Children's Home run by Sunbridge Childcare Ltd in North Tyneside

Inspection report for children’s home: 2638322 1 Registered provider: Sunbridge Childcare Limited

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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 and managed by a private provider. It offers care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

Four children were living at the home at the time of this inspection. The inspector spoke to three of the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account good

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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Overall experiences and progress of

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

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Overall experiences and progress of

Date of last inspection: 7 February 2024

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Overall experiences and progress of

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2638322 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/02/2024 Full Good 14/06/2022 Full Good 01/02/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2638322 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they like living at the home and have trusting relationships with the nurturing staff team. The group of children, apart from one, have recently come to live at the home. The transitions were well planned and enabled the children to feel positive about the move even before it took place. Two children have recently moved out of the home and are leading successful lives as young adults. One young person said that she feels that she can look back now and say that she had a brilliant time here. She stated, ‘100% the placement was good for me, and I learned a lot, I felt very safe there.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is seen as important by the staff, who offer children support to attend. They advocate strongly on behalf of children who have no school placement. Progress can be seen for most children to varying degrees, but one child now has 100% attendance. This is an improvement from their attendance levels before coming to live here. Where education or work placements are delayed, staff ensure that children still follow good routines throughout the day and are engaged in stimulating activities or completing education worksheets. This helps children when they transition back into education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are in good health and have their needs addressed promptly. All children have access to support with their mental health and are beginning to engage in services. Professionals stated that the staff team is good at carrying on the therapeutic practice outside of sessions and staff support children to attend appointments. This ensures that children receive effective support with their mental health, which helps them to begin to address their previous experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to maintain relationships with family, friends and those who are important to them, such as previous carers. Professionals and family members spoken to were all positive about the progress seen in the children and the support they receive themselves. Staff were described as ‘brilliant’ and a ‘pleasure to work with’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Skills needed for independence are woven into everyday life in the home, with children learning to cook and look after themselves physically. This forms a more structured plan for the older children as they get ready to move into independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well decorated, and children are able to personalise their bedrooms and influence the décor in the rest of the house. There were a few minor repairs needed through general wear and tear.

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

Children say that they feel safe living in the home and have staff who they can turn to if they are worried or need help. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638322 4 Risk assessment and care plans are clear about the strategies that staff should use to help children and minimise risk.

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

Children’s behaviour is managed well in the home through rewards, incentives and consequences when needed. Staff respond quickly and effectively when children begin to show how their emotions are affecting them. Staff listen, reflect and allow children to express their feelings safely. Once situations are calm, effective discussions are carried out to help children learn to manage their feelings. These sessions are responsive to situations and are also linked to the child’s care plan.

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

Children go missing from the home, but staff respond effectively and follow protocols to ensure that children are found and returned safely. Some children stay with family longer than the agreed timescales, but are reported if staff feel that they are at risk or are not responding to attempts to re-engage them back into the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is an effective leader who has developed his staff team and supported them to achieve in their individual roles. He is supported by an equally effective deputy manager. Together, they make a difference to the lives of the children they care for. They demonstrate and model practice for their staff in all aspects of the work, such as interactions with children and recording.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has clear oversight of the home and is aware of its strengths and areas for development. He uses learning opportunities in everyday interactions with staff to help them become effective in their roles with children. This helps the staff to ensure that they make children feel welcome and cared for quickly, helping stability to develop and direct work to start soon after children move in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff hold the management team in high regard, as do other professionals. This gives staff the confidence to challenge and use initiative while following the plans in place for each child. There is no day-to-day sense of hierarchy in the home, and the staff are able to share their concerns, admit their own areas of learning and accept advice. Research is used to good effective by the manager to ensure that his staff team is continuously learning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Effective team meetings, which involve reflection and learning, including from outside professionals, give a solid basis for the consistent approach to practice seen in observations and records. However, sometimes, the language used by staff in records is unclear or jargon.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The supervision and appraisal systems are effective in helping staff to develop and offer them the opportunity to reflect on their own practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638322 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that minor repairs are responded to in a timely way. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff record information in clear language, without jargon, to ensure that children can understand what is recorded about them. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2638322 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sunbridge Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3 Hedley Court, Orion Business Park, North Shields NE29 7ST

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Inspector

Sue Atkinson Millmoor, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2638322 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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