Children's home run by A Wilderness Way Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1262878 1 Registered provider: A Wilderness Way Ltd

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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 children’s home is run by a private organisation. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 26 to 27 February 2018

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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 outstanding

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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: not applicable

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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

 Young people’s safety and protection is paramount. Young people make significant progress to understand their vulnerabilities and learn how to keep themselves safe. Consequently, previous risk-taking behaviours that have placed them at risk of harm and exploitation significantly decline. Inspection report children’s home: 1262878 2  Young people benefit from highly individualised care and support from a dedicated and skilled staff team. Staff share a clear understanding of young people’s needs and the support they require. Consequently, young people experience stability and consistency in their care.  Staff are committed to promoting healthy living and take exceptional care to ensure that young people’s health needs are fully assessed and met. They are sensitive and attentive to young people’s emotional well-being as well as supporting their physical health needs.  Young people are extremely well supported to engage in formal education and

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Key findings from this inspection

alternative learning opportunities. Staff are creative in stimulating young people’s interest in education often after long periods of being disengaged from learning. Consequently, young people make significant progress from their starting points.  Young people’s positive behaviour is promoted with frequent praise and encouragement. This significantly helps them to develop confidence and self- esteem.  High staffing ratios ensure that young people are well supervised and discouraged from going missing from the home.  The home is successfully led by the registered manager who has achieved effective working partnerships with a wide range of professionals. Placing authorities speak positively of the high quality of care young people receive and the considerable progress they make.

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Recent inspection history

This is the home’s first inspection. Inspection report children’s home: 1262878 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people receive highly personalised care and say they feel cared for in this home. They say staff are easy to get along with and can be trusted. Staff show appropriate empathy and a genuine interest in helping young people. Consequently, relationships between young people and staff are extremely positive and productive. One young person described staff as ‘quite huggable’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people are individually supported by a small but dedicated staff team. This ensures that they experience consistency in their care throughout the time they remain at the home. They often come to the home having experienced trauma, crisis or family breakdown. Staff are skilled and trained to help young people manage their emotions, anxieties and behaviours. Consequently, they are able to help young people achieve stability, structure and routine in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is situated in a rural area with an outreach property located close by. This resource allows staff to provide a targeted time-limited programme for one young person in the outreach home while providing a longer-term settled environment in the registered property. The home and the outreach property are furnished and maintained to a high standard, providing young people with very comfortable and homely environments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people enjoy the wide range of outdoor opportunities and activities that the home can offer. These include such as paddle boarding, camping, horse riding, climbing and canoeing. These adventurous activities provide young people with the opportunity to learn new skills and manage risks as well as being fun and exciting.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people make excellent progress from their starting points. Prior to coming to the home, young people have often missed significant periods of time in education. Staff in partnership with the organisation’s independent teachers are successful in stimulating young people’s interest in learning. This helps young people to take the initial steps back towards more formal education and provides them with a real sense of achievement in their own abilities. Daily routines are established to include a period of core study as well as the many other activities available. This introduces positive structure and certainty into young people’s lives where it was previously non-existent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

During their time at this home, young people achieve a high number of recognised awards and vocational qualifications. For one young person, this included completing the initial stage of the British Sign Language course. Gaining these awards and qualifications have a positive effect on young people’s confidence and self-esteem, and reflect the wide range of skills they learn and practise. Young people feel pride in their achievements and are well-motivated to further their learning. One social worker commented, ‘She is engaging well with the teachers and doing homework. This is a significant development. She is learning functional skills and completing [vocational awards].’ Inspection report children’s home: 1262878 4 Despite the rural location, young people have good access to all healthcare services in nearby towns and city. They are registered with local practitioners immediately following their arrival at the home so that all aspects their health can be assessed and monitored.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff encourage young people to follow healthy lifestyles. This includes providing advice on matters such as their sexual health and personal care, as well as educating them on the benefits of a good diet, sleep and exercise. Young people are aware that staff are attentive to their emotional well-being as well as their physical health needs. For example, one young person commented, ‘If I’m in a low mood and didn’t want to talk, staff would respect that. They wouldn’t ignore me. They would monitor it and they would be there if I wanted to talk.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Placing authorities speak highly of staff and the service they provide. One social worker said, ‘There was are tremendous change in his behaviour. All the activities were great. He excelled at rock climbing; he’s sporty and can take instruction. He listened to staff. It’s a credit to them how well he’s done.’ Another commented, ‘I would have no hesitation to use this home again. Any child would be fortunate to get a place here.’

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

Young people feel safe and well protected in this home. Staff receive considerable training that enables them to have a strong grasp of child protection issues and good safeguarding practice. The high staff ratio to young people means that young people are highly supervised and supported at all times.

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

Young people coming to this home have generally been at risk of immediate harm in their home authority area and often been at risk of exploitation. The anonymity and rural location of this home is effective in promoting young people’s safety. Young people do not go missing from this home. However, staff are aware of the increased likelihood of this happening when young people travel to nearby towns and when young people return to visit family in their home area. Individual risk assessments are regularly reviewed and updated and take good account of the actions staff should take to reduce and mitigate risk.

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

Despite the registered manager challenging the appropriateness of a local authority plan, one young person did go missing following her return to her home area to visit her family. Although staff maintained their search for the young person and worked in close partnership with the police, this resulted in her being missing from the home for a number of days before returning to the home with staff. The independent reviewing officer commented, ‘The registered manager was very clear in his concern. I have escalated my concern on this matter. The staff were in [name of placing authority] every day she was missing until late at night. It was a long journey for them. They were communicating with her and encouraging her to meet with them. Eventually she made contact with staff and said she wanted to come back.’

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

Staff take time to explain and help young people appreciate the risks associated with their behaviour so that they have a greater understanding of their individual Inspection report children’s home: 1262878 5 vulnerabilities. Staff have considerable resources, including online information and activities, to help young people recognise potential dangers and harmful situations, for example how subtly they can be groomed and exploited.

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

Staff are highly skilled in managing young people’s behaviour, effectively deescalating many challenging and confrontational situations. This reduces and often avoids the need for restraint. For one young person, there was a significant decline in the use of restraint. The social worker commented, ‘There were a few difficulties early on and staff handled him. His actions were premeditated as he was trying to disrupt the placement. Staff consistently offered their support, which helped him to settle.’

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

Staff focus on using praise, encouragement and rewards to promote young people’s positive behaviour. Sanctions are rarely used. Each young person has a personal comments book, which is available for staff to record positive messages of support and praise about the young person progress on a day-to-day basis. This provides young people with tangible feedback about their achievements, positive affirmation and encouragement to continue on their journey to achieve their goals.

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

Young people participate in a number of adventurous activities. These are carefully risk assessed. Additionally, young people are instructed about safe practice in every activities. During these activities, young people are led by trained, qualified and competent staff who also ensure any equipment used is regularly checked and safely maintained. This aspect of the home’s function is also scrutinised by the Adventures Activities Licensing Authority to ensure that good safety management practice exists.

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

The organisation’s safer recruitment practice is well-established. This makes sure that young people are only supported and cared for by those who are deemed qualified, trained and experienced to do so. All staff are appropriately checked and vetted before coming to work in the home. Consequently, young people are not exposed to adults who may increase their vulnerability or cause them harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is new to this role but has considerable experience of working with young people within the organisation, previously in a senior care position. He has already achieved his level 5 diploma in leadership and management of children’s residential services, as well as possessing qualifications in leading outdoor activities. He is confident and ambitious for the young people in his care. His high expectations and aspirations for them ensure that young people are provided with every opportunity to reach their full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff team is enthusiastic and highly motivated to ensure that young people have a memorable experience during their time at this home. They share their registered manager’s vision for the home and aim to provide a family-orientated, inclusive and child-focused environment. They take time to talk and really get to know young people. As a result, they are successful in building strong and meaningful relationships with them. One young person commented, ‘Staff care more than the last home I was in. They Inspection report children’s home: 1262878 6 want what’s best for you. I feel safe here.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff feel highly supported in their roles. They communicate on a daily basis with the registered manager or other members of the organisation’s management team in his absence. They identify their access to the organisation’s electronic information system, supported by smart phone technology, as highly effective in maintaining good information and communication during and between shifts on duty.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Additionally, staff use scheduled handover discussions and regular team meetings to share information, to reflect on and to learn from their practice. Staff are encouraged to be creative in how they work with young people to achieve significant and sustained progress with young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff benefit from a comprehensive induction programme, regular professional supervision and extensive training opportunities. Together, these arrangements are highly effective in supporting their professional practice and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is working in accordance with its statement of purpose. Young people’s continuing progress is clearly identified and fully documented in their personal records. Young people are contributing to a new digital version of the home’s children’s guide. This filmed version will complement the home’s current booklet. It aims to make sure that young people have clear image of the home and its purpose as well as young people’s accounts of what the home can offer.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Young people who move on from the home take with them with a collection pictures and films that capture the many fun and exciting activities they have been involved with. As well as capturing happy memories, these also demonstrate the tremendous progress young people make.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Internal and external monitoring arrangements are robust. Together, the registered manager and the home’s independent person ensure that there is rigorous scrutiny and evaluation of the home to ensure that young people’s safety and welfare remain the utmost priority.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: 1262878 7 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

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Information about this inspection

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: 1262878 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: A Wilderness Way Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Manor House, Brisco, Carlisle CA4 0QS

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Inspector

Gillian Walters, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1262878 9 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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