Children's Home run by ROC Home Limited in Sunderland

Inspection report for children’s home: 2777652 1 Registered provider: ROC Home 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 provider. It provides care for up to four children who may experience social and emotional difficulties and learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted since May 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there were three children living in the home. The inspector spoke with all three 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 outstanding

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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: 18 December 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2777652 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/12/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2777652 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they are happy and feel at home living in this home. Children choose how to decorate their bedrooms and are proud of them. Children are comfortable in the home and have specific areas that they can go to, to help them to feel calm when they are upset. One child said, ‘I used to cry a lot [at previous home], I don’t cry as much now.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build strong, positive relationships with children that support children to make good progress. Staff know children’s individual developmental and care needs. Resources including visual aids are used to support children’s communication and understanding. One child, who is a self-elective mute, has developed confidence to communicate more both in the home and other places such as school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use a range of strategies to support children to share their views, wishes and feelings. Staff work hard to accommodate children’s specific requests and then help children to understand the outcomes of these requests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prioritise the children’s health needs. Staff understand children’s health needs and provide them with the necessary care. Staff support children to attend all medical appointments and children are learning about the importance of personal hygiene. Staff advocate for specialist referrals and assessments when needed, ensuring that all children’s individual health needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the importance of children’s relationships with their family and friends. Staff have helped one child to reconnect with their parent after previously not knowing them. This is important to the child and has provided them with a sense of identity and love. The parent recognises that reconnecting with their child would not have been possible without the home. Children have friendships with other children outside of the home, regularly meeting up and spending time together. Children say that they have best friends now.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to have lots of new experiences. Children enjoy spending time outdoors and accessing activities like horse riding and trampoline parks. These activities support children to spend time with each other, but also provide a safe space for children to enjoy one-to-one time with adults.

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

Staff understand children’s risks well and follow their individual plans. Risk assessments are detailed. They highlight children’s individual risks and provide clear guidance for staff to follow. Inspection report for children’s home: 2777652 4 Children are only held when there is a risk to them or others around them. Staff support children to understand incidents after they have occurred. Work is completed with children to recognise their own emotions, which reduces future risk.

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

Leaders and managers take the administration of medication seriously. While one medication error has occurred, it was recognised and the child received immediate support for their physical and mental well-being. Furthermore, measures were put in place to prevent this from happening again and an external NHS agency was commissioned to review and secure strong medication practices. This has resulted in changes to medication processes including staff training, storage, administration, and recording. Staff have a thorough understanding of the changes made and how these support children’s safety.

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

When children make allegations, safeguards are implemented immediately to ensure that children are safe and safeguarding procedures are followed. When leaders and managers have previously identified shortfalls in following safeguarding practice, stronger processes have been devised and applied to practice, ensuring that further allegation management is strong.

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

When children go missing from home, staff actively search for children. They work closely with children’s families and professionals to locate them safely and quickly. Staff support children’s emotional and physical well-being following incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers are ambitious and influential in changing the lives of children that they care for. They have high expectations of staff practice and children remain the focus of all their decision-making.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The management team has strong relationships with professionals and external agencies. Consistent communication secures multi-agency working, supporting positive outcomes for children. These relationships have created respectful working arrangements, encouraging healthy challenge regarding children’s care. One professional said that managers’ advocacy and challenge have achieved additional support and resources from multiple agencies, enhancing the care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff say that they love working in the home. The registered manager has an ‘open-door’ culture and staff feel confident to discuss anything when they need to. Staff say that they feel listened to and supported. The registered manager has identified and advocated for staff’s individual needs, attaining additional support to ensure that staff can care for children to the best of their ability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Supervision sessions provide safe space for staff to reflect on their practice and address any developments. Managers spend time preparing for supervision sessions to ensure that relevant and meaningful discussions make a difference to staff practice and Inspection report for children’s home: 2777652 5 children’s care. Clear actions are identified and reviewed regularly to ensure positive practice development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Team meetings focus on reflection of practice and development of staff skills and knowledge. They provide space for peer discussions to identify and celebrate positive practice, as well as reflect on incidents and staff development. Regular workshops are undertaken, enhancing staff knowledge and skills and strengthening their care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager has excellent oversight of the home. She can confidently identify the strong practice that underpins the home’s achievements. She is committed to continuous learning and development, devising plans and actions to meet her high expectations of development. This includes introducing a staff library that contains research and resources identified by management and external agencies that relate to the children staff care for. Staff are encouraged to use this facility, and one member of staff said this provides the opportunity to expand their knowledge.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

No requirements or recommendations were raised following this inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 2777652 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: 2777652 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hope House, Burnhope, Newton Aycliffe, Co Durham DL5 7ER

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Inspectors

Sarah McGow, Social Care Inspector (lead) Jon Collins, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2777652 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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