Children's home run by Cornwall Council

Inspection report for children’s home: 2633410 1 Registered provider: Cornwall Council

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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 home is owned by the local authority. It can provide care for up to three children with learning disabilities and autism. At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since the home opened in 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

Staff in the home are referred to as adults. This is reflected in the report.

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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

Date of last inspection: 4 December 2023

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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: 2633410 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/12/2023 Full Good 28/02/2023 Full Good 01/02/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2633410 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have close and secure relationships with the adults. The inspector spent time with all three of the children separately. Positive interactions were observed between the children and the adults caring for them. Adults know the sounds each child makes, and they know which child has come home from school by those sounds. Adults are also able to identify when a child is distressed or upset, and they respond quickly to this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s communication methods are well understood by the adults. One child has been able to increase the number of symbols they can use to make their needs known. Children’s tablets and symbols are readily available to them. The children were each observed to take adults’ hands and lead them to places they wanted to go to or items that they wanted. This was acknowledged and praised by the adults.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two of the children attend full-time education. One child has struggled with school this year leading to two placements breaking down. The manager has challenged education providers about decisions made for the child. However, this challenge has not extended to senior management or complaints procedures, which may have affected change. Adults routinely do schoolwork with the child while they are not in school. However, there is a lack of ambition and planning for what this child could achieve and exactly how the adults could support this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are treated with dignity, and their privacy is respected. Children are supported to have a healthy diet and encouraged to be involved in their own personal care. Structured planning to develop children’s independence with their personal care is limited. Adults know how to support children with this, but it is not clear how adults will enable each child to become more independent

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a large, spacious family home. There are lots of places for children to come together and to have time apart. Children’s toys and photos are displayed, which show they live here. The children particularly benefit from the fantastic sensory room, which gets lots of use.

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

Adults understand the children’s needs and additional vulnerabilities. They make great efforts to keep them safe. Over the last year, there has been an increase in restraint for one child. These incidents are usually quickly managed and appropriate. Often, the restraints are guides to move children to safer places or to stop children from hurting themselves or the adults involved.

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

Records of restraint are clearly written. Adults are curious about why these situations have occurred and what could be done differently to help the child next time. For Inspection report for children’s home: 2633410 4 example, consideration is given to where adults are positioned and the timing of activities. Conversations take place with children shortly after the event. Sometimes, these conversations are with an adult who was involved in the situation. The manager reviews each incident but does not assess whether the adult is the best person to have that conversation with the child. Best practice would be for an adult not involved in the incident to have this conversation with the child. However, given these children’s particular needs and the timing of the incident, it may be appropriate. Management oversight should clarify this practice.

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

Safeguarding incidents lack management overview. For example, there is no consideration for how many incidents took place for a particular child in one month or whether these occurred at specific times. This does not help the adults to fully understand the children’s needs and improve their care. In discussion, the manager identified that for one child, lots of difficulties were occurring in the kitchen, so changes were made to mealtimes. However, themes and patterns are not consistently being reviewed to really understand what is happening for the children.

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

Adults follow children’s plans, and these are updated to reflect the children’s changing needs. Plans give clear guidance to adults about phrases to use or avoid using and specific guidance on how to respond to the children. This means that the team has a collective way of responding to each child, which provides the children with much-needed consistency of care.

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

Positive behaviour is rewarded. Children are supported to calm after difficult situations, and adults have the skills to support them with this by using timers and changing the environment to help this.

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

Safer recruitment is in place to ensure that only suitable people work in the home. The team has been consistent, providing the children with a sense of certainty. One child has communicated their need for the picture board, which shows which adults are in the home each day, to be accurate.

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

Close working relationships exist between the adults and external professionals. Advice has been sought regularly from child and adolescent mental health services to support all three of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has an in-depth knowledge of each child’s particular needs. The team is child-focused, and everyone at the home demonstrated a genuine affection for the children and a desire for their best interests to be achieved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Adults feel supported with managers who they can access easily and who have supported them at difficult points. There is a culture within the home of sharing information about the children clearly and effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: 2633410 5 Incidents and care are reviewed on an individual basis by the manager. However, reviewing situations as a whole and the tracking of trends and patterns are limited. While the manager spoke about restraints for one child reducing, there was no way of knowing this. Since the last inspection, restraints have increased overall.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervisions and team meetings take place. These provide opportunities for the team to discuss the children’s needs and ways to help them progress. However, there were some gaps in supervision that could not be explained. External professionals provide support and advice to the team, which helps the team enhance their skills and supports the children to receive consistent care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from professionals and parents is overwhelmingly positive about the care provided to the children. One parent described her child’s care as ‘top tier’ and how adults go the extra mile to support the children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2633410 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 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

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

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, managers need to review incidents of restraint to better understand patterns and themes and use this learning to improve the quality of the care provided. 28 February

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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; 28 February Inspection report for children’s home: 2633410 7 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;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(x)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, managers must challenge the child’s placing authority to ensure the child is provided with sufficient education that meets their needs. Managers should ensure that educational goals are set for each child and informal activities to meet these goals are provided.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that where children have specific health needs, they should be supported to manage these, subject to their age and Inspection report for children’s home: 2633410 8 understanding. In particular, managers should ensure that there are clear plans for each child’s support needs with toileting and that these are well understood by staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.10)  The registered person should ensure that all staff, including the manager, receive regular supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, 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: 2633410 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Accounts Payable, PO Box 727, Truro TR1 9GP

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Inspector

Nickie Doney, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2633410 10 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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