Children's Home run by Nurture Childcare Services Ltd in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 1 Registered provider: Nurture Childcare Services Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is owned by a private organisation. The home provides care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

There were three children living in the home at the time of the inspection.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2024.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/05/2023 Full requires improvement to be good 04/01/2023 Full requires improvement to be good 12/10/2022 Full inadequate 11/01/2022 Full good Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children told the inspector that they like living in the home. Staff work hard to build relationships with the children, and they know them well. These relationships help children to feel safe and secure. As a result, children are making progress from their individual starting points. A child’s social worker said: ‘… to see how well they have done, it is amazing. It is a home, not a residential placement.’

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend education. The manager and staff have effective relationships with education professionals. This helps them to identify suitable educational placements for children. Staff also advocate for children to ensure education health and care plans have been implemented to help them achieve better outcomes. Staff support children to engage in educational activities and the manager has quickly identified an educational placement for a child who has recently moved into the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff ensure that children’s health needs are met. Children are registered with statutory health services when they move into the home. Managers and staff work hard to identify children’s health needs. This includes specialist support. For example, one child is currently undergoing a specialist health assessment.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care planning is effective. Managers ensure that they obtain information from children’s placing authorities before they move into the home. One child has recently moved into the home. Staff welcomed this child sensitively.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to create a homely and nurturing environment for children to live together. For example, staff encourage children to eat meals together and staff support the children to take part in activities together in the community.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The environment is welcoming and homely. Photos and children’s achievements are displayed in the home. This helps children to develop a sense of belonging.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to engage in hobbies and interests. For example, one child attends the gym and another child goes swimming. The staff support the children to enjoy different experiences and this helps children to maintain active lifestyles. One child spends time with their friends in the community.

p.3

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

Staff know how to protect the children living in the home. Children told the inspector that they feel safe living in the home. Children said that they can talk to staff if they are worried about anything.

p.3

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

Staff know their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe. Staff spoken to demonstrate that they understand safeguarding processes. Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 4 The manager has created a culture where there is a diligent response to keeping the children safe. Staff communicate effectively with relevant safeguarding professionals. This helps to provide children with an all-round multi-agency approach. This has led to a reduction in risk, for example self-injurious behaviour.

p.3

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

When room searches have taken place, they have been appropriate, and sensitively completed. This demonstrates that staff respect children’s privacy.

p.4

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

Children’s risk assessments include their known vulnerabilities and include strategies for staff to follow in practice. However, not all known risks are included in children’s risk assessments. Therefore, staff do not always have the most up-to-date information to support children.

p.4

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

An issue regarding the safety of the home environment was identified during the inspection. The manager immediately rectified this.

p.4

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

The recruitment of staff is comprehensive and safe. Recruitment records demonstrate that processes are in place to ensure that only suitable adults work with children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has the necessary qualifications and skills to manage the home. She is nurturing and knows the children well. She is child-focused and is committed to supporting the children to make progress.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff spoken to said they have frequent supervision. Staff describe this as useful, and they talked about how this helps them to improve their practice. This helps the manager to understand staff’s strengths and areas of development. When areas of development are identified, the manager takes action to address these and improve staff practice.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly. Records demonstrate that team meetings provide staff with the opportunity to share information about children. This helps to improve staff’s caring practices.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are cared for by a stable staff team. This provides stability and consistency for children. Staff spoken to said they are supported by the manager. Staff morale is positive.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective relationships with professionals and understands the importance of good communication. One child’s independent reviewing officer said: ‘ If I could pick up [name of the home] and replicate it, I would do.’

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager does not always take sufficient action to obtain children’s local authority documentation. This means that staff do not have all relevant information in relation to children. Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 5 Leaders and managers have monitoring and review systems in place. However, there are gaps in these systems as information is not always recorded. This limits the overall effectiveness of these systems. Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 6

p.4

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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child.

p.6

Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers must ensure that children’s risk assessments contain up-to-date information and include all known behaviours. 3 February 2025

p.6

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—

p.6

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.6

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)(h))

p.6

Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers must ensure that all information is recorded in children’s plans to help them to continuously monitor children’s care effectively. 3 February 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 7 In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

p.6

Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

p.7

Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans.

p.7

Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that there is no delay in obtaining children’s relevant plans from the children’s local authority and take appropriate steps when required. 3 February 2025

p.7

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: 1238043 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Nurture Childcare Services Limited

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Seighford Hall, Clanford Road, Seighford, Stafford ST18 9NL

p.8

Inspector

Sally Croft, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1238043 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.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

p.9

Inspector

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9