Children's home run by Harmony Children’s Services

Inspection report for children’s home: SC424759 1 SC424759 Registered provider: Harmony Children’s Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home that provides care for up to 3 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living at the home. All 3 children were spoken with during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably qualified for the role and was registered with Ofsted in April 2024.

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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

Date of last inspection: 12 November 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: SC424759 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/11/2024 Full Good 05/03/2024 Full Good 24/01/2023 Full Good 15/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC424759 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are making tangible progress in their lives since they moved into the home. This is due to the trusting and loving relationships that children have built with staff. Therefore, children feel safe and able to seek support from staff who they have learnt to trust and rely on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are skilled at working alongside children’s parents. Furthermore, children’s parents feel included in the children’s care. One parent said that the relationship with their child had strengthened as a direct result of the care being provided to their child. Additionally, parents are made to feel welcome at the home. Therefore, children enjoy quality time with family members in the comfort of familiar surroundings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff diligently work alongside health professionals to ensure that complex health conditions are safely managed. For one child, this has improved their quality of life following a successful journey through a period of prolonged and complex medical procedures culminating in a life changing operation. Throughout this time, staff consistently provided this child with reassurance and hope.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children gradually reconnect with their education following lengthy periods of absence. This is achieved at the children’s pace in collaboration with the children’s respective education providers. As a result, children begin to develop their self-belief, resilience and, importantly, establish aspirations for their futures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have opportunities to enjoy various activities and outings. Staff ensure that happy moments are captured in photos, which are displayed around the home and added to children’s photo albums. However, children are overburdened by a complicated approach to funding activities. This overwhelms some children as they say that they have to contribute a fee towards the cost of fuel if the outing is over 7 miles away.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a lack of logical planning from the information that the child’s social worker shares before children move into the home. Consequently, this stifles the manager’s ability to formulate progressive care plans for staff to apply. Therefore, certain aspects of the children’s care are not carefully considered or acted on. An example of this is one child was confused about boundaries associated with them spending independent time in the community.

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

Staff are skilled at supporting children to understand what aspects of the child’s behaviour worries them. Therefore, children openly talk about problematic areas in their lives, such as misusing substances. In doing so, children do not feel judged and are able to understand the need to access specialised support in the community. One child said, ‘I couldn’t have done this without the help of staff, I love them for that.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC424759 4 Children understandably experience moments of distress and momentarily lose control of their emotions. In these instances, staff use their relationship to give children reassurance, comfort and direction. Occasionally, staff need to hold children to keep them safer. However, in such instances, this is done proportionately and with compassion. As a result, positive relationships between children and staff remain intact.

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

It is telling that there has not been any occasion where children have felt the need to run away from home. Regardless, the risk of this occurrence has been effectively planned against by the manager. If staff are unable to determine a child’s whereabouts after exhausting all viable options, they can quickly escalate relevant information to the police to assist them in their enquires.

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

Although children have benefited from stable and consistent staff, agency workers have infrequently been required. In these instances, the manager verifies the information that the agency has shared about their member of staff. In doing so, the manager demonstrates their awareness of the need to follow due diligence to ensure that agency staff have been appropriately vetted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has instilled a sense of togetherness across the staff team. Staff understand their role and are invested in the care of the children. There is good awareness of working transparently and being accountable for the children’s care. Cumulatively, these team attributes mean that staff competently perform their role when the manager is absent from the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers expect and guide staff to be positive role models for children. Staff’s ability to achieve this is managed through supportive and frequent supervision sessions. Staff say that their supervision sessions are meaningful and promote reflective practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been an evident shift in the language that is used in the children’s written records. Leaders and managers recognise that this continues to be work in progress. However, the change in writing style has already positively transformed the children’s written records. As a result, the written records will be more helpful to children as they better reflect the care that children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children’s guide has been made available prior to children moving into the home. However, the children’s guide does not reflect all significant aspects of what their care will look like. An example being that staff may need to hold children to keep them safer. Moreover, some of the language in the guide is not written with children in mind.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Although staff have access to a plethora of on-line training courses, staff say that this can feel overwhelming. Furthermore, staff understand and value the importance of acquiring the relevant qualification for their role but say that this is an isolating learning Inspection report for children’s home: SC424759 5 experience. Leaders and managers recognised this and intend to explore reasonable measures to create a more engaging learning experience for staff. Inspection report for children’s home: SC424759 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, The 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)) 15 February 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s children’s guide helps children to understand the Statement of Purpose of the home (the care they can expect to receive while living there). In particular, when staff may need to hold children to keep everyone safe. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.22)  The registered person should ensure that children are offered a wide range of activities of their choosing without having to contribute to the cost of fuel. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.5)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the important role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. In particular, arranging training so it is a more positive learning experience. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes

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Recommendations

Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: SC424759 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Harmony Childrens Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3 Park Square, Leeds LS1 2NE

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Inspector

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC424759 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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