Children's home run by Swan Children’s Homes

Inspection report for children’s home: 2591822 1 Registered provider: Swan Children’s Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home provides specialist care for up to four children between the ages of seven and 12 years old who may have autism spectrum disorders, learning difficulties or challenging/unexplained behavioural problems.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager of the home registered with Ofsted in April 2021.

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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.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 1 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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2591822 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2591822 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide high levels of focused and attentive care that enables children to make excellent progress in all aspects of their development. The home’s approach is based on a strong therapeutic model of practice which empowers the children to recover and heal from past trauma and early adversity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have the support of a multi-disciplinary team to deliver a range of therapeutic interventions. The staff work with each child to understand the causes of their behaviour through in-depth assessments. An in-house therapist provides the children with weekly therapy sessions and guides the staff to undertake related key- work sessions. This provides the children with a safe space to express their feelings and explore emerging issues. Consequently, children have the support to work through their feelings and learn how to understand and manage their emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the link between positive daily routines for children and educational attainment. The staff have created good morning and evening study habits that enable the children to feel ready and prepared for learning. When there have been delays in sourcing school placements for some children, the manager has arranged personalised home tutoring. This has ensured that children feel confident to re-enter full-time education and achieve their education targets.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children spend time with their families and maintain their sense of identity. Staff regularly travel with the children and plan creative activities that the children can do with their families. The staff work closely with the children’s family members to provide support and assistance. The staff successfully supported one child’s family reunification through a series of planned and structured visits and activities. This enabled the child to settle successfully.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff take the children to all their health appointments and seek out the specialist services that children need. The manager positively challenges health professionals to ensure that children’s health needs are met. One child was taking a high dose of medication when she moved into the home. The manager recognised that aspects of the child’s behaviours were related to her past trauma. Working with health professionals, the manager has supported a safe reduction in the child’s medication.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy opportunities to spend time with staff doing arts and crafts and taking part in imaginative play. Children participate in fun activities like holidays, visiting local attractions and being part of local hobby groups and clubs. Such a range of activities helps children to develop their self-esteem, participate in their local communities and to practise their social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a welcoming and comfortable environment with many spaces for the children to work, rest and play. The management team has undertaken thoughtful Inspection report for children’s home: 2591822 4 renovations that reflect the children’s preferences. However, the dining room decor is tired, and the front windows are not clean. This detracts from an otherwise well- maintained home.

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

Staff know the children well. They have taken the time to understand each child’s life history and how the children’s experiences have led to their current behaviours. Working closely with a behaviour analyst, the staff create good learning experiences and rewards that enable the children to develop positive social behaviours. This empathetic and non-judgemental approach means that the children feel safe and secure. Consequently, physical interventions are rarely used, there are no incidents of children leaving the home without agreement and there have been no complaints.

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

There has only been one physical intervention since the monitoring visit. Although the child and staff were given the opportunity to have a debrief, the manager failed to provide a separate evaluation of the incident. Therefore, there was no independent scrutiny of the intervention used.

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

Risk assessments and management plans do not include full descriptions of the children’s individual risks or details of potential warning signs or triggers that staff can look out for. Risk-reduction plans do not make clear which strategies correspond to which risks or which situations the strategies will work best in. The staff therefore may not be fully prepared to manage all the children’s behaviours.

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

Safeguarding incidents are managed well. The manager has undertaken thorough and comprehensive investigations in accordance with local procedures. She ensures that information is shared with other professionals through monthly network meetings. These meetings support emerging risks to be addressed quickly. Furthermore, the multi-agency approach to children’s care planning promotes good coordination of services, which increases children’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children and staff benefit from a committed and motivated management team that has the children at the centre of practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The responsible individual has developed a comprehensive training and induction programme for the staff. This means that staff understand the ethos of the home and their roles and are skilled to meet the children’s individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager encourages the staff to be creative and explore new ways to improve practice. Effective examples have been the production of a regular newsletter that children and staff can enjoy, the home’s suggestion box and further plans for a sensory room.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff said that they are well supported. They receive regular supervision, and their good practice is recognised. Inspection report for children’s home: 2591822 5 The manager uses external monitoring visits, feedback from the children and monthly network meetings to inform the development plans for the home. She regularly uses audit tools and care reviews to assess the impact that practice has on outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The members of the staff and management team have sustained excellent relationships with parents and professionals, who provided consistently positive feedback. They have all attributed the progress that the children are making to the quality of care that children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager, however, is not consistently monitoring records. There is limited management oversight of incidents. This has been affected by changes in case management systems and records. This means that opportunities can be missed for the manager to provide independent scrutiny, make immediate links to the children’s care plans and consider the strengths and weaknesses of how incidents are handled. The manager is working to embed a case management system that will address this. Inspection report for children’s home: 2591822 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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children’s risks are thoroughly explored and that risk assessments are up to date and sufficiently detailed so that staff understand the risks, potential warning signs and triggers of behaviours and the strategies to manage them. 17 February 2022

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that incident records and records of restraint are evaluated and reviewed to promote good practice and identify lessons to improve practice. 17 February 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2591822 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a well-maintained environment that meets the needs of the children. In particular, consider updating the decor in the dining room and ensure that the cleaning schedule for the front windows is effective. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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 for children’s home: 2591822 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Swan Children’s Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 27a Green Lane, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2PX

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Inspectors

Leemya McKeown, Social Care Inspector Laraine Edmondson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2591822 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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