Children's home run by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

Inspection report for children’s home: 2759142 1 Registered provider: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough 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

A local authority owns and manages this home. It provides care for one child who may experience social and emotional difficulties, and who may have a learning disability. This home was registered with Ofsted in June 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a manager since 15 December 2024. A new manager has been appointed and they have made their application to register with Ofsted.

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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: 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: 2759142 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have lived at the home since it was registered. No children were living at the home at the time of this inspection. Children make progress from their starting points due to the care that they receive from staff. Staff respect and value the children they care for and want them to do well. They spend time with the children and interact with them in a variety of ways, for example through conversation, storytelling or play. This helps children to build positive and trusted relationships with staff and helps staff to understand and meet the individual needs of the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are welcomed into the home in a planned and sensitive way. Staff are prepared for a child moving into the home and this helps them to provide individualised care from the start. Equally, when a child moves out of the home, the staff spend time planning and supporting this move in line with the child’s needs. Staff remain in touch with the child when they have left the home. This helps the child to feel valued and they experience key transitions in a positive way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The care staff give to children helps them to be healthy. Where children are reluctant to access universal health services, staff will seek health advice on the child’s behalf so that they can then educate the child about what they need to be healthy. Where children have complex health needs, staff work in close partnership with external professionals to ensure that there is a clear and coordinated health plan in place for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to make progress with their education. Staff take a proactive approach to understanding the education needs of the child by forging strong relationships with the education provider. Staff attend key education meetings. This support helped to support one child to make positive choices about their education and school attendance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to take part in fun activities so that they can have positive experiences and develop new skills. Staff also support children to maintain relationships with their family members and friends.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home requires numerous repairs, redecoration and new furniture. Although the provider is taking steps to remedy this, this needs to be resolved without delay so that any child moving into the home experiences a warm and welcoming home environment.

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

Professionals speak positively about the ability of the staff to promote children’s safety and well-being. Staff have a good understanding of children’s individual needs and risks, and this helps children to become increasingly safer. In the case of one child, staff adapted the home to create a safe home environment. Inspection report for children’s home: 2759142 3 Children do not go missing from this home. Staff prepare a missing-from-home plan which is personal to the child. In addition, staff know what to do should a child go missing.

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

Staff promote positive behaviour in the home by understanding what each child needs to remain calm and feel safe and secure. This means that children are rarely held by staff. On the occasions when a child has been held, this has been done in the least restrictive way possible, for the least amount of time and as a last resort. Children are helped by staff to recover after being held and staff talk about the incident to support them to reflect and learn.

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

Staff, including agency staff, are recruited in line with safer recruitment processes. In addition, prompt action is taken by the manager to address any concerns regarding staff performance or conduct. This helps to reduce the risk of unsuitable adults working in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The interim manager and deputy manager are both passionate about providing high- quality care for children and helping children to succeed in life. They work cohesively as a leadership and management team and have high expectations of themselves and the staff that work in the home. Managers are committed to working in partnership with external agencies because they understand that this helps children to make progress. External professionals spoke highly of the manager and deputy manager and the positive impact that they have on children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel valued and supported and have confidence in the manager and deputy manager to make child-centred decisions. Supervision and team meetings help staff to reflect on and develop their practice and promote their well-being. Staff have completed a wide range of training to enable them to meet the needs of children. However, not all staff have completed training in line with the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Furthermore, the home’s statement of purpose does not fully set out the objectives of the home. In addition, it does not reflect the management arrangements of the home, the skills and experience of the staff and how certain policies can be accessed by professionals and parents. Although this shortfall has had no impact on children, it weakens transparency as it does not set out in full what the home has to offer children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good oversight of the quality of care that staff provide by being visible in the home, having oversight of incidents and auditing activities. However, leaders and managers have not provided the regulator with an evaluation of the quality of care without delay. This prevents the regulator from having oversight of the safety and well- being of children living in the home in a timely way. Inspection report for children’s home: 2759142 4

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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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child; and

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(ii)) 15 March 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. (Regulation 16 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the home’s statement of purpose must align with the conditions of registration, provide accurate information about the management arrangements of the home, the skills and experience of the staff team and how the child protection and behaviour management policies can be accessed. 15 March 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months. 15 March 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2759142 5 In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the manager leads and manages the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home’s statement of purpose. The registered person should ensure that all staff complete training in line with home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 2759142 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: 2759142 7

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Children’s home details

Registered Provider: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Riverside House, Main Street, Rotherham S60 1AE

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Inspector

Shirin Khan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2759142 8 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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