Children's Home run by South West Childcare Services in Plymouth

Inspection report children’s home: 1254740 1 Registered provider: South West Childcare Services 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 children’s home is operated by a private company and provides care and accommodation for up to two children.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/07/2018 Full Good 30/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/10/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: 1254740 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

6: The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to ensuring that details of the young person’s friends are documented in the young person’s individual risk assessment. 18/10/2019

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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 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). Inspection report children’s home: 1254740 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person benefits from receiving nurturing care from the consistent staff team. The team is effectively, carefully and sensitively building trusting relationships with the young person who recently moved into the home. These relationships form the basis from which the young person is beginning to increase his confidence and trust in adults.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff succeed in supporting the young person to reduce his risk-taking and aggressive behaviours. The young person’s placing social worker reports that he is extremely pleased with the turnaround in the young person’s behaviour and how well the young person is settling into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person is making very good progress. The number of staff supporting the young person is being reduced by the placing authority. The young person reports he was made to feel very welcome when he arrived at the home and that he met the manager and visited the home prior to moving in. Whenever possible, the young person is involved in all decisions made in the home. He recently helped to paint the kitchen and chose the colour of the paint. This involvement helps to give him a sense of security and a desire to look after and value his home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff succeed in promoting family relationships. The young person is rebuilding relationships with his family and is enjoying regular overnight visits to his family home. In turn, his family are welcome to visit him at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the previous inspection, the staff have supported two young people and their families effectively to rebuild their relationships, leading to very positive outcomes where both young people left the home and returned to live with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff understand the importance of encouraging and supporting the young person to engage in education. The manager has successfully advocated for the young person to obtain a vocational placement alongside attendance at school. The young person has previously been reluctant to engage with education but is now really enjoying regular attendance at the vocational placement and is making progress with his academic studies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person is supported effectively to take a pride in his appearance and understand the importance of a healthy diet. He is enjoying bicycle rides, regular visits to the cinema and meeting up with his friends, where he is responsibly enjoying his free time.

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

The young person does not go missing because he is developing a sense of security and well-being at the home. He keeps in touch with the staff when he is out of the home and lets them know where he is going. Inspection report children’s home: 1254740 4 The staff are building trusting relationships with the young person and are helping him to learn to take responsibility for his actions. The staff know the identity and addresses of his friends. However, this information is not documented in the young person’s individual risk assessment so that, if needed, the staff can easily contact the young person’s friends and have the details of the addresses where the young person may be staying.

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

The staff support the young person to learn to make positive choices and learn from his mistakes. If he does make a mistake, the staff talk through the incident and offer suggestions on how he might react differently next time. The staff successfully de- escalate incidents by using therapeutic parenting techniques that succeed in calming the young person.

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

The manager and the staff are open to learning from any incidents that could have been managed differently and implement this learning. Links with safeguarding professionals are strong and any safeguarding incidents are appropriately referred to help to ensure the safety of the young person. The young person said he feels very safe living at the home and could name a member of staff that he would confide in if he was worried or upset.

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

Comprehensive staff recruitment procedures are in place and are implemented effectively by managers. This helps to ensure that only suitable people are employed at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is experienced and has recently completed a level 5 management qualification. She creates a very child-focused culture in the home where young people thrive and there are high expectations and aspirations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is consistent and stable. The staff report that they feel very well supported by the manager, that they enjoy their job and that the home is a positive place to work. The staff are well supported by the manager, and in turn they can offer high-quality, nurturing care and support to the young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is a strong advocate for the young person. She promptly challenges other services and professionals if they are not offering the young person a high quality of service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is clear about the strengths of the services and the areas that need to improve. A development plan is in place but does not clearly document how further improvement in the home will be achieved and in what timescales.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All requirements from the previous inspection are met. The staff have worked hard to ensure that the home is well decorated and homely. The garden provides a pleasant outdoor area for the young person to enjoy. Inspection report children’s home: 1254740 5 Feedback from professionals is positive. Placing authorities praise the quality of care given to their young person and how much progress they have made since arriving 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: 1254740 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: South West Childcare Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: First Floor Flat, 46 Durnford Street, Plymouth, Devon PL1 3QN

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Inspector

Tina Maddison, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1254740 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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