Children's home run by New Forest Care Limited in Southampton

Assurance visit report: SC063767 1 SC063767

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to four children. According to the statement of purpose, the home specialises in caring for children who have experienced difficulties in settling in residential care and accessing mainstream education. The organisation has its own separately registered school and its own therapy team.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since March 2017.

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection date: 25 February 2020

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection judgement: Sustained effectiveness

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Information about this visit

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), Ofsted suspended all routine inspections in March 2020. As part of a phased return to routine inspection, we are undertaking assurance visits to children’s social care services that are inspected under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF).

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Information about this visit

At these visits, inspectors evaluate the extent to which:

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Information about this visit

 children are well cared for  children are safe  leaders and managers are exercising strong leadership.

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Information about this visit

This visit was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000, following the published guidance for assurance visits.

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Information about this visit

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills is leading Ofsted’s work into how England’s social care system has delivered child-centred practice and care within the context of the restrictions placed on society during the COVID-19 pandemic. Assurance visit report: SC063767 2

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Findings from the visit

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance visit.

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The care of children

The children benefit from strong relationships with adults, who are nurturing and loving towards them. The adults understand the children’s needs and communicate with them in ways that suit the children’s needs.

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The care of children

The children spoke excitedly about keeping in touch with their families using technology during the restricted time and due to social distancing. They also kept in touch with their social workers and some had socially distanced meetings in the garden.

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The care of children

The children were able to continue education initially at the home and, latterly, at the organisation’s school. They described the home-schooling period as ‘easy’ with lessons largely taking place in the morning. When they returned to the school building, they were taught in ‘bubbles’ as part of the organisation’s response to COVID-19.

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The care of children

The adults recognise the complex needs of some of the children. They have sought specialist support and work with the children to help them to overcome these issues and, consequently, achieve greater independence.

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The care of children

The children described lockdown as ‘fun.’ They enjoyed a wide range of activities and developed deeper relationships with each other and the adults. This is testament to the staff, who worked hard to keep children positive and help them to enjoy the activities on offer. The voice of children is heard; they were able to negotiate some extra console time and are engaged in a skate park challenge as they enjoy scooting for exercise.

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The care of children

The children understand COVID-19. They know the importance of following hygiene routines, wearing masks and socially distancing. They have also discussed current affairs and, through this, some learning about cultural differences. They have introduced each other to special dishes from their own family recipes as part of this learning.

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The safety of children

The children living at the home are kept safe by well-informed adults. The adults demonstrate an intrinsic knowledge about the children’s needs that guides clear risk- management strategies. Risky behaviours have reduced and no children have been missing from the home.

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The safety of children

The adults appreciate the challenges of the children spending more time together. They have helped them to work on minor disagreements and sibling-style rivalry. Assurance visit report: SC063767 3 The children are confident in speaking to the adults about any concerns and have individual time with adults to allow focused attention and a break from each other.

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The safety of children

The adults are adept at using the ‘PACE’ parenting model. They are playful and interested in the children and have successfully reduced the use of physical intervention by increasing their focus on nurturing and using a restorative approach when the children make mistakes.

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The safety of children

The adults have ensured that the children have kept busy. They have provided a range of activities and challenges to the children to occupy them, ensuring that they continued to have positive experiences despite the restrictions.

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The safety of children

Staff training has continued. New starters were positive about their induction, finding it thorough and informative. More recently the adults have been trained in ‘bubbles’ particular to the home to continue with socially distanced training. Two adults have had adaptions to the completion date of their level 3 qualification. Despite the challenges caused during lockdown, the adults have continued to learn to equip them with the knowledge to deliver effective care.

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Leaders and managers

The manager is experienced, reliable and trusted by adults. He has worked at the home for many years. He is supported by a team of experienced and some newer adults. The adults were positive about pulling together during COVID-19. Working across other homes stopped, and adults spoke about the positive impact of this on the children.

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Leaders and managers

No agency workers have been used. The team have covered any gaps in the rotas themselves. They have found the positive outcome of this to be more consistency of care delivered to the children.

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Leaders and managers

Frequent review and adaption to the COVID-19 plans ensure that the manager and his team are working within current guidance. Visitors to the home are requested to wear a mask and have their temperature checked before admission. The organisation is managing the additional cleaning materials and protective equipment centrally to ensure that adults and children have the supplies that they need. These measures contribute to ensuring that children remain safe and healthy.

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Leaders and managers

The manager has ensured that the children had additional garden games, board games and movies to watch during the lockdown. The children helped the adults work on the garden and have built some raised beds. Further plans for the outside space include extending the patio.

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Leaders and managers

Records for the children are largely clear. However, many have spelling mistakes, including misspelt children’s names. Some generic information is also cut and paste into records that is not relevant for each child. Consequently, records could be misinterpreted and may have a negative impact for individuals reading them in later life if their name is incorrectly spelt. Assurance visit report: SC063767 4 The previous recommendations made at the interim inspection are met.

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Recommendations

 14.4 Adults should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Adults should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: New Forest Care Ltd, West Shore House, West Street, Hythe, Southampton, Hampshire SO45 6AA

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Inspector

Sarah Olliver, Social Care Inspector Assurance visit report: SC063767 5 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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Inspector

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