Children's Home run by Willows (Devon) Ltd in Devon

Inspection report children’s home: 2597722 1 Registered provider: Willows (Devon) Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The provider states in its statement of purpose that it provides care for a maximum of two girls aged 11 to 17 with social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 7 August 2020.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This is the first full inspection undertaken by Ofsted since the home was registered on 7 August 2020.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 10 February 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2597722 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2597722 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well maintained and furnished. It has a warm atmosphere, with the characteristics of a welcoming family home. One child told the inspector that they like living in the home as it is ‘warm and homely’. During the inspection, carers and children joked, laughed and talked about their day.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are well cared for. Their physical health needs are well met. Carers provide tasty, nutritious foods that children like and eat. During the inspection, carers prepared a nutritious pot of stew with dumplings, ready for a child returning from school. Mealtimes are whole-house occasions that children and carers enjoy together.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress at the home. One child has moved to foster care. Another has gained confidence and has improved self-esteem.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school regularly and punctually. Most attend the school provision run by the home’s provider. Carers support children at home with their learning. They work with the school to ensure that children achieve their potential. Children enjoy engaging in education and they do very well.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children engage in a wide range of activities. Carers and children organise trips to theme parks and water parks, sightseeing in London, Bonfire Night and Christmas shopping. Children thoroughly enjoy these trips and take part in choosing activities throughout the year. Children earn additional treats through a reward system which promotes positive behaviour.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers are skilled in encouraging children to develop strategies that help them manage their emotions in a healthy way. Direct work is of a high standard and covers a variety of topics. The home has a clinical psychologist, who assists the team to help them improve practice. Children access weekly counselling to help them explore their feelings and past trauma.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team supports children’s moves to and from the home. The team fully assesses the child’s individual needs prior to coming to the home. The impact on a child who is already living at the home of a new child moving in is well considered. The resident child is involved in the process and their views are sought and taken into account.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team creates beautiful memory books for children that record their time at the home. This provides children with lasting mementos.

p.3

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

Inspection report children’s home: 2597722 4 The home has a well-established team, whose members are experienced and skilled in working with children with emotional difficulties and past trauma. This helps children to build trusting and meaningful relationships with their carers. It also provides them with consistent and predictable guidance and boundaries.

p.4

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

Carers use restraint, but only when a child or adult is at risk of harm. Recordings of incidents are accurate and made in a timely way. Carers speak to children after incidents to help them make sense of what happened. They support them in thinking about their actions and why they might have behaved that way.

p.4

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

Carers have recently struggled with one child’s behaviours. This led to the child permanently leaving the home after a significant incident occurred, in which carers were injured. The team has reflected on these events and lessons have been learned so that in future, incidents do not escalate.

p.4

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

Carers teach children to use the internet and mobile phones safely. They help children understand the risks of social media and how to keep themselves safe from exploitation and bullying.

p.4

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

Children are encouraged to manage conflict and develop healthy relationships. Carers set good examples for children. They respect each other’s differences and are kind and compassionate to one another. Children are supported to take part in mediation when conflict occurs. This helps children to work through difficulties and move past disputes.

p.4

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

Carers know how to keep children safe from harm. The home has good safeguarding procedures that all carers follow. Allegations are investigated thoroughly and relevant professionals are informed.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is well respected by the team, families and professionals. Carers told the inspector that they feel fully supported by managers.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Carers receive regular, good-quality supervision where they can discuss their practice and reflect on significant incidents. There is continuous improvement to practice as lessons are learned. Managers support carers to take care of their own physical and emotional well-being so that they can always meet the children’s needs.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home maintains good relationships with professionals. A local authority social worker told the inspector: ‘The home always contacts me to move on to something new or progress plans. The child is always involved and makes decisions about their care.’ This ensures that the home provides children with care that is relevant and meets their changing needs.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s records are accurate and are of good quality. Children’s plans are thorough, and risks are clearly identified. However, behaviour management plans Inspection report children’s home: 2597722 5 lack consistency. Some provide detailed strategies for staff to support and manage individual behaviour, whereas others do not.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s electronic recording system is cumbersome and makes accessing records challenging. Records are not always archived promptly or converted into an uneditable document format. This means that records are difficult to locate and can be accidentally changed.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers set high expectations for children, regardless of their starting point. They ensure that the ethos of the home is child-centred, aiming for all children to achieve, be happy and reach their potential. Inspection report children’s home: 2597722 6

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that electronic records can be easily accessed by anyone with a legitimate need to view it and, if required, be reproduced in a legible form. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)  The registered person should ensure that relevant plans include a strategy for a particular type of care, treatment or intervention. The carers will need to understand the purpose of any such care and the way in which the past experiences of abuse or neglect may manifest themselves in the day-to-day life of the child. This refers in particular to ensuring that children’s behaviour management plans provide strategies for carers to manage and support the child’s behaviour. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.15)

p.6

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: 2597722 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Willows (Devon) Ltd

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Stephen Quay Accountancy, The Granary, Hinton Business Park, Tarrant Hinton, Blandford Forum DT11 8JF

p.7

Inspector

Penelope Kutz, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2597722 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8