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

Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 1 SC480422 Registered provider: Witherslack Group Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a private children’s home. It offers care and accommodation for a maximum of eight children and young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in 2014.

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Information about this children’s home

Young people were spoken to as part of this inspection.

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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: 12 December 2018

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/12/2018 Full Good 20/11/2017 Full Outstanding 15/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/07/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 3

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outstanding

Young people excel thanks to the trusting and secure relationships that they have with staff in this nurturing and safe environment. Staff know the young people well and invest quality time with them by being attentive and sensitive to their needs and wishes. This promotes children’s sense of worth and belonging to the home. The young people presented as happy, well mannered and keen to speak about their experiences.

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outstanding

When young people come to live at the home, a highly effective admissions policy and sensitive planning from staff alleviate any concerns that the current young people may have, which ensures that any new young people are made to feel welcome. One social worker said: ‘Staff have a thorough knowledge of the young person and are proactive in developing their knowledge around his needs. He has settled quickly and formed excellent relationships.’

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outstanding

Young people have individualised care and support packages that are of exceptional quality. Despite occasional setbacks, young people continue to make significant progress from their starting points. Highly effective therapeutic input and the dedicated support of staff have enabled the young people to gain an insight into their emotions and anxieties and learn new strategies to regulate their behaviour.

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outstanding

Young people are engaging exceptionally well in their education and attendance at school has significantly improved. Young people are making excellent progress and are on track to meet or exceed their individual educational targets. Young people said that they like the support the staff provide to help with their homework and this has supported them to overcome difficult tasks.

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outstanding

Young people’s health is promoted well in and outside of the home. Young people learn about the importance of maintaining a regular and healthy routine and are making excellent progress in this regard. Young people take great pride in their appearance and their surroundings. They contribute to the weekly menus and take part in shopping for food and in preparing and cooking meals. This is helping young people to develop their independence skills. Managers use effective monitoring systems to ensure that young people attend all routine medical appointments and their health needs are met. Potential risks arising from self-harm, sexual activity or substance misuse are swiftly addressed.

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outstanding

Young people love to exercise and thrive from a wide variety of activities, both indoors and outdoors, that are geared to suit each young person’s individual needs and interests. Fun-based activities such as trampolining, go-karting and board games are current favourites and help to forge positive peer relationships, along with enhancing young people’s psychological and physical well-being. Activities in the community, including charity-based work, raise the young people’s awareness of the importance of respecting others. Young people also enjoy activities of a creative Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 4 and imaginative nature through art.

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outstanding

A key strength of the home is the level of consultation with young people that is achieved individually and collectively. Consequently, young people have their say, feel listened to and have a significant contribution to the day-to-day running of the home and are involved in important decisions affecting their lives. This practice supports young people’s confidence and self-esteem.

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outstanding

Young people’s safety is paramount at this home. Where there have been incidents of a safeguarding nature, the home has responded quickly and robustly and involved outside agencies where necessary to minimise the risk of reoccurrence, such as episodes of going missing.

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outstanding

Young people are well supported to maintain contact with family members. Staff spend time helping young people to understand and manage the complexities of family relationships, and provide good support before, during and after contact. This contributes to making contact a positive experience for all those involved and importantly, helps young people maintain a sense of identity and lifelong connection with family.

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outstanding

The experienced management team swiftly refers any safeguarding concerns to relevant agencies. However, consideration needs to be given to the appropriate seniority to complete internal investigations. Most staff confidently articulated their safeguarding roles and responsibilities and what action to take in the event of an allegation being made so that any risk to the young people can immediately be reduced. Managers are proactive in challenging and chasing up outside agencies, for instance prompting return home interviews. However, records do not consistently show when or if these have taken place.

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outstanding

Young people have comprehensive risk assessments specific to their individualised needs, that are updated regularly and immediately following any incident. Staff are made aware of new actions through regular e-mails. The effective and efficient manner of overseeing risk assessments has led to a reduction in incidents. Incidents requiring physical restraint are managed well. Effective monitoring and evaluation by senior staff mean that behaviour patterns and trends are well understood. This means that staff are better informed to engage young people to understand their own behaviours.

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outstanding

Staff ensure that young people who spend some free time in the community with friends are given effective preparation for this autonomy. As a result, staff empower them to take age-appropriate risks for their continued development. This means that young people better understand how to keep themselves safe. Some of the young people have their own pets in their bedrooms, such as fish tanks and a pet gecko, which gives them a real sense of responsibility and they are able to take care of them independently. One young person commented that ‘Staff have helped me with Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 5 my interests, how to regulate myself better and taught me some independence skills.’

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outstanding

The home uses safe recruitment processes to ensure that any person employed to work at the home does not present any known safeguarding risk to young people. All of the necessary safety checks and risk assessments are in place regarding the premises.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The leadership in this home is a significant strength. The registered manager is an inspirational, ambitious and confident leader. The management team has developed a strong and committed staff team, who together work closely to identify effective interventions that are aspirational and maximise children’s experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The managers lead by example and they innovate and generate creative ideas to sustain the highest quality of care for young people. For example, the initiation of ‘life space interviews’ allows staff to have a supportive conversation with young people to recognise triggers, coping strategies and to recognise what does and does not work for them. This encourages young people to self-reflect and take ownership of their own coping strategies. Staff continue to use incentives and positive behaviour support plans to develop each of the young people’s resilience and quality of life, with the flexibility to try out new strategies and techniques where appropriate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Highly effective monitoring of the progress of young people and their lived experiences means that young people are continuously supported to achieve well. The rigour and challenge of the independent visitor enable the registered manager to continually improve the home’s practice and young people’s experiences. The managers and staff have a clear understanding of the progress that young people make. The individual team around the child meetings are an excellent example whereby representatives from the home, school and therapy team discuss the needs of the young person and share good practice to ensure that each young person is in receipt of a holistic approach to their care needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager constantly strives to move with the times. The management team demonstrates excellent initiative in researching information on subject matters that could affect young people today in society, such as the sharing of news feeds on knife crime and suicide, and how these issues affect young people. Crucial information has been sourced about a young person who was recently diagnosed with a complex health condition. Additionally, specialist support is being used to aid planning and enhance staff’s understanding of the young person’s needs through training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Professionals from other agencies are extremely positive about the care that the staff provide for the young people and the environment that they live in. One social worker remarked that there is ‘great communication and it is good to meet all the professionals involved in the care of the young person. The young person talks very Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 6 positively about staff at the home, who are extremely supportive.’ Social workers also comment about the ‘robust risk profiles in place, with a full complement of services all feeding into the care plans.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Although most records are of an exceptionally high standard and provide clarity for all staff and young people, there is scope for improvement in ensuring that this quality is consistent. Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 7

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Recommendations

 The policy on protection of children from abuse and neglect should include arrangements in relation to dealing with allegations involving staff in the home. Specifically, that appropriate seniors are appointed to undertake internal investigations. All policies should be reviewed regularly and revised where appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.19)  Regulations 35-39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up-to-date and signed and dated by the author of each entry including the dates when return home interviews have taken place. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.3)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and

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Recommendations

understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Specifically, to consider reducing the level of detail to allow for more evaluation and reflection. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC480422 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Ltd

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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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Inspectors

Michael Charnley, Social Care Inspector Mandy Nightingale, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 9 to 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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