Children's Home, Residential special school run by Overley Hall Limited in Telford and Wrekin

Inspection report children's home: SC020558 1 SC020558 Registered provider: Overley Hall Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home can accommodate up to 22 children who have severe learning disabilities and/or sensory impairment, autism spectrum disorder and/or challenging behaviours. Young people may stay beyond the age of 18 to complete their education. The children’s home is situated on the same site as a special school. A separate residential home for young adults, registered with the Care Quality Commission, also operates in the school grounds.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: SC020558 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/07/2019 Full Good 04/09/2018 Full Good 09/05/2018 Full Inadequate 03/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC020558 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are skilled at supporting the children to learn new skills. The children attend the organisation’s school on site. Care and education staff work together with parents to ensure that they implement children’s local authority education, health and care plans. Goals are identified based on the ability and understanding of each child. This realistic target setting ensures that the children experience success, progress and a growing sense of confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of the specific needs of each child. They work in close partnership with other professionals to ensure that the children experience a consistent approach across all the services they receive. This reinforces and accelerates the children’s learning and development. For example, the speech and language therapist is supporting the education and care staff to understand how best to meet the needs of the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop the children’s communication and learning through play and activities. These fun activities also build warm and nurturing relationships between staff and the children. This enables staff to support the children in other areas of their lives, such as learning new independence and personal care skills. These skills enable the children to successfully move on into adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s home is well resourced and maintained. The children’s bedrooms are personalised. Communal areas are warm and welcoming, and the grounds give the children access to a wide range of play equipment and outdoor activities. The senior leadership team continues to develop these resources. For example, creating more communal areas where children can socialise and relax.

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

Careful assessment and planning mean that staff understand the children’s risks and work to reduce them. No child goes out alone, but all the children benefit from an approach to risk management that enhances their independence according to their ability and understanding.

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

Managers follow safeguarding procedures effectively. Incidents of concern are clearly recorded, and managers take prompt follow-up action. They have high expectations of staff conduct and implement staff disciplinary processes where necessary.

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

Managers and staff have a good operational overview of patterns and trends in incidents, and a clear insight into individual children’s needs. This knowledge is used to review practice and inform actions. Where appropriate, it also triggers the involvement of partner agencies that provide additional services, such as health professionals undertaking medication reviews. Overall, incidents for the children Inspection report children's home: SC020558 4 reduce in frequency and length because children learn new skills and strategies to self-regulated.

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

Staff praise and celebrate the children’s positive behaviours and successes. They also provide sensitive reassurance when a child is upset. Staff place much emphasis on supporting the children to learn to express their feelings and emotions. They also promote independence and the child’s voice by encouraging the children to make choices. These new skills enable the children to communicate their needs and influence their lives more effectively.

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good

There is a cohesive team of leaders who know the strengths and weaknesses of their service. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they have worked hard to ensure that the safety and welfare of the children and staff are always promoted. Where necessary they have advocated on behalf of the children for continued contact with their families and put services in place to safely facilitate family visits.

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good

Managers have continued to develop the service. They have strengthened their relationships with parents and ensured that they are actively involved in the lives of their children. Managers have also improved staff retention and the lines of communication between themselves and staff. Parents and staff feel supported by managers.

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good

There are handover systems in place between staff shifts, to ensure that key information relating to the children is shared. There has been one incident where these procedures were not followed. This resulted in a child being left unsupervised for a morning. The child was safe and well, but the potential risk for harm was high. Managers took prompt actions with partner agencies, to review practices to ensure that this does not happen again. All managers and staff are clear of the procedures and importance of handovers. However, records do not clearly evidence staff accountability for receiving and reading handovers. Records do not state the time and name of staff who have given and received a verbal handover, or the date, time and name of staff who have read a written handover.

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good

Staff receive good-quality induction and mandatory training that equip them to meet the needs of the children they care for. They make good use of staff meetings and supervision to reflect on practice. This creates consistent practice and promotes communication between the children’s home, the on-site school and the senior leadership team. Inspection report children's home: SC020558 5

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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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential;

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)) 31 August 2021

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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: SC020558 6

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Overley Hall Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Overley Hall School, Overley, Telford, Shropshire TF6 5HE

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Inspectors

Dawn Bennett, Social Care Inspector Lydia Isaac, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC020558 7 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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