Children's home run by Somerset Council in Somerset

Inspection report children’s home: SC029950 1 SC029950 Registered provider: Somerset Council

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is owned and managed by a local authority. The home is registered to provide care for 6 children and currently provides short breaks to 19 children. Three children enjoyed an overnight short break during the inspection. The home supports children with physical and learning difficulties, sensory impairment and complex health needs.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since September 2013.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

p.1

outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

p.1

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.

p.1

outstanding

Date of last inspection: 25 February 2025

p.1

outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

p.1

outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC029950 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/02/2025 Full Outstanding 19/12/2023 Full Good 17/08/2022 Full Good 20/04/2021 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC029950 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children receive exceptional levels of care from a stable team of highly skilled and knowledgeable staff. The staff know the children extremely well and provide excellent support because they have a thorough understanding of their needs. The children have strong relationships with their key workers, whom they trust. The staff have high aspirations for the children, and they provide them with meaningful opportunities, so they can flourish. This strong level of support means that children feel loved and cared for by the staff, and they achieve their full potential.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are happy and they enjoy their stays in the home. Staff provide children with a wide range of opportunities and experiences, both at home and in their local community. In addition to activities during short breaks, staff provide a wide range of enriching activities for families, promoting friendships and support networks beyond the home. Children’s independence and confidence flourish.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children receive well-planned, timely support in preparation for beginning their short- breaks and when they move towards adulthood. Children are given time to settle in the home and to build relationships with the staff before they stay overnight. Professionals involved with children who attend this setting commented on the high levels of reassurance and support that are offered to children and their families to ensure any overnight stays are successful. Staff help children to develop their independence skills and to interact with a wide range of people in different environments. Staff skilfully and creatively plan meaningful tasks to support children’s development. This helps children to move towards the next steps in their journey.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

There is excellent communication between the staff and others who are important to the children. This ensures that there is a team around each child whose members are truly working together. Staff advocate strongly for children to ensure that their needs are being met. Parents and professionals all speak highly about the strong levels of care and support that children receive. Parents comment on the high quality, enriching and meaningful experiences their children have and the excitement they show ahead of their short breaks.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children benefit from a well-equipped and homely environment. The home offers them a range of spaces to spend time playing or relaxing. Staff ensure they understand how children communicate. Staff provide children with choices, ranging from food and drink to the activities they want to do. Various communication systems are in place that support children effectively.

p.3

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

The stable staff team know children well. They understand children’s complex needs and how to keep them safe. Staff carefully consider approaches that are used to support the Inspection report children’s home: SC029950 4 children and provide care in line with children’s wishes. There is a high level of preventative action that is taken to anticipate potential risks that children could experience. The children flourish because of the consistent routines and boundaries that staff implement. When children need additional support staff use positive strategies to support children effectively.

p.3

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

Staff develop excellent links with families and professionals. These strong relationships help to provide children with a joined up and consistent approach that achieves positive outcomes for children and ensure their safety.

p.4

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

Staff understand their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children. When safeguarding concerns are identified, there is robust support from staff to ensure children’s safety. Managers and staff advocate strongly for the children to ensure they are safe across all settings they access. One social worker praised the responsiveness of staff to concerns they had investigated into concerns outside of the home.

p.4

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

There have been no concerns regarding staff practice, no episodes of children going missing and no incidents of physical intervention since the previous inspection. When one medication error was identified this was promptly investigated and robust action taken. The manager ensured they reviewed the incident for learning and implemented new training techniques to further support staff development.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is inspirational, confident and ambitious for children. She has a thorough understanding of the individual children’s needs and has provided strong levels of support and oversight to the children and staff. The manager takes great strides to advocate for children, to give children meaningful experiences and to enable children to make progress. The manager advocates strongly for children to make improvements to their care across all settings. This strong practice results in sustained improvements to the lives of children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager motivates staff to provide high quality support for children. Staff said they enjoy working in the home and they have access to excellent levels of support, supervision and training. They said they feel valued by their managers and enjoy working with the children. The manager instils a culture of continuous learning and development so the staff can provide high-quality care to children. This includes empowering staff to research and deliver training related to children’s needs.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager promotes awareness of disabled children across the staff team and within the wider organisation. The home is identified by social workers as being a model of exceptional practice. Social workers commented that they regularly visit the home with new members of staff, so they can see the high-quality care and how this benefits the children who stay here. Inspection report children’s home: SC029950 5 The strong level of support that is provided to families goes above and beyond the remit of a short-breaks home. Families benefit from a range of family days that have been arranged by the manager and staff. This has enabled parents to make links with other families, to access more support and to build relationships within the wider community. This high level of support ensures that children and their families can feel fully supported. Many parents spoke about the positive impact that this has had on their child

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

and on their family life. Inspection report children’s home: SC029950 6

p.5

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: SC029950 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Taunton, Somerset TA1 4DY

p.7

Inspector

Sarah Sheffield, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC029950 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8