Children's home run by Hull City Council in Kingston upon Hull, City of

Inspection report for children’s home: SC036157 1 SC036157 Registered provider: Hull City 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 run by a local authority. It provides care for up to eight children who may have learning disabilities and/or a sensory impairment.

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Information about this children’s home

Six children were living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager’s post is vacant. There is an interim manager in place. He has yet 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: 29 January 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: SC036157 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/01/2024 Full Good 17/10/2022 Full Good 06/10/2021 Full Good 03/03/2020 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC036157 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living at the home mostly stay until they are ready to move to their adult provision. This allows them to settle and develop trusting relationships with staff. For one child, the home has been the place they have lived the longest following many moves. Providing stability has improved this child’s quality of life. The child considers staff to be like family and has proudly introduced them as such at school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress with education. All children go to a suitable provision that supports their learning needs. Staff have supported one child to move back into school after a period of being home tutored. Their attendance is excellent, ensuring that they have consistent and reliable opportunities to learn and socialise. Staff also take the time to understand the barriers for children going to school and how best to deal with them. This helped another child who was not going to school to rejoin successfully.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children have experienced significant loss in their lives. This has been dealt with sensitively by the staff, who are in tune with the children’s feelings. One child has been helped with a social story to understand how and why relationships might end, including the relationship with a previous foster carer. Staff have been instrumental in preparing and supporting the child through this process. Working in this way helped them to understand what has happened and to cope with their feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff look for opportunities to help children socialise and do everyday activities. Children can choose what they want to do. Some children have a busy week with lots of things they enjoy doing. This gives them structure and routine while enjoying experiences. One child is now doing things that they would have found overwhelming before, for example going to music concerts with large crowds of people. This is considerable progress given their sensory needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to make sure, where possible, that children continue to see people who are important to them. For example, one child has a strong relationship with a previous foster carer. They stay with them during school holidays, helping to support the relationship with the special person in the child’s life.

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

Staff help children with the issues that they struggle with, for example online safety, behaviour and positive relationships. Staff take the time to explore these topics with children. They help them understand the risks and encourage them to make safer choices. Staff remain curious about the children’s knowledge. They are careful not to shame children when talking about sensitive topics, helping them to know they can talk to staff about anything and seek advice when needed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036157 4 Children who are nonverbal are supported well with their communication. For example, staff understand one child’s preferred methods of communication through symbols. The child has these with them so they can tell staff what they want and make choices. This is being strengthened with staff completing Makaton training. This ensures that children have different ways to communicate and their voice is heard.

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

Behavioural sanctions are rarely given in the home. The interim manager prefers to celebrate positive achievements. He does this by writing children well done letters and speaking with them about how well they have done. This helps children feel valued and promotes a positive culture.

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

Missing-from-home incidents rarely occur. Staff respond effectively when they do. Staff are well prepared, with up-to-date risk planning and procedures. This means staff have the right guidance to respond and return children safely to the home if they go missing.

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

The manager took appropriate action when he became aware of concerns raised about staff’s practice. He completed his own investigation to understand whether he needed to take any further action. He also ensured that safeguarding procedures were followed and relevant professionals from the local authority were kept up to date with the outcome. This helps to keep children safe in the home.

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

The manager has taken proportionate steps following a medication error. He reviewed the effectiveness of medication systems. Ensured that staff repeated medication training and followed up their learning in supervision. The actions taken have reduced the likelihood of further errors.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in their role for three months. He is helping change the culture from within. He is enthusiastic to make a difference and wants the children to do well and achieve the best outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are invested in the team’s approach to care. They support children to build resilience, enjoy learning and to feel valued. The staff also feel well supported by the manager and recognise the positive changes he has made in the last three months.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have excellent relationships with the team of professionals around the children. They work hard to ensure that children experience consistent routines, so children know what to expect. This predictability gives children with the most complex needs stability. This reassures other professionals they know the children and how to look after them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Transitions into and out of the home are well planned. Staff work with families and foster carers to ensure that moves are coordinated. For example, the most recent child to move in had introductions over a two-month period. Meeting staff and the other children enabled them to begin to form relationships. This helped them settle in well once the permanent move happened. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036157 5 The manager completes assessments for children moving into the home. He considers the needs of the children and the ability of the staff to meet those needs. However, there are some gaps in the evaluation of risks for some of the children and of the impact for the child moving in. The group dynamic was not considered closely enough. There has been no direct impact on the care for the children because of this, but it is an area for development to prevent any negative impact on the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

One child did not have an up-to-date local authority care plan or educational health care plan. This has not had a direct impact on the child’s care. Staff were aware of care expectations and the education plan to move into a school. However, there is an overreliance on other professionals to send information on time, rather than challenging or escalating concerns when needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is some variation in how information is recorded, with some professional language such as ‘baseline’ and ‘regulate’ being used. These words are not helpful for the child and can mean different things for different children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036157 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

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

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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.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion, and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4).  The registered person should ensure that their assessment of the children’s suitability to live together, demonstrates how they have fully considered the impact that the new placements will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4).

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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: SC036157 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kingston upon Hull City Council, The Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, Hull HU1 2AA

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Inspectors

Miriam Dolman, Social Care Inspector Mark Cryer, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC036157 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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