Children's Home run by South West Childcare Services in Plymouth

Inspection report for children's home: 1235576 1 Registered provider: South West Childcare Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is operated by a national provider of children’s homes. It is registered to provide care for two children who need emotional and/or behavioural support.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2020.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

There were two children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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 outstanding

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 18 November 2021

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 1235576 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/11/2021 Full Good 16/10/2019 Full Good 25/09/2018 Full Good 09/11/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 1235576 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s plans are detailed documents that assess risk and provide key strategies for staff to respond to children in the most effective way. Some records are written in first-person narrative from the child’s perspective. However, children have not always viewed these documents or agreed to what has been written. Children have opportunities to write their views in additional documents, but these are not routinely incorporated into their plans.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s moves into the home are carefully managed to ensure that children’s views are heard and that they are familiar with the home, staff and the other child before moving in. They have discussions with the children, local authority social workers and previous carers to ensure they can meet the needs of the child. The registered manager considers the needs of both children and how well they are likely to get along. However, this was not clearly recorded in the most recent assessment.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop warm and trusting relationships with staff. This helps them to feel safe, build their self-esteem and recognise that others respect them for who they are. Staff respond calmly to children and with interest and humour. During the inspection, staff showed enthusiasm about the children’s day, interests and views. Staff respond to children as nurturing, loving parents would.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children attend school, and their attendance is excellent. One child who had struggled to remain in a classroom environment now attends school with their peers. Managers are aware of children’s educational progress and work with the virtual school to ensure children have every opportunity to succeed.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is generally well decorated and looks like a warm family home. Children’s rooms are decorated to their taste. They are clean and tidy and provide them with large spaces to hang out and relax. Some areas, such as the downstairs bathroom and kitchen, need redecoration and renovation. One child’s room needs repainting as there are marks where dark paint has scratched off and an area behind the door has been repaired but not repainted.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to learn life skills that will help them when they live independently. Children often use public transport, cook one meal a week and manage their own laundry. Staff ensure that children’s care is not compromised by learning new skills.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consider the children’s identity needs well. They have frank and open discussions with children about sexuality and gender. They support children to express themselves through their interests, appearance and friendships. Children’s relationships with their family are promoted by the team. Staff help children to make sense of their past through access to life-story work. Inspection report for children's home: 1235576 4

p.3

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

Restraint has been used twice since the last inspection. On both occasions, this was to prevent staff from being injured by a child. Staff understand that restraint is only to be used when a child or adult is at risk of physical harm. Records of the incidents are detailed, and there is good management oversight and reflection. Learning is shared with staff to help prevent further need for restraint.

p.4

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

The home has robust recruitment processes. This ensures that the most appropriate adults work in the home.

p.4

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

Staff manage risk well and allow children to take appropriate risks in line with their age and understanding. When children place themselves at risk of harm, the responses are swift and external safeguarding agencies are involved in the prevention and planning process. Staff explain risks well to children and in a way that they can understand. They give children opportunities to try again and learn from their behaviours.

p.4

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

Leaders and managers respond effectively to safeguard children when allegations are made about staff conduct. They inform external safeguarding agencies swiftly and undertake investigations promptly to resolve matters.

p.4

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

Children do not go missing from the home. The home has good procedures in place to stay in touch with children who spend time in the community meeting with friends and family. Staff are knowledgeable about what to do if a child does not return to the home when expected.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager has excellent oversight of the home. They understand the children’s strengths, vulnerabilities and progress. They know when plans meet children’s needs and robustly challenge other agencies when they do not.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager has developed excellent relationships with a range of external professionals. Professionals that the inspector talked with spoke highly of the manager and their relentless efforts to ensure that children receive the support and services that they need. They said that the manager always robustly advocates for children and is not afraid to strongly challenge plans that are not good enough.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home has a stable staff team. This provides continuity for the children and helps them to build secure relationships with the adults in the home. The home has a wonderful family atmosphere as everyone knows each other well and shows affection towards each other.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers ensure that staff have access to good reflective supervision. This is undertaken regularly and provides staff with ways to improve practice, look after their own emotional well-being and work-life balance and reframe their experiences around the needs of the children. Inspection report for children's home: 1235576 5 The registered manager has created an innovative and child-friendly children’s guide. This has been produced in video format and helps children to get a real sense of the home before moving in. It introduces children to the staff team, the building and spaces that they can personalise. It also shows the local community and the enjoyable things that children can do in the area.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff have created beautiful memory books for children. They narrate the child’s time in the home with pictures, stories and mementos. This provides them with a lasting memory of their journey, including the places they have visited, the adventures they have had and the people they have shared their time with.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager has very high expectations for staff and children. They work relentlessly to nurture children and prepare them for adulthood. They give children experiences that build their self-esteem and sense of self-worth. Children thrive at this home. Inspection report for children's home: 1235576 6

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. In particular, carefully consider the appropriateness of recording the child’s information using first-person narrative. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that the home is a homely, domestic environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 156, paragraph 11.4)

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 for children's home: 1235576 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: South West Childcare Services

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Second Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 4AH

p.7

Inspector

Penelope Kutz, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 1235576 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