Children's Home run by Wessex College Limited in Wiltshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC037596 1 SC037596 Registered provider: Wessex College

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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 children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation up to for four young people of irrespective of gender who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is one of four children’s homes operated by a private organisation. The organisation provides an independent school that young people from this home can attend.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 22 September 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC037596 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Safeguarding systems at the home are good. Staff help young people to develop their understanding of their risk-taking behaviours and how to reduce these.  The team works creatively alongside other agencies to develop individualised education programmes and to protect those young people who have been identified as at significant risk.  Moving into and out of the home is well managed. The team ensures that these experiences are positive for young people.  Professionals from outside of the home praised the team’s commitment and resilience in providing care to some young people under challenging circumstances.  Collaboration and consultation with young people, parents and external professional is valued and taken in to account as the service develops.  The children’s home’s areas for development

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Key findings from this inspection

 There are a number of staff vacancies. New staff members have been recruited but have not started work yet.  Supervision records are not always of good quality. In addition there are gaps in the frequency of supervision meetings.  Although monitoring systems are in place there has been some slippage in the effectiveness of the home’s systems to assure quality.  Records of restraint and incidents are not consistently good. Some contain vague language when describing the events leading up to and during incidents and restraints.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/09/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/05/2016 Full Good 05/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/05/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC037596 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person must take to meet 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard requires the registered person to ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child.

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard requires the registered person to use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. In particular, records of these supervision should provide sufficient detail of the discussion and any actions or goals sets as outcomes of the discussion.

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping, and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. In particular staff, should not use vague language to describe young people, behaviours during incidents or restraints. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report children’s home: SC037596 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team maintains positive nurturing relationships with young people. This is despite some established team members leaving and creating vacancies in staffing numbers. The team has pulled together to cover shifts and limit the negative impact of staffing shortages on young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The processes for young people moving into and out of the home are well managed. Staff understand the importance of ensuring that they act with sensitivity and understanding at these key moments in young people’s lives. When young people move in they are taken out shopping to choose and buy new furnishings for their room, and they are given presents to welcome them to the home. Young people very much appreciate these thoughtful gestures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are well supported to achieve and engage at school. The team works jointly with external professionals to ensure that young people engage in education. Creative education packages have been developed for some young people, and these work well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage and support young people to take part in a range of activities. These link to their existing hobbies and interests, or provide young people with new, enriching experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Each young person has an allocated key-worker who they meet with regularly. These valuable meetings cover all aspects of the young person’s life. The quality of the records has improved since the last inspection. They now reflect more of the discussion and any action required.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have access to the support services they need. The organisation employs a therapy team which provides direct support to young people and to the staff team. In addition, the staff has built good relationships with external providers and support groups such as the substance misuse support. These links ensure that young people have access to the help that they require.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from living in a spacious, comfortable home. Since the last inspection there has been some damage to the property, but the staff ensure that this is being quickly repaired. The team understands the importance of helping young people to learn to value their environment. Young people are involved in the choice of décor and furnishings.

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

Safeguarding arrangements at the home are good. Policies and procedure are kept Inspection report children’s home: SC037596 5 under review to ensure that they reflect developments in practice. The safeguarding lead has developed positive working relationship with the designated officer. Staff receive good quality safeguarding training, and those interviewed demonstrate a good working knowledge of safeguarding matters. Safeguarding processes are followed in practice, and this protects young people.

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

The team is currently carrying out some very positive joint work with external professionals to protect a young person who has been identified as being at an increased risk. This work is effective, and although risks have not be eliminated, they have been reduced.

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

There is a reduction in incidents of young people going missing from the home. The number and the amount of time that young people are missing has reduced. The manager ensures that a review of every episode of missing is carried out, to ensure that the team’s response remains effective.

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

Records of incidents and restraint require improvement. In some records staff have used vague language to describe events. This hinders the manager’s ability to monitor and assess each incident. Behaviour is well managed. Staff are skilled at de-escalating incidents that may otherwise get out of control. Restraint is only used as a last resort. Young people have the opportunity to speak with their key-worker following being restrained or involvement in an incident. This helps young people to develop an understanding of their behaviours and the impact of these on themselves and others.

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

Staff are suitably vetted before they start work in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home is managed by an experienced registered manager who has worked there for 15 years.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager’s monitoring systems require attention. Shortfalls in recording systems identified at this inspection had not been identified by the manager. There is a risk that poor staff practice around restraints and incidents could go unchecked.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Since the last inspection there have been some staff changes. There are currently three staff vacancies. New staff have been recruited and are due to start work from the end of May 2017. The team is aware of the potential negative impact that changes in staffing can have on young people. They have worked hard to cover additional shifts so that young people always have someone they know on duty. There have been occasions when new agency staff have worked at the home, but this has been with staff who know the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff supervision requires improvement. There are some gaps in the frequency that the staff receive supervision. In addition, the quality of the supervision records is not always good. Measures have been recently implemented to improve these shortfalls. Inspection report children’s home: SC037596 6 Training provided for the staff is of a good quality. Training is also provided for the agency staff who are regularly used. All staff spoken with, including agency staff, demonstrated a good understanding of the young people who they care for and how they are to meet the young people’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager ensures that the team works in collaboration with others involved in the care of the young people. Placing social workers confirm that there are good channels of communication. One praised the team’s commitment to a young person and their determination to provide good nurturing care under challenging circumstances. Parents too are positive about the care that the staff team provides. On one occasion, a parent felt that they were not receiving sufficient information. In response, the registered manager developed an individual approach to meet the needs of the parent.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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 who it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

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: SC037596 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Ward Goodman, 4 Cedar Park, Cobham Road, Ferndown Industrial Estate, Wimborne BH21 7SF

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Inspector

Wendy Anderson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC037596 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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Inspector

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