Children's home run by Semi-independent House Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2599659 1 Registered provider: Semi-independent House 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 privately owned home provides care for up to four children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2599659 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/04/2024 Full Good 03/05/2023 Full Good 09/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2599659 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children were living at the home at the time of inspection. Both children are settled at the home and have lived together for over a year. Both children were seen and one child contributed to the inspection. Two children have moved into the home and three children have moved out since the last inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have moved into more independent settings. Staff work carefully with placing authorities to ensure children move onto appropriate settings. Staff plan good transitions for children moving from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is large, spacious and warmly decorated. Photos of children, staff and meaningful memories are framed and feature on most walls of the home Staff capture children’s experiences in high-quality memory books that highlight enjoyable times. These books are given to children when they leave so they can take these special memories with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child had moved on due to staff not being able to keep the child safe despite their best efforts. Leaders and managers had not fully explored referral information. This meant that staff were not fully aware of the child’s previous experiences to inform their care planning. The child lived at the home for six months. During this time, staff continued to seek support to ensure the child’s needs were approached from a multi- agency perspective.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made excellent progress in education. Staff strongly advocated on behalf of one child to secure a move to a school suitable to meet their needs. Staff helped another child return to learning after a significant period away from education. As a result, children’s confidence has considerably increased, and they attend school full time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain healthy routines and lifestyles. Staff seek to understand children’s health needs, including attending additional training. One child’s health has significantly improved as a result.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to have new and meaningful experiences. Children enjoy regular activities that align with their interests, for example, staying overnight in London to watch their favourite team play football. Staff enjoy activities with children. Staff celebrate children’s important events and invite family and friends to join in. These have helped children to build a sense of community and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the importance of supporting children to maintain and explore family relationships. One family member said, ‘Staff are very supportive of family time, very sensitive to family time being a positive experience for [child’s name].’ Helping children maintain these connections strengthens their future family relationships and helps creates special memories of meaningful time spent together. Inspection report children's home: 2599659 4 Children have good relationships with some staff. All staff prioritise building positive relationships with children and interactions are warm. Staff have a clear understanding of the therapeutic model they use to guide their practise. However, for one chid staff have not sufficiently explored ways in which the child could be supported to understand factors that influence the child’s struggles to form relationships.

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

Children are safer because of living at this home. Staff have helped children to make progress in how they manage their emotions. This has reduced the number of incidents children experience.

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

When there has been a serious incident, children speak to staff about their worries and share important information. Staff have used the information that children have shared about things that trigger them to inform safeguarding approaches. This has helped reduce the number, and severity of incidents. Staff make efforts to keep children updated about local and world events and use opportunities to link these to exploring children’s personal safety.

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

Staff address known risks and vulnerabilities for each child. They have difficult conversations with children, in particular around online safety. Staff identified and completed training in this area. They then found a child friendly version of the training for the child to complete. This creative approach has led to a decrease in risk. Agreements are made with children that clearly explain why staff are worried about them and how risk can be managed. However, it is not always clear in children’s plans how their feedback has been included.

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

When concerns about staff arise, leaders and managers respond swiftly to help keep children safe. The concerns are shared with the relevant external professionals and thorough investigations take place allowing for action to be taken. Staff discuss safer practise in team meetings and supervision sessions.

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

There has been one incident of missing-from-home since the last inspection. Staff took appropriate action in response.

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

On very rare occasions, staff use natural consequences for children as part of a wider approach to behaviour management. The manager reviews and monitors these interventions to ensure that they remain effective. Staff use well thought out incentives to help children recognise positive behaviour, participation and kindness. As a result, children have responded very well to the clear boundaries staff provide.

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

Door alarms alerting staff to children’s movements during the day are used. however leaders and managers do not ensure that this monitoring is reviewed to ensure it is proportionate and necessary. Inspection report children's home: 2599659 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2024. She has met the requirement from the last inspection. She is working towards an appropriate qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures children receive good quality care. Leaders and managers know children well. The manager encourages staff to consistently look for ways to improve their practice and children’s experiences. The manager uses learning from practice and feedback to improve children’s experiences. This feeds into future planning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Working relationships with school staff, social workers and healthcare professionals are strong and effective. One professional said the manager is always well prepared and is consistent in her approach.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision. The manager ensures that supervision explores topics relevant to them= staff and the children. A member of staff echoed feedback from the wider team and said the manager ‘takes the time to talk through challenges, we never feel judged.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Training is comprehensive. The manager organises specific training in line with children’s needs, for both staff, and if appropriate, children. Staff said training is helpful and effective and supports them to understand their role fully.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff use an array of care and risk management plans to support the children. However, some information is repetitive and presents the risk important information being diluted or missed. For example, the manager has not clearly assessed the potential impact of children before new children move in. Staff care for children in line with the home’s therapeutic ethos. Inspection report children's home: 2599659 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, 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children's home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that they review any impact of children moving into the home thoroughly.

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Requirement Due date

And that staff review care planning to ensure children have the opportunity to receive specialist support to understand factors that influence children’s struggles to form relationships. 10 September 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the use of monitoring equipment, particular door alarms, are used only to support the safeguarding and wellbeing of the children, and their use regularly reviewed. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.16)  The registered person should ensure that children are actively encouraged to read their records and to add further information to them. In particular, ensure that their feedback is captured within records. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 14.6)

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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 children's home: 2599659 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Semi-independent House Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 51 Ploverly, Peterborough PE4 6HZ

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Inspector

Lexi Mitchell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2599659 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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Inspector

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