Children's home run by Pebbles Care Limited in Leeds

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066458 1 SC066458 Registered provider: Pebbles Care 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 two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been in post for three years.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC066458 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/03/2024 Full Good 12/07/2022 Full Good 12/01/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 03/11/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC066458 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children have lived at this home for almost two years and experience stability. The ethos of this home is for children to live in an environment which replicates a family home. This is following the children expressing that they wanted to move away from feeling ‘looked after’. Staff are nurturing and show children that they care, demonstrating their unconditional and unwavering love, even at times when children have struggled to manage their behaviour in the community. Children who previously struggled to trust adults have formed strong relationships with staff whom they can confide in with their worries or concerns. Children view staff as family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

One social worker said: ‘Staff have built positive relationships with [name of child], which has taken time, patience and persistence, and it is clear that these caring and supportive relationships have guided [name of child] to a much more settled place in their life.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are making exceptional progress from their starting points, especially in respect of being more able to remain calm. This then means that progress can be seen in other areas, such as with their education, relationships with others and a reduction in negative behaviours in the community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff have an excellent understanding of children’s emotional needs. They are attuned to the children and have worked hard to understand how to support them appropriately. Staff tailor their care to the children’s individual needs, such as through providing ‘self- care boxes’ to the children. These consist of positive quotes, fidget toys, snacks and worry caterpillars. Additionally, the registered manager writes letters to the children. The children respond well to the letters that they receive and feel loved, wanted and important.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff advocate strongly for children and are tenacious in making sure that they get the support that they need with their educational needs. This includes seeking private tutoring, alongside staff providing informal educational opportunities. Children who previously refused to go to school are now attending school in line with their personal education plan. Children are making positive progress. School attendance has increased for one child, who is now a high achiever in mathematics. The other child is being prepared to sit exams and is making appointments to visit colleges.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are healthy and staff provide encouragement for them to make good choices with regard to their diet, hygiene and fitness. Children play football locally and go to the gym. To further promote this, the manager has turned the cellar into a gym for the children to use.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff build positive relationships with family when appropriate to do so. The manager and staff advocated for and supported one of the children’s family members. The child Inspection report for children’s home: SC066458 4 could see that this act of kindness reflected the ethos of the staff team to make others feel like an extended family member.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children have good friendship groups and they are encouraged to spend quality time with their friends. This includes children inviting their friends to the home, which is beautifully decorated and furnished. The children have had input into how they would like their bedrooms decorated and it is a place that the children are proud to call home.

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

Staff know the children’s risks and vulnerabilities well. Staff attend training to provide them with further information about children’s specific needs and risks. This helps to keep the children safer. Furthermore, the staff’s relationships and understanding of the children mean that they can gauge if the children are upset just by their body language and facial expressions. Staff can then provide additional support either to support a child who is emotionally struggling or to prevent a situation escalating. As a result, there have been no occasions when staff have needed to physically hold or guide a child to keep them and others safe since the last inspection.

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

Staff help children to understand about appropriate relationships with others. They sensitively help children to understand a range of boundaries and behavioural expectations, including information about sexual health. Staff work in partnership with the children to understand their beliefs and views. They support the children to promote a healthier way of thinking, which in turn leads to healthier relationships, whether that be with family or friends.

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

Furthermore, staff have numerous conversations with children about issues affecting their lives; for example, drug and alcohol misuse, smoking and vaping. This is completed alongside the sessions with the psychologist linked to the home. Staff also use the services of external agencies when needed to provide further information and understanding for children.

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

The times that one child goes missing from home have reduced. When this does happen, staff follow the child’s missing-from-home risk assessment. Furthermore, collaborative working with the police has been successful and seen the return of the child to the home as swiftly as possible. The child is welcomed back to the home and receives the opportunity to speak to an independent person. This helps the manager to understand why the child has gone missing.

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

When children have been involved in offending behaviour in the community, staff work closely with other agencies, such as with the police or the youth offending service. This provides children with an understanding about the impact of their behaviour on others. For example, one child showed his remorse by writing a letter of apology for his behaviour to a local supermarket. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066458 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is inspirational and has high aspirations for the children. She is of the belief that despite their early childhood experiences, children can achieve and reach any goal that they desire. This approach to life has filtered down through the staff team to the children and they themselves demonstrate love and respect, not only for themselves but also for others. Positivity and self-belief are promoted throughout the manager’s and staff’s practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager values the staff and provides them with consistent leadership and support through regular supervision sessions. Staff can discuss their needs and reflect on their progress. Furthermore, team meetings are held regularly and are reflective and child focused. These meetings allow the staff an opportunity to engage in collaborative discussions about how they can further promote positive care for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is a natural leader who can take others, such as staff and the children, on a journey of self-loving. She says, ‘You can do anything you set your mind to.’ This is now instilled in everything that the staff do, including their recordings, which demonstrate that the staff really want the children to be children and to have the best experiences while they live at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has an effective system of oversight in place. She reviews all documents relating to the children who live in the home. These systems enable the manager to ensure that staff provide consistently excellent quality of care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Recordings are done in such a way that should children choose to view their files at any time, they will see that they were written with thought and reflection and in a child- friendly manner. Furthermore, staff have a greater understanding of what it is like for children to experience being cared for. This includes the manager creating a 10-point list of things children feel awkward or embarrassed about, after receiving feedback from children. The staff have all responded well to this and changed their practice as a result.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager brings a level of humour to the home and creates ‘breaking news’ bulletins for children, such as when the boiler broke. The real strength of the manager and staff is that they model a family home environment to make sure that children feel loved and wanted and made to feel capable of achieving anything. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066458 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: SC066458 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pebbles Care limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 The Calls, Leeds LS2 7JU

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Inspector

Angela Ross, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066458 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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