Children's home run by Derby City Council in Derby

Inspection report for children’s home: SC036243 1 SC036243 Registered provider: Derby City Council

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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 provides care for up to 5 children who experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living at the home. All were seen and spoken to as part of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

A new manager has been appointed since the previous inspection and has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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: 10 December 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC036243 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/12/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 24/01/2024 Full Good 05/09/2022 Full Good 21/03/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC036243 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children living in this home are settled and they have positive experiences. They have made good progress in many aspects of their lives because of the consistent care provided to them by a kind and committed staff team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy positive relationships with staff, who know them well. Children have trusted adults that they can share their worries and aspirations with. This provides children with the stability and security they need to help them develop and thrive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children are engaged in full-time education and their attendance at school is good. Staff help children to complete their homework, and this contributes to them making sound educational progress. For one child who has recently started to struggle to attend their educational placement, prompt and effective multi-agency communication and planning, including with the child, seeks to overcome this challenge.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to lead healthy lifestyles. One child explained, ‘I am proud that I am eating good food and growing.’ When children require specialist support to promote their wellbeing the manager makes referrals for this help without delay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from participating in a range of enriching social and community activities and groups, such as youth groups, cinema trips and fun days out. These activities are enhancing children’s social and emotional development as well as their levels of self- confidence, and sense of identity and belonging in their community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support older children to develop the skills that they need to continue their journey into adulthood. A child who recently transitioned out of the home and continues to keep in touch with staff explained that the staff are ‘like family’. They also said that ‘Staff helped me to develop skills; they taught me to do everything to help me live more independently. They understood me and were always there for me.’

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

Children living in this home feel safe. One child said, ‘It is safe because we have camera’s outside of the house and because staff always tell me when I may be in danger.’

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

Comprehensive and regularly updated risk management and placement 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

Incidents of children going missing from this home have become rare. Each child’s individual missing risk management plan and protocol, which considers their age, level of development and specific vulnerabilities, help to safeguard the child. On the one Inspection report for children’s home: SC036243 4 occasion that a child went missing in the last 10 months, through strict compliance with their missing protocol, they were promptly located and welcomed back home. Management oversight of the incident was robust, seeking to understand the reasons for the incident and how further incidents could be avoided. Positively, there have been no further missing incidents since this time, demonstrating effective responses to missing.

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

Staff undertake regular individual work with children linked to their identified needs, vulnerabilities and risks. Overall, this is helping children to become safer. A positive example is the use of ‘get talking cards’, which has helped a child better understand their emotions. The child explained that because of this help, they are now able to express their emotions better without getting angry.

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

For another child, individual work in respect of drug misuse has had limited impact to date. The individual work, as recorded, lacks clear focus, reinforcement and persistence to help the child to better understand and learn about the physical, emotional, social and safety risks from using drugs.

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

Proactive behaviour management strategies implemented by staff, including consistent boundaries, high levels of praise, rewards and incentives, are very effective. Because of this, recourse to holding children is extremely rare, and used in proportionate circumstance only. On a very few occasions, staff have used consequences as a form of behaviour management. When they have, there is sometimes insufficient oversight of the proportionality and effectiveness of the measure to drive improvement in relation to this area of practice.

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

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

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager, who has been promoted into her role since the previous inspection, is highly respected by her staff team. She and her new deputy manager are effective role models. They inspire the staff team to do its very best for children. The views of one member of staff about the manager summed this up. They said, ‘She is a great leader. When she asks the team to do something, she explains why. She keeps everyone updated and constantly checks in on how we are. She is very involved with the children who love her.’ External professionals echoed this, with one explaining, ‘The manager is an exceptional leader and strives to set an excellent example to her staff in all that she does.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and her deputy are very knowledgeable about the needs of the children living in the home. They cascade this knowledge down to the staff, who also demonstrate a solid understanding of children’s needs. Staff speak with pride about the children they care for. Morale in the home is high, and the atmosphere is one of positivity and warmth. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036243 5 The manager is focused on continually developing the staff team. All staff are up to date with their mandatory and additional training that helps them to meet the individual needs of the children living in the home. Staff also benefit from attending regular, constructive team meetings. The manager has created a culture of curiosity and learning that the staff embrace. The introduction of a staff guidance folder is also promoting staff confidence and consistency of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Most staff receive regular one-to-one supervision that helps them to reflect, learn and develop. The manager has also recently introduced systems to ensure that regular agency staff (day and night) receive regular supervision. This now needs embedding to ensure that every member of staff receives comparable support and oversight of their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working is a strength in this home. Feedback from external sources was unanimously positive about the regularity and quality of communication with the manager and staff. An effective multi-agency approach is helping to ensure that children receive the care, help and support they need. External professionals have described the manager as being a strong advocate for her children. Her persistent challenge regarding a transition plan for an older child who recently transitioned out of the home exemplifies this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Through a range of auditing and monitoring systems, the manager and her deputy demonstrate a good understanding of the quality and impact of practice in the home, including strengths and areas for development. However, as the manager had been without a deputy for many months until very recently, she has been very stretched and has not completed her 6-monthly review of the care provided to children, as required by regulation. This is, thus, a missed opportunity to seek the views of children, staff, parents and external professionals as part of this review to inform ongoing service development. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036243 6

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Statutory requirement

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 registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every 6 months. (Regulation 45(1)) 27 March 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff support children to be aware of and manage their own safety, both inside and outside the home, to the extent that any good parent would. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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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: SC036243 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Council house, Corporation Street, Derby DE1 2FS

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Inspector

Rachel Griffiths, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC036243 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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