Children's home run by Witherslack Group Limited in Westmorland and Furness

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged good at the full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has sustained effectiveness . No young people have left the home since the last inspection. This shows that young people enjoy good placement stability. At the last inspection, four requirements and two recommendations were raised to improve practice. Steps have been taken to address the majority of these shortfalls. Staff now promote young people’s health well. Health issues that were outstanding at the time of the last inspection have been addressed. For example, staff have ensured that young people receive a review of their medication when necessary. A new regime for one young person helps him to concentrate more, and manage his emotions and behaviours better. Young people receive good support to help them to overcome their fears and attend routine appointments. One young person requires a review of a health condition, and staff have this in hand. Action taken by

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

staff improves young people’s health and well-being. Young people engage well with the therapy provided by the organisation. This helps them to begin to make sense of their early life experiences. Furthermore, it enables them to understand and identify the different feelings that they have, and to develop strategies to manage these more appropriately. With support from the therapy team, the staff and young people learn different ways to communicate with each other. Visual planners and storyboards help some young people to understand and manage their day-to-day routines better. Additional speech and language training is being provided to staff to further develop their skills. Young people make their own stress balls and ‘calm down jars’. This gives them tools to use, which can help them when they experience difficulties. A social worker said: ‘I am very happy with the progress [X] is making. He is receiving high levels of

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

support with regards to his emotional well-being and appears to work well with his therapist.’ Young people continue to benefit from a lot of different activities and opportunities. They enjoy holidays to suit their individual interests and needs, and most young people participate in regular community activities, such as boxing, football and a church youth group. Because young people all attend the same school, developing separate interests is important. Individual activities enable young people to make different peer relationships, as well as to become more involved in their wider community. The young people’s own allotment continues to be a great success. This is something that they take great pride in, and are gearing up to attend to again, now that Spring is here. The young people won a bronze award last year for their allotment and their efforts. This was presented to them at a community awards ceremony, which was hosted by the deputy mayor. Staff excel at

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

supporting young people to develop and maintain their hobbies and interests. This improves young people’s motivation, confidence, skills and friendships. Most young people maintain excellent school attendance, which helps them to progress their learning. However, two young people’s school attendance has declined in recent months. Although managers and staff meet regularly with teachers and inclusion staff, improvement is slow. Furthermore, it is not always clear what efforts the staff make to engage the two young people in structured activity during the school day. Not attending school regularly will impact on their progress and learning. A recommendation is raised to ensure that staff support all young people to achieve good school attendance and engage positively in their education. One young person has moved into the home since the last inspection. He had the opportunity to visit beforehand so that he could ask questions, look around and

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

meet the young people and staff. The young person has settled in well and rates the home ‘10 out of 10’. However, although background information was gathered prior to his arrival, this was not shared with staff effectively. As a result, some staff do not fully understand all his needs, and this has the potential to impact on his care. Furthermore, the impact risk assessment does not contain sufficient detail about the effect of the move on him and on those young people already living in the home. Given that care planning was raised as a recommendation at the last inspection, this is now raised as a requirement. Improved monitoring systems ensure that the registered manager retains better oversight of each young person’s care plan and the home’s overall performance and development. Managers track young people’s health outcomes more readily and chase outstanding documentation from placing authorities until this is received.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager produces a comprehensive quality of care review report that reflects young people’s progress and achievements. This shows that the manager has a good understanding of the impact of the quality of care on young people’s experiences. Managers monitor incidents of restraint robustly. They continue to have a clear understanding of patterns and trends, and take action when necessary. For example, one young person has recently had an increase in physical interventions. The manager met with the placing authority and school to try to understand why, and to look at what more can be done to help him. Overall, the number of restraints is reducing. This reflects that over time young people and staff learn different ways of managing challenging behaviour. The home no longer uses front- ground restraint techniques, which is positive for young people. Records now clearly indicate which staff carry out debriefs with young people following an

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

incident of restraint. As a result, the manager can make sure that young people always have the opportunity to reflect on what has happened with someone who was not involved in the restraint. This allows for greater transparency and promotes young people’s safety and well-being. Leaders and managers are taking steps to improve staff retention. Because this has been an issue in recent months, the manager met with the human resources department to look at the reasons why. New staff have been appointed bringing with them fresh enthusiasm. The results of a recent staff engagement survey are positive. Nevertheless, the manager understands that he needs to consolidate and improve staff retention moving forward. This will provide young people with greater consistency. Managers and staff continue to respond robustly to allegations and safeguarding concerns. All incidents are suitably addressed and referred to the appropriate

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

statutory agency, in line with policy, which helps to keep young people safe. Staff take action when young people engage in name calling and make discriminatory remarks. The staff now support young people who make the comments as well as those who receive them. Good work by staff helps young people to understand that making discriminatory comments is unacceptable. Furthermore, staff support young people to develop resilience and a positive self- view, so that they too can challenge such remarks appropriately. Since this work has been undertaken, no further incidents of racism have occurred. Young people rarely go missing. When they do, staff respond promptly. They liaise well with the police, the placing authority and young people’s family members to ensure their safe return. Occasionally, young people involve themselves in anti- social behaviour and criminality. When possible, staff adopt a restorative approach

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

to minimise the risk of young people being criminalised. Some steps have been taken to improve the quality of risk assessments, but these have not gone far enough. Although young people’s risk assessments are more concise, some still contain insufficient information about, and context to, all known risks. Furthermore, they do not always provide clear guidance to staff about how to manage these risks. This does not fully promote young people’s safety and well- being. Communal areas of the home provide a comfortable and homely environment for young people to live in. Photographs on display reflect the fun times that young people have, as well as their achievements. Some young people individualise their rooms to reflect their personality and interests, whereas other young people require more support to help them to manage this. The ventilation in one young person’s ensuite bathroom needs attention to minimise the effect of condensation.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

A recommendation is raised so that consistently good standards are maintained in all young people’s bedrooms. Shortfalls in the recording of medication do not fully promote safe practice. For example, when new medication is received from the pharmacy, staff do not always record the total balance correctly when booking it in. This leads to errors. Furthermore, staff do not countersign when records are amended or explain why this has been necessary. A requirement is raised to address this area of vulnerability.

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Information about this children’s home

This private, company-owned home provides care and accommodation for up to eight young people, irrespective of gender. The home provides care for young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

25/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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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

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure— (2)(a)(i) that staff assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. In particular, the registered person must ensure that risk assessments provide clear information to staff about all known risks as well as guidance about how to manage these risks. 21/04/2017

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Requirement Due date

14: The care planning standard In order to meet the care planning standard, the registered person must ensure that children— (1)(a) receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. Specifically, the registered person must ensure that managers and staff fully understand the needs and risks of each young person admitted to the home, and that impact risk assessments take into account how these needs and risks will be met alongside other young people. 21/04/2017

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Requirement Due date

23: Medicines Ensure that the registered person makes arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. (Regulation 23(1)) 21/04/2017

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Ensure that staff meet children’s basic day-to-day needs and physical necessities in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments in which these needs have not been consistently met. Doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7) This is, specifically, in relation to staff supporting young people, when necessary, to maintain their bedrooms and ensuring that there is adequate ventilation in young people’s bathrooms to avoid damage caused by condensation.  Ensure that children are in full-time education while they are of compulsory school age, unless their personal education plan contained within the care plan

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Recommendations

or other relevant plan states otherwise. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.14) In particular, take steps to help the two young people who are not currently attending school regularly to do so, and when young people refuse to attend school ensure that they participate in structured activity.

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What the inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspection, we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the ‘Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection’.

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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 focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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Information about this inspection

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 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, work based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after 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

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

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Information about this inspection

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

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