Children's Home run by SWAAY Child & Adolescent Services Ltd in Bracknell Forest

Inspection report children’s home: SC431806 1 SC431806 Registered provider: SWAAY Child and Adolescent 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

The home is owned and operated by a private organisation that specialises in the assessment and treatment of adolescent males who have histories of trauma and associated specialist needs. The service offers an integrated education and therapeutic programme, coupled with a safe, supportive and nurturing home environment. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 20 July 2016.

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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: 21 November 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: SC431806 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/11/2018 Full Outstanding 24/08/2016 Full Outstanding 14/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/10/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC431806 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for deciding what each quality of care review should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that particular time and any areas of high risk to the children that the home is designed to care for, such as missing or exploitation. They will also consider what information or data recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and conclusions. There is no expectation that the registered person will review the home against every part of the Quality Standards every six months – registered persons should use their professional judgement to decide which factors to focus on. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions

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Recommendations

will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The life chances of the children who move into this home expand considerably. They rapidly develop feelings of belonging and security and become positive and hopeful about their futures. This is a result of a dedicated staff team that is highly focused on the children’s well-being and best possible progress. Detailed and highly individualised children’s plans are regularly reviewed to make sure that the children are making the best possible progress and that staff are clear about the targets to which all are working. The staff team makes considerable effort to help the children to feel valued and to know that their wishes and feelings are important. The children display a sense of investment in the day-to-day running of their home and are actively involved in maintaining the culture of openness and freedom of expression. This contributes to their feelings of permanence and belonging. The stability of the home, characterised by a relaxed and warm staff team that is skilled

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

in maintaining clear boundaries and structure in the home, provides the children with the platform from which to make considerable progress with their education and therapy programme. The staff’s close working with the children’s teaching and therapy staff also contributes to the significant progress that the children make. One child commented, ‘It has not been easy, but this is the best place for me right now.’ The staff work hard and plan carefully to ensure that holidays and annual celebrations generate positive and enduring memories and also contribute to the children’s feelings of well-being and self-worth. Staff also support and encourage the children to engage in a Inspection report children’s home: SC431806 4 wide range of recreational and sporting activities outside the home, as well as in outward-looking charitable activities. This also adds to the children’s sense of confidence and achievement and helps them to maintain perspective on their own needs in relation

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

to those of others. The staff team is skilled in helping the children to build and re-establish meaningful relationships with their family members. They do this in a completely child-focused way and are vigilant to any issues that might undermine this process.

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

The clear and consistent boundaries and routines maintained by a dedicated staff team provide the children with feelings of safeness and security. The children say, ‘I feel safe here – the staff know what they are doing.’ The culture of openness built and maintained by the staff team helps the children to address the difficult areas of their lives and to get the most from their plans of support, learning and specialised care. Staff are highly attuned to the risks and vulnerabilities associated with each child and plans to manage and reduce these are clear. Systems in place clearly reflect and measure the meaningful progress that the children make in critical areas. When a child goes missing, the response of staff is immediate, coordinated and sustained until the child is located and safe. Standards in dealing with any safeguarding issue are high and leaders have established and maintain effective partnership links with

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

all the key external agencies involved in safeguarding children. Staff work hard to maintain an atmosphere of positivity and helpful relationships. There is an emphasis on rewarding positive behaviour and using restorative approaches when things go wrong. The use of any physical intervention is an absolute last resort and standards of practice in avoiding this are high. The preparation and planning when children move into the home are exceptional. Central to this practice is a thorough understanding of the risks, needs and vulnerabilities of the child and the development of clear plans to address these from the start. The careful preparation of the child for the difficult transition they are about to make is also a key factor in this practice. All this helps to limit the unexpected and reduces the risk of children going missing, particularly in the early stages of moving in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The strong, confident and highly child-focused leadership team is ambitious about what children should experience and can achieve. Leaders display determination to provide the children with the highest possible quality of care and lead by example in treating and considering the children as they would their own. The leadership team has succeeded in embedding a clear culture of inclusion, participation and ownership in the running of the home among both staff and the children. This provides a fertile environment in which the children can express themselves and make their views known. The staff listen carefully and are responsive to the children’s needs. Staff are inventive and creative in the way they actively involve the children to develop Inspection report children’s home: SC431806 5 their social skills, increase levels of independence and engage in addressing areas of personal difficulty and challenge. They seek and use meaningful ways to involve the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

children in their plans of care and the monitoring of their own progress. Leaders and managers engender high standards of performance by placing authorities through making expectations clear and leading by example in setting high standards of reliability, reporting and communication. The leadership team is effective in managing significant changes to the staff team, and maintains good continuity of care to the children during these periods of change through careful planning and sustaining high levels of team working. Commenting on the impact of recent staff changes, children said, ‘It did not seem to make any difference; the new staff are just like the old ones.’ Recruitment practice is strong, and the leadership team maintains high standards in selecting those best suited to work in the home. Induction of staff is thorough and probationary periods are carefully managed. The supervision of staff is regular and the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

quality excellent. The leadership team has succeeded in developing a system of care that consistently enables children to make sustained improvements to their lives. However, the manager’s monitoring of the quality of the care provided is not always sufficiently challenging or rigorous. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that high standards of internal scrutiny are maintained and used to make continuing improvements.

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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: SC431806 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: SWAAY Child and Adolescent Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 591 London Road, Sutton, Surrey SM3 9AG

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Inspector:

John Pledger, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC431806 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

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