Children's Home run by Active Young People Limited in Stockton-on-Tees

Inspection report for children’s home: 2625941 1 Registered provider: Active Young People 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

The home is owned and managed by a private company. It provides care for up to nine children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2023. Four children were living in the home at the time of the inspection. The inspection spent time with three of the children.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2625941 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/08/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 28/06/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/05/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/02/2022 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2625941 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff understand the children’s needs well. Staff nurture positive relationships with the children that are built on trust. This helps children to feel relaxed and safe in the care and company of staff. Staff understand children’s preferred communication methods. This helps children to have a say in their day-to-day care, such as which activities they wish to participate in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress. The staff and manager are committed to helping children achieve their individualised monthly targets. Children’s achievements are recognised through personalised star charts, and they can earn a reward of their choice. For example, staff have helped one child, who could not tolerate having their hair cut, to achieve their target of going to a barber. Careful planning and preparation by staff enabled the child to attend the barber, choose their hairstyle and take pride in their appearance. The child’s social worker commented that this has given the child their own identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff create opportunities to support and strengthen the children’s friendships. The developing relationship between two children has been compared to a sibling relationship. One child, who previously could not tolerate other children, now allows their peers to share their toys and participate in activities with them. This helps children to build resilience, tolerance and develop their social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff and manager provide good support to children with their education. They advocate for the children to receive the education they are entitled to and that meets their needs. The staff provide further support to the children to complete schoolwork in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are creative in their approach to ensuring that children’s health needs are well met. This has supported one child to make improved healthy lifestyle choices, and another child who did not attend the dentist now attends regularly. The staff seek specialist medical attention when they have concerns about children’s welfare. When the staff are met with barriers to accessing these services, they persevere to ensure that the children receive the specialist support that they need.

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

Risk assessments and care plans are regularly updated to ensure that the information available to staff is up to date. Written records provide staff with clear guidance about how to manage those risks, and they are colour coded so that staff can easily identify the most significant concerns.

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

Key-work sessions with children are effective in helping staff to reduce risks to children. Staff understand children’s individual vulnerabilities and recognise the changing risks that Inspection report for children’s home: 2625941 4 the children face as they grow and develop. Staff provide good support to children to help them to understand and manage these risks, such as those associated with online safety, healthy relationships and developing independence skills.

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

Staff support the children to understand how their thoughts and feelings affect their own behaviours. One child is being encouraged to devise their own behaviour management plan. A collaborative approach with specialist services helps the children to better manage their behaviours, which has resulted in a reduction in incidents. This has enabled one child to focus better on their education and make significant progress with their learning.

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

Staff follow the whistleblowing procedure when they have concerns about practice in the home. The staff have access to a ‘speak up champion’, who supports them to understand and implement the whistleblowing process in place. Leaders and managers conduct investigations regarding staff practice quickly. The manager recognises the importance of having an independent person to complete the investigation to ensure an impartial approach is taken. This helps to keep children safer.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is ambitious for children and is committed to providing them with good quality care. She is supported well by her deputy who is equally enthusiastic. They know and understand the children’s needs well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager takes effective and decisive action when there are delays in children’s planning, or when there are shortfalls by other agencies. She escalates requests for action and ensures that errors on children’s documents are corrected. The manager achieves positive outcomes through building professional relationships with others. The manager offers children an independent advocate to help their individual voices to be heard. This helps to strengthen the children’s participation in their own plans

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective monitoring systems in place. This has resulted in progress being made against the shortfalls previously identified. It allows the manager to track risks, vulnerabilities and children’s progress to ensure that staff take effective action to address any gaps. This supports staff to provide children with consistent care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is cultivating a learning culture. The manager supports staff to see opportunities for learning and development. This is reflected by the improved outcomes for children, which staff take pride in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff report feeling well supported. One staff member said that the manager is ‘the best manager I ever had’. The manager is focussed on cultivating positive staff relationships and team-working. She is arranging team-building exercises and commissioning additional training to support staff development. Inspection report for children’s home: 2625941 5 The manager requests additional training in line with children’s needs and to support staff development. The manager then reflects on this with staff to evaluate the impact this has had on practice and make any adjustments required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Record keeping is much improved, and staff write to each child using child-friendly language. Children are encouraged to access documents written about them. This helps children to understand their journey better.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

No requirements or recommendations were made following this inspection.

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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: 2625941 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Active Young People Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Suffolk Way, Sevenoaks TN13 1YL

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Inspectors

Julia Hagan, Social Care Inspector Deb Duffy, Social Care Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report for children’s home: 2625941 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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