Children's home run by Esland North Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2540927 1 Registered provider: Esland North Limited 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 private company. It offers care for up to three children who experience social and emotional difficulties and may have learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home.

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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: 28 February 2024

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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: 2540927 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/02/2024 Full Good 08/03/2023 Full Good 01/03/2022 Full Good 13/01/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2540927 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All three children living at the home contributed to this inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy and comfortable in their home environment. Staff support children to build positive, trusting relationships, and they provide good-quality care and support. Staff understand children’s needs, which means that children receive individualised care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to experience positive life experiences, such as going on holiday and taking part in activities relating to their interests. Staff listen to children, take their views into consideration and advocate for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff deliver good-quality direct work with children that is relevant to their needs. Staff’s approach to direct work is creative, which has led to children’s positive engagement. Staff also ensure that they carry out direct work in response to changes to children’s needs and risks, which means that direct work is relevant and meaningful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s health needs by encouraging and supporting them to attend health appointments. Staff support children to attend weekly therapy, which has positively supported their emotional health and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children continue to make positive progress in their educational development. Staff provide children with educational opportunities in the home when not attending school. However, these opportunities have declined in recent weeks due to staffing pressures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children see their families and the people who are important to them. This includes transporting children regularly to visit their family. The manager and staff maintain positive relationships with children’s families and provide support to parents in meeting their children’s needs.

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

Staff understand children’s risks and have knowledge of their individual support plans. The manager reviews assessments and plans regularly in line with any changes to needs or risks.

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

Professionals working with the children say that staff’s care of children is consistent and nurturing, which has contributed towards children’s progress. For one child, this has allowed them to feel safe enough to share their emotions and embrace support to help them respond to their emotions better.

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

The manager has developed children’s individual behaviour support plans. The plans are relevant, detailed, and clear in how to support children individually. Staff follow these Inspection report for children’s home: 2540927 4 plans when responding to behaviours that challenge or safeguarding incidents. Staff are also nurturing in their responses to children during times of crisis.

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

At times, staff have not followed safeguarding procedures in response to children’s emotional well-being. The manager’s oversight has ensured that these shortfalls have been identified and addressed quickly, with appropriate safeguarding procedures followed. The manager’s actions have provided reassurance that shortfalls have been addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good oversight of the home. His recordings are thorough and reflective in all aspects of children’s care. Staff say they feel supported by both the current and the previous home manager and value the manager’s presence in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have ensured that there has been a planned transition of the home manager, which has supported the children’s needs and stability for the home. Several members of staff have left the team in recent months, which has affected staffing levels. Staff say that they feel unable to carry out some of their allocated tasks in addition to caring for the children. Senior managers have ensured that staffing resources have been sourced from elsewhere to support the team through this period. Managers have been proactive in recruiting additional staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that team meetings and formal supervision sessions take place regularly. They are reflective in nature, which supports staff’s development. Staff say they feel supported by one another and can speak openly about challenges.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that staff have the right training to meet children’s individual needs. Staff also have regular support from the home’s therapist, which also supports the team’s development and care provided to children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2540927 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should monitor and review the patterns and trends of turnover of staff, whether agency or directly employed, and be able understand and, where possible, address any negative trends. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.19)  The registered person should ensure that the necessary support is given to children to enable them to access their education or training. This particularly relates to ensuring that children are consistently provided with educational opportunities in the home when not in education full time. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)

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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: 2540927 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Esland Limited, Suites 1 and 5 Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Chloe Harvey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2540927 7 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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