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

Inspection report children’s home: SC485540 1 SC485540 Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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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 for the care and accommodation of up to seven children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The manager was registered in November 2014 and is appropriately qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 13 to 14 November 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

Date of last inspection: 30 January 2018

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC485540 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/01/2018 Full Outstanding 22/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/06/2016 Full Good 21/12/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC485540 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home has been very settled and stable over the period since the previous inspection. One young person has moved on successfully and one child has been admitted. There have also been limited changes to the staff team. This has contributed to the stability in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The atmosphere at the home is calm and relaxed, and the children and young people have excellent relationships with the staff. The staff provide a nurturing and homely environment and balance this with good routines and clear expectations. The experience of living in the home is excellent and the children and young people thrive and flourish.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All of the children and young people are making good progress and many of them are making exceptional progress. The young person who has moved on has started university after gaining excellent A level results during the summer. All of the other children and young people are making significant progress with their education at the provider’s on-site learning centre. School attendance is excellent and several of the young people are also completing part-time college courses or attending external work experiences, both of which complement their academic studies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All of the children and young people have access to a range of therapists and therapy. Most of them engage well with this and make good progress with their emotional well- being. A number of the children and young people have made considerable progress by being helped to control emotions and their behaviour. One child has stopped self- harming and others have been able to deal better with past traumas. Being able to deal with their difficulties has raised their self-esteem and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff work closely with the therapy team and the education workers. They also provide individualised work and this is of a high standard. The children and young people are supported with homework and many of them have developed aspirations for further education and future careers. This helps improve self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Good work with families is carried out by the staff to develop and improve relationships between the children and young people and their families. One child is shortly returning home to live, which is a real success story. One parent spoken to by the inspector described the home as ‘outstanding’ and the staff and work carried out as ‘extraordinary’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children and young people are encouraged to attend and engage in a wide range of external activities, which helps to promote resilience and confidence. A number of them play sports in local teams and others have lessons in wide-ranging interests from singing to cub scouts, swimming and scuba diving. Inspection report children’s home: SC485540 4

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

In the period since the previous inspection there have been no safeguarding incidents. No child or young person has gone missing and there have been no concerns about risky behaviours. This is due to good risk assessments and controls being put in place by the staff. They understand the risks and put high levels of staff supervision in place.

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

The staff do not use sanctions to manage behaviour. They do offer a series of rewards and incentives, which the children and young people understand and that they enjoy working towards. These incentives are individualised and appropriate. They are effective and extremely positive.

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

There have been no complaints and no allegations against staff made by any of the children and young people.

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

The staff work hard to ensure that all the children and young people have good knowledge of issues around safety and relationships. This is excellent work, which has contributed to all the children and young people staying safe.

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

The staff do use some physical interventions when children or young people cannot manage their emotions and are in danger of hurting themselves or others. These measures are only used when needed and when appropriate and they are only used for a minimum amount of time. Follow-up work that is undertaken after any incident of this nature is positive. It helps the children and young people be clear about what has happened, why it has happened and how they might deal with the underlying issues better in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager has excelled in her work. She is highly motivated and is ambitious for all the children and young people in her care. She is very organised and thorough in her work and pays attention to detail, picking up small issues before they become more of a problem. She is confident and leads by example. She is experienced and knowledgeable and skilled at her work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

She is a practice-focused manager and spends a good deal of time with the children and young people, which ensures that she has very good relationships with them. She is nurturing and caring but also firm and consistent. She acts as an excellent role model.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager leads the staff team well. She not only monitors the work at all levels but has developed systems of peer monitoring for staff and includes external professionals as part of the review and development processes. She is constantly striving for further improvements and this involves constant analysis of information, communicating and networking with other professionals with whom she develops working relationships. She uses research and the knowledge of other experts in the care of the children. Inspection report children’s home: SC485540 5 The staff are complimentary about the registered manager. They have a great deal of respect for her leadership and say they feel supported by supervision and training. The inspector found the staff training programme to be comprehensive and wide-ranging. The registered manager is a strong communicator. The inspector spoke to parents, placing social workers and external professionals and they all commented on the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

excellent communication provided by the registered manager and her senior staff.

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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: SC485540 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 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: SC485540 7 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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