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

Inspection report children’s home: SC475706 1 SC475706 Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a private organisation and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to seven children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 12 to 13 December 2017

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is outstanding because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The leadership and management are excellent. The registered manager is well supported by the organisation. He leads the staff team and is experienced, Inspection report children’s home: SC475706 2 skilled and confident. He is highly motivated and brings a great deal of research into his practice and management. It is clear that he is also very much child- focused.  The registered manager and staff team have excellent resources. This includes an outstanding learning centre on site, a team of clinical therapists and specialists and a wide range of leisure resources.  The registered manager has ensured that the staff have a clear and strong theoretical base from which to work. The model used blends a behaviourist approach with a wide range of therapeutic input and is successful.  The children and young people are provided with a structure, routine and clear boundaries. They understand what is expected of them and they respond to this

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Key findings from this inspection

and make excellent progress, often from very low starting points.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/10/2016 Full Outstanding 22/01/2016 Full Good 06/08/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC475706 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home provides placements for children and young people with significant and complex needs. The statement of purpose says that usually these placements will be for at least two years’ duration to enable the necessary therapeutic work to be completed. The staff team succeeds in working with some very challenging children and young people and the only young person to leave the home in this inspection period left after a successful placement of over two years. One child has been admitted recently and has made an excellent start to their placement. There has also only been one change in the staff team during this time. This stability is excellent. It has helped the children and young people to make excellent progress and has given the staff team the opportunities, which its members have taken, to provide exceptional and consistent care to all of the children and young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff have very good relationships with the children and young people. They provide a very structured environment with clear routines. The core of their work is based around positive behaviour plans, with clear expectations, targets and aspirations along with a system of incentives and rewards for achievement. These plans work well because they are highly individual so that all of the children and young people make excellent progress from their starting points, however low. The home also has daily access to a team of therapists and specialist workers who provide significant and meaningful therapeutic advice and support. These resources support the children and young people significantly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

One young person who arrived with significant difficulties around self-esteem, confidence and social skills has made exceptional progress and is now flourishing at college and attending a community-based drama group several times a week. Another young person who has learning difficulties and trauma-related anger management difficulties has improved their ability to control their emotions and has successfully completed some work experience while awaiting a college place. Several of the young people have benefited from innovative occupational therapy input and have been supported to work through past difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All of the children and young people attend their education at the learning centre on site, which has recently been judged by Ofsted as outstanding. Every one of the children and young people has an individual programme of education. They are offered academic and vocational education and experiences as well as a range of other work, training and college opportunities away from the site. All of the children and young people have very good attendance and most of them are achieving beyond their predicted levels. This is excellent, considering a number of them were excluded from education prior to their arrival at this school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

It is clear that the children and young people enjoy living at the home. One young person described the home as ‘cool’ and described how well they were doing. Several placing social workers spoken to said how impressed they were with the work carried out Inspection report children’s home: SC475706 4 there. One said that ‘they have made a massive difference’ to the child placed there.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children and young people are able to take an active part in the running of the home and in their care planning. Some of them have been able to take part in supporting local charities and these activities help with self-esteem and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff offer good support to all of the children and young people to learn and practise independence skills and also to maintain and develop family relationships where possible. One child has been supported to explore their family background and their identity and contact a parent for the first time. This has really helped them settle and is an excellent piece of work. When the children and young people attend their care review meetings, the staff provide a screen with rolling photographs so that they can talk about their achievements and activities. The children and young people take a pride in how well they are doing and this boosts resilience and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

In addition, the children and young people are encouraged to participate in a wide range of activities and trips. Some go to drama and singing groups, whereas others participate in physical and outdoor activities such as horse riding and scuba diving. One young person is taking driving lessons. They all get to choose trips and outings, ranging from holidays in London and abroad to going to pop concerts, sports matches and theme parks. These experiences, which are part of incentive schemes connected to positive behaviour plans, are excellent opportunities for social development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff also work very closely with health professionals and have good success in helping children and young people get the right specialist services that they need.

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

The registered manager and his staff produce excellent, in-depth risk assessments which the staff understand well. Levels of supervision are high until such time as risks decrease. Staff are generally vigilant and active in their safeguarding role. All of the children and young people take part in personalised work with the staff around risk- taking areas. This education, together with advice and guidance, plays a big part in keeping them safe.

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

The home offers a very structured environment with clear routines. The children and young people know what is expected of them and they are constantly guided to achieve positive behaviour targets by the staff. This works well. The staff put appropriate boundaries in place. They rarely use sanctions, preferring a restorative approach based on discussion and negotiation. The staff do use some physical interventions when needed but are active in planning how to help the children and young people reduce the need for these. The staff have worked extremely well with one young person whose previous experience of restraint was very negative; together, they have reduced the need for further physical interventions to a very low level. This has been an excellent piece of work.

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

Very few children or young people have gone missing from this home and on the few occasions this does happen, staff are quick to react when they quickly locate and return the children and young people to the home. Consequently, risks to the children and Inspection report children’s home: SC475706 5 young people out in the community are low.

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

Because of the structure, high levels of staffing and the good relationships with the staff, the children and young people clearly feel safe and secure at the home. There have been two recent incidents at the home where children have made allegations against young people from this and an adjacent home. The inspector was aware during this inspection that these serious allegations of a child protection nature were being investigated by the appropriate authorities. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate allegations of this kind, actions taken by the setting in response to the allegations were considered alongside the other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspector’s judgements. The inspector considers that these matters have been dealt with appropriately and that appropriate safeguarding measures are in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager has been in post for over two years and is appropriately qualified. He provides exceptional leadership and ensures that the aims and objectives in the statement of purpose are met. His practice is soundly based on up-to-date research and he has been instrumental in developing the strong theoretical and practical base for the staff team to work from. He monitors the work well and is active in developing his staff team. He has produced a number of systems that monitor the progress of the children and young people and uses the data from these to inform practice and planning. In all aspects of the work, he is confident and child-centred. He is undoubtedly ambitious for the children and young people in his care and is influential in bringing about the substantial changes they make in their lives and the significant progress they make.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

He has a background in criminal justice work and in particular in working with restorative practices. He has introduced many of these ways of working into the home and this provides the children and young people with an excellent range of personalised interventions which address their needs and situations. The children and young people therefore not only receive good information but are helped to think about and understand the consequences of unsafe situations. The children and young people have become safer in their social media use, in their relationships and in their interactions with their peers. This supports the excellent progress they make at this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

All of the staff spoken to were very positive about the registered manager’s support and his management. Supervision practices were strong and training was particularly good. The registered manager has commissioned a variety of specialist training in addition to all of the mandatory training. This has been provided by the range of specialist therapists and psychologists in the clinical team attached to the home and by mental health professionals from the local authority. He has an excellent understanding of his staff team’s strengths and the areas that need to be developed and has a clear plan to further develop the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager oversees the admission of all of the children and young people and ensures that thorough assessments are made prior to admission. He monitors all the Inspection report children’s home: SC475706 6 recording and the standard of this is very high throughout the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

All of the staff work closely with a range of external agencies. The registered manager encourages strong relationships with other professionals and is active in seeking out services when required and in challenging others as needed. Recently, he has challenged a placing social worker over contact arrangements that were put in place that he considered to be inappropriate. This challenge led directly to a change in the arrangements and to the young person becoming much more happy and settled.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

At the previous inspection, a recommendation was made to ensure that the children and young people could easily share concerns and issues and make a complaint if necessary. The registered manager has made the complaints system more child-friendly and provides clear feedback wherever needed. He has also introduced a more formal system for recording grumbles, and this is positive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

No requirements or recommendations have been made at this inspection.

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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 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: SC475706 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Witherslack Group, Lupton Tower, Lupton, Carnforth LA6 2PR

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Marcia McLoughlin

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Inspector:

Colin Imrie, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC475706 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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