Children's Home run by A Wilderness Way Limited in Cumbria

Inspection report children’s home: 2526921 1 Registered provider: A Wilderness Way 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 is a privately run children’s home that provides care and accommodation for up to five children and young people. The service provides a settled period of residential care, with a therapeutic emphasis and multi-agency involvement. The aim is to help children and young people recover from experiences which have rendered them vulnerable and disrupted their primary relationships.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted on 7 March 2019. The manager has been in post and registered since that date.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 10 to 11 September 2019

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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: not applicable. This is the home’s first inspection since it was registered in March 2019.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2526921 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children and young people make significant progress at this home. They receive highly individualised care and targeted support to deal with those issues that have made them highly vulnerable in their home communities. Their achievements often exceed expectations and enable them to repair family relationships and move on positively from this home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

At this home children and young people find a place of peace and tranquillity in comparison to the often chaotic life they were leading prior to coming to this home. Here they have excellent opportunities to reflect on and explore past events with staff support. This helps them to understand adults’ concerns for their safety and well-being and learn more about themselves and how to prioritise their safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff work hard to build positive relationships with children and young people and are successful in gaining their trust and cooperation. The continuity of the staff team helps children and young people to feel safe and secure. One social worker commented, ‘By far this is the best placement she has had, and where she has been most settled. They are successful in keeping her safe. This is her fifth placement since April 2019.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children and young people are held in high regard by staff. They are encouraged to participate fully in their care planning and activity programming. Staff are skilled in engaging and motivating children and young people. Their honesty and enthusiasm are successful in helping them to engage, to build trust and invest in their time at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children and young people invariably share excellent relationships with staff. Staff are skilled and creative in the way they work with children and young people. They are good advocates for them and make sure that their voice is heard and encouraged. Regular consultation and support sessions make sure that children and young people have every opportunity to express their views and wishes and be heard. Consequently, children and young people feel empowered, respected and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children and young people’s activity programmes are designed to be fun and adventurous. However, they also provide excellent opportunities for learning and practising new skills. Activities such as canoeing, climbing and bushcraft are new experiences that they may not have ordinarily had the opportunity to enjoy. Involvement in these activities helps children and young people to develop resilience, confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are highly attentive to children and young people’s healthcare needs. Children and young people have good access to routine healthcare. Their emotional and mental health needs are understood and prioritised by staff, who are knowledgeable and experienced in sourcing and securing appropriate therapeutic support. Inspection report children’s home: 2526921 3 Childcare practice in this home is informed by research, theory and disseminated good practice. Because of this, staff consistently and confidently provide a high standard of care and support, which is successful in influencing the life choices that children and young people make. Consequently, their outcomes significantly improve as they move forward into adulthood.

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

Children and young people’s safety is paramount. Staff successfully educate children and young people to recognise and understand their vulnerabilities, particularly how and why others pray on such vulnerabilities. Staff are specifically trained and have a firm grasp of the issues concerning children who have been sexually and criminally exploited. Their experience and commitment are key to helping children and young people to feel safe and well protected.

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

Multi-agency working with partners is highly effective. Excellent communication with placing authorities and child protection agencies ensures that relevant information is shared and acted on to keep children and young people safe. One social worker commented, ‘All hats off to the home; they have been very flexible and eager to discuss with me changing strategies to manage her behaviour. I really feel they worked inclusively with me. They follow our requests and have structured a brilliant prevention plan.’

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

For those children and young people who come to the home with a significant history of regular and frequent missing episodes, their risks radically reduce following their admission to this home. Success is in part due to the home’s rural location and the skill and expertise of staff in following agreed prevention strategies. Consequently, children and young people are less susceptible to other risks, such as child sexual exploitation, substance misuse and criminal exploitation.

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

Despite immediate notification to the placing authority, children and young people have not always routinely benefited from an independent return interview. However, the manager has challenged these shortfalls in practice, implementing the new arrangement at the point of placement to agree how this obligation will be met by placing authorities.

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

In contrast to the complex nature of children and young people’s needs, and often challenging behaviour prior coming to the home, the use of physical intervention is minimal. Staff rely heavily on using their communication skills to de-escalate any potential conflict, reducing the likelihood of accidental injury caused by staff intervention.

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

Staff promote children and young people’s behaviour with praise and often with small rewards and incentives, such as staying up a little later to watch a favourite television programme. Staff help them to understand the consequences of poor behaviour through discussion and the occasional use of sanctions. These are restorative in nature when implemented. Records maintained reflect their use to be proportionate and reasonable. Inspection report children’s home: 2526921 4 Staff are comprehensively trained in safeguarding children and young people and have a wealth of knowledge of relevant child protection issues. Many of the adventurous activities that children and young people take part in are not without risk. For these activities, children and young people are only led by trained, qualified and competent staff who also ensure that any equipment used is regularly checked and safely maintained. This aspect of the service is regulated, inspected and licensed by the

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

Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) to ensure that good safety management practices exist.

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

Recruitment arrangements are robust. Safer recruitment practice is followed to ensure that all staff are qualified, experienced and appropriately checked before coming to work in the home. This reduces the likelihood of children and young people being cared for by unsuitable adults who may cause them harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is led by an experienced registered manager who is passionate and determined to provide an excellent service to children and young people. His role is supported and complemented by a very able assistant manager. Together they provide strong leadership. This inspires and motivates the staff team to provide a high level of care to enable children and young people, ensuring that they have every opportunity to reach their full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff are enthusiastic and say that they feel very well supported in their roles. As well as time for regular supervision and staff meetings, staff value some of the less structured daily opportunities they have with managers to discuss and reflect on their practice. These discussions help maintain staff confidence and provide positive recognition for the excellent work they do with children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff development is valued and encouraged. Internal staff training courses are regularly repeated to ensure that all staff have the availability to attend. The organisation’s training programme reflects the wide range of children and young people’s individual needs. As a result, staff are very well equipped to meet the children and young people’s needs effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Internal and external monitoring is of a high standard. There has been a recent change in the independent monitoring arrangements that has significantly improved scrutiny of the home. Reports received by Ofsted provide an excellent overview of the home’s operation and activity. These also include the action taken by the management team to maintain high standards and support the continuous improvement of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Partnership working is effective. Managers work in good cooperation with a range of services, including police, health and placing authorities. The registered manager and staff team are excellent advocates for children and young people. They are not afraid to challenge professionals to ensure that children and young people have the right support to meet their needs. Consequently, children and young people’s rights are consistently upheld and promoted. Inspection report children’s home: 2526921 5 Professionals speak highly of managers and staff, acknowledging their dedication, care and commitment to ensuring that children and young people have the opportunities they need to develop. A social worker said, ‘The communication has been fantastic, I’d say almost every day. When the statutory services were unable to assist the registered manager, he sourced therapy for her. They are fantastic, they understood the risks and

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

dynamically risk-assess the whole time.’

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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: 2526921 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: A Wilderness Way Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Manor House, Brisco, Carlisle, Cumberland CA4 0QS

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Inspector

Gillian Walters, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2526921 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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