Children's home run by Park Blue Homes Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2509892 1 Registered provider: Park Blue Homes Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework.

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This home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to four children who may have learning disabilities and experience social and emotional difficulties.

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At the time of this inspection, four children were living in the home. The inspector spoke to and observed interactions with all the children during the inspection.

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The manager registered with Ofsted in October 2023. The registered manager is on planned leave from the home since August 2024. The home is currently being managed by an interim manager.

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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: 20 November 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: 2509892 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/11/2023 Full Good 05/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 14/12/2021 Interim Sustained effectiveness 27/04/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2509892 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between children and staff are positive. Staff understand children’s complex health and development needs. They provide structured routines that children respond to. Children have lived at the home for several years and are familiar with their surroundings and have stability. The predictable care helps children to feel settled and make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a sense of belonging at this home. Their artwork and canvas photos of the children enjoying activities are proudly displayed in the home. Children personalise their bedrooms based on their hobbies and interests. Additionally, children’s bedrooms display items that are meaningful to them and promote their identity and heritage, for example photos of family members and favourite football teams.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good attendance at school and make progress against their individual targets. This provides them with stimulation, learning opportunities as well as opportunities for social interaction with their peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the children’s complex needs and the day-to-day challenges this brings. They celebrate the children’s successes and use sensitive language when writing about the difficulties they experience. Staff support short-term targets that are realistic but significant for children. For example, one child has made progress in managing their personal hygiene. Another child has improved physical mobility in the home. This helps children to gain confidence and independence skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote the children’s individual communication needs in order to gain the children’s wishes, views, and feelings. For children who are pre-verbal, staff use visual tools to help children make choices around their food, activities, and routines. A communication lead has been appointed to help ensure that consistent communication methods are used at home and school. This provides consistency for children and helps them make choices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities that help them learn and develop social skills. This includes trips to local attractions, horse riding lessons and a football club. Children enjoy attending activities, and one child said they are excited for a trip to visit a football stadium that they requested.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is large and spacious. Children have ample space to spend time together. The quieter areas of the home, such as the sensory room, are available for children when they need it. Children can independently access toys, books, and sensory equipment, which supports children to make independent choices. Inspection report for children’s home: 2509892 4

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

Children’s risk assessments identify the children’s risks and vulnerabilities. They are updated regularly and provide strategies for staff to manage risks. The interim manager monitors incidents in the home. She uses the support of the therapeutic team and multi- agency input to ensure that risks are understood and appropriately addressed.

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

Children do not always get along with each other and prefer one-to-one time with staff. Some children use unkind words or hit out at the other children. Staff provide consistent responses and help children to understand the effect of their actions. Consequently, children are helped to understand socially acceptable behaviours and develop empathy for others.

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

Positive behaviour is promoted in the home and some children are motivated by incentives. Staff understand what children are communicating through their behaviour and respond appropriately. As a result, children are rarely held to manage behavioural incidents. When it is necessary for children to be held, staff use the least restrictive measure in the best interest of keeping children safe.

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

Allegations are managed and responded to appropriately. Safeguarding procedures are followed, and the responsible individual completes a thorough investigation. Appropriate action is taken to ensure that children are safeguarded. The responsible individual uses these incidents as a learning exercise with staff to help to prevent future incidents.

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

Reporting and recording procedures were not followed when staff identified that a child had suffered a minor injury. Poor recording and oversight did not provide reassurances that staff took appropriate action in response to discovering the injury. The child did not suffer harm. The interim manager and responsible individual amended recording processes during the inspection to help prevent future incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has been managed by an acting manager, who has since moved to another home. Therefore, the deputy manager has taken on the role as interim manager. She knows the staff and children well. A new responsible individual was appointed in August 2024. This has brought stability and consistency for staff and children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and interim manager are committed to children and invested in the quality of care they receive. The members of the management team take complaints seriously and respond appropriately. They are committed to developing working relationships with family members in order to provide consistent care and maintain family relationships for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals and family members shared that communication from staff has not always been successful but has improved recently. The interim manager acknowledged the feedback from others and has taken steps to make improvements. This includes providing weekly reports and open lines of communication with school staff. Inspection report for children’s home: 2509892 5 Staff benefit from regular practice-related supervision. They have a variety of available training to improve their knowledge. However, most of the staff have not completed specific training that relates to the children’s needs and diagnosis. This means that the management team cannot be reassured that staff have the most relevant knowledge to meet the children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s plans are well written, personalised and include strategies that staff should use to help children. However, they are not always informed by the children’s statutory documents, because these have not been provided by the local authority. The interim manager has not escalated requests to have these documents. Additionally, the provider’s escalation policy does not help the interim manager to escalate these concerns. This means managers cannot be reassured that staff are following the child’s current care plan. Inspection report for children’s home: 2509892 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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

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;

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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)(i)(vi)(vii)(e)) 31 March 2025

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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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;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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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. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)) 31 March 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2509892 7 The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 31 March 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure all staff complete the identified training to ensure staff understand and meet children’s needs. 31 March 2025

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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: 2509892 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Park Blue Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 38 Freemans Way, Harrogate HG3 1DH

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Inspector

Cat Makel, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2509892 9 regulates 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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