Children's home run by Spectrum Care Services

Inspection report for children’s home: 2594148 1 Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home is registered to care for three children who may have learning disabilities and other complex health needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post is vacant since the previous manager left in July 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

The individual provider is currently overseeing the home.

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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: 16 January 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2594148 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/01/2024 Full Outstanding 21/02/2023 Full Outstanding 12/01/2022 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: 2594148 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children were living in the home at the time of inspection. Since the last inspection, one child has moved on, and two children have moved in. One child moved on to the placing authority’s own provision, which the provider challenged, as it was not thought to be in the child’s best interests. Despite this challenge, staff and leaders supported the child to move on in a positive and planned way when the decision was not reversed. Children who move in are given helpful information about the home and staff, and those already living at the home receive good support to understand the changes and prepare well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s preferred methods of communication and consistently support them to communicate in this way. Staff encourage and enable children to communicate using their communication boards, sign and pictures. Children benefit from this and have started to communicate some words using basic sign language, which is great progress for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Good communication and appropriate support help children to participate fully in discussions and decisions about their daily lives. Children choose what activities they do and what food they eat, which is enabling for them. For one child, there has been significant progress with their communication skills and independence from their starting point.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are fully promoted. Staff work effectively in partnership with medical professionals and others to meet children’s physical and emotional health needs. They respond to and use information and guidance to help them to modify their practices to meet children’s health needs when necessary. This has resulted in one child no longer requiring a specialist supplement to support nutrition. For another child, meal plans have been tailored to support the child’s sensory needs. In addition, children attend routine health appointments with support from staff, and staff make specialist referrals to the relevant agencies. As a result, children are in good health and have made progress with their health and well-being since living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are engaged in and access education that is appropriate to their individual needs. Two children attend education on a full-time basis; their attendance is excellent, and they are making progress. One teacher said that, ‘[Name of child] is a totally different person since moving into the home. They are happy, responsive, willing to participate and engage in all activities and work-based tasks. This is something they didn’t do before’. In addition, when there are barriers to a child’s learning, staff work well with professionals, keep plans under review and support children’s learning at home until they can return to school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children spend time with people who are important to them. Staff and leaders promote and support family time for children. There is a joint approach to celebrating children’s Inspection report for children’s home: 2594148 4 progress and achievements. Staff capture these moments for children creating individualised memory books and videos that children can treasure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is welcoming and decorated to a high standard. Communal areas inside the home and in the garden have been carefully designed to meet the needs of the children, offering sensory spaces and equipment. Children’s bedrooms are personalised. Children’s cultural needs are well supported, understood and respected. Staff and leaders communicate well with nearby places of worship. Children are supported to attend their chosen place of worship if this is their wish.

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

Children are safe and well cared for by staff. Children’s behaviours and risks are understood by staff. Children’s written plans are detailed and provide staff with effective guidance that enables them to meet each child’s individual needs. Staff implement the guidance and use their skills and experience to manage and reduce risks to children.

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

All staff are trained to know how to respond to incidents of self-harm, including administering first aid. This helps staff to identify and respond well to children and to try to mitigate the risk of this happening. Staff and leaders take a reflective approach following incidents of self-harm and take swift action to reduce and manage risks.

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

The use of physical intervention is rare and only used as a last resort. Staff are well trained to use de-escalation strategies that support children to learn how to self-regulate their behaviours. When incidents occur, these are well managed and are appropriate and proportionate to keep children safe. Children are helped to understand why they have been held and what happened. This approach is nurturing, while aiding children’s understanding of dangers and how to keep themselves safe.

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

Staff undertake one-to-one work with children around risks and children are supported to learn through social stories. Staff and leaders are creative in broadening children’s understanding about safety, and they use a wide range of resources. For example, children have recently attended the local fire station and met the police team in their community to support their understanding of safe people and promote positive relationships.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Despite efforts to recruit a new manager, the home has been without a new manager for more than 26 weeks. A person was appointed but subsequently withdrew in October 2024 before applying to register with Ofsted. The post remains vacant and efforts to address this have not been successful. The absence of a registered manager has influenced the judgements reached at this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The individual provider has been managing the home since the departure of the previous manager. They have provided good oversight to ensure that children continue to receive good quality care. Inspection report for children’s home: 2594148 5 The staff team is highly motivated and aspirational for children. Staff provide children with love and affection. They are committed to meeting children’s needs and gain regular input and support from an external clinical lead on ways to develop and improve their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The team consists of several staff who hold a suitable qualification for residential care. One member of bank staff holds alternative qualifications and leaders have not yet evidenced that these match the required qualification. The home has had some changes to the staffing team since the last inspection. However, children have continued to receive continuity of care from staff who know them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and leaders receive regular and effective supervision that is focused on children’s experiences and needs and staff development. Staff hold the provider in high regard. One staff member said, ‘The support and development I receive has aided me further in my role’. In addition, training and development are focused on ensuring that staff can meet the specific needs of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The provider has completed a quality of care review of the home to support them in identifying key areas of strength and development. Staff use a wide variety of ways to gain and hear the voice and views of the children who live in the home. They also regularly collate feedback from others outside of the home. However, these were not reflected in the review. Inspection report for children’s home: 2594148 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) 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(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home.

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of—

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person so appointed; and

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Requirement Due date

the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii) (2)(a)(b)) 27 April 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure all staff, including bank staff, have the relevant qualification or suitable equivalent. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.12)  The registered person should ensure as part of regulation 45 review, they undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. In particular, the registered person should include views of children, when there is identified high risk factors around children’s communication needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, pages 64-65, paragraphs 15.2 and 15.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 2594148 7

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Information about this inspection

The inspector has 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: 2594148 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 20 Birmingham Road, Walsall WS1 2LT

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Inspector

Joanne Humphreys, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2594148 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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Inspector

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