Darwen children’s home rated ‘good’ for third time as inspectors praise ‘positive relationships’

An East Lancashire local authority-run short break children’s home has been judged ‘Good’ by Ofsted for the third time running.

Its inspectors said that Blackburn with Darwen Council’s SEEDS service helped the young people who stayed there thrive.
The home operates a short-break service and provides an outreach service. SEEDS is an acronym for ‘Support, Experience, Enjoy, Develop and Succeed’ and is registered to care for up to five children at a time.

The Ofsted inspection in February judged SEEDS good in all four categories – overall experiences and progress of children and young people, how well they are helped and protected, and the effectiveness of leaders and managers.

The rating follows similar ones after inspections in July 2021 and October 2019.

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But the report does highlight poor record keeping. The report says: “Children thrive in this short-break setting. They have positive relationships with staff built on honesty, trust and respect.

“This was evident in the number of children who came in specifically to speak to the inspector during the visit. Children said that staff had brought stability into their lives.

“Children have made progress in their education, self-esteem, social skills, independence skills and emotional well-being. Children are at the heart of everything the home does. Children behave well and want to be here.

“Children said it was great that their stays were organised so that they could be with their friends. Children understand the home’s rules and boundaries and said that they feel safe here.

” Staff are trained in safeguarding and additional subjects such as child exploitation, county lines, child sexual exploitation and radicalisation.”

The report has some criticisms of the home including:

• information about the children’s medical needs is not always clearly recorded which may mean vital information is missed;
• there have been a few incidents when staff have had to physically hold a child adding that while records are in place they do not always record how long a child is held for; and
• children’s vulnerabilities are not always clearly recorded in their risk assessment.s

It says: “These shortfalls mean records are not completed to a consistently high standard.”

Cllr Julie Gunn, the council’s children’s services boss, said: “I’m extremely proud of the team at SEEDS and appreciate all that the staff members do on a daily basis. They really do have the best interests of children and young people at heart and it’s great to read the report focus on the children thriving at the home.”

Borough director of children’s services and education, Joanne Siddle said: “We are extremely proud to maintain good from Ofsted for the third time.”