child to gain weight.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff care for the child with dignity and respect. They are child centred and sensitive to the child’s routines and challenges. Staff help the child to meet individual targets and celebrate the child’s achievements in ‘wow’ moments. This praise and encouragement help the child to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff understand the importance of family ties. The child is supported to spend time with people who are important to them. Staff and the child’s family celebrate special occasions together with the child. This helps the child to maintain significant relationships and benefit from the continuity of care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is bright, comfortable, and welcoming. The child’s personalised bedroom and environment are enriched with a collection of their toys. This helps the child to develop a sense of permanence and belonging at their home.

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

The manager acts swiftly when safeguarding incidents occur. The manager completes a thorough investigation and uses the outcomes to make improvements, such as specialist training for staff. This helps to increase staff’s knowledge and strengthen their safeguarding practices. Inspection report for children’s home: 2602142 4 Staff understand the child’s risks inside and outside of the home. Risk assessments and care plans clearly identify strategies staff should use to help keep the child safe. This ensures that the child receives a consistent response to situations that they may find difficult.

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

The home has recently been refurbished to include safety adaptations. Staff understand the child’s complex health and development needs. They safely use specialist equipment to meet the child’s physical needs. Specialist equipment is maintained regularly, and new equipment is requested promptly. This ensures that the environment is safe for the child.

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

Staff promote routines and boundaries in the home. The stable staff team works well to provide consistent responses to any behaviour expressions. As a result, incidents of self- harm or physical holds have reduced. This reduces potential trauma for the child and helps them to maintain strong relationships with staff. However, when physical holds are necessary, staff do not consistently record information about the hold in a way that ensures the reader understands what has happened. This limits the manager’s oversight of the hold.

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

Staff understand most of the child’s needs and wants based on the communication strategies used at the home. However, the child uses a different communication method at school as directed by their statutory plans. Not all staff are trained in the preferred communication method. This means that there is a limited number of staff who can help the child to communicate. This hinders the child’s ability to develop a wider range of language to support them to communicate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has brought consistency for the child, the staff, and the overall running of the home. The manager is committed to meeting the child’s needs. She knows the child well and is visible to the child and staff. The manager uses her skills and experience to inform practice, for example by improving the medication arrangements for the child. Staff understand the medication procedures, which helps to ensure that medicines are safely administered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is a strong advocate for the child. She leads by example and shows determination in challenging professionals when she feels the child is not receiving the care they deserve. This has improved the child’s education, health, and well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager values the input from the family and professionals who are part of the child’s network. Feedback is overwhelmingly positive, and the child’s family member commented that they ‘trust’ and feel ‘listened to’ by the manager. Professionals say that staff understand the child’s needs and describe the care as ‘excellent.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A high number of new staff have been employed since the last inspection, which has improved the stability in the home and the quality of care the child receives. New staff receive an induction into the home and take the time to learn the child’s needs. The Inspection report for children’s home: 2602142 5 manager understands the strengths and areas for development in the staff team. Staff are given ‘champion’ roles where they lead on a specific topic, for example education or communication. This helps staff to take ownership of their own learning and work with the team to share practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are used as a forum to reflect about the child’s needs and make collective decisions that benefit the child. Staff receive regular individual supervision. However, they do not receive practice-related supervision. This is a missed opportunity to help staff to reflect on and improve their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager does not consistently follow safer recruitment procedures, for example ensuring staff provide a full career history and dates of employment. This compromises the manager’s ability to be reassured that staff caring for the child are suitable.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of the manager’s oversight is inconsistent. The manager and leadership team do not have effective systems to monitor the child’s records. Staff complete a checklist, but the child’s file contains contradictory information. Statutory documents are not received in a timely manner and therefore not reflected in the child’s plan. This limits the ability of staff to ensure that they provide consistent care in line with the child’s assessed needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and senior leadership team are proactive in their response to rectify the shortfalls identified. Inspection report for children’s home: 2602142 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(h)) 30 December 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a disabled child accommodated in the home is provided with access to such aids and equipment as the child may require as a result of the child’s disability in order to facilitate the child’s communication with other persons. (Regulation 22 (4))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to staff receiving the appropriate training to help the child to communicate. 30 December 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or 30 December 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2602142 7 if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

The requirements are that— the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification, and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

and full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that accurate records of physical holds are kept that enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline, and restraint to identify effective practice. The review should include a debrief with the person implementing the hold and provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure that it meets the needs of the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 49, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that staff receive practice related supervision which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: 2602142 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider : North Tyneside Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Quadrant East, Cobalt Offices, 15b-15c The Silverlink North, North Tyneside NE27 0BY

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Responsible individual: Post vacant

Registered manager: Claire Richards-Drysdale

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Inspector

Cat Makel, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2602142 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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