Children's home run by Kedleston (Wood Grove Childcare) Limited in Lancaster

Inspection report children’s home: 1228522 1 Registered provider: Kedleston (Wood Grove Childcare) 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

This home is privately owned and run. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children who have emotional and/or behavioural problems. There is a registered manager in post.

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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 requires improvement to be 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

Date of last inspection: 22 February 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1228522 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/11/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/10/2017 Full Inadequate 24/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: 1228522 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, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1)(a) (2)(a)(i)(iv)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, to ensure that risk assessments contain all current information and have appropriate actions to reduce the risk of harm and prevent further occurrences. Where assessments and plans are in place, to ensure that these are followed by staff. 05/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that staff help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful; help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 11 (2)(a)(vi)(vi)) 05/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1228522 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a home that is safe and very homely. They have been involved in choosing the furnishings for the home and have also helped with its redecoration. Children’s bedrooms are personalised and reflect their individuality. Children are encouraged and supported to display photos and pictures of their family and those special to them around the home and this further helps children to feel at home. Children are able to have their own pets; for example, one young person has a rabbit, another a hamster. This is as a result of children demonstrating their ability to be responsible around the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school and educational placements regularly and are making progress. Children are also encouraged and supported to seek opportunities outside of the home; for example, one young person has arranged work experience and staff are supporting another child in applying and interviewing for part-time employment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are engaging in health appointments and services. Staff have good relationships with external agencies and have been creative in the ways that they encourage engagement with children; for example, support for one young person by child and adolescent mental health services now takes place in the home, which has increased the child’s participation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have opportunities to take part in hobbies and have fun, such as horse riding, gym and drumming lessons. Children are taken on activities with staff who have a good understanding of the children’s likes and dislikes. However, there are complex and intense dynamics in the relationships between children in the home, including bullying. These dynamics sometimes impact negatively on the relationships between these young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff arrange appropriate contact between children and their family and friends. Contact for some children has increased, and this enables them to meet more regularly with extended family and rebuild relationships. Inspection report children’s home: 1228522 5

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improvement to be good

Self-harm has increased for children. While some effort has been made to understand the triggers for this behaviour, once identified, there has been no action to address either the underlying concern, bullying or group dynamics in the home. Furthermore, there is no learning from the incidents as monitoring procedures to identify patterns and trends linked to behaviours are minimal. This is confirmed by an external professional.

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improvement to be good

Children’s care plans and risk assessments lack clarity. Staff do not take account of all the information available to them to produce detailed assessments with clear actions. The assessments are also inconsistent.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always follow the plans for children. Following one recent incident, this failure led to a safeguarding incident and placed children at risk.

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improvement to be good

Staff undertake regular direct work with children to help to increase children’s knowledge and awareness of issues such as smoking, alcohol and grief. These sessions help children to develop the skills they need to keep themselves safe and develop an understanding of their behaviour. Staff have also undertaken group work with young people in subjects such as sexual health and relationships, after which staff assisted young people to produce displays of the work that they completed.

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improvement to be good

Staff and managers undertake a range of training in safeguarding matters. Training around key issues that affect young people such as bullying, self-harm and child sexual exploitation have been provided to staff, who as a result, demonstrate good knowledge of key issues and themes in safeguarding practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is committed to improving the lives of young people. He leads a team whose members are motivated and passionate in the support they provide to children. Relationships between the children and staff are sincere and positive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been changes to the management structure of the home. The manager is new to the role and is currently undertaking the relevant qualification. He is supported by an experienced and qualified deputy manager and together they have plans to develop the service. The previous deputy manager has returned to a team leader position where he is able to use his skills to role model good practice and take on a ‘hands-on’ role with young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff at the home speak positively about the management and of the supportive and flexible team of staff at the home. Staff feel able to approach the management with any concerns that they may have and to raise suggestions for new initiatives. Senior members of the staff team are being supported to enrol on the level 5 qualification. Inspection report children’s home: 1228522 6 The manager works well with other professionals involved with each child. A school safeguarding lead spoke positively of the registered manager’s communication. This results in all relevant professionals feeling very well informed of the children’s needs and progress. Furthermore, relationships within the local community have improved, with neighbours complimenting the home and the current management about the way in which they have dealt with their concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Action to address previous requirements with regard to the recruitment of suitable staff has been taken. The manager has acted proactively in recruiting staff who are experienced and he has ensured that the relevant recruitment checks are in place to promote the safety of children at the home.

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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: 1228522 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kedleston (Wood Grove Childcare) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Office Suite 1, Ansell Gardens, Holloway Lane, Harmondsworth UB7 0AE

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Inspector

Jessica Forshaw, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1228522 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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