Children's Home run by Sandcastle Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children's home: 2504082 1 Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is one of a number operated by a private provider. The home provides care and support for up to two children who may have emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in July 2020.

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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: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children's home: 2504082 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/03/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/09/2019 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2504082 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who live in this home benefit from living in a homely environment. Children are consulted about changes and improvements to the home and work alongside staff to achieve these. The home has a large garden, where vegetables are grown and a couple of rescue chickens are kept. There is also a gym and a recently developed library area in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team is largely stable, allowing children to establish positive relationships with them. Children say that staff listen to them, which helps them feel safe and secure. Children told the inspector that they get on well with staff. They both described the staff team as ‘sound’. Staff and children enjoy spending time together; this may be on an activity, going for a run or enjoying a barbeque together in the garden. They also enjoy family holidays together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress while living here. One social care professional commented, ‘Staff have supported my young person to achieve his potential and to consider his future options and pursue them. I am very pleased with the progress my young person has made whilst at [name of the home]. This has only been possible as a result of the support of staff within the home and the hard work they have put in.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s commitment and engagement with education have been sporadic and have been a challenge for staff. One child now has a focus on joining the army and is working hard to achieve his goal. However, one child remains out of full-time education and staff struggle to engage him in any formal learning. The local authority plan has changed a number of times, which has contributed to this, as has the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s health needs and have received specific training as required. However, the lack of a specific risk management plan for a child who has type one diabetes means that it is unclear when staff should alert medical professionals if he is refusing to take his insulin. This lack of clarity potentially places him at risk of diabetes-related complications. Furthermore, despite staff training in the administration of medication, records have not always been accurately completed, as they indicate that medication was not required when it has been refused by the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff appreciate the significance of children maintaining links with their family and go out of their way to promote this. This includes collecting family members and bringing them to the home to spend time with their child. This is appreciated by everyone and helps to promote positive relationships. Children and their parents keep in touch with staff after they move on from the home, demonstrating the significance of these relationships. Staff also ensure that children leave with an Inspection report children's home: 2504082 4 album of photographs and mementoes of their time in the home. This means that children can remember the good times they had while living here.

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

The positive relationships that staff have with children enable them to de-escalate most challenging situations. Incidents of physical intervention are rare and, in the main, children respect and listen to staff advice.

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

Staff are proactive at reducing the number of times children go missing from the home, as they listen to children and help them to make arrangements to spend time with their friends in an agreed and safe way.

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

Children do not engage in frequent risk-taking behaviours. Risk management plans contain pertinent information and strategies for staff to implement to reduce risk. These plans are also subject to regular review. However, managers and staff have been slow to repair the window restraints on one child’s bedroom window. This is despite knowing that he has previously used the window to bring females into his bedroom without staff’s knowledge. This does not safeguard children in the home or those in the community.

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

Staff recruitment procedures are mainly sound. However, for one staff recruitment file reviewed on inspection, some minor shortfalls were evident, such as a small gap in employment not being fully explored and documents used to prove identity being out of date. Further scrutiny of such matters would help to ensure the integrity of all those employed.

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

Regular key-working conversations ensure that children are provided with accurate information on pertinent issues, such as substance misuse or knife crime. Children told the inspector that they would be happy to talk to staff about any concerns that they have. Children have on occasion raised concerns with the manager and he has taken action to address the issue raised, so they are confident to do this if they need to do so again in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a suitably experienced manager in charge of the home. He is currently studying for a qualification in leadership and management. He has worked at the home since it opened in February 2019, stepping up to the role of manager in April 2020. Consequently, he knows the staff team and children well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a balance of experienced and new staff members working in the home. Staff receive a good period of induction, including a number of shadow shifts prior to starting work in the home. Core training, which includes safeguarding, is completed during induction. Staff are enrolled on a Level 3 course, following successful completion of probation. The majority of staff are up to date with their core training and a good range of online training opportunities have been available during the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff have received specific training to meet the Inspection report children's home: 2504082 5 needs of the children living in the home, meaning they are in the best position to advise and support them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supportive supervision and an annual performance appraisal. The manager seeks the views of children to help inform these appraisals, ensuring that children know that their views are important. This increases the effectiveness of this process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they feel well supported and feel their views are important. Staff meeting minutes evidence that staff have been consulted prior to new children moving into to the home. They feel such decisions are shared. Consequently, they are more committed to make the outcome a positive one.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager champions the progress of children and is passionate about improving their long-term outcomes. Staff and managers are highly thought of by other professionals. Feedback about the home is positive. Feedback from professionals includes:

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

 ‘Communication is great and relationships with the young people are excellent.’  ‘Staff communication is excellent. They keep me informed and up to date on how my young person is doing and I receive weekly reports.’  ‘The staff team do a fantastic job.’ Inspection report children's home: 2504082 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, The 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 health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child's relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(2)(a)(i)) 27 August 2021

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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

that the home's day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the broken window locks in one child's bedroom are repaired. 27 August 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure where children placed in a home are not participating in education that staff work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. If no education place is identified by the placing authority, the registered person must Inspection report children's home: 2504082 7 challenge them to meet the child's needs. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 28, paragraph 5.15)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, that recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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: 2504082 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sandcastle Care Limited, 49 Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, FY3 9DG

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Inspector

Mandy Williams, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2504082 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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