Children's Home run by Castle Homes Care Limited in Barnsley

Inspection report for children’s home: SC363630 1 SC363630 Registered provider: Castle Homes 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 company. The home provides care for up to three children whose life experiences mean that they may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2022. He is covering the temporary absence of the substantive registered manager of the home. There were three children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC363630 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/03/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 23/06/2021 Full Good 27/08/2019 Full Outstanding 20/02/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC363630 3

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improvement to be good

Some children have made progress in some areas of their lives. However, shortfalls in working effectively with partner agencies limit professional intervention and hinder children’s progress. This is particularly pertinent for planning for children to move into and out of the home.

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improvement to be good

The manager missed an opportunity to bolster their assessment of a child’s needs. This oversight prevented the manager from speaking to their child to gain the child’s wishes and views. Consequently, the manager and staff were ill-prepared to provide the child with the necessary level of care.

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improvement to be good

The progress of one child has been hampered. The manager has failed to challenge this child’s local authority effectively. In addition, the lack of effective networking resulted in there being no representation from the home at the child’s education, health and care plan review. Furthermore, the lack of cohesive work with the child’s parent has weakened the care planning arrangements for a child.

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improvement to be good

Although the children’s plans are descriptive, they do not help the children to understand how the staff will support them. This oversight hinders the children from reading and understanding how they will be supported by the staff to stay in touch with their family and friends, how they will be supported with their evening routines and how they will be helped to move on. In addition, this oversight means that the manager cannot be assured that the staff are working consistently to support the children where the child needs the greatest support.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide the children with a memory book that illustrates their positive experiences in the home. However, for those children who do not like having their photos taken while enjoying activities and pursuits, there is a lack of creativity to capture their special memories. For these children, their memory books are sparse and do not fully reflect their experiences in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff have made extensive efforts to create and sustain a vibrant and homely environment. Staff have involved the children so that they can add their creative touches throughout the home. Themed walls and the use of window crayons add colour, personality and a sense of fun in the home. Staff understand the value and importance of maintaining the home and how this can give children a sense of pride and belonging.

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improvement to be good

Staff hold weekly ‘chin-wag’ sessions with the children. This enables the children to raise any issues associated with the functioning of the home. Staff also take the opportunity to weave in topical newsworthy events from around the world. This raises the children’s awareness of significant world events and creates discussion. Inspection report for children’s home: SC363630 4 Staff have supported most children to make good progress in their learning. Most children benefit from consistent school attendance. In respect of one child, there has been innovative practice to support the child to prepare for upcoming exams. Most children have clear aspirations that they are pursuing. This gives the children a sense of purpose and hope for their future.

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improvement to be good

The manager did not plan or prepare the staff to manage all of the known risks associated with one child’s behaviour and situation prior to the child moving into the home. The lack of direction resulted in the staff being underprepared and ill- equipped to better support the child in their care. The lack of confidence and preparation on the part of the staff has contributed to the staff’s excessive reliance on using the police to manage one child’s behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Some of the children’s risk assessments are inaccurate. Additionally, these assessments are not always focused on the child’s needs, or contain effective strategies to direct the staff to better support the children to recover from acute distress. This lack of direction for the staff has contributed to incidents in the home escalating. Consequently, the staff have often contacted the police to help them to settle the children.

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improvement to be good

Staff compile clear reports that describe the context around significant incidents that involve the children, including incidents that involve staff restraining the children. This enables stakeholders to analyse the context surrounding the child’s behaviour. However, the manager’s oversight of all these incidents is not always clear. This reduces the manager’s influence to improve the staff’s practice through structured reflection and learning.

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improvement to be good

Effective systems prompt the staff to hold important conversations with the children. However, the staff do not always pitch these conversations to the child’s level of ability, especially when they discuss sensitive teenage issues with the child. This restricts the staff’s ability to better support and educate the children.

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improvement to be good

Staff go with the children when the children leave the premises in a distressed state. This practice ensures that the children are safer when they are out in the community, particularly for children who are not familiar with the local area.

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improvement to be good

The manager ensures that the home is sufficiently staffed. This increases the staff’s ability to meet the competing needs of the children. The manager has sourced agency staff to achieve this. The manager ensures that all agency staff are vetted by their organisation. Additionally, the manager makes best efforts to use specific agency staff. In doing so, the children have increased continuity of care in this context. Inspection report for children’s home: SC363630 5

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good

The organisation has not enrolled the manager on the qualification pathway that is stipulated in the Children’s Homes Regulations. This has stifled the manager’s personal development and has hindered the manager’s effectiveness to execute his role. The organisation has not effectively mitigated this by ensuring that the manager has good enough advice and guidance from his senior management team.

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good

There is a general lack of awareness from management around the purpose of children’s statutory documentation. This creates a vulnerability for the staff to miss or misconstrue important information about the local authority’s plan for the child.

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good

The manager used the regulator to assert pressure on a local authority to find an alternative home for the child. This practice is not conducive to effective partnership working and is not child focused. Such practices erode trust and credibility. This was acknowledged by the provider and addressed.

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good

Communication between the staff is ineffective. On one occasion, this resulted in a child becoming distressed after receiving mixed messages from the staff. Although there are systems in place to aid fluid communication in the home, staff told inspectors that these systems are not always effective.

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good

Staff have good access to training. The manager keeps an up-to-date system that enables him to have good oversight of the staff’s development. Additionally, the manager seeks out bespoke training for the staff that reflect the needs of the children who live in the home.

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good

Staff feel supported by their manager. Additionally, they feel valued and benefit from frequent and productive supervision sessions with their manager. Inspection report for children’s home: SC363630 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, The 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)(d)) 15 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans; 15 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC363630 7 help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (Regulation 11 (1)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)(xi))

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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— 15 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC363630 8 lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(f)(g)(i)(h))

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, asset out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home;

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. 15 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC363630 9 (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(c))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should promote the staff to undertake life-story work or other direct work that will better reflect the child’s experience of living at the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.14)  The registered person should support the staff to be ambitious for every child in the home and to gain skills and experience that enable them to actively support each child to achieve their potential. To ensure that staff understand and can meet each child’s needs, in line with their responsibilities, the registered person themselves will need to have a high level of understanding of the needs of the children in their care. In particular, the staff should have meaningful conversations with the children on a host of topical teenage issues. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.5)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should be enrolled on the appropriate Diploma noted in regulation 28(2) and complete the Diploma within the relevant timescales listed in regulation 28(3). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.12)

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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: SC363630 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Castle Homes Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Forge, Church Street West, Woking, Surrey GU21 6HT

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Rian Mansaram Dale Mawson

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Inspectors

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Joanna Beal, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC363630 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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