Children's Home run by Holywell Children’s Services Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home for 2519196 1 Registered provider: Holywell Children’s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and operated by a private provider.

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Information about this children’s home

It is registered to provide care for up to two children with social and emotional needs or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children are currently living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post and registered with Ofsted since July 2021.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home for 2519196 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/06/2022 Full Good 30/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home for 2519196 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like the staff and seek them out to spend time with them. One child stated that the best thing about the home was the staff. Another child informed their social worker that coming to the home was ‘the best thing that ever happened’. Staff help the children to engage in their interests, such as football, golfing and gaming.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children do not have identified school places. They have tutors that come to the home, and staff supplement the individual sessions with educational activities. However, staff can disrupt children during the tutoring sessions due to a lack of quiet spaces in the home. The manager has raised and escalated the issue of the lack of school placements, for both children, to the relevant professionals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are registered with local medical services, and they attend their routine appointments. However, there are outstanding actions from the children’s medical assessments. Staff administer prescribed medication safely and promote healthy eating. One child said, ‘I only ever ate takeaways before I came here, but now I eat loads of fruit and vegetables.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is comfortable and well-maintained. Staff assist children to personalise their bedrooms in line with their interests, such as with items relating to their favourite football club.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children and provide additional emotional support when children need it. Staff support children to engage with specialist workers about their individual needs. Children are encouraged to explore their own identity. Managers carried out some research to understand one child’s cultural heritage and shared this knowledge with the child. This has helped the child make sense of their own identity. However, this knowledge and research have not been shared across the whole staff team.

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

Staff understand the risks to the children and how to support them to keep themselves safe. Behaviour management plans are clear and contain individualised strategies. Recordings by staff show a nurturing and supportive response towards children.

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

Children are rarely held by staff. When they are, staff use the least amount of physical restraint to keep the child safe. Staff receive appropriate training in de- escalation and restraint.

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

Children rarely go missing. Staff know the missing-from-home plans for each child. When children have been missing from the home, staff have followed the individual plans and located the children quickly. Inspection report for children’s home for 2519196 4 The manager ensures that staff are trained in areas that may develop into risks for the children, such as exploitation and radicalisation. This means that the staff can recognise any emerging concerns and are prepared to support the children.

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

Staff undertake routine fire safety checks in line with the home’s policies. However, fire doors within the home are propped open, which leaves the children at increased fire risk. A requirement has been made in relation to this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers in the home lead by example and promote an ethos of sensitive and high- quality care. Staff feel supported by managers. Managers are accessible to the staff team and staff feel comfortable approaching them. Managers recognise development needs within the staff team. They address these individually, through supervision, and also by learning as a group in team meetings. Staff receive regular supervision and use the opportunity to reflect on their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has recruited a diverse staff team. Staff undertake training in relation to inclusion and British values as part of their induction. All staff complete mandatory training in line with the statement of purpose. The manager has sourced additional training for the staff in relation to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism. However, they have not had training in relation to oppositional defiant disorder. A requirement has been made in relation to this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands that children value having consistent adults to care for them. The manager supported a child who moved out of the home to continue to be cared for by the staff who knew them. Extra staff were then recruited safely and completed their induction before any further children moved into the home. This enabled all children to experience consistency of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have built positive relationships with other professionals. They communicate frequently with them. The managers challenge agencies when children’s needs are not met, for example in relation to schooling. This has resulted in several meetings being arranged to help resolve the issue.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose is reviewed by the manager and regularly updated. However, the manager has not included how the competence of the staff team in relation to restraint is assessed as part of their training, as required by regulation. Inspection report for children’s home for 2519196 5

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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 receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to ensuring that outstanding actions on health assessments are met. 1 December 2023

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv)) 1 December 2023 Inspection report for children’s home for 2519196 6 This is specifically in relation to ensuring that the staff undertake training in relation to oppositional defiant disorder and have knowledge in relation to specific cultural heritages.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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 each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to ensuring that each child has appropriate space to complete their learning without disruption from others in the home. 1 December 2023

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home. (Regulation 25 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that fire doors are not propped open. 1 December 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. (Regulation 16 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the statement of purpose includes how the competence of staff training in restraint is assessed. 1 December 2023

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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 for 2519196 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Holywell Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Dalton House, 9 Dalton Square, Lancaster LA1 1WD

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Inspector

Sarah Huntbatch, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home for 2519196 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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