Children's home run by Fair Ways in Southampton

Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 1 SC385809 Registered provider: Fairways Care (UK) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home offers care and accommodation for up to three children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted on 26 April 2021.

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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 9 February 2021 to carry out a monitoring 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: SC385809 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/08/2019 Full Good 26/09/2018 Full Outstanding 12/07/2017 Full Good 14/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress while living at this home. Children leaving the home move on to positive outcomes. For example, one child has returned to live with family, and another to an independent placement. In both cases, the transition was planned, and staff ensured that the children had access to meaningful education provision. Staff remain in contact with children when they move on. In one instance, they supported a child with driving lessons, and another child was supported to plant a pear tree in the garden as a memento of their time at the home. This makes children feel valued and cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in line with their plans. Staff ensure that actions, set out in statutory meetings, are actioned and followed up. This helps to emphasise to children the importance of independence planning and achieving targets. Children develop and maintain relationships with those close to them, attend full-time education and have their health needs met. One child has been supported to self- administer their medication and has an apprenticeship in their chosen career path. This helps children to build self-care skills and prepare for their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are mostly positive about their experiences at the home. There are difficult dynamics between the group at times, but children talk about staff being supportive in managing these. Staff use a range of core group meetings, key-work sessions and community meetings to help children share their views and act on their wishes. This allows children to enjoy well-prepared activities that link to their hobbies and interests and to share meaningful time with staff. This gives children positive experiences and a feeling that their voice is heard.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is decorated and furnished to meet the needs of the children. The provider has applied to extend their registration from three to five bedrooms. Children have access to large communal areas and gardens to enjoy games and meals together. This helps their independence skills and facilitates positive experiences, such as playing games, having social gatherings and growing vegetables during lockdown. These experiences have had a positive impact during the COVID-19 pandemic and have helped to build relationships with staff.

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

The use of restraint continues to be rare in the home. Most staff are trained in restraint, with plans in place to ensure that all staff are trained immediately. Staff ensure that children are fully supported during and after the use of restraint. Children are spoken to and enabled to share their views and experiences of the incident. This helps children to identify how they are feeling and to develop strategies, via support plans, to help them to calm if needed. These plans are reviewed with children, so they understand how behaviours link to their feelings. This is helping children to better manage their emotions. Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 4 One recent restraint led to a child making an allegation of harm. Staff quickly reported the allegation. However, this was not reported to all agencies by the manager. The child’s social worker and parent were informed but not the designated officer. The manager did not identify this as an allegation. The manager completed

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

an internal investigation and concluded the child came to no harm. This did not follow the home’s safeguarding policy. This also meant that statutory agencies were unable to investigate this allegation or provide further scrutiny. This missed opportunity meant the allegation could not be considered independently.

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

Sanctions are used to help children develop a better understanding of behaviour, actions and consequences. Staff use meaningful consequences with an emphasis on restorative conversations. The manager reviews these for effectiveness and lessons learned are discussed in team meetings. This has led to children developing a fuller understanding of how their actions can affect others.

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

Children do not go missing from the home. Previously, when a child did go missing from the home, staff ensured that there was a prompt response in line with risk- management plans. This resulted in the child returning safely to the home. Agencies were able to offer the child opportunities to talk about the reasons for going missing in a timely, non-judgemental manner. Because of this approach, there was a significant reduction in incidents of the child going missing from the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager leads the home with high aspirations for children. The manager is focused on children’s independence and ensuring that all children make progress. The manager challenges agencies to ensure that children’s needs are met, and carefully considers new admissions to the home to ensure that all children can be supported. The manager has a history of working in clinical roles and promotes children’s well-being using ‘zoning plans’ and by helping children to understand emotions. Staff are encouraged to role model understanding their own emotions to help achieve this. This has allowed children to talk about sensitive topics and receive individualised support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are supported to improve their practice. They have regular team meetings and attend relevant training courses. Supervisions are regular and focus on the needs of the children. The manager uses various scenarios in staff supervisions and links these to legislation to allow staff to bring their training to life. This has enabled staff to have a deeper understanding of their roles and the experiences of the children they care for. This has also given the manager a good overview of staff’s strengths and areas for development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is motivated and feels well supported. The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for staff, with a mix of changing routines and personal issues. The manager has sensitively supported staff through the various lockdowns and, as a result, staff feel valued and committed to their roles. This has led to children benefiting from staff’s creativity in activities, which has given children new Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 5 experiences and skills. The staff team works well together and provides consistent and good-quality care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good overview of the home and monitoring systems. Children’s plans, staff recruitment and health and safety actions are completed. The manager reviews these documents, identifies actions and addresses any shortfalls that are found. This has helped to ensure that children make good progress in their lives and can enjoy life in the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

The registered manager must ensure that all allegations of harm are reported to the designated officer without delay. 28 October 2021

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. This specifically refers to ensuring that all staff are trained in the provider’s chosen method of restraint and behaviour management. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: SC385809 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Fairways Care (UK) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fair Ways, Ground Floor, Building 1000, Western Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3EZ

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Inspector

Matt Nicholls, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC385809 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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