Children's Home, Residential special school run by Rowden House School Limited in Herefordshire

Inspection report children's home: SC035625 1 SC035625 Registered provider: Rowden House School Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This home is part of a residential special school. It can accommodate up to 30 children with learning disabilities across seven houses in the grounds of the school. At the time of this inspection, six houses were open and were accommodating 19 children.

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Information about this children's home

The registered manager was registered with Ofsted in August 2020 and holds the appropriate qualifications.

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Information about this children's home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children's home: SC035625 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/10/2019 Full Good 05/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/06/2018 Full Good 12/10/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: SC035625 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff sensitively support the children to move in to the home and, when needed, between homes. Staff involve children’s parents in this process. Prior to any moves, a multi-disciplinary team complete a thorough assessment. This ensures that the children’s moves are well planned and their future needs are considered and met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build positive relationships with the children. They identify and support the needs of the children to help them successfully achieve targets and objectives’. These are set in partnership with parents, placing authorities, education and other relevant professionals. Good-quality assessments and planning at all points of each child’s journey lead to good-quality experiences for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children make good progress in all areas of their lives. For example, the children go to school. This is at the on-site school or at school in the community. Staff work well with all schools and actively support some children in the classroom. They celebrate educational, developmental, and vocational achievements according to the child’s ability. This has continued throughout the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. On the few occasions when a child has not been able to attend school, staff have supported their academic journeys in the home. As a result, all of the children’s educational progress has continued to be on target.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are influential in the development of the home and the plans for their care. Staff reduce barriers to inclusion arising from the children’s disabilities by maximising creative resources. This includes utilising their own skills in using signs, symbols and communication tools. For example, during the inspection, the children were making their final plans for their flower-themed prom and were also getting ready for the annual ‘in bloom’ inter-home garden competition. The children thrive because of this positive attention.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The homes and their gardens are welcoming and personalised. The grounds are well maintained and the children enjoy a wide range of accessible play equipment. This includes climbing frames, swings and a sunken trampoline. The children can also access additional resources, including a sensory dark room, wet room and indoor play area. The service provides well for the children’s needs to learn through play. Inside and outdoor equipment, toys and resources keep the children busy and ensure that they have fun.

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

Staff keep the children safe from harm. They effectively follow safeguarding procedures. Incidents of concern are clearly recorded and managers take prompt action. They have high expectations of staff conduct and, where necessary, implement staff disciplinary processes. A multi-disciplinary safeguarding group meets Inspection report children's home: SC035625 4 weekly to review and learn lessons from any incidents or allegations. This ensures that safeguarding practice continues to develop in line with the changing needs of the children.

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

Staff are alert to the children’s vulnerabilities arising from their learning disabilities and additional communication, health and behavioural needs. They identify, understand and manage risk closely. Their support, care and supervision increase the children’s safety. For example, there have been no incidents of the children going missing since the last inspection.

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

Two of the children have raised complaints. The registered manager took prompt action to review these. The children were responded to personally and in writing.

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

Overall, managers regularly review risk assessments to enable staff to keep up to date with the agreed measures to help reduce risk and keep the children safe. However, on one occasion, managers did not update a child’s risk assessments. These recording shortfalls have not had an impact on the child’s welfare or safety.

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

There is a behaviour management policy, but this document does not accurately describe the current recording systems. Overall, the quality of records is good. Only one record did not give some details required in line with regulation. These minor shortfalls do not affect outcomes for the children.

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

Physical intervention is used by staff as a last resort. Managers and staff use data to establish patterns and trends and inform action plans when required. Since the last inspection, there continues to be a reduction in the number of incidents and the use of physical interventions. Managers continue to introduce and review new behaviour management practice that promotes the children’s dignity and safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has a good operational overview of all aspects of the service. She has good insight into and knowledge of all the children’s progress. If required, she gives robust challenge to other professionals to ensure that children’s needs are given high priority. If a child is struggling, managers and staff are proactive in calling professionals’ meetings and implementing new strategies and plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported by managers, who have a high profile in the homes. Staff receive good-quality induction, supervision, training and team meetings. The positive quality of relationships between managers, staff, parents and professionals continues to be a key feature of this service. This has strengthened during the COVID-19 pandemic, with managers and staff going over and above to implement and continually review new systems to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers continue to invest in and develop the homes and site to improve outcomes for children. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they built a new family room Inspection report children's home: SC035625 5 with a kitchen/dining room, sensory playroom, shower and toilet and sitting room, so that the children and their families could socialise in comfort. They also divided another of one of the larger houses into two smaller homes. This has resulted in one child building stronger friendships with peers and socialising more and another child having a significant reduction in incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Two shortfalls were identified during the inspection. Some records due to be archived were not being stored securely. The statement of purpose does not contain sufficient information about the facilities on the site and in the accommodation or the range of communication tools used by staff to support the children. Inspection report children's home: SC035625 6

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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—

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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)) 31 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the behaviour management policy’) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (‘the user’) and of any other person present when the measure was used. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (2) (3)(a)(iii)(vi)) 31 August 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC035625 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that all children's case records are stored securely while they are in the home. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 62, paragraph 14.3)  The registered person must ensure that the information set out in the statement of purpose is clear, as it is an essential part of the process of agreement between the registered person and placing authority, that a placement in the home is the right one for that child and that the home will be able to respond effectively to the child's assessed needs. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.6)

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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: SC035625 8

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Children's home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Rowden House School Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 1 St. George's, Vernon Gate, Derby, Derbyshire DE1 1UQ

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Inspectors

Dawn Bennett, Social Care Inspector James Tallis, Social Care Inspector Suzanne Young, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC035625 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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