Children's Home, Residential special school run by The Sheiling Special Education Trust in Dorset

Good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Young people are happy, and living at the home benefits their social and educational development.  Young people’s independence skills and communication skills improve as a result of their attending the home.  Young people have a more positive experience with their families as a result of their personal development at the home.  Young people have good access to healthcare services. The healthcare professionals support their progress across the school and home.  Young people live in a homely and well-maintained environment. They have good access to the outdoor amenities on site.  Young people are empowered and valued. They are given daily jobs, which develop their skills and provide them with a sense of responsibility.  Young people are involved in the running of each house within the home. They contribute their choices towards the activities and meals, and take turns in chairing the house meetings.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Staff’s morale is very good. Staff understand the ethos and expectations of the home well. They receive good training opportunities and a thorough induction into their roles.  The help and protection offered to young people require improvement because a young person who went missing from staff’s care did not receive an independent return-to-home interview, the numbers of restraints performed by staff can be further decreased, the correct procedure of responding to an allegation against a staff member was not followed and there are errors in staff’s recording of medication.  The supervision records for night-time and agency staff do not show that they receive regular supervision from their manager.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meet(s) the Care Standards Act 2000, 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

6: The quality and purpose of care standard In order to meet the quality of care standard, the registered person must ensure that children receive care from staff who: (1)(a) understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; (b) use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to: (b) ensure that staff (iv) provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking into account the child’s background. 31/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure: (1) that children are protected from harm and are enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. 31/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

20: Restraint and deprivation of liberty (2) Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. This is with particular reference to reducing the number of restraints performed on young people. 31/12/2016 23: Medicines (1) The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. 31/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

33: Employment of staff (4) The registered person must ensure that all employees (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. 31/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

34: Policies for the protection of children (1) The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which (a) is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and (b) sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect. 31/12/2016

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to 45 young people, irrespective of gender, who have complex learning disabilities and who may also have a physical disability. Accommodation is provided in four houses, all of which have their own staff team. Young people attend the school, which is on the same site, and may stay at the children’s home for respite care or 52 weeks care a year. The principles underpinning the care at the home are inspired by Rudolf Steiner.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

15/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

16/02/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Good

The overall experience and progress of young people are good. They clearly enjoy living at the home and make good progress in many areas of their personal development. Young people are treated fairly and given every chance to succeed. Young people’s experiences are photographed and displayed in their own rooms and in the living areas. A sense of pride and ownership is clearly demonstrable. Young people are actively involved in the preparation of meals, household chores and looking after each other. They benefit from undertaking these tasks, which help young people to develop skills for adult life. Young people have access to a television and a DVD player; however, they are encouraged to spend their leisure time enjoying other activities, such as singing, playing musical instruments and board games or playing on the outdoor play equipment. They have planned periods of time by themselves in their rooms, when

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Good

they can play with their toys or look at books and photos, to help them to develop self-regulation skills. Young people live in a homely and well-maintained environment. Staff and young people in each house take mealtimes together. The food is good quality and varied to accommodate young people’s choices. Young people and staff show thanks for the food that they eat and welcome visitors to join them at the table. Young people are respectful to those around them and have roles and responsibilities during mealtimes. Staff are patient with young people and do not rush them through their routines. The introduction of staff from other countries adds a good dimension to the care that young people receive, as they learn about different cultures and tolerance towards others. Young people’s case files show that each young person has clear goals identified to help them to progress. These files are in an accessible format that young people

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Good

understand and engage well with. The use of flash cards with the most important facts regarding health, triggers, behaviour, likes and dislikes is a good way of ensuring that staff have key information to hand. It is clear that the young people have been involved fully in putting these documents together. There is a comprehensive approach to providing young people with specialist therapy. This provision identifies young people’s baseline needs, involves young people in identifying their own progress and dovetails with the social skills targets. For example, a target of attending an occupational health session for a certain time and making best use of this session involves introducing new symbols for young people to use. They use scales to rate how they feel at the start and end of the session. This is not always represented in the individual education plans that young people use on a daily basis; however, it is integral to the way that targets are

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Good

achieved. An area for improvement would be to more explicitly show how the different people and plans work together. Individualised documents for young people require improvement in some areas. One young person, who is approaching independence, has risk assessments that are reactive, not proactive, with insufficient consideration about upcoming risks associated with independence and e-safety. Furthermore, the review of risk assessments when young people have been resident for some time is not prioritised. Key information about young people’s health is not always accessible in one place; for example, immunisation history is kept with the nurse who is not always on site. Parents spoken to in person stated that they are extremely happy about their child’s progress at the home. They have seen significant improvements in their child’s social skills and behaviour in public. They said that communication with the

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Good

home is very good; staff make contact every evening, they have a Skype conversation with their child once a week and receive weekly reports about their child’s good progress at school. Parents and carers who completed the pre-inspection survey did not raise any concerns. They all feel that their child is safe at the home and that the care and support that their child receives from staff are excellent. One family member stated, ‘The staff really understand my daughter’s complex personality and have built really strong relationships with her.’ Another commented, ‘There is excellent care, a variety of activities, but most importantly our child is very happy.’ Social workers and an independent reviewing officer are positive about the progress of the young people whom they are responsible for. One social worker said that the staff ‘understand young people’s disabilities’ and that the young people ‘are supported to engage in as full a life as possible.’ Another commented,

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Good

‘Staff encourage young people’s independence skills throughout the day and involve them in the wider community.’

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Requires improvement

The manager and responsible individual did not follow the correct procedure when reporting an allegation against a staff member. The Designated Safeguarding Lead questioned the staff member before then reporting the matter to the Designated Officer for the Local Authority. This does not follow ‘Working together to safeguard children and young people’ (2015) guidance and could compromise any investigation into the allegation. There has been one occasion of a young person going missing from staff’s care since the previous inspection. Staff followed the agreed response procedure and searched for her immediately, before alerting the matter to the police within 20 minutes. The young person was found close by and unharmed. The young person did not have an independent return-to-home interview arranged by her local authority or the home’s manager. This does not fully explore the reasons for her going missing and does not help staff to mitigate the risk of this happening again.

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Requires improvement

It is recorded that staff have used a varying degree of restrictive physical intervention on young people 254 times since the previous inspection. The recording of incidents is detailed and, in the measures sampled, the actions by staff are proportionate and do not use excessive force. The manager monitors the use of restraint and can show how its use decreases over time, as each young person becomes settled at the home. However, an area for improvement is for staff to reduce the number of restraints further. There have been several errors in the recording of medication over the past two months, in one house. There are insufficient audits taking place to identify and rectify problems promptly. Young people have not been harmed by these recording discrepancies, but it is a regulatory breach, and one which the management team acknowledges the seriousness of. The necessary physical and environmental checks are carried out in the required

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Requires improvement

timescales. Young people take part in fire evacuation procedures. On-site security is good, there are checks at the gate and a keypad for entry, and identification is checked on arrival. The procedures for recruiting and vetting new staff are good. These apply to staff employed by the provider, volunteers who have come from overseas for a gap year and staff provided by an agency used to cover shortfalls in the rota. This helps to protect young people from individuals who are unsuitable to work alongside children.

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Good

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since September 2015. She has the necessary skills, experience and qualifications for the role. The manager is aware of the strengths and areas for development of the home. She has addressed the recommendation made at the interim inspection. The manager has a comprehensive development plan that is regularly reviewed with the responsible individual. They recognise that a robust development plan is essential for challenging the home to always progress and move the service forward. A specific area that is highlighted for development is the recruitment of staff, to establish consistent staff teams in each house. The manager and responsible individual have improved ways of maintaining a valued and suitably trained workforce to ensure that continuity of care is provided. The statement of purpose is regularly updated to review and reflect what the home delivers for young people, including its ethos and the ‘Prevent’ duty. Independent

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Good

monitoring of the quality of care takes place regularly. The manager ensures that actions from this monitoring are promptly addressed. The core staff team is stable, experienced and well trained. Induction for new staff is detailed and, over the course of five days, the induction training covers the ethos of the school, key issues of safeguarding, health and safety, challenging behaviour and behaviour support. Staff are well trained and supported, and have a good understanding of safeguarding, care planning targets, young people’s health and physical interventions. The ‘twilight’ training sessions are of a good standard and provide the staff with time to reflect on safety, aspirations and the home’s ethos. Most staff members are regularly supervised with targets set for their development. Managers discuss and review young people’s progress with those whom they work with regularly. The manager cannot evidence that night-time staff and staff

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Good

supplied from an agency receive the same levels of supervision. This has been acknowledged by the management team, and actions are in place to address this.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against ‘Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection’.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children’s home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children’s home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children’s home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of children looked after is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place. However, the children’s home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children’s home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or that result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children’s home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference that adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . 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,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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