Children's home run by Worcestershire County Council

Inspection report for children's home: 2812372 1 Registered provider: Worcestershire County Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home was previously managed by a holding company. It was re-registered in September 2024 and is now managed by the local authority.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide short breaks for up to six children with learning and/or physical disabilities. At the time of this inspection, a total of 24 children were accessing the services of the home. Five children were having a short break during the inspection, and all were seen by the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager re-registered with Ofsted in September 2024. She is a qualified social worker and holds a diploma level 5 in leadership and management.

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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: 2812372 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy their short breaks and staff work hard to make sure all children have positive stays. Staff are creative in providing opportunities for children to develop their independence skills, make friends and have lots of fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress. Staff link activities to children’s targets in their education, health and care plans (EHCP). Staff have in-depth knowledge of these plans and use that knowledge to help children achieve the targets set out in them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children learn through play, and they continue to use and develop monthly themes which focus on specific areas of support for children. Activities in the monthly themes are linked to children’s EHCPs. Children have improved their communication and language skills, become continent, are eating a wider range of foods, become more tolerant of others and will try new things as a result of how staff support them in different areas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well and regularly seek their views. Staff use questionnaires and their knowledge of children to do this. However, records are not always clear as to how staff have used children’s views to plan activities or make changes to children’s care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Careful consideration is given to which children visit for short breaks at the same time. This means that children attend for short breaks with others who have similar interests or abilities. This helps children make friends and enjoy shared activities in the home and in the community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff enable children to enjoy a variety of activities, such as arts and crafts, baking, playing games and having movie nights. Staff take children out on visits to places of interest, including to a space centre and to see the illuminations at Blackpool.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop plans for children which tell others about their likes, dislikes and dietary requirements. These plans are clear and detailed. However, staff have not asked one child’s family how staff can support their child’s cultural or religious needs when they stay at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say they like to come for their short break and that they like staff because they are kind. Parents say children who may be reluctant to go anywhere else are keen to go to the home, look forward to seeing their friends and have made lots of progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are supportive not only of children, but also of their families. Staff get to know families well, offer a listening ear and, where they can, give advice and signpost to other organisations who may be able to help. Inspection report for children's home: 2812372 3

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

Children are kept safe by a staff team who know them well.

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

Many children have complex health needs and staff have developed robust plans which outline how to care for the children. The manager has made sure staff receive training to meet children’s various needs effectively.

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

Staff are diligent when administering medication and when following specific feeding programmes. There have not been any errors.

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

Children are settled at the home, and there are few incidents. The positive matching of children means that they visit with others who do not trigger any behaviours of concern or cause children high anxiety. Staff never need to use physical intervention to keep children safe.

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

Children do not go missing. Staff have identified those children who are at risk of wandering off and have plans in place which tell staff what to do in the unlikely event a child was to go missing.

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

When new information becomes known which may put a child at risk, staff make sure relevant people are aware. Plans are amended and safety plans put in place when necessary to make sure children are kept safe.

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

Staff help children to understand risks at a level they understand. Staff do activities with children to help them understand about fire and how to safely leave the building. They also help children learn about risks are in the home, such as those in the kitchen or laundry room, through housekeeping activities.

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

There are systems in place for children to raise concerns. Staff have gone through these with children, including how to use a post box to let the manager and others know if they are worried about anything.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager sets high expectations for herself and her staff. She is clear about the criteria for the home and challenges others when they try to place children who do not meet the criteria set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been some challenges in recruiting staff. The manager has been diligent in her selection process and only recruited staff who have the right skills and knowledge.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well supported in their roles. They said that they feel listened to and can be creative and put forward ideas which the manager then encourages them to take a lead on. Inspection report for children's home: 2812372 4 Staff receive a variety of training, some online and some face to face, including training related to children’s individual needs. Staff then share what they have learned with the wider team so that they better understand children’s conditions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has researched different positive ways of working with children and is planning to use this knowledge to improve the care staff provide. She has also taken learning from inquiries into failings at other children’s provisions to improve the awareness and skills of staff through team learning days.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager uses monitoring systems to continually make improvements to the home. When areas for improvement are identified, she addresses these in team learning days, then continues to monitor to make sure the improvements needed are made. This has included how to improve ways of seeking children’s views, improve record-keeping and further develop the monthly themes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A strength of the manager is the positive relationships she has with other professionals inside and outside the organisation. These links provide opportunities to share and develop plans for children, including sharing information early about children who may need services from the adult team. Professionals spoken to were very complimentary about the home, staff and manager. Inspection report for children's home: 2812372 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure staff provide care which meets each child’s needs and promotes their welfare, taking account of the child’s gender, religion, ethnicity, cultural and linguistic background, sexual identity, mental health, any disability, their assessed needs, previous experiences and any relevant plans. Specifically, staff should ask parents how they would like children’s cultural needs to be supported. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.2)  The registered person should ensure children are consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Specifically, children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted on. (‘Guide

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Recommendations

to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)

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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: 2812372 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Worcestershire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Worcestershire County Council, County Hall, Spetchley Road, Worcester WR5 2NP

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Inspector

Debbie Bond, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2812372 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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