Children's Home, Residential special school run by Kedleston (Wings Education) Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report children’s home: SC048552 1 SC048552 Registered provider: Kedleston (Wings Education) 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

This home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to 50 young people, irrespective of gender. It is a privately owned residential special school which is also registered as a children’s home. The home provides care for young people who may 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

Date of last inspection: 13 February 2018

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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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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 14/06/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 30/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC048552 2

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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— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(iii) and (vi)) 03/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them; and 03/12/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC048552 3 medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child. (Regulation 23 (1)(2)(a) and (b)) The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to all staff having an awareness and understanding of child exploitation and online protection and criminal exploitation through county lines. 03/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b) and (e)) 03/12/2018

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides a very nurturing environment where young people feel safe and happy. Young people share a real sense of belonging at this home. They enjoy excellent relationships with staff, who care for them with genuine warmth and fondness. Because of this, they thrive and make very good progress. One social worker commented, ‘Every member of staff knows each child personally. It feels like a real home.’ Young people are fully included in planning processes and, because of this, they can successfully influence the care they receive. Young people know their views, wishes and feelings are always considered. Consequently, young people trust staff and feel respected, knowing that their views are important. Most young people attend the company’s independent school on-site, while a few attend local colleges. Young people show enthusiasm and pride in being part of this school. Their attendance is excellent, and they are all making good progress and have positive

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

aspirations for their futures. Good communication exists between school and care staff. This ensures that young people receive good continuity of care and support. One young person commented, ‘The care and school are both the best.’ Young people enjoy good health, and their healthcare needs are well understood and managed. Their health and emotional well-being are well coordinated and a clear priority to staff. Staff teams meet regularly with the school’s registered nurse, education and clinical psychologists to share young people’s progress and to seek their professional advice. Inspection report children’s home: SC048552 4 This coordinated approach ensures that young people’s physical, emotional and psychological health needs are well understood by staff, and that young people are consistently supported to improve their health and well-being. Because of this sustained level of support, young people develop positive self-esteem, confidence and resilience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy a range of activities on the school and home campus, such as trampolining, football, motorbike scrambling and caring for animals. Young people also enjoy the many activities available in nearby towns. Young people are encouraged to pursue their personal interests, such as gymnastics and scouts, as well as enjoying group activities. These often provide young people with good opportunities to have fun, meet new people and socialise with friends. Staff and managers show considerable skill in developing meaningful relationships with young people’s families. This provides a good basis for families to feel appropriately included in their young person’s care and to share aspirations for their future. Staff are proactive in promoting contact between young people and their families. They organise and support visits to their home area and are welcoming of families to the children’s home. Because of this, young people can maintain and develop those relationships that

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

The home and school provide young people with a safe community. Children say they feel happy and safe living at this home. One young person commented, ‘I am an anti- bullying ambassador. The school and staff here are on top of bullying. Staff will listen to young people and look into anything that is reported.’ Young people value the one-to-one time they spend with their key workers and other members of staff. Because of the high quality of young people’s relationships with staff, young people feel able to trust staff and are confident to seek them out when they need help or advice. Young people are helped to understand the concerns that brought them to this home. Many have acquired a good insight into previous risk-taking behaviours and how, with staff help, they have learned to deal with these. Consequently, young people begin to mature, developing good coping strategies. One young person said, ‘My family and

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

carers worried that I was going down the wrong path. I never used to discuss things or my feelings. There is a lot now that I will open up to. Most of the staff are really understanding.’ Young people’s risks and vulnerabilities are always under review. Individual risk assessments provide a good quality of information to ensure that all staff are well informed and able to respond appropriately to each young person. Over time, young people’s risk-taking behaviours significantly decrease, making them safer. For instance, for one young person this was illustrated by a considerable decline in missing from home episodes. Her social worker described her previous history of going missing as ‘prolific’ and commented, ‘There have only been three times in the last year. She has done amazingly well.’ Generally, the home has seen a declining trend in young people going missing. Staff are aware of the local protocols and the home’s procedures that should be followed if a

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

Inspection report children’s home: SC048552 5 young person leaves the home or does not return as planned. However, on one recent occasion, a young person failed to return to the home and, despite telephone communication, staff failed to confirm her reported location and check that she was safe. Due to this failure, there was a delay in reporting the young person missing. The young person did return to the home safely, but this delay could have compromised her safety. Restraint is only ever used when necessary and in accordance with regulation. Staff are trained in safe practice and ensure that a full account of each intervention is recorded. Managers routinely scrutinise these records to ensure that safe practice is being followed and that young people are not exposed to further harm. Arrangements for the storage, handling and administration of medication were observed during this inspection to be well organised and managed, with the school nurse

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

overseeing and regularly auditing the process. However, since the last inspection, Ofsted had been notified of errors made with both the administration and the storage of medications. Managers have thoroughly investigated these incidents and taken appropriate action where necessary. Although young people did not come to any harm, the actions of staff in failing to adhere to procedure on these occasions compromised young people’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This home benefits from a strong management team led by the home’s registered manager, who is qualified and has considerable experience in working in children’s residential care services. She is supported by the principal of the company’s independent school, which is situated on the same site. A new deputy head of care has recently joined the management team and brings good experience from his previous role as a registered manager. The management team has high aspirations for young people, and is committed to providing them with a high standard of care and support. Staff feel well supported in their roles and say they enjoy working at the home. They receive regular supervision and a good range of training opportunities to inform and promote their personal development. However, some gaps in training were identified, which means that all staff are not familiar with some current safeguarding practice issues. This has now been identified as a developmental need. Staff also receive an

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

annual appraisal, which provides a more focused opportunity to look at their progression, competence and developmental needs. General staff meetings and regular interdisciplinary meetings are also highly valued by staff, who feel these are good opportunities where they can positively contribute to the home’s development and actively participate in young people’s ongoing care planning. This home is still actively recruiting for care staff vacancies. In the interim, current staff are opting to work overtime to minimise the need for agency staff and to ensure that young people continue to receive good continuity of care. Staff are currently happy with this arrangement and say that they are happy to go above and beyond to ensure that young people’s needs are met. Internal and external monitoring arrangements are well established and continue to Inspection report children’s home: SC048552 6 provide good scrutiny of the home and its activities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home works inclusively with a wide range of professionals and organisations. Professionals speak highly of the care young people receive and the considerable progress they make during their time at this home. One social worker commented, ‘The progress that he has made in the three years I have been his social worker has been very significant. Before, he would not attend meetings and he was aggressive. Now he is maintaining relationships; has a glowing report from college; and has made new friends at college. He gets good support at college from staff.’ Generally, managers ensure that Ofsted is promptly notified of any events involving young people that are of concern. However, the inspection process identified some incidents that should have prompted notification. The failure to notify Ofsted breached regulation and failed to promote the home’s usual transparency with Ofsted.

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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: SC048552 7

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kedleston (Wings Education) Limited

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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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Inspectors

Gillian Walters, social care inspector Charlie Bamber, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC048552 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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