Welburn Hall School

Inspection report for residential special school - Welburn Hall School 1 Welburn Hall School Welburn Hall School, Welburn, Kirkbymoorside, York YO62 7HQ Residential provision inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this residential special school

Welburn Hall School is a local authority-maintained residential special school for boys and girls, aged eight to 19 years, who have special educational needs. All students have an individual education, health and care (EHC) plan.

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Information about this residential special school

At the time of inspection, there were 73 pupils on roll. Of these, 28 are sixth-form students, most of whom board Monday to Thursday. There are 44 boarding places in total.

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Information about this residential special school

Pupils may have learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, physical disabilities, sensory impairment and/or medical conditions. Most of the residential accommodation is in the main house. There is a separate detached bungalow, converted into two single-bedroomed flats, for students to practise their independent living. The school is situated in grounds of 20 acres near the village of Welburn in North Yorkshire

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Information about this residential special school

Inspection dates: 11 to 12 February 2020

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious failures that mean children and young people’s welfare is not promoted and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor.

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inadequate

Date of previous inspection: 8 January 2019

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good Inspection report for residential special school - Welburn Hall School 2

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Inspection judgements

Since the last inspection, there has been a period of instability in the leadership of the residential provision. The experienced long-standing head of care left in the summer term following a period of long-term absence. At the time of this inspection, inspectors found there was a lack of effective monitoring that was leading to inconsistencies in practice. Some practices are outdated, for example the use of ‘walkie-talkies’ by staff. This means that there are occasions when children can hear confidential information shared by staff. The use of monitoring devices in children’s bedrooms has returned, which affects their levels of privacy.

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Inspection judgements

Some students stay in accommodation that shows signs of deterioration, for example broken bedroom furniture, poor curtain cover and faded/worn paint. Most students occupy rooms that have additional empty beds in them. These are not covered or made up and detract from a homely atmosphere. Some students are using uncovered quilts as additional bedding to keep warm. There is no effective programme of routine checks on the residential environment, which would identify and prevent these deficiencies. Although noted by the independent visitor in his report, they have not been addressed.

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Inspection judgements

The headteacher has recently initiated a new activity schedule to help students to plan their week. Some focus on team sports and having fun, others on improving core independence skills to help students prepare for adult life. Each student has individual targets that they work to complete each term. These targets are planned through an accredited scheme or more informally. Record-keeping about these targets and the work undertaken is unclear and inconsistent. The residential independence targets did not demonstrate that they were set from a formal assessment of capability, or with clear criteria for improvement as they are wide in scope. Monitoring of the progress is inconsistent. It is therefore unclear how much progress individuals are making, and whether they are achieving their fullest potential.

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Inspection judgements

The school nurse works well with the family support manager to oversee children’s health needs. A clear system of collating information gathered from health professionals sets out students’ specific health needs. However, not all information is transferred into the health and care plans used by residential staff. This leaves staff without important knowledge to support emerging need in some areas of student care. The duplication of records and poor oversight of the content of care planning and related documents lead to shortfalls in how students’ needs can best be met. It is not always clear from records what staff have done to address shortfalls. There is a reliance on the school nurse to oversee staff training and medical competence, but no records could be found to demonstrate that the staff were competent to carry out medicine administration or specific health tasks. This lack of oversight and the

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Inspection judgements

extensive use of agency and temporary staff could lead to untrained staff being responsible for children’s healthcare. Inspection report for residential special school - Welburn Hall School 3 Some older students spend some time in the on-site bungalow to develop their independence skills. However, this activity is not part of any programme and there is limited planned support. Given that some of the students are aged 18 and 19, there is limited evidence that they can take any managed risk or independent activity, which would develop their skills and broaden their experiences.

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Inspection judgements

Despite these shortfalls, most students like staying at school, being with their friends and the range of activities staff plan for them. Students enjoy good relationships with staff, trust them and are confident that they would deal with any problem they might have. Most parents are confident that their children and young people are safe and well cared for.

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Inspection judgements

Staff are interested in student experiences, and seek their views about relationships, activities and general day-to-day cares and concerns. Students experience a high degree of control over the choices they make on a day-to-day basis, and staff support them in this. Students have freedom to move throughout the building within certain boundaries that they know and understand. Students who experience emotional stress seek comfort from staff who know them well. Staff show compassion and concern for students’ well-being.

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Inspection judgements

The school works well with the learning disability support team to manage transitions as students move into adult services provision and help is given to families to attend medical appointments. Professional meetings are held at school for ease of communication.

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Inspection judgements

Parents say that transition into the residence is carefully managed, with time taken to ensure that students are settled and confident to stay. When student’s express unhappiness about being away from home, their placement is carefully discussed to make decisions in their best interest.

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

The school has a range of recording systems, which means that staff spend a large amount of time recording and the quality is often poor. This leads to monitoring being time-consuming and often ineffective. Many records were not up to date or their overall purpose is not clear. For example, written risk assessments do not set out accurately the risks posed to all children and how the decisions about their care have been reached. Incidents of restraint are recorded across several records, including two paper versions and up to two electronic records. This means that there is no clear audit process and it is not clear which record has been monitored and approved. It is not clear from the records that staff follow up any minor injuries that children sustain during restraint. The independent visitor has repeatedly raised this as a concern in his reports, without clear evidence of improvement.

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

The behaviour management policy sets out the expectations of staff and how they should manage this. There is no guidance document that sets out the permissible Inspection report for residential special school - Welburn Hall School 4 holds and how and when they can be used. Due to the poor level of recording it was not possible to determine accurately what action staff had taken during a restraint incident, even though these records had been approved by a senior member of staff.

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

Children and young people are required to hand over all mobile phones and electronic devices on their arrival at school and these are not returned until they leave school at the end of the week. Although children and young people can contact parents using a landline and can ask for their phone back to make calls, they are not able to use them for any other purpose. Students spend time in the internet cafe under supervision and receive guidance on safe use of the internet. At other times, they are not able to use their phones and electronic tablets during informal activities that older teenagers and young adults would usually engage in. This means that they are not able to demonstrate that they have the skills to use their phones or the internet safely or take managed risks.

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

The school is in a very old building. It is situated in large grounds and there are numerous doors and entrances to the school buildings. The value of the extensive use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) in some parts of the school is acknowledged. Monitoring devices are used in some children’s bedrooms. Although for some students the need is evident, the policy for the use of this in residence is not clear. Decisions for the use of some monitoring devices and CCTV are not supported by up- to-date risk assessments and some students are being monitored or filmed when there is no identified risk. Managers and staff did not have a clear understanding of the rationale for the use of CCTV and monitoring devices and it was not clear how this contributed to keeping children safe. Parents had granted permission for their children to be monitored in this way.

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

In the event of a fire, the site manager, who lives on site, would be alerted and would take charge and assist in any evacuation. However, none of the current care staff are trained fire marshals. This has been raised by the independent visitor and appropriate training was planned for all care staff.

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

Students said they like being at school, that they feel safe and that staff are kind and helpful.

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

Senior leaders have worked hard over the last 12 months to instill a culture of safeguarding, and all leaders could provide examples of how this has improved. The headteacher is proactive in raising concerns about students’ welfare with the local authority. She has taken decisive action on a range of staffing and safeguarding concerns to improve standards and to ensure that students are better protected.

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

Staff have undertaken a range of training in relation to safeguarding children and young people and the use of restraint. The safeguarding training included subjects such as county lines and child exploitation. However, there were no clear records made available to inspectors that indicate that all care staff had attended this training. It was not clear whether the agency staff, some of whom worked regularly at the school, had undertaken recent safeguarding training. Inspection report for residential special school - Welburn Hall School 5 Children have not gone missing from the school for some time and there is an appropriate policy in place.

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

The arrangements for the recruitment and selection of staff are appropriate. Students are involved in the recruitment and selection of senior staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Currently, the most senior residential positions are held by staff who are acting up in that capacity, and this has created vacancies in the staff team. This means that they cover both management and shift responsibilities. The acting head of care is not able to demonstrate the full range of leadership skills to support the staff team effectively and work cooperatively with the senior leadership team. The impact of this can be seen in lack of oversight of care records, the delay in the implementation of the plans to modernise the care provision and the updating of policies. These include the residential policy, the staff and student handbook and the residential development plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are some staff vacancies and a high use of agency staff and education staff from across the school. At times, this leaves the staffing numbers low. On many occasions, the number of permanent staff on duty is just above the number of temporary staff. There is no single staff rota record to demonstrate that safe staffing levels are in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The headteacher and chair of governors have a clear vision of the purpose of the residential accommodation and have plans and aspirations to ensure that students get the most from their time there. Most children enjoy boarding, but there are missed opportunities for them to maximise the effectiveness of their time and extend their skills and experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The chair of governors is active within the school, visits the boarding from time to time and has an accurate understanding of the current difficulties and what the governing body wants to achieve for the care provision. There is no identified governor with responsibilities for specific oversight of boarding to lead this work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A new experienced head of care has been appointed and is expected to commence in role soon.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The independent visitor is experienced and undertakes his visits regularly, observes practice and talks to staff, children and young people. His reports are detailed and provide an element of evaluation and reflection. However, some of his recommendations are often repeated from one report to the next and therefore the school is not maximising the valuable advice and service he provides. The visitor has an accurate understanding of the current difficulties within the residential provision. Inspection report for residential special school - Welburn Hall School 6 Students know how to raise a concern or complaint and are provided with interesting and accessible information, including pictures on a noticeboard within the residential provision. However, information about how to make a complaint is not included in the student handbook.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There have been no formal complaints since the last inspection. The school has addressed informal complaints and concerns raised by parents, to their satisfaction, but the record-keeping seen by inspectors was disorganised. Inspection report for residential special school - Welburn Hall School 7

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special schools

The school does not meet the following national minimum standard(s) for residential special schools:

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special schools

 Ensure that all children’s healthcare plans are kept up to date and provide sufficient information to ensure that care staff can meet students’ healthcare needs. (NMS 3.12)  Suitable sleeping accommodation is well organised with effective risk assessments undertaken and the findings acted upon to reduce the risk for all children. (NMS 5.1)  Residential accommodation is appropriately heated, cleaned and maintained. (NMS 5.4)  Any use of surveillance equipment (eg CCTV cameras and monitoring devices) does not intrude unreasonably on children’s privacy and specifically their use is based on assessed risk. (NMS 5.8)  The school premises, accommodation and facilities provided therein are maintained to a standard such that, as far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety and welfare of children are ensured, by the provision of trained fire marshals in the residential accommodation. (NMS 6.2)  The behaviour policy sets out when and how restraint will be used and how it

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special schools

will be recorded. (NMS 12.1)  The school’s governing body and/or proprietor monitors the effectiveness of leadership, management and delivery of the boarding and welfare provision in the school and takes appropriate action where necessary. (NMS 13.1)  Follow and maintain all relevant policies and practices for use by staff in the residential provision in Appendix 1 and 2. (NMS 13.7/8)

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Recommendations

 Update the students’ handbook to include information on how they can make a complaint or raise a concern. (NMS 1)  Ensure that students’ care plans are kept up to date and demonstrate the progress that they make while at the school. (NMS 21.1)  Identify at least one member of the governing body to oversee the boarding provision. (NMS 13.1) Inspection report for residential special school - Welburn Hall School 8  An accurate staffing record is maintained. (NMS 15.2) Inspection report for residential special school - Welburn Hall School 9

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Residential special school details

Social care unique reference number: SC007943

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Headteacher/teacher in charge:

Type of school: residential special school

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Headteacher/teacher in charge:

Email address: admin@welburn-hall.n-yorks.sch.uk

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Inspectors

Helen Humphreys, HMI Social Care Inspector (lead) Denise Jolly, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for residential special school - Welburn Hall School 10 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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