Children's home run by North Yorkshire Council in North Yorkshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC034220 1 SC034220 Registered provider: North Yorkshire Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a local authority. It offers pre-planned and emergency short breaks and long-term placements for up to seven children.

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for children who have a sensory impairment, special educational needs and/or disabilities. The home also offers extended and bespoke packages of care on a shared-care basis.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, the home was providing long-term care for three children and short-break stays for 27 children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2023.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC034220 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/08/2023 Full Good 28/06/2022 Full Good 23/03/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/10/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC034220 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a skilled team of staff who have a good understanding of each child’s needs and vulnerabilities. In addition, the children’s care plans are specific to each child. Staff provide individualised care to each child, which supports children to build trusting relationships with staff and make progress. One child rated the home ‘nine out of ten’ and described the home as a ‘great place’ where they are treated well by the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The relationships between the staff and the children are warm, caring and nurturing. Staff support the children to take part in a range of activities that ensure they enjoy their time at the home. For example, staff planned and organised a Halloween party for the children. Staff created a fun environment in the home with various games on offer, and all the children were observed to enjoy themselves. One child spent time talking about their Halloween mask with pride.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Communication between the staff and the children is a strength of this home. Staff take the time to understand each child’s preferred method of communication and work closely with external professionals to help children develop their communication skills. One professional said that the staff team supports the children to ‘communicate for joy’. This has supported one child to make good progress with their verbal communication.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff assist the children in understanding key transitions and events using social stories. This has helped one child to successfully settle into their new home and has helped another child to attend a routine health appointment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by staff to be healthy. For children who have complex health needs, there are clear plans in place that help staff to meet these needs. Staff work closely with specialist health services to ensure that the children’s health plans are appropriately reviewed and relevant.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children who have significant challenges to make progress during their time at the home. One child has made good progress with toileting, has made friends with other children who access the service and has developed a healthier sleeping routine.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff treat each child with dignity and respect. They consult with the children about their likes and dislikes and celebrate their achievements. However, the records that document conversations that staff have had with children and the progress that children have made are not always fully completed. This does not help children to understand their time in the home and how staff have supported them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s children’s guide does not accurately reflect the home environment and does not explain to all children what they can expect when they come to stay at the home. One child, who has recently moved into the home for an extended stay, did not know Inspection report for children’s home: SC034220 4 what the children’s guide was and was not given a copy or explanation of the children’s guide when they moved into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is spacious and has been designed to meet the needs of all the children who access the service. The home has been decorated throughout, and new furniture and soft furnishings have been purchased. There are photos of the children on display on the walls of the lounge, which helps to celebrate the achievements of the children and create a sense of belonging.

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

Staff provide a safe environment for the children through having a good understanding of each child’s vulnerabilities and behaviours. The children’s bespoke behaviour support plans and risk assessments are reviewed on a regular basis by staff to ensure they are accurate and capture all known and emerging behaviours and vulnerabilities.

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

Close working relationships with external professionals and families help the staff to have a good understanding of the risks to children’s health linked to the children’s disabilities and long-term health needs. Staff understand the plans to help children with their mental health, epilepsy and gastronomy feeding. One parent expressed their confidence in the staff’s understanding of their child’s health needs and the ability of the staff to adapt to their child’s emerging needs.

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

Children do not go missing from the home due to the levels of security in the home and staff supervision. However, each child has a missing-from-home plan that supports staff in knowing what to do should a child go missing from the home or while out in the community.

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

Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding procedures, including the whistle- blowing policy. This promotes children’s safety in the home and in the community.

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

Staff promote positive behaviour in the home by creating a home environment that meets each’s needs and helps children to feel safe and secure. This means that children are rarely held by staff. On the occasions where children have been held, this has been done as a last resort and with the least restrictive hold being used. However, records where children have been held do not consistently detail the length of the hold. In addition, it is not always clear from records if a child has been consulted following a hold or if staff are not always spoken to about the hold within the required timescales. This shortfall weakens transparency and does not help children to understand how staff have helped them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a suitably experienced and qualified manager. The manager knows the children well and is passionate about helping children to make progress and enjoy their time in the home. She understands the strengths of the service and has plans Inspection report for children’s home: SC034220 5 in place to further develop the home and the quality of care provided. The manager has high expectations of her staff, and she values and appreciates the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The relationships between parents, the manager and staff are effective. Parents spoke positively about the care their children receive and the ability of the staff to keep their children safe. Where parents have raised concerns or complaints, these have been dealt with effectively, and any learning arising from complaints has been addressed by the manager with the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External professionals speak positively about the work of the manager and the staff and the positive impact they have on children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff enjoy working in the home and are committed and dedicated about the children they care for. They describe a child-centred culture where the team works closely together to ensure that children enjoy their time at the home, make progress and are safe. They have confidence in the manager and value the support they receive from her.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager supports the development of staff through a range of training that helps them understand and meet the needs of the children who access the service. Staff receive supervision to promote their well-being and their practice. However, the frequency of supervision is not always in line with the home’s statement of purpose. In addition, supervision notes are not consistently signed and dated. Although this has not had any impact on children, this shortfall does not support staff to have a regular and dedicated space for reflection, and it weakens accountability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and the manager have not notified the regulator when child protection enquiries have commenced. Although this has had no impact on the safety and welfare of the children accessing the service or living in the home, this shortfall prevents the regulator from assessing if a child’s needs are being met and that they are kept safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034220 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who-—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

keep the children’s guide and the home’s complaints procedure under review and seek children’s comments before revising either document;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about—

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Requirement Due date

the children’s guide. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(c)(d)(i)) 1 December 2024

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure; 1 December 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034220 7 a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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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 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). (Regulation 40 (4)(d)(i)(ii)) 1 December 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034220 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there are systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive regular supervision so that they can reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. In addition, all supervision notes should be dated and signed by the supervisor and supervisee. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 61, paragraph 13.2)  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. 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. This means that case records should be completed in full and dated and signed by the

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Recommendations

author. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC034220 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: North Yorkshire Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Northallerton DL7 8AD

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Inspector

Shirin Khan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC034220 10 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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