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

Inspection report children’s home: 1254258 1 Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is one of a number of privately run children’s homes. It is registered for four children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. Children placed at this home can access the organisation’s registered school and therapeutic services. The manager was registered in February 2018 and has the level 5 diploma.

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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 good

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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: 27 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: 1254258 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/11/2018 Full Outstanding 05/12/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1254258 3

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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

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 24/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

SCHEDULE 4 Regulation 37 Other records with respect to children’s homes Register of children 1. A record in the form of a register showing in respect of each child— (a) the date of the child’s admission to the children’s home. 24/02/2020

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children at this home make exceptional progress because of the care and support offered to them. Key strengths of the home are stability and consistency throughout the staff team. Children develop very close, positive relationships with staff who care about them. Children thrive because of clear routines, boundaries and expectations. Children’s Inspection report children’s home: 1254258 4 individual needs are fully understood, and their care is specifically tailored to meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make significant progress, even those who are recently admitted. One child has been placed for only a few weeks. He is attending school full time, has begun to wear appropriate clothing and has had no incidents of violence or aggression. This progression is remarkable from his starting point. Another child who has lived in the home for some time has made transformative progress. His family described him as ‘a different child’, stating that the home ‘have transformed him’ and ‘he is unrecognisable’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are exceptionally good at building and promoting children’s relationships with their families. Two children have been successfully returned to the care of their parents. Staff have gone above and beyond to ensure the success of their transitions. Equally, transitions into the home are well planned and managed. This helps to reduce children’s anxieties and so they settle quickly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

There is a holistic approach to children’s care. Staff work with other agencies, for example education and the clinical support team, to identify the best way to support children. This helps to ensure consistency across all settings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Innovative ideas are developed and put into practice. For example, children are set targets in line with their needs stemming from their adverse childhood experiences. Staff then devise electronic games and interactive storyboards to help engage them to work towards and achieve their targets. Examples of these reviewed as part of this inspection evidenced exceptional child-centred practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are resilient. They do not give up on children. They are prepared to try any number of strategies to help, care and support children until they get it right. They bring energy, enthusiasm and creativity into their work, which makes children feel valued and cared about.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are helped to understand the world around them through a weekly newsletter. This is a further example of outstanding practice. The newsletter has news headlines that are relevant to children, for example Greta Thunberg and Ed Sheeran. There is a nominated star of the week, recipes, quizzes, colouring and word searches. Additionally, the newsletter contains up-to-date news from the children’s home towns to help them maintain links and remain involved and interested in their home culture.

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

Children are safe. They do not go missing and they are not at risk of child sexual exploitation or criminal exploitation. They are not involved with gangs, knives or drugs. There are good staffing levels to ensure that children are well supervised and supported. Waking watch staff are used and children’s bedroom doors are alarmed to alert staff if any child comes out of their bedroom during the night. Inspection report children’s home: 1254258 5 Anxieties for children reduce over time. This is because care is consistent, and routines and boundaries are implemented. Children’s behaviours improve over time. Children who show extreme behaviours learn to regulate and manage those behaviours through the positive individualised support given to them.

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

Positive behaviour support plans are child-friendly and clearly evidence the voice of the child. These plans are highly individualised and are illustrated by characters of the child’s choice. Children are encouraged to identify things which help them when they become angry or upset.

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

Records of physical interventions are cross referenced to an incident analysis report. This report looks at whether the incident could have been avoided, whether there were any antecedents that could have alerted staff and what techniques were most effective. This is an example of outstanding additional follow up work to try to identify any ways that incidents could be de-escalated before a physical intervention becomes necessary.

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

Children are educated about safety through the Barnardo’s ‘Real Love Rocks’ resource. This helps to develop their understanding of healthy relationships and to prevent child sexual exploitation. These resources are child-centred, age-appropriate educational activities such as jigsaws, storyboards, word searches and games.

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

Allegations are generally well managed, although there was a lack of clarity for a staff member involved in an allegation. Managers involve the local area designated officer and children’s social workers appropriately.

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

One child’s risk assessment omitted a significant risk for him. The referral paperwork reported him to have a risk of aggression and violence in the family home. He had only been in the home for a short time and, although he had not displayed these behaviours, the risk should have been considered within his risk assessment to alert staff to the possibility of these behaviours occurring.

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

When children display heightened risks, such as self-harm or suicidal ideation, staff work in close partnership with other agencies to implement detailed and effective safety plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is managed by an enthusiastic management team, whose members are committed to delivering high-quality care to children. Managers know the children and the staff team exceptionally well. Managers are keen to continuously develop the service and strive to make continuous improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers effectively use research in practice. They do this in a way that is meaningful and tailored to children’s needs so that children get individualised, high-quality care. The staff team is enthusiastic about trying new approaches.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff feel well supported. Managers are available to staff. They encourage professional development and are open to suggestions and ideas about service improvements. Staff Inspection report children’s home: 1254258 6 are recognised when they develop good practice, and this is shared across the organisation. The wider management team within the organisation is also visible and approachable.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There is a detailed and thorough induction process for newly appointed staff. Staff receive regular practice supervision. They benefit from an extensive training package and are encouraged to identify further areas of training, including training specific to the needs of the children placed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Managers understand the home’s strengths and work hard to maintain these. They are aware of areas in which the home could develop and have plans in place to implement positive change.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Multi-agency working is a strength of the home. External agencies consistently report the home to be excellent in respect of their communication and joined-up working.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

One omission was identified in the schedule 4 information required under Regulation 37. Although this was rectified at the time of the inspection, a requirement is still made to reflect this oversight.

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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: 1254258 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Witherslack Group, Lupton Tower, Lupton, Carnforth LA6 2PR

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Marcia McLoughlin

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Inspector

Charlie Bamber: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1254258 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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