Children's home run by Restorative Social Care Services Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2692022 1 Registered provider: Restorative Social Care Services Ltd

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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 home is owned and managed by a private company. The home provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children were living in the home at the time of this inspection. All three children were spoken to by the inspector.

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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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2692022 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/07/2024 Full Outstanding 13/11/2023 Full Good 11/01/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2692022 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience stability and consistency. One child has lived at the home for over three years and the other children have lived there for over two years. This creates a family atmosphere in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff seek out external support from specific health professionals to ensure that children are as healthy as they can be. This includes their physical health, emotional well-being and sexual health needs. Professionals who work with the children said that staff work hard to support children with their health goals through meaningful, focused and repeated conversations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience and enjoy the world around them, even when there are barriers in place. One child could not attend their school prom, despite staff advocating for this. Instead, staff held a prom at the home, so that the child did not feel they had missed out on an important milestone in their life. This event is documented with photos and videos and was as important to staff as it was to the child. Memories are stored lovingly in memory books and contain photos of days out and holidays with children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to attend school regularly. When there are barriers to children attending school, leaders address them quickly, finding solutions and advocating for children. This means that all children make positive academic progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support and enable children to have and develop positive relationships with people who are important to them. Leaders advocate for children to spend more time with their families when this is going well. For one child, this has resulted in them spending safe time with their family without the need for staff to be there. Children and families feel listened to and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child’s emerging therapeutic needs have been identified by staff. There has been ongoing liaison with the child’s placing authority to ensure that the child receives the support they need to thrive. However, there have been significant delays in this being achieved. Leaders and managers have escalated the need to provide the necessary support, but this was not done in a timely way and if no suitable response was received, this should have been further escalated.

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

Staff know children exceptionally well. Children feel safe and happy and enjoy spending time with staff. These strong relationships support children to feel safe enough to share worries and concerns with staff. This means staff can keep children safe and find solutions to children’s worries. Inspection report for children’s home: 2692022 4 When children communicate their distress, such as by hurting themselves, staff respond sensitively and appropriately. Staff interpret this behaviour as a way of children seeking connection and communicating their needs. Staff provide self-help kits and children are provided with thoughtful items, such as a notepad for them to express their thoughts. Staff leave encouraging and supportive notes for children. These responses have been successful in reducing how often children hurt themselves.

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

When children experience challenges or issues, staff take swift action to ensure that children are safe. There is effective communication with other professionals working with children to ensure that the right people agree safety plans for children. Furthermore, staff complete extensive and varied work with children to address vulnerabilities and increase safety.

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

Children do not usually go missing. However, when they do, staff are tenacious in their response to keeping children safe. This has meant, when a child tried to use public transport to travel across the country, this was prevented, and the child was supported to return home safely and quickly.

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

Staff work together to maintain clear, consistent boundaries for children. This means children have a good understanding of what is expected of them. This creates a safe and predictable environment for children.

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

Documents that detail children’s vulnerabilities and how staff should respond are not regularly updated. Staff also do not have clear strategies on how to respond to children’s behaviour. However, staff have extensive knowledge of the children, and their positive relationships with children mean that they respond to children effectively.

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

All children have bedroom door alarms in place. Managers do not consistently review their use to consider whether this remains a proportionate response to children’s current vulnerabilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a very good understanding of the children’s needs and their day-to-day experiences of living at the home. He reviews children’s documents, offering reflective oversight of staff practice and supporting staff to consider their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff enjoy working at the home and their faces light up when they talk about the children. Staff were excited and proud when sharing children’s achievements and progress. Staff feel supported by leaders and managers, who encourage staff to share ideas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s views are actively and regularly sought by staff. Children influence how they are cared for within the home and express their views about their statutory plans. When children make complaints, they are listened to. Complaints are taken seriously. They are thoroughly investigated, and children are informed of what action has been taken, and Inspection report for children’s home: 2692022 5 the outcome of the complaint. Children are reminded of their rights to complain to the provider, their placing local authority and the regulator should they wish to. Children are appropriately encouraged and supported to exercise this right.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is an independent person who visits the home monthly. The report generated from the visit does not receive enough scrutiny from the manager or responsible individual. For example, information in these reports has been repeated for three months in a row without the repetition being noticed. Furthermore, the reports are not always written clearly for those who do not know the children. This prevents the regulator and commissioners from gaining a good understanding of the children’s experiences; for example, suggesting that children’s holidays have been cancelled as a consequence for behaviour when this is not accurate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has submitted a report to Ofsted outlining information about the quality of care provided. However, this review does not include feedback from parents or staff. In parts it also lacked evaluation, making it hard to understand what had been learned and how this informs and improves the quality of care for children moving forward. Inspection report for children’s home: 2692022 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when children have emerging needs that require additional, external support, this is escalated to the placing authority in a timely way so that children receive the right support to progress in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 12, paragraph 2.8)  The registered person should ensure that when children’s individual vulnerabilities mean that bedroom door alarms are in use, the appropriateness of their use is regularly reviewed and that there are clear plans in place to reduce the need for them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16)  The registered person should ensure that documents detailing children’s vulnerabilities are accurate, and that clear strategies are outlined to support staff to keep children safe. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’,

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Recommendations

page 43, paragraph 9.12)  The registered person should ensure that reports submitted to the regulator, such as the independent person’s report and the quality of care review, are accurate, of good quality and meet the regulatory requirements. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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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: 2692022 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Restorative Social Care Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 69a Saddleworth Road, Halifax HX4 8AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Benjamin Stenton

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Inspector

Joanna Beal, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2692022 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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