Children's Home, Residential special school run by Wandsworth Borough Council in Wandsworth

Inspection report for children's home: SC470513 1 SC470513 Registered provider: Wandsworth Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority-run service which provides care and accommodation for up to 56 children with autism spectrum disorder, learning disabilities and associated conditions. The home is on the same site as the organisation’s school and is comprised of separate individual houses so that children live in smaller groups. It accommodates children for short breaks and for placements of 38 weeks of the year. There were 38 children living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspectors only inspected the social care provision at this school.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 10 June 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: 13 September 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC470513 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/09/2022 Full Good 19/01/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/04/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 02/12/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC470513 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are well cared for by a skilled staff team. Staff demonstrate a good knowledge of children’s individual needs and attend to these with care and sensitivity. Staff understand the communication needs of individual children and all children are supported well to share their views and make choices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

On occasion, staff need to use monitoring devices for children with epilepsy to keep them safe. However, an issue was identified where a child’s night-time monitor was being used during the day and not as instructed by leaders. This unnecessarily compromised a child’s right to privacy. This was immediately addressed when raised by inspectors with leaders, and renewed guidance has now been issued to staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of children’s health needs and know how to intervene to keep them safe and well. However, some of the written healthcare plans were not explicit in the guidance provided to staff about how to intervene to meet health needs. Leaders again acknowledged and updated the relevant healthcare plans during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with a wide range of activities. These include trips to soft play parks, the beach, local shops, mini golf and walks in the local area, as well as the use of the play equipment and swimming pool on site. All trips are carefully considered to make sure that there are sufficient staff and any required safety measures, such as emergency medication, are accessible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The way that children are supported to move into and out of the home is a strength and has been developed since the last inspection. Home managers have been more involved in the assessment of children to ensure that there is a good plan for children coming in. Staff visit the children before they come to stay in residential and children are given detailed short stories that describe social situations to help understand what life in their new home will be like and who lives and works there. When children move into the home, they are supported to develop relationships with peers and staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in their education and are well supported to develop skills to increase their independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use a variety of communication methods to ensure that children can communicate their needs. Daily plans are explored with each child and there are multiple opportunities for children to make choices in what they want to do. A children’s council meets regularly. Surveys are also carried out to give children the opportunity to share their views. It is, however, unclear how the views shared by children in surveys are considered and responded to by leaders. Inspection report for children's home: SC470513 4

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

Safeguarding procedures across the school are effective, with all staff being aware of their responsibility to report and raise any concern. This knowledge extends beyond staff who are responsible for care and includes office staff. This collective approach to safeguarding practice has led to a strong culture of safeguarding across the school.

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

Allegations and concerns are managed well. There are good links with local safeguarding professionals, who confirm that the school and residential staff share information promptly and work effectively in partnership to ensure concerns are properly investigated and addressed.

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

New and revised training has been introduced to guide staff in supporting children to manage their behaviours. Staff talk positively about the impact of this and feel they are better able to support children as a result. This has had an immediate impact in the residential setting, with a significant reduction in the number of restraints since the last inspection.

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

When incidents occur, they are recorded promptly by staff and shared with relevant leaders through an electronic system. Leaders have good oversight of incidents and respond to themes and patterns of behaviour, which are then discussed in weekly safeguarding meetings. However, despite oversight having improved, there is an inconsistency in how children or staff are debriefed following incidents. Short stories have been created to help children understand what has happened, but these are not routinely used. There are no individual plans in place to set out how children can be helped when there are significant barriers to supporting them to engage in this work.

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

One of the homes has recently had a period of challenging behaviour by the children. This has resulted in a slightly increased number of incidents, which have been responded to well. The inspector observed one child behaving towards another in a way that could be perceived as bullying. Although staff intervened to deal with this, they failed to consider the behaviour in this context. The school policy regarding bullying is unclear and does not guide staff to have a clear understanding of when behaviours may constitute bullying. This means that work to help children understand the impact of their behaviours is not always carried out.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders have been working consistently and tirelessly to manage a challenging period for the service. Since the last inspection, there has been a planned restructure of staff and roles. The management team has consulted closely with staff and managed changes well. Staff report feeling supported and listened to by managers, morale is improving and there is a sense of optimism that the changes are for the better. Inspection report for children's home: SC470513 5 Each of the homes has a designated manager and staff team. Home managers have been given increased autonomy in their role. They have more say in choosing staff and have more involvement in decisions about children coming to stay in their homes. The home managers are experienced practitioners who display a lot of passion and commitment to their role. They model good practice and have good oversight of the quality of day-to-day care. They are very child-focused and ensure

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

that the needs of the children are the primary consideration.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a robust support system in place for staff, with a combination of supervisions, team meetings and ongoing training and development. All staff have access to this support, whether they are permanent, temporary or waking night staff. This ensures that the expectations of senior leaders and home managers are consistently understood across the residential setting.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

While children do make progress, there is a gap in how their progress is recorded and monitored by managers. It is evident through looking at one-to-one work and feedback from professionals and parents that children make significant progress, but this is not captured well in care plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have good oversight of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. A comprehensive school improvement plan demonstrates that leaders are aware of the current challenges facing the home and they have identified areas to improve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Social workers and safeguarding professionals are confident in the work that is done by staff and the professionalism and clarity of communication. Complaints are investigated effectively when raised. However, leaders do not always respond to complaints within the timescales set down in their own policy. Most parents were positive about the way that residential staff communicate with them and keep them updated. However, there were a number of parents who reported a less positive experience and felt that staff did not always communicate effectively with them. Inspection report for children's home: SC470513 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

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that health guidance to staff is reviewed and updated to ensure that children’s individual health needs and any emergency interventions are explicit. 31 August 2023

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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 promotes their welfare.

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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

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)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the progress children make is captured in records and that this information is used to keep their support plans relevant and effective. 31 August 2023

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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;

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Requirement Due date

and promotes their welfare. Inspection report for children's home: SC470513 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(g)(ii)

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure;

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Requirement Due date

and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate;

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Requirement Due date

and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 31 August 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure children are consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted on. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 22, paragraph 4.11)  The registered person should ensure that observation, monitoring or surveillance of children must not remove reasonable privacy, and should allow as much privacy as is possible, including in dressing, washing and using the toilet. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 22, paragraph 3.36)  The registered person should ensure that procedures for dealing with allegations

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Recommendations

of bullying are in place and staff have the skills required to intervene, protect and address bullying behaviours effectively. (See regulation 34(3) on the policy for the Inspection report for children's home: SC470513 8 prevention of bullying.) (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 39, paragraph 8.16)  The registered person should develop the home’s effective working relationships with each child’s parent. These working relationships will also be key to success in delivering the care planning standard (regulation 14). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3)

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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: SC470513 9

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Wandsworth Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Wandsworth Borough Council, The Town Hall, Wandsworth High Street, London SW18 2PU

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Penelope Doswell

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Inspectors

Mark Newington, Social Care Inspector Lee Kirwin, Social Care Inspector Stephen Challis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC470513 10 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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