Children's home run by Wessex College Limited in Dorset

Inspection report children’s home: SC043245 1 SC043245 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

 The home can provide care for up to four children aged between 11 and 18 years old.  The home is one of six homes operated by a private organisation.  The organisation also provides an independent school that children from this home may attend.  Children who live at the home may have experienced trauma, abuse and attachment difficulties.  The registered manager has been registered since 2016.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC043245 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/07/2017 Full Good 02/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/08/2016 Full Good 21/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC043245 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

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that –

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

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

In particular, ensure that the registered manager improves the home’s monitoring systems to show how they critically analyse information, identify learning points and lead to action to improve the quality of care. 07/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

35: Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that –

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes –

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequence of the use of the measure

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that leaders and managers monitor the effectiveness of the sanction/consequence they impose on 07/09/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC043245 4 children.

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) In particular, ensure that leaders and managers continue to improve the homeliness, paying particular attention to the large bunches of keys that staff carry and storing certain food in the office.  The registered person is responsible for leading a team which provides high quality care for all children living in the home. They must lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home’s Statement of Purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4) In particular, ensure

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Recommendations

that leaders and managers improve children’s records so that they are succinct and include all up-to-date information about the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding about the individual needs of children. Children and staff spend good-quality time with one another chatting, cooking and playing board games. The relationships between children and staff are positive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Different opportunities and activities are on offer to children. Some children go to weekly clubs such as trampolining. Other children prefer to spend time out with their friends. Incentive schemes help children to work towards special events such as going to music concerts.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The progress children make varies depending on how long they have lived here. Children have clear aims and targets which staff help them to achieve. When progress is slower than expected, leaders and managers work with the child and other agencies to improve this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The company has a school which children can attend. Children go to school regularly, and for some children this demonstrates significant progress. Older children are deciding whether to go to college or to seek employment. The company also operates a working farm which some children go to. Activities at the farm helps children to develop important skills such as a sense of responsibility, work ethic and caring for others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Good planning occurs when children move in. Leaders and managers assess the Inspection report children’s home: SC043245 5 suitability of a child moving in and how this will impact upon the group. Children visit the home before moving in and staff have discussions with them to ensure that they have everything in place that they need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of the home’s environment continues to improve. Children are involved in decorating their bedrooms and choosing soft furnishings. Some staff practices detract from the homely environment that they are trying to create. Currently, the office is locked and staff carry large amounts of keys. Staff store snacks in the office, which restricts children’s choice and development of independence.

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

Leaders and managers take effective action to protect children from harm. Child protection training provides the staff with the necessary skills to safeguard children. Appropriate referrals are made to the relevant safeguarding agency, showing good collaborative working.

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

Children have sufficient individual risk assessments. Staff support children to understand risk and how to develop a sense of safety. Gradually, this enables children to develop more independence as they use a mobile phone, have access to social media and spend more unsupervised time away from the home.

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

Positive relationships between children and staff help children to say when they do not feel safe. Staff take the necessary action to report concerns to the local authority and to the police. In these circumstances, leaders and managers implement urgent strategies to increase children’s safety immediately. A professional said, ‘The registered manager was extremely proactive to manage an immediate risk.’

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

Staff understand each child’s missing from home protocol. When children go missing, staff immediately search for them and liaise with other agencies to find them and bring them home safely. Children receive an independent return home interviews. The registered manager uses information from these interviews to inform care plans.

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

Incidents of bullying between children have occurred. Staff encourage children to talk to one another about this to quickly defuse the situation. Children learn to develop positive relationships with one another. Restorative work such as apologising to one another or replacing broken belongings supports this.

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

Incentive and reward schemes help children to behave positively. Staff successfully recognise when children need more support to behave appropriately and use de- escalation techniques to help children to move on. On some occasions, staff restrain children appropriately to protect them from harm. After incidents and restraints, children and staff both have time to reflect and talk to an independent person about what happened.

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

Following negative behaviour, children receive a consequence which can be restorative, removal of free time and/or a monetary consequence to replace damaged items. Leaders Inspection report children’s home: SC043245 6 and managers do not monitor the effectiveness of these consequences.

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

Leaders and managers’ monitoring of the quality of care that children receive is not effective. The quality of monitoring is inconsistent. In some areas, such as restraint, the registered manager has good oversight, learning and analysis. This is an improvement since the previous inspection. However, the monitoring of consequences, self-harm records and some incidents is weak.

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

The registered manager has good relationships with children. He knows the children and their individual needs well. However, this knowledge is not transferred into the children’s records. Children’s care plans, risk assessments and behaviour support plans are not succinct. Children’s records do not always detail the most current information about them.

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

The company director has identified weaknesses in the leadership and management of the home. A robust action plan details how leaders and managers plan to improve on these weaknesses. The company director is now the responsible individual to assist in implementing the action plan more effectively.

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

The registered manager has successfully built a consistent team of staff. The use of agency staff has reduced since the previous inspection. Staff receive reflective and regular supervision. Supervision and team meetings focus on the children and how staff can develop their own practice.

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

Leaders and managers work well with other agencies to support children. The registered manager manages complaints effectively and works collaboratively to resolve these effectively. The therapeutic team within the company supports children’s emotional needs in an integrated way.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC043245 7 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: SC043245 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Wessex College Limited, 4 Cedar Park, Cobham Road, Ferndown Industrial Estate, Wimborne BH21 7SF

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Inspector

Nicola Lownds, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC043245 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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Inspector

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