Children's home run by New Forest Care Limited in Southampton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC063767 1 SC063767 Registered provider: New Forest Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately operated children’s home is one of a group of homes and education premises located in the south of England. The inspector only inspected the social care provision. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who have had adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and complex behaviours.

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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: 15 February 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC063767 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/02/2022 Full Outstanding 25/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 29/05/2019 Full Good 21/01/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC063767 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from positive and trusting relationships with staff who have a good understanding of their backgrounds and culture. For example, one child has been supported to attend a specialist hairdresser, which has increased his self-esteem and confidence. Staff consistently offer praise to children and promote and reward positive behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff ensure children are accessing the resources and support that they need to meet their physical and emotional health needs. Children are provided with specialist support through the organisation’s own health and therapeutic team. The staff meet regularly with the therapist, who provides advice and reflection on the strategies used to support the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children are attending school and are making the expected progress. The staff liaise closely with school staff. The daily care plans for children are clear. However, plans to prepare the children for their future are lacking in focus, rigour and urgency.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to enable children to stay in touch with people who are important to them. This positive support is instrumental in enabling children to maintain significant relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Reports written by staff for children’s statutory reviews provide a comprehensive overview of their progress. These could be enhanced by the inclusion of children’s own written views and wishes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s wishes and feelings about their care plans are recorded in individual daily logs and key-work sessions. However, there is no effective way of capturing children’s feedback and ideas about the ongoing development of the home.

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

Children feel safe and well looked after. This is reflected in the low number of disruptive events. Staff receive the right training and support to meet the children’s individual needs and help keep them safe.

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

The manager and staff have a clear understanding of children’s individual risks, vulnerabilities and strengths. Staff appreciate the need for children to take age- appropriate risks to become more independent. This means that older children have time away from the home independently to see friends and are supported to find part-time jobs. Incidents of children going missing from home are rare. Nonetheless, staff know the process for reporting any incidents to the relevant professionals and managers.

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

There are good relationships with other agencies. Social workers and independent reviewing officers commend the progress children are making. One social worker Inspection report for children’s home: SC063767 4 informed the inspector that their child ‘had done brilliantly returning to education, his attendance at school is now good despite school not being easy for him’. Staff have supported all children to make good progress from their starting points.

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

Management oversight of restraint records is good. The responsible individual is the organisation’s safeguarding lead and has effective systems in place to identify trends and patterns relating to the levels of restraint.

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

Staff understand safeguarding policies and practice. They know how to raise concerns and who to contact for immediate advice or support.

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

The home has the atmosphere of a family home. Health and safety checks are carried out at the planned frequencies, and fire safety practice meets the required standards. Staff know the locality well and allow the children to be involved in community activities. Children have levels of independence appropriate to their understanding and abilities. This enables them to learn how to keep themselves safe and build confidence.

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

The house is generally well maintained. There are systems in place to check the completion of household cleaning tasks. Some of the communal areas and doors could be enhanced with a more thorough clean and repaint.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a suitably experienced manager in place who is in the process of submitting an application to register with Ofsted. The manager has worked in the home for several years and has recently been appointed as the manager. The staff and children express confidence in his appointment, and this contributes to the stability and sense of purpose of the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and responsible individual have a well-informed awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff recruitment has been particularly challenging for the home since the last inspection. This means that the manager often gets pulled away from managerial tasks. While this is in the best interests of children, it has had a negative impact on some areas of management monitoring. One example relates to the frequency of staff supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been occasions since the last inspection when the expectation of monthly supervision for all permanent staff has not been met. The manager is aware of this and has a system in place to track the frequency of staff supervision sessions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the manager and the responsible individual. One staff member said: ‘The management team are always available if and when I need them and any ideas or opinions I have are listened to and discussed appropriately’. Team meetings take place regularly. Staff are encouraged to share their views, discuss and review practice and take responsibility for specific projects. New staff feel well supported and talk positively about the organisation. Inspection report for children’s home: SC063767 5 The responsible individual regularly visits the home and is well known to the staff and children. He is providing increased supervision to the manager during his induction to the managerial role. He shares daily oversight of the home and the overall progress of the children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC063767 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 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

In particular, that plans are clearly focused on goals that are relevant to the children’s journeys towards independence. 8 May 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should receive supervision in line with the home’s supervision policy. 8 May 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff provide children with a clean and well-decorated environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.3)  The registered person should ensure that staff listen to children and take their views and feelings into account when planning and undertaking their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 21, paragraph 4.5)

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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: SC063767 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Forest Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Shore House, West Street, Hythe, Southampton, Hampshire SO45 6AA

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Inspector

Mike Simmonds, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC063767 8 inspects 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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