Children's home run by Shyne Together Limited in Rushcliffe

Inspection report for children’s home: SC441865 1 SC441865 Registered provider: Shyne Together 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 is a privately owned home that provides care for up to three children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is being led by a manager who is not registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children are living at the home, and were spoken to as part 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 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: SC441865 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/03/2024 Full Good 27/04/2022 Full Good 16/11/2021 Full Good 28/02/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC441865 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have developed good relationships with some preferred staff, but not all staff. These dynamics affect whether children choose to go out on activities or remain at home. This is because children want to spend time with certain staff over others. The manager is not yet strengthening overall relationships between children and staff. This is necessary to widen children’s overall experiences on a day-to-day basis and develop good relationships with all staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have supported children with transitions when moving into the home or leaving. Some of these transitions have been difficult for staff to manage. Despite this, staff have persevered to try to give children positive endings to their time at the home. Some children remain in communication with staff. For example, one child proudly rang the manager to tell her that they have learned how to use a vacuum cleaner. This is positive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s educational progress is variable. One child has engaged with a tutor. They are attentive and are making some good progress. The manager is advocating for this child to attend mainstream school. However, the individual educational support is limited to only two hours per day, despite good engagement from the child. This is hindering the child’s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Another child is undertaking self-directed learning while waiting for an individual tutor. This child is a talented artist and, although some specialist equipment was obtained, the child did not have specialist colouring pencils. These colouring pencils meant a lot to the child. It has affected how well the child has engaged in self-directed learning. Staff did not fully recognise what the child needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children’s identity needs are understood by staff. For example, staff support children to participate in their faith and culture in a way that children feel comfortable with. However, for one child, staff were not professionally curious enough when reviewing whether a child’s clothing was suitable when they moved to the home. Although the child has clothing, the child does not wear many items because they want to cover more of their body for personal and cultural reasons. The child described some clothes as uncomfortable.

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

Since moving to the home, children have made considerable progress and become safer. For example, one child’s staffing levels have reduced because they are safer. There is also a recommendation that a court order that restricts a child’s liberty may no longer be needed to help keep the child safe. Staff remark how proud they are of the children and explain that one child has become more considered and less reactive in their response to difficult situations. This is a significant achievement. Inspection report for children’s home: SC441865 4 Staff are experienced in caring for children who struggle with mental health difficulties. Children feel increasingly understood by staff when they experience low moods. Incidents of children harming themselves have considerably reduced. Despite the reduction of such incidents, staff are vigilant and remain trained and prepared to respond if a serious incident were to occur. This suggests that children are finding safer,

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

alternative ways of expressing painful emotions. This is progress. Although incidents of self-harm are recorded, the extent of injuries is not always clear. Recording is not specific enough.

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

Staff attend clinical meetings. They reflect on children’s needs and share strategies to de-escalate potentially difficult situations. Staff holding children is only used as a last resort to keep children and staff safe. When staff have held children, there has been clear rationale as to why this was necessary. However, the recording of the restraint is not specific enough. For example, it is unclear how the restraint happened, from the written description. Similarly, on one occasion, an environmental restraint was used for a child following a serious incident. This was not recognised or recorded as such.

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

The manager and responsible individual recognise that for children’s placements to work well, children and staff must feel supported and safe. There was a period when staff were getting hurt. Additionally, some children did not feel safe. These concerns were taken seriously and responded to, and staff felt heard by the manager and responsible individual.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is currently being led by an acting manager who has applied to become registered with Ofsted. The manager is being well supported by the responsible individual.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are positive about the manager and responsible individual. They have individual and professional supervision. They attend regular team meetings and clinical meetings where they can share their ideas and reflect on their care practice. However, some records of supervision have been misplaced since the previous manager left. The acting manager has not audited these records to assess what supervision records are missing. Staff receive good inductions and regular appraisals of their care practice and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

At the last inspection, children were unhappy, at times, about some of the decision- making by the directors of the organisation. Since this point, children have been able to personalise their bedrooms, which is positive. However, one child has consistently expressed that they do not wish to undertake therapy with a director of the children’s home. Although the manager and responsible individual have escalated the child’s concern, this is still happening. The child has clearly articulated that they want a different therapist. However, this has not been acted on.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When reviewing care practice with children for children, the manager, responsible individual and staff would like more autonomy into the day-to-day decision-making for Inspection report for children’s home: SC441865 5 children. Although funds are provided by directors, the process for accessing funds can be formulaic. This impacts on staff’s ability to plan activities on a day-by-day basis for children. This is necessary because some children struggle with their mental health and so are more able to engage on some days as opposed to others. This can make planning in advance difficult.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and managers are unsure what the budget is for weekly activities for the children when they are not in full-time education. During the summer holidays, children did not get to go on holiday. Staff report this is unusual for children to not experience a holiday during the summer.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safe recruitment files are available. However, they are not in good order and the manager does not have full oversight of them. Employment chronologies and gaps in employment are not fully accounted for. The responsible individual is related to certain staff members and therefore is unable to audit these files.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Improvement is required in some areas of the leadership and management of the home. However, children are making progress and staff feel supported. The manager and responsible individual are reflective and keen to learn and develop. Consequently, they made some positive changes during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

At the last inspection, requirements were made under regulation 40, 44 and 45. These requirements have been met. Although regulation 7 has only partially been met, the remaining action has been incorporated as part of a requirement under regulation 13. Inspection report for children’s home: SC441865 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to being ambitious for children and providing the necessary daytime structure and equipment to promote children’s learning. 10 January 2025

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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; 10 January 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC441865 7 ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received;

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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)(e)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

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, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3);

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Requirement Due date

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)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager needing full oversight of the safe recruitment of staff. 10 January 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC441865 8

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Recommendations

 Restraint also includes restricting a child’s liberty of movement. Restrictions such as these, and all other restrictions of liberty of movement, should be recorded as restraint. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 47, paragraph 9.42)

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Recommendations

 Records of restraint must be kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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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: SC441865 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Shyne Together Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Chancel House, East Street, Bingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG13 8DS

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Inspectors

Andi Lilley-Tams, Social Care Inspector Caroline Hose, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC441865 10 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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