Children's Home run by SW Education & Care Ltd in Devon

Inspection report children’s home: 2694804 1 Registered provider: SW Education and Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private provider of social care and registered on 19 July 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for up to two children. At the time of this inspection, one child was living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The post for a registered manager is vacant.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2694804 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2694804 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have used creative approaches to prepare the child to move into the home. This reduced the child’s anxieties and helped them to move on to the next stage of their life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s views are valued. They are encouraged to express their wishes and feelings. This includes feedback gathered about their care. Staff respond to their views and actions are clearly explained to them. Leaders and managers act as strong advocates for the child to ensure that their care planning needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

From the child’s starting point, progress has been made in these early stages. Staff provide nurturing care and reassurance, which is improving the child’s emotional well-being. The child is accepting guidance to develop coping strategies to manage their difficult emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

External education provision is not yet in place. Leaders and managers have taken decisive action to address this deficit in education provision. In this interim period, staff are delivering learning in the home. They understand the importance of education and access learning opportunities to help the child reach their full potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Inspectors observed the child experiencing positive care in a family home environment. Their achievements are praised, no matter how small. This is helping the child to develop a positive sense of identity and improve their confidence. However, some language used across the child’s records to describe their behaviour is not helpful for the child.

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

Leaders and managers scrutinise incidents to ensure that care is safe, proportionate and appropriate. Allegations made by the child are appropriately investigated and information is shared with relevant agencies.

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

The risk of self-harm is understood by staff. Their responses increase the child’s safety. Debriefs completed with the child and staff are effective. They explore the underlying reasons for self-harm and review quality of care to improve responses and reduce risk.

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

Staff have not always been vigilant to ensure that the child’s use of the internet is safe. On one occasion, this has led to an incident requiring police involvement. Learning from this incident has been implemented to protect the child when they use the internet. Inspection report children’s home: 2694804 4 Staff are skilled in responding to the child’s complex needs. They were confident and knowledgeable in discussion with inspectors about the care they provide. They help the child to feel safe. However, plans that provide information about risk and guidance to staff are not clearly defined.

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

Arrangements for managing medication are safe. This includes clear documentation, which staff use confidently. There has been a proactive approach in ensuring that the child’s health needs are reviewed regularly to ensure that medication is beneficial and necessary for the child.

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

The home’s recruitment processes reduce the risk of unsuitable people caring for the child.

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good

Since the home’s registration with Ofsted, the registered manager and staff have left the home. Staff from the provider’s other homes work alongside permanent staff team members. While this ensures that there is sufficient staffing in the home, these changes negatively affect the child’s ability to develop and sustain relationships.

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good

Leaders have challenged poor practice, but this has not always achieved the desired outcome. Not all staff have received regular and effective supervision. Supervision records do not show that quality of care is reviewed effectively to ensure that the child’s care and experiences are continually improved.

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good

Staff complete training before providing care to the child. This equips them with the knowledge to develop their skills and to meet the child’s specific needs. During this inspection, the home’s deputy manager presented as knowledgeable and committed to making a difference to the child’s life.

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good

Feedback gathered from the child’s social worker describes effective communication with the deputy manager. In addition, they were complimentary about the care provided to the child by staff.

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good

Leaders have put an action plan in place to address the shortfalls identified in the leadership and management of the home. The impact of these actions is not yet measurable because actions have not yet progressed. Inspection report children’s home: 2694804 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 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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(e)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers should ensure that the child is provided with continuity of care from a stable and permanent staff team.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, leaders and managers should ensure that staff receive regular and effective supervision that reviews quality of care and continually improves the child’s experiences. 28 February 2023

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to leaders and managers ensuring that the child’s plans provide clear information and strategies that are used to respond to the child and reduce risk. 31 January 2023 Inspection report children’s home: 2694804 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff record information about individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2694804 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: SW Education and Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Tir na N’og, Fitzhead, Taunton TA4 3LA

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Inspectors

Louise Bacon, Social Care Inspector Joy Howick, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2694804 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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

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