Children's Home run by Wessex College Limited in Wiltshire

Inspection report for children's home: SC407430 1 SC407430 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 with social, emotional or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since April 2020.

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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: 12 January 2022

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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 for children's home: SC407430 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/01/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/04/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/01/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/05/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: SC407430 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say they either ‘love’ or ‘like’ living at the home. They do view it as their home and talk about it with pride. They feel the staff look after them well and they talk about the staff with affection. Staff have built strong effective and nurturing relationships with the children, based on trust and respect.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Outcomes for children are good. Staff are supporting children to achieve their goals, which include increasing their sense of self-worth, their self-esteem and their confidence. Staff know the children well and respond swiftly to changes in children’s mood to provide the support the child needs. Staff spoke with pride about children’s achievements and ensure these are celebrated. One child has recently passed their driving test. Another child is part of a rock choir. When they are doing concerts, the house goes as a ‘family’ to support them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care plans provide clear guidance for staff on the child’s needs and how these are to be met. These plans are supported by one-to-one sessions with children. The records of one-to-one sessions vary in quality, therefore they do not consistently aid the child’s understanding and development. In addition, the child’s contribution to these sessions is not always clear.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children at the home are well matched. Leaders and managers have reviewed the matching process after two children left the home following a difficult period. Lessons learned from this period have strengthened the effectiveness of this process.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well managed. Children are supported to access additional support services as and when required. Staff have built good working relationships with substance misuse organisations. However, leaders and managers must ensure that staff record the administration of medication at the time rather than the next day, as this could led to errors and omissions. In addition, the home’s current medication policy does not provide guidance for staff on what action to taken should a child consistently refuse to take their medication.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from living in a comfortable, well-furnished home. They are encouraged to have their say on how the home is decorated and furnished and their ideas for additional facilities are welcomed.

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

Children feel safe at the home. They said they have a number of staff they would go to if they had any worries or concerns. Children feel staff listen to them and keep them safe. Inspection report for children's home: SC407430 4 Safeguarding concerns are appropriately addressed, which protects children from those who may wish to harm them. However, information on safeguarding events is recorded across a number of different areas of the home’s online recording system. This does not aid the manager in tracking and monitoring safeguarding events.

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

Behaviour is managed well. Staff know the children well and can respond swiftly and appropriately to incidents. Staff knowledge is supported by detailed behaviour plans. Restraint is rarely used. However, the quality of restraint records is varied. There are detailed descriptions of what led to the restraint and the support provided to children after a restraint. However, staff are not consistently recording the duration of each restraint used, as required.

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

Risk is well managed and staff support children effectively to understand their risk- taking behaviours and the impact these have on them. This has led to a reduction in these behaviours.

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

Staff recruitment generally follows safer recruitment practice, which protects children. However, one recruitment record did not contain a translation of information received from overseas. Also, both recruitment records reviewed only had one set of interview notes when there were two interviewers. Notes from an interview should be included from both people on the interview panel.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by an experienced, well-respected and child-centred manager who has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for development. Staff and fellow professionals spoke highly of the manager. She has high aspirations for the children and the staff team. She leads the team well and shares her vision for the future of the home effectively. Her monitoring of the home supports this development, as does the additional monitoring carried out by the responsible individual.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a full staff team at the home, which aids the consistency of care the children receive. No agency staff have been used since the previous inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision and say they value these sessions, where they reflect on and develop their practice. These sessions also support staff well-being. However, the quality of the records of supervision is mixed and some do not reflect the discussions held.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager uses in section reports and reports from the independent person effectively to develop the home. Inspection report for children's home: SC407430 5

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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 registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that— medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them; medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(b)(c)) 9 December 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure all staff have a clear understanding of children’s access to TV channels and online platforms in accordance with their age and level of maturity. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.7)  The registered person should ensure restraint records consistently include the duration of each restraint hold. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should ensure information on staff who have worked overseas is translated and a copy of this translation is retained. In addition, recruitment files must include copies of the notes from each of the interviewers. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure records of staff supervision sessions reflect

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Recommendations

the discussions held and aid in the development of staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure electronic records are easily accessible, with information such as safeguarding records stored in a central online record rather Inspection report for children's home: SC407430 6 than across several different areas online. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)  The registered person should ensure records of key-worker sessions with children are of a good quality, aid the child’s understanding and development and consistently include the child’s opinions and views. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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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: SC407430 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: SC407430 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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