Children's home run by Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd in Havant

Inspection report children's home: SC482301 1 SC482301 Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home that provides care and accommodation for up to six children with social, emotional and mental health needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 27 October 2015.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 08 December 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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: none Inspection report children's home: SC482301 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/03/2020 Full Good 05/12/2018 Full Good 07/11/2017 Full Good 28/03/2017 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC482301 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from good-quality care and support. Staff demonstrate high levels of reflective, empathic understanding of children. Through this approach, children receive highly individualised support planning. This enables children to make positive progress across a range of areas. These include improvements in the ability to manage relationships, express identity in a supportive and accepting environment, come to terms with the emotional impact of family breakdown and improve behaviours that have previously led to placement instability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child who was struggling to settle in the placement was encouraged to adopt an animal in a local sanctuary. This led to him feeling more connected to the local community and improved his sense of belonging to the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Tracking of children’s achievements is well developed. However, there is some disconnect between recorded progress at the home and perceived progress by placing social workers. Staff and managers are working on ways to improve the clarity about children’s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Support planning records are well constructed and meaningful. There is a very real sense of the child’s voice at the heart of planning. Staff ensure plans are also well coordinated with wider networks of support, such as placing authorities, health and education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

External professionals express positive views about the home. One social worker said that, when they visit, they can see that children are happy and relationships with staff are very positive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the previous inspection, two children have successfully moved out of the home to family placements and semi-independence. Two children, who are making the move to further education, were supported brilliantly to celebrate the end of their time at secondary school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel valued and listened to. Staff maintain a comprehensive ‘you said we did’ record that highlights all the ways in which children’s views have had an impact on the home. This has led to significant improvements in the home environment and facilities for children.

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

Staff have a confident and well-developed knowledge of safeguarding which is tailored to the children in the home. Children at risk of online exploitation have been well protected, and staff work hard to give children the skills they need to keep themselves safe. Inspection report children's home: SC482301 4 Staff maintain good-quality risk assessments, which form part of effective risk management in the home. Staff have a clear understanding of reporting processes and where their role sits within wider safeguarding networks.

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

Staff recognise the limits to their ability to keep children safe as they age and become more independent. Therefore, a strong emphasis is placed on supporting children to recognise and understand risks they face in the community.

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

One child, who was frequently going missing to stay with family and friends, was well supported by staff. Staff worked tirelessly to ensure that they maintained contact and communicated with all relevant professionals to keep the child safe. This ended in a positive move to an appropriate placement, and the child is making good progress.

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

Staff have already commenced working with the safeguarding teams at the relevant further education colleges, to ensure effective information sharing and planning for the two children moving on this year.

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

Staff manage the behaviour of children, patiently and skilfully minimising the frequency and severity of difficult incidents in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The organisation has experienced some significant changes in the leadership structure and operational systems since the previous inspection. This has led to a period of flux as new systems and ways of working bed in. This was indicated by some struggles with information gathering at this inspection, but staff worked hard to provide the inspector with all relevant information and records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Discussions with external professionals highlighted some themes regarding consistency and communication with staff at the home. This is recognised by the registered manager, and she is already working on ways to improve practice in these areas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders, managers and staff share a clear vision and a clear sense of direction for the home. The registered manager’s oversight is strong, and they have a good focus on areas of strength and areas for improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New training systems have created challenges in maintaining accurate and up-to- date records. This is acknowledged by the registered manager, and all the necessary steps are being taken to bring training records up to date.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive good-quality supervision. The recording of supervision sessions can sometimes be brief. For example, staff described feeling some anxiety about what the future holds for some children. Supervision records did not always describe how staff were being supported with this. However, the input of the organisation’s clinical team has been invaluable in helping staff to reflect on these anxieties and plan for the future. Inspection report children's home: SC482301 5 The registered manager has created a plan for her workforce, but it did not include individual plans for future training and continuous professional development. Inspection report children's home: SC482301 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a key role in seeking to develop the home’s effective working relationships with each child’s placing authority and with other relevant persons which may include services, individuals (including parents), agencies, organisations and establishments that work with children in the local community. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that a note of the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions is kept. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.4)

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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: SC482301 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Atria, Spa Road, Bolton BL1 4AG

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Inspector

Peter Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC482301 8 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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