Children's Home run by Knossington Grange School Limited in Lincolnshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC436386 1 SC436386 Registered provider: Knossington Grange School Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people. It is owned and run by an independent provider. The home provides care and accommodation for young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 All young people make good progress. In some areas, such as their education, Inspection report children’s home: SC436386 2 this is excellent progress given their starting points.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The contribution of young people to their own care planning and the running of the home is good. Young people also contribute to staff appraisals.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are increasingly safe, with a significant reduction in risk-taking incidents such as going missing.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Reflective practice is embedded, ensuring that learning from incidents and placements is highly effective.

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Key findings from this inspection

 New staff complement the existing staff team, providing a very diverse range of skills and experiences.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Recording is an area for improvement, including the recording in risk assessments.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff are not completing some fire safety checks frequently enough.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 23/08/2016 Full Good 19/01/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 28/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC436386 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) 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(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure-

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purpose of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health.

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to the completion of fire safety checks. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(d)) 02/10/2017

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Recommendations

 Staff should understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. This is in relation to the accurate recording of the action taken following a young person’s accident, the amendment of a pen profile, the recording of a staff member’s role in an intervention and in relation to the recording of the actions that staff members are to take if a young person self-harms. It also refers to a minor amendment needed in the home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  Staff should continuously and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. This refers to the review of risk concerning the locking of internal doors, and ensuring that the risk assessment relating to the use of a local activity centre includes full information to inform risk management planning. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the

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Recommendations

quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) Inspection report children’s home: SC436386 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make good, and in some aspects of their lives, excellent progress given their starting points. This is particularly evident in relation to their education, leisure pursuits and social interactions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Ensuring that young people receive the right education and that they continue to achieve academically is a real strength of this home. All young people fully engage with education. Two young people have recently completed examinations and coped extremely well with the pressure that this brings. Work alongside a transitions team has helped to secure college placements for them both. With support from staff, one young person, who is new to the home, has managed to maintain his educational placement, which is some distance from the home, and his attendance has improved. Another young person who is new to the home has successfully settled into a new school. This is due in part to a very well-planned integration, with staff from the home supporting him in school initially.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All staff recognise the importance of education, not just for academic achievement but also for the social skills that young people develop when attending school or college. Such skills develop further with young people being actively encouraged to take part in a wide range of activities. These include going to the skate park and BMX track, fishing, bowling and go karting. Staff help young people to pursue their hobbies and interests. For example, one young person, with an amazing talent in music, has been encouraged to pursue this, resulting in him performing at live gigs with a friend, and raising money for an international children’s charity. His self-esteem and confidence continue to grow as he practices and performs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are generally healthy. Young people with a history of drug misuse no longer use drugs. Staff work closely with the looked after children nurse and a therapy team. This helps them to meet young people’s physical and emotional health needs well. Healthy eating is encouraged by the provision of a range of healthy home-cooked meals, which staff plan in consultation with the young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people learn age-appropriate self-help and independence skills to help them prepare for adulthood. These include undertaking personal hygiene routines, cooking, cleaning and budgeting.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff liaise closely with young people’s family and friends to creating safe and appropriate arrangements for contact. This helps young people to forge and maintain positive relationships with those people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people express their views through regular personal support meetings, residents’ meetings and by attending at their own reviews. Additionally, young people participate in the annual appraisals of staff members. This means that they help to develop the staff Inspection report children’s home: SC436386 5 team as well as having a say in their own care planning and in the day-to-day running of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Effective placement planning, information sharing and matching enable new young people to settle quickly when they move into the home and begin to build relationships with staff and each other. Staff present as very nurturing and the home itself is very warm and welcoming, with a family feel to it. Other professionals recognise this. One professional said, ‘Staff are very nurturing and the atmosphere is good. It is my favourite place to go.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to ensure that those who move on from the home do so in the best way possible. One recent move posed difficulties due to the risks that the young person presented. The manager meticulously planned the move. This included working with the staff team on potential scenarios and liaising with a range of professionals, to try to make the transition as safe as possible. Following the move, the manager has supported staff and young people to discuss their emotions surrounding the departure of this young person. A full review of the placement has provided valuable learning for the manager and staff team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care and health plans reflect the individuality of each young person. The plans include young people’s own views about their care and aspirations for the future. However, some case records lacked all relevant information required to inform planning. A recommendation is made to ensure that all records are kept up to date. This includes recording in detail the action that staff took following a young person banging their head when falling indoors and a minor revision within a pen profile.

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

Young people become increasingly safe while living in this home. Incidents of drug misuse, carrying weapons, damage and aggression have reduced and in some instances, have stopped altogether.

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

Incidents of young people going missing have substantially decreased, with only one such incident since the last full inspection. Staff members remain alert to the possibility of incidents and discuss the safety of young people in staff meetings and supervision.

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

Staff and managers understand the role of the designated officer and continue to build positive relationships with other safeguarding professionals. An extensive range of training in areas such as around sexual exploitation, radicalisation, self-harm and sexualised behaviour has enhanced staff knowledge and skills in relation to safeguarding. Training and support provided to parents of young people’s friends who they spend a lot of time with has been beneficial. It has helped to ensure that young people remain safe while enjoying activities with their friends.

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

Staff receive support from the therapy team to help them understand self-harm and how best to help young people, identify ways to reduce the risk of such behaviours occurring and how best to intervene if a young person does self-harm. The quality of the recording Inspection report children’s home: SC436386 6 of these interventions is variable. A recommendation is made to ensure that clear, up-to- date recording provides absolute clarity to staff about incidents so that they can all understand what happened and plan accordingly to reduce the risk of further similar incidents.

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

Some young people enjoy sporting activities such as skate boarding and going to the BMX track. Not surprisingly, these activities bring certain risks with them and accidents have occurred which have been very well managed by the home’s staff and staff from the local activity centre. Activity risk assessments are in place to mitigate risks from such activities, but these documents could be strengthened further by detailing all of the information gathered and used to inform the risk management plan.

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

Staff clearly understand the behaviours of young people. Staff develop appropriate strategies to help each young person to find their own way to regulate their emotions. This helps young people to form positive relationships with others, and it has resulted in a reduction in incidents of bullying and other negative behaviours. Staff reward positive behaviour. Any consequences imposed by staff for negative behaviour are appropriate and enable young people to understand the impact of their actions on others.

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

The use of physical intervention continues to decrease. When it is used, debriefs allow for staff and young people to learn from incidents and effectively move on. Robust management oversight and evaluation and reflection with the staff team help to ensure that practice in this area continues to develop and improve. Recording of physical interventions is generally good and provides descriptions of the behaviours leading to the intervention as well as a description of the hold used. However, one record lacked clarity in respect of a staff member’s role within an intervention. A recommendation is made to ensure that all recording is clear to provide a full picture of any incident.

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

The home is well maintained and kept clean. However, some safety checks in relation to fire have not been completed in accordance with the home’s fire safety schedule. Some are being completed on a monthly basis rather than on the required weekly basis. A requirement is made to ensure that all checks are carried out in a timely manner to ensure young people’s safety.

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

The locking of some internal doors at night-time, such as the kitchen, is a routine in the home. A recommendation is made to ensure that this practice is reviewed and thoroughly risk assessed to ensure that this is proportionate to risk and not simply custom and practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and assistant manager are very experienced and well qualified. A competent senior team supports them well. Careful planning in relation to an impending change to the management structure of the home will help to minimise the impact of this change on young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff work closely with a range of other professionals, families and Inspection report children’s home: SC436386 7 social networks to provide the best care possible for young people. A number of key professionals in some young people’s lives have changed recently. Staff have worked hard to help young people understand these changes and to help them to build up positive relationships with the new professionals in their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A number of new staff, recently employed, bring a range of new skills, knowledge and experience to the team. The induction programme for the new staff is good, involving them undertaking a number of essential training courses to enhance their skills further.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are either qualified to an appropriate level, undertaking a relevant qualification or they are new staff who will be enrolled to complete this once they have completed their probationary period. This will ensure that all staff are appropriately qualified in the timescale required by regulation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Support for staff is good. Staff handovers, team meetings and supervision are used to good effect, providing learning and opportunities to share practice and discuss any concerns. Annual appraisals enable staff to reflect on their growth and development and set targets for the coming year. Young people contribute to this process, sharing their views on staff qualities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and the staff team understand the strengths and weaknesses of the home. An improvement plan provides an overarching framework for development and improvement. This is regularly reviewed, identifying where progress has been made and the areas that require further work. This ensures improvement is on track.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager uses a number of mechanisms to monitor young people’s progress and records this well. The registered manager takes action to address any shortfalls identified by the independent visitor in order to improve the care, safety and outcomes for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose and young person’s guide provides information for stakeholders, parents and young people. The documents inform them about the home and what to expect from the service. One minor error in the statement of purpose refers to the setting of door alarms being part of the young person’s risk assessment, where it is in fact part of the home’s general assessment of risk. The manager is rectifying this minor error to provide absolute clarity to others.

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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 differences 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 Inspection report children’s home: SC436386 8 making for the children and young people whom 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: SC436386 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Knossington Grange School Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Merchants Place, River Street, Bolton BL2 1BX

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Inspector(s)

Judith Longden: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC436386 10 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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