Children's Home run by Wessex College Limited in Wiltshire

Inspection report for children's home: SC037596 1 SC037596 Registered provider: Wessex College Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private provider and offers care and accommodation for up to four children. The provider states in its statement of purpose that care is provided for children and young people with social, emotional or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is no registered manager in post. The current manager has been in post since March 2022 and is in the process of registering with Ofsted.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 19 October 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC037596 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/10/2021 Full Good 04/02/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 15/07/2019 Full Good 06/08/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children's home: SC037596 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like living at the home and feel that staff look after them well and genuinely care for them. Children see it as their home, in which they feel safe, trusted and respected. The trust the children have in the staff was evident when a child spoke about a new child moving in. They were confident the staff would choose someone who would be a good match with children already living at the home. Staff have built very strong relationships with the children, which are the keystone of the nurturing environment. Staff are proud of each child’s achievements and progress. Staff speak about the children with great affection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The current group of children have lived at the home for between two and four years. They are well matched. One child said they see each other as ‘almost brothers and sister’. The affection the children have for each other was evident by their emotional reactions to one child leaving the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress. Some have recently taken several exams, while others have grown in confidence. This has helped them to develop their social skills and increase their engagement in education. The effective support the staff provide is the foundation for this progress. Parents and social workers praised the staff for the quality of care they provide and the progress the children have made and are making.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child’s move from the home to a semi-independent setting was extremely well managed. Staff understood the importance of this event, for the child leaving and also for the remaining children, as they had shared each other’s lives for many years. Staff, including the maintenance person, and the other children helped the child to move. There were lots of tears but also joy, celebrating the progress and achievement of the child leaving. As well as buying leaving presents, staff had created a beautiful photo album which told the story of the child’s life at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well met. Staff ensure children receive additional support, when needed, from other professionals or organisations. Staff also work with children to develop their understanding of their health needs, how they can meet these and how to contact professionals and organisations when they leave the home. This is an essential independence skill.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The environment is of a good standard, providing children with a comfortable, spacious and nurturing home. It reflects children living there, with lots of photos of them around the home. Children choose how their bedrooms are decorated and furnished. However, many doors have large, excessive locks fitted that detract from the homely environment. This was raised as a recommendation at the previous inspection. As it has not been addressed it is raised as a requirement at this visit.

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

Inspection report for children's home: SC037596 4 Children feel safe living at the home. They said they had staff they could speak to about any concerns or worries they had and they felt concerns would be taken seriously and addressed.

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

Behaviour is well managed, in line with each child’s needs and plans. These plans are very detailed and provide good guidance for staff. This ensures a consistent approach by staff, which has proved effective. This has also meant restraint is rarely used. When it is used, good-quality conversations take place with the child following the incident, which helps them in understanding and managing their own behaviours. This same effective approach is taken to the management of risk, which has led to a reduction in risk-taking behaviours. A good example of this is the work staff have done with children on how to keep themselves safe online.

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

Safeguarding concerns are quickly identified, correctly addressed and referred to the appropriate agencies. Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding processes and their duty of care to protect children.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. Should this happen, staff act swiftly, following clear individualised protocols for each child.

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

The recruitment of new staff follows safer recruitment practices, which protect children from those who may seek to harm them.

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good

There has been an experienced manager in post since March 2022. They are in the process of registering with Ofsted. The manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for improvement. Their report on the review of the quality of care has an action plan to address these areas.

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good

Staff, children and professionals are very positive about the manager. Children said she is easy to speak to and fun to spend time with. Staff find her very supportive and they share her vision for the future of the home.

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good

The recommendation from the previous inspection has not been met. This relates to some doors having excessive locks fitted that detract from the otherwise homely environment. This has been raised as a requirement at this inspection.

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good

The manager’s monitoring has improved since the previous inspection. The manager uses several trackers to provide a clear overview of work undertaken. Senior managers carry out additional monitoring. The information gathered from all monitoring activity is used to develop the home and staff’s practice.

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good

Staff receive good-quality supervision and training. Supervision provides opportunities for staff to reflect on and develop their practice, as well as review their Inspection report for children's home: SC037596 5 training needs. Each record has a clear action plan, which is reviewed at the next session, to helps the development of staff.

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good

The majority of records are current, of a good quality and provide clear guidance for staff. However, safeguarding records are stored in a number of different areas of the home’s online recording system. This does not help the manager in the review and monitoring of safeguarding events and actions. Inspection report for children's home: SC037596 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 quality and purpose of care standard requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (2)(c)(i)) 31 October 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure electronic records are easily accessible, with information such as safeguarding records stored in a central online record rather than across several different online areas. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)

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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: SC037596 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Wessex College Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Samantha Choules

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Inspector

Wendy Anderson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC037596 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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