Children's Home run by Rise Above Care Ltd in Barnsley

Inspection report for children’s home: 2785542 1 Registered provider: Rise Above Care Ltd

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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 run by a private organisation. It offers care for up to two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager registered with Ofsted in May 2024. This is the home’s first 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 requires improvement to be good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2785542 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have lived at the home since it opened. One child was spoken to by the inspector.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff spend quality time with children, this helps the children share their views and develop close and trusting relationships with staff. Children are supported by staff to help them understand their rights to advocacy support. The children know how to make a complaint should they want to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children's specific health needs. They make sure that children are healthy and work closely with health services to ensure that children have access to advice and treatment when needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to have positive care routines in line with their individual needs. They are helped to develop their social skills and have positive interests and hobbies, such as playing musical instruments, trampolining and going bike riding with friends.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to sustain close relationships with the people who are most important to them. Staff support children to spend time with their families and respect children’s individual cultural needs. Staff assist children to have specialist personalised toiletries and support children attending events in line with their religious beliefs. These opportunities help children to develop positive self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with teachers and attend school with children to help them to settle and improve their attainment and progress. In addition, one child was supported to gain qualifications in college. Staff helped them to find the right course and celebrated with them when they did well in their exams.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders and managers identify transition plans that offer children a sensitively planned welcome into the home. On occasions when arrangements change and children are welcomed in an emergency, staff take action to help reduce children’s anxieties.

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

Staff provide the children with clear boundaries about safe and acceptable behaviour. Staff offer children sensitive and nurturing support in line with the home's model of care. This helps children have fewer escalations of behaviour and helps children begin to manage their feelings differently and articulate what they are experiencing.

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

Staff are continuing to support one child who is currently away from the home and are offering welfare support in line with the child's wishes. A professional spoken to confirmed that staff have been very proactive in attempts to engage the child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2785542 3 Staff are aware of procedures and escalate concerns appropriately. Leaders and managers have effective links with the children’s local authority designated officer and refer concerns regarding staff practice. Staff at the home are recruited safely.

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

Room searches are undertaken sensitively and where possible children are consulted, and staff explain the reason for the search.

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

Some incident records have gaps in information, which makes it difficult for the manager to be assured that staff are taking appropriate action. Consequences appear restorative but are not consistently recorded. This impacts on the manager’s ability to evaluate consequences and identify patterns and themes for children.

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

Staff are trained in behaviour management techniques and can successfully de-escalate children’s heightened emotions most of the time. On occasions when physical intervention has been deemed necessary, there are gaps in the recordings of these incidents. Records seen suggest that physical holds have taken place but have not been recorded or reviewed by the manager.

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

The staff understand children’s individual needs and any known risks. However, there are gaps in some children’s risk assessments and a lack of clarity due to competing guidance on managing missing-from-home episodes. This means that actions that staff should take to safeguard children are not always abundantly clear.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have auditing tools in place. However, these are yet to be embedded into practice to ensure thorough and consistent management oversight. Lack of effective management oversight on significant incidents, unauthorised holds and documents, such as risk assessments and consequences, means that shortfalls are not identified and rectified by the manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

On occasions, the manager has failed to show professional curiosity regarding incidents and has not taken appropriate actions to ensure the children’s welfare. The manager has dealt with a recent allegation in accordance with their policy, however, did not consider full completion of any investigation activity before allowing the staff member to return to the home. This was identified during the inspection and rectified with the staff member assigned to another home until the investigation has concluded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home’s statement of purpose does not fully reflect how the home is operated and who has caring responsibilities in the home. This means that stakeholders are not properly informed about the care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff are helped to develop their skills and knowledge to support children through access to various training opportunities. Inspection report for children’s home: 2785542 4 Staff feel supported by leaders and managers at the home. Regular supervision ensures that practice continues to improve. Staff development through regular team meetings provides staff with the opportunity to reflect as a team and individually on the children’s care and their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff have positive relationships with professionals, who talk about effective communication with staff and managers. Leaders and managers are proactive in challenging local authorities to improve the quality of care for children. The children’s social workers and independent reviewing officers said that staff, leaders and managers are committed to offering the children positive care. Inspection report for children’s home: 2785542 5

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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 persons must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v)(vi)(vii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular guidance for staff in managing the risks for children missing from home should be clear and directive. 29 December 2024

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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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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; 29 December 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2785542 6 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(b) (2)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

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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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 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. 29 December 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2785542 7 (Regulation 35 (2) (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s statement of purpose provides updated information regarding children’s care and staffing to ensure that parties are confident that the home can respond to children’s needs effectively. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 15, paragraph 3.6)

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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: 2785542 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Rise Above Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: International House, 14 King Street, Leeds LS1 2HL

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Inspector

Gina Lightfoot, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2785542 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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