Children's home run by Esland North Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2723807 1 Registered provider: Esland North 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 run home provides care for up to two children. There were two children living in the home at the time of the inspection. Both were spoken to as part of the inspection.

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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 good

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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: 2723807 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/07/2024 Full Good 18/07/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2723807 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children living in this home are extremely happy and settled, and they have had extremely positive experiences. Both children have made excellent progress in all aspects of their lives. This is because of the high-quality care provided by a consistent, committed and skilled staff team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children have enduring and trusting relationships with the staff in the home, who are kind, caring and nurturing. As a result, children have a secure base from where they can develop. A parent said that their child saw the staff as their ‘second family’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make significant educational progress from their starting points. One child has just completed their GCSEs. Additional tutoring and the staff’s support with revision provided the child with greater confidence in the subjects they were struggling with. The other child has also made excellent progress. An education professional shared, ‘The difference in the child since September is huge and that is due to effective communication and support from all around them to make sure they are happy, healthy and safe.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff meet children’s health needs to a high standard. Children receive bespoke specialist therapeutic support from therapists that the children know and trust. This is helping them to understand their past experiences and to start to feel proud of who they are.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff undertake regular, purposeful key work with children, which is having a very positive impact on their lives. The quality of this work is enhanced by the home’s clinician, who provides staff with advice, guidance, research and resources, which staff use. One of many strong examples of this work involved the staff using worksheets and books to help a child to understand the emotional and physical changes they were experiencing as they enter adolescence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children enjoy participating in a wealth of enriching, exciting experiences and activities in line with their interests, such as holidays abroad, many day trips and new experiences in the UK, sporting activities, creative activities, and participation in the company’s children’s board. A child proudly shared their beautifully created memory book during the inspection, which serves as a reminder and a celebration of all they have achieved while living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff support children to spend time with and develop their relationships with their families and other significant people in their lives extremely well. A parent said, ‘I visit the home. I came for Christmas and my child’s birthday. Staff invite me to school plays and celebration events. I feel very much part of the team. I am included in all decisions, and I am kept informed of everything.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2723807 4

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

Children living in this home feel safe because of their positive relationships with staff. One child explained, ‘This is a safe place to live as I know I am loved and cared about, and staff will stop at nothing to make sure I am safe.’ The other child said, ‘It is a safe place to live because I have the staff by my side.’

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

No child has ever gone missing from the home. This is because children feel safe and they receive high levels of support and supervision from staff who know them exceptionally well. During the inspection, the manager implemented individual missing protocols for both children so that should they go missing in the future, staff would know exactly what actions to take, based on each child’s individual needs and vulnerabilities, moving forward.

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

Detailed and regularly updated risk assessments, behaviour support and care plans, fully understood and consistently followed by staff, help to keep children safe.

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

Proactive behaviour support systems, which include high levels of nurture, praise and incentive schemes, as well as consistent routines and boundaries, help children to feel safe. Consequently, children feel much calmer and happier. There has never been recourse to physical intervention, and this is a testament to the skills of the staff team. Staff rarely use consequences. When they do, they are proportionate and appropriate, but the recording linking the incident or behaviour to the consequence is not always as clear as it should be.

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

Significant incidents in the home are infrequent. However, when any incident does occur, the manager has detailed oversight, and staff and children receive debriefs. The manager’s reflective approach promotes continual learning to ensure that practice remains effective and safeguards children.

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

The manager takes any allegations or complaints made by children very seriously. Children are listened to, the manager informs the right external professionals, and investigations are timely and well recorded. The manager helps children to understand the outcomes of investigations. The processes in place keep children safe.

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

The manager has strengthened medication practices since the previous inspection. Staff store, administer and dispose of medications safely.

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

Recruitment practices are thorough. This helps ensure that only those assessed as safe to work with children do so.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is a calm, highly organised and aspirational leader. With the support of senior leaders, he has created an environment where children are flourishing. The manager is incredibly child focused, and he models high standards of practice. He motivates a staff team whose members share his vision to continually improve children’s Inspection report for children’s home: 2723807 5 experiences and progress. Staff highly respect their manager, and morale in the home is high.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has had a real focus on developing the staff team. Since the previous inspection in 2024, four requirements and five recommendations have been met, resulting in higher standards of care for children. Staff have undertaken an extensive range of mandatory, and more specialist training, linked to the specific needs of the children living in the home. This, as well as monthly support from the home’s clinician is helping staff to fully understand children’s behaviours, the reasons behind them, and how to support them to move on positively in their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

In addition to the above, staff receive regular, high-quality, reflective supervision, and they attend constructive team meetings. The manager has created a culture of learning and development. The staff are curious and insightful and embrace learning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager, with the support of the home’s clinician, has introduced a range of research and practice tools, which are helping the staff to undertake purposeful, high- quality and impactful direct work with children. The quality of the recording of this work has improved, with staff now writing records ‘to children’, rather than ‘about them’, in a sensitive and positive way. This helps children to reflect and learn from the work staff undertake with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Partnership working in the home is a strength. Feedback from external professions and a parent has been unanimously positive about the levels of communication between them and the manager and staff, and about the quality and impact of multi-agency working. Highly effective multi-agency working is helping to ensure that children receive the care, help and support they need so that they can continue to make excellent progress. The manager is also a firm advocate for children. When required, he constructively challenges others on behalf of children and in their best interests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

A range of quality assurance activities provide the manager with a detailed line of sight into the quality and impact of practice in the home and insight into children’s progress. The manager fully understands the strengths of the home and what he would like to develop further. Regularly obtained feedback from children, professionals, parents and staff informs continual development of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2723807 6

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

This is in relation to staff consistently recording how incidents link to consequences set.

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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: 2723807 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Esland Ltd, Suite 1 & 5, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Rachel Griffiths, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2723807 8 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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