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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC020630 1 SC020630 Registered provider: Castle Homes Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is part of a private organisation. The home provides care for up to six children aged 5 to 18 years, who have experienced childhood adversity.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The current manager has been registered since December 2022. She is working towards her Level 5 diploma in Leadership and Management in Residential Care.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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 good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC020630 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/03/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 28/01/2020 Full Good 06/03/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC020630 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, one child was living at the home. No children have moved into or from the home since the last inspection.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child enjoys good and supportive relationships with a committed staff team. Staff enjoy their work and understand how to support the child. This helps the child to make consistent progress. Staff value the wishes and feelings of the child and use the child’s views to improve their practice. The child told the inspector that they feel safe and cared for due to the support given by staff.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the child to enjoy positive and memorable experiences. This includes caring for house pets and growing fruit and vegetables. These opportunities give the child a sense of pride and achievement.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Encouragement from staff has helped to ensure that the child’s health needs are met. Initially, the child had not wanted to visit the local doctors. Staff liaised with the surgery and arranged for a doctor to visit the home. This helped the child to feel at ease and to engage in the appointment.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to make progress with their education through ensuring that the child has a good routine and the necessary resources to help their learning. When there have been difficulties with the child’s education, the registered manager has challenged professionals to ensure that action is taken to help meet the child’s educational needs.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is beautifully decorated. The design is very child focused and personalised, with ample space for children to socialise and thrive.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the child to develop their social skills. The child enjoys horse riding lessons and attends a social group in the local community. Involvement in community groups provides the child with a feeling of belonging.

p.3

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

Staff have a good understanding of the child’s missing-from-care plan. When missing incidents arise, staff respond promptly and follow the protocol to locate the child. As a result, the child has always been located quickly and safely returned home.

p.3

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

Leaders manage allegations against staff appropriately. On one occasion, when the child raised a concern about the registered manager, a senior manager acted promptly to ensure that the child was safe and listened to. Following the incident, opportunities for learning were explored with the registered manager. This demonstrates a thorough and timely response to the child’s concerns. Inspection report for children’s home: SC020630 4 Staff respond therapeutically to complex behaviour and understand the reasons why the child presents in particular ways. A collaborative and child-focused approach by staff helps to ensure consistency for the child. On one occasion, a staff member actively protected the child from passing cars during an incident. The child was given space following the incident in order to speak about their feelings and what had taken place. As a result, the child felt listened to and better understood.

p.3

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

Consequences for poor behaviour by the child are fair and effective. The staff provide the child with chances to learn from their behaviour. On one occasion, when an incident involved a house pet, the staff supported the child to undertake a project to explore the animal’s needs. This helped the child to grow their understanding of how to safely care for the home’s pets with staff support.

p.4

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

Staff educate the child about how to keep safe, including learning about healthy relationships. This has helped the child to build positive relationships with the staff and peers in the community.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is committed to the progress of children and the development of staff. She has worked with the responsible individual in order to ensure the continuous development of the home. As a result, staff feel enthusiastic about their work and the support that they receive.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has good working relationships with partner agencies, and promptly raises concerns when children are not getting the support that they need. Challenge from the registered manager has helped to ensure that an assessment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was progressed for the child after some delay.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager safely recruits staff. Leaders ensure that the required checks are completed for new staff prior to them starting work in the home. The responsible individual also carries out an audit to ensure that all of the necessary information has been received. This rigour helps to ensure that staff are safe to work with children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have the opportunity of training that is tailored to the individual needs of children. This includes trauma-informed work with the home’s therapist and training with the responsible individual about therapeutic parenting. However, the registered manager has not ensured that all staff have completed missing-from-care or e-safety training so as to help support their knowledge and understanding in these areas of children’s care.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Not all staff are suitably qualified to work with children. Currently, one staff member is out of timescale for completion of a relevant level 3 qualification. Inspection report for children’s home: SC020630 5

p.4

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.

p.5

Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

p.5

Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

p.5

Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

p.5

Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

p.5

Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person may defer the relevant date if the individual—

p.5

Requirement Due date

does not work, or has not worked, in a care role in a home for a prolonged period; or

p.5

Requirement Due date

works, or has worked, in a care role in a home on a part- time basis. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b) (6)(a)(b)) 23 October 2023

p.5

Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) Inspection report for children’s home: SC020630 6

p.5

Information about this inspection

The inspector has 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: SC020630 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Castle Homes Care Limited

p.7

Children’s home details

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

p.7

Inspector

Chanel Bryant, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC020630 8 regulates and 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.

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