Children's home run by Keswick Care Limited in Wakefield

Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 1 SC067865 Registered provider: Keswick 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 privately owned. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who may have social and emotional difficulties. The manager registered with Ofsted in April 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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 15 September 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. This 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

Date of last inspection: 20 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/02/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 01/10/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/05/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/12/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children experience a warm and nurturing home environment that enables them to develop a sense of belonging, and feel safe and able to build trusting relationships with the staff. As a result, children make sustained progress across a number of areas in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prioritise the children’s health and developmental needs. They ensure that the children enjoy a balanced, healthy diet, have access to services and can take part in physical activities. Consequently, children enjoy improved physical and mental health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are ambitious for the children and work in partnerships with schools, colleges and employers to ensure that the children access education and training which meets their learning needs. These relationships ensure good communication and help the children to have good attendance and the opportunities to fulfil their full potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are supported with developing their independent living skills. They have plans which support them in acquiring housekeeping, cooking, shopping, budgeting and independent travel skills. This helps to ensure that children have the skills needed for adult life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the children’s successes and achievements are praised and rewarded through incentives. For example, one child now has a pet rabbit and a hutch, and another child chose go-karting as an activity in recognition of their achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children told the inspector that the staff listen to them and will advocate on their behalf. They have weekly meetings with their key workers, where they can contribute to activity planning and weekly menus. Key-work sessions offer children an opportunity to share their wishes and feelings, and ensure that they are regularly consulted about what is important to them. As a result of these opportunities, the children are able to have a say in the way the home is run and feel valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work in partnership with families and key professionals to provide holistic support in addressing children’s care needs. This has been evident when staff have supported the children to have regular family time. Consequently, children have been able to maintain positive relationships with key adults in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is generally well maintained in most areas and children are helped and encouraged’ to personalise their bedrooms. Professionals told the inspector that the home is homely, and that the staff are knowledgeable and friendly and have good relationships with the children. Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 4

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

The staff have completed relevant training which helps them to meet the individual needs of the children. They work in close partnership with placing authorities and other external agencies to ensure that children’s risks reduce.

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

Staff provide one-to-one support to meet the children’s needs. They spend time talking to children and use a variety of de-escalation techniques to avoid the need for physical intervention, and this works well for the children placed.

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

There are infrequent episodes of going of missing from care. However, when children go missing, the staff follow policies and procedures and work in partnership with other agencies to ensure the safe return of the children. Children have return home interviews and staff carry out key-work sessions with the child to help reduce risks. These sessions ensure that staff can ascertain key information from the child to help inform their risk assessments and reduce future episodes of going missing.

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

Staff use key-work sessions and the in-house therapist to help children understand risky and concerning behaviours. These sessions help the children to make better decisions and help to build their resilience.

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

There are risk assessments and behavioural support plans in place which are regularly reviewed and updated as children’s behaviour changes. However, risk assessments did not have clear management oversight, and there have been incidents where staff did not follow risk assessments and behaviour support plans. As a result, the children were at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced and ambitious for the children. She is supported by the deputy manager and team leaders and this helps staff to provide consistent support to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that a robust induction is in place for new starters. This helps to ensure that new staff are fully aware of what is expected of them and how best to support the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they feel well supported in their roles by the deputy manager and team leaders. However, not all staff benefit from regular reflective supervision or an annual appraisal. This hinders the manager’s ability to identify and address staff development needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Human resources work with the manager to ensure that safer recruitment is in place and that any staff practice concerns are managed effectively to safeguard the children and staff. As a result of good decision-making around recruitment, the staff team is now more stable, and staff morale is good. Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 5 The manager is child-centred and role-models positive practice to her staff. She ensures that the staff provide a nurturing home environment. As a result, the children receive a good level of care and support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals said that the manager works effectively in partnership with all agencies to ensure that children can access the specialist support that they need. She advocates on behalf of the children, and when necessary escalates concerns to other professionals to ensure that the children have the right support in place. For example, the manager ensured that assessments were completed to help one child to move on successfully to semi-independent living.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has implemented a new electronic database to improve her oversight of the children’s progress and staff development needs. This is still being embedded to help improve the level of oversight the manager has, and to help her understand the strengths and areas for development within the home. However, at the time of the inspection, this new system was in its infancy. Therefore, the manager could not fully demonstrate her oversight of the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 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

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)) 30 December

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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; and

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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)) 30 December

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the staff are supervised regularly in line with the home’s statement of purpose. 30 December Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 7

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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: SC067865 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keswick Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hylton House, 150 Barnsley Road, Hemsworth, West Yorkshire WF9 4PQ

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Inspector

Noel Cooper, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 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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