Children's Home run by Surrey County Council in Surrey

Inspection report children’s home: SC370703 1 SC370703 Registered provider: Surrey County Council

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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 service is owned and run by the local authority, providing bespoke packages of care and accommodation for up to 20 children who have an autistic spectrum diagnosis and/or learning disabilities. The home is split into four flats for long-term placements and short breaks.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 2013.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 13 to 14 November 2019

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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: 5 February 2019

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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: SC370703 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/02/2019 Full Good 16/11/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 16/05/2017 Full Good 16/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC370703 3

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Recommendations

 Each child should have permission for staff to administer first aid and non- prescription medication from a person with parental responsibility for them recorded in their relevant plan. For looked-after children, this permission should be sought and arranged by the child’s social worker. Where appropriate, the child’s family should be involved in supporting their child’s health needs as well as in providing permission for treatment. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.14)  Staff skills for safeguarding should include being able to identify signs that children may be at risk, and support children in strategies to manage and reduce any risks. Staff should encourage children to express their views about whether they feel safe both within and outside the home. Staff should support children to understand how to ask for help to stay safe and that the home is an environment

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Recommendations

which supports this. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.10)  Registered persons have a key role in seeking to develop the home’s effective working relationships with each child’s placing authority and with other relevant persons which may include services, individuals (including parents), agencies, organisations and establishments that work with children in the local community, e.g. police, schools, health and youth offending teams (regulation 5 – engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met). These working relationships will also be key to success in delivering the care planning standard (regulation 14). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3) In particular, ensure that parents know who their point of contact is. Inspection report children’s home: SC370703 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children thrive through warm and caring relationships with a committed staff team. The home is split into four flats, where children live with like-minded peers and have a safe space to relax and play. Children’ needs are held central to all aspects of care and planning within the home. Staff are skilled in communicating with children who use a range of styles and techniques to express their wishes and ideas. Staff ensure that all children are listened to, understood and encouraged to make choices on as much of their life as possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a wide range of enjoyable and challenging activities and are visible members of the community. For example, one child attends Guides, which has been an invaluable social experience for her as she has made new friends. The staff give children the freedom to relax and play. Joint working with a local school enables children to access modern, needs-specific grounds and activities during the school holidays. This helps children have the freedom to be themselves and to explore and play in a safe space. The house pets are valued members of the wider family. This gives children another means of experiencing positive relationships. They enjoy relaxing, playing with and caring for the house pets.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend education at local schools. Staff are attuned to children’s needs and they support those who are struggling to attend through calm, consistent encouragement. Where children are unable to attend a school, proactive links with the virtual head ensure that children are supported with tutors and programmes of positive activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are keen for children to be all they can be, and to exceed expectations. ‘All About Me’ books provide a monthly record of everything the child has done, from daily recordings to progress against their targets. Children’s progress is celebrated, and successes include being able to manage social situations, such as tolerating others in their space and learning to manage some of their obsessions to a tolerable level. This means that children are more relaxed and able to focus on other things. Children are encouraged to be as independent as possible, such as walking to the school next door without an adult, making simple meals and learning self-care skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Progression into adult placements are thoughtful and well planned. Staff have a key role in helping to identify suitable placements and actively challenge when a placement is not deemed able to meet the child’s needs. Staff also allay the fears of parents and spend time soothing their worries about the move, helping them to adjust to the changes in their child’s new care arrangements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to follow healthy lifestyles and understand what this means for them. Adolescents are supported to understand the changes in their body and emotions through puberty, including personal space and safe relationships. The staff recognise changes in emotional well-being. Joint working with specialist mental health practitioners has significantly improved the quality of life for some children in the home. Procedures Inspection report children’s home: SC370703 5 for administering medication are constantly under review to ensure that they remain safe and effective. Despite strong practice by staff in administering medications, the children’s files do not all contain consent from parents for medication to be administered.

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

The home has a strong safeguarding culture. Staff recognise each child’s vulnerabilities, and do all they can to protect them. They are vigilant to the specific risks for children with limited communication and alive to the potential risks these children may face when they have multiple carers. Staff are always vigilant to notice any changes in a child’s mood or presentation. Children interact positively and present as being in secure and caring relationships with staff whom they know and trust.

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

Safeguarding and child protection concerns are managed swiftly and effectively. Excellent links with safeguarding professionals within the local authority lead to prompt responses to any concerns or allegations. Records are clear on the actions taken when a concern has been passed on. The inspector found one example where a staff member had not given the correct response to a situation that had potential to indicate a safeguarding concern. This was picked up by the manager and has been addressed within the staff team to share wider learning. An issue noted was that a child was told it was inappropriate to draw pictures of genitalia, with the manager reminding staff that it is a communication that staff must take note of.

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

The staff’s approach to behaviour management is a particular strength. They recognise all behaviour as a communication and they reflect with each child and the staff team as to what is being conveyed. Staff encourage children to consider other ways of communicating upset, anger or distress. They are skilled in pre-empting potentially harmful situations and diverting children’s attention. For example, a child who was becoming over-stimulated and was about to grab at staff, was told how smart his jacket was, shifting his attention to showing this off instead.

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

Children are protected from avoidable risks. They are encouraged to take age- and stage-appropriate risks; assessments are thoughtful, linking closely to placement plans and allowing children as much freedom as possible. The home is well maintained and staff practise evacuations and monitor firefighting equipment to ensure that children know what to do in the event of a fire. Staff also know how to support children who may need help to escape the building in an emergency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers within the home have an excellent understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the service provided. They use a range of monitoring and evaluation tools, and make good use of feedback from the independent visitor in order to improve practice. Managers are consistently striving to improve the service and to enhance the experiences of children in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team within the home has been consistent for many years. This leads Inspection report children’s home: SC370703 6 to a calm and predictable approach for staff, who are supporting children in often extremely challenging situations. Staff have confidence in the management team and can contact them for support any time, including evenings and weekends. Staff say that they feel well supported by the management team through supervisions and the training they receive in order to meet children’s needs. Staff are confident in their roles, and able to reflect how they deliver the ethos of the service, as described in the statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s managers are actively involved in setting goals and targets for the children. They know the children well and monitor their progress through line management supervision groups. They regularly review service development plans and have effective systems in place for monitoring the quality of care provided to children. They have a good understanding of the lived experiences of children and use this understanding to guide practice plans and consider how best information can be collated and presented to ensure that the best evidence is gathered, providing a true reflection of the children’s progress and experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and key staff work in close liaison with parents, social workers, health professionals and education to ensure that children have a consistent experience of care. Although practice in this area is generally strong, one parent commented that they were not sure who their key point of contact was, and this led to information not always being consistent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

I observed the deputy manager skilfully challenging a parent, and promoting the child’s rights and independence to choose how his new room should look as opposed to how his parent wanted it to be.

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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: SC370703 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Surrey County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Quadrant Court, 35 Guildford Road, Woking, Surrey GU22 7QQ

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Inspector

Jennie Christopher, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC370703 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 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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