Children's home run by The Loddon Foundation Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: SC012021 1 SC012021 Registered provider: The Loddon Foundation Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care and education for up to 31 children, from eight to 19 years of age, who have autism, severe learning disabilities and/or associated complex restrictive behaviours. Children are accommodated in five houses, and all the children attend the school which is integrated with the home. There were 29 children at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The education provision was not inspected during the inspection. The school operates as a charitable trust and is registered with the Department for Education.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since March 2018.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC012021 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/05/2022 Full Outstanding 21/04/2021 Full Outstanding 10/10/2019 Full Outstanding 11/07/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC012021 3

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outstanding

Children’s experiences of living in the home enhance their well-being and provide them with a safe environment in which to learn, play, and grow in confidence. Before moving into the home, the majority of the children had been unable to access local specialist education provision due to their level of needs. In this home, children develop and make exceptional progress across all aspects of their lives. One parent said that the home has ‘set the bar’ for the care of children with autism.

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outstanding

A unique waking day curriculum approach to the children’s care and learning is child-centred and helps them to make incremental steps towards preparation for adult life and greater independence. One parent said that the staff support provided to their child had been life-changing for the child, and in turn, for the family.

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outstanding

Staff are attuned to the children’s needs and help them to manage their emotions and behaviours through the development of trusting and secure relationships. Children seek out staff for reassurance and affection and staff respond with kindness, playfulness and empathy. As a result, children learn new and socially appropriate ways to express their anxiety and emotions.

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outstanding

Staff use a range of personalised systems to develop and support children’s communication. Child-specific communication plans help to ensure that staff are consistent in their communication and responses with the children. Consequently, children make huge improvements in how they communicate and make choices. This reduces the children’s worries and stress.

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outstanding

Staff encourage the children to have a community presence. Children have opportunities to take part in a range of community-based activities, such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and work experience. Trips to the local shops and use of community leisure facilities and public transport help children to develop their social skills and become more confident.

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outstanding

The managers and staff purposefully structure and integrate the children’s care across home and education. Children enjoy and benefit from an exceptionally well- resourced and sensory-rich environment. This includes an on-site indoor swimming pool, outdoor gym, woodland area and vegetable gardens. The children particularly enjoy helping to care for the animals on the on-site farm and stables. The outside areas provide plentiful space for the children to play and have fun.

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outstanding

There is extensive management oversight of children’s health needs. The combination of school nurses and care managers ensures that children with complex health needs have their needs well met. A comprehensive auditing system Inspection report for children’s home: SC012021 4 ensures that, if there are any errors in medication, these are picked up and responded to immediately.

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

Staff support all of the children, the majority of whom communicate non-verbally, to make day-to-day choices and they encourage them to express their wishes and views. Staff understand the importance of listening to and involving the children in all aspects of their care. Children develop meaningful relationships and a sense of safety due to the alert and attentive focus of staff.

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

Children’s risk assessments and behaviour management plans are detailed and include clear strategies for staff to follow to reduce levels of risk. Staff focus on each child, noticing small cues, and take time to praise and redirect them when required.

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

Children have complex needs and can present with behaviours that place themselves or others at risk. Incidents of physical interventions are subject to daily monitoring by a specialist team, who scrutinise restraint practice and examine trends and patterns in forensic detail. Children’s behaviour management plans are regularly reviewed and evaluated with a clear and effective focus on restraint reduction.

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

Staff use a wide range of restraint practices, including holding doors, to maintain children’s safety. These incidents are subject to a greater degree of scrutiny than others to ensure that this practice is not commonplace. Staff receive clear guidance that emphasises the last-resort nature of this technique. Following incidents involving the use of door holds, staff complete a separate record to explain their reason for the intervention. This is subject to the same weekly oversight as other safeguarding concerns.

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

Overall, behaviour management record-keeping is good. Staff say that they receive support and a timely debrief after any incident that they are involved in. However, the records of staff debriefs and reflection, which are handwritten, are not sufficiently comprehensive. This is because they do not document reflection of the incident and any lessons learned.

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

Staff are clear about what to do and who to tell if they have a concern about a child. They are confident in reporting worries or concerns at an early stage. This enables managers to address issues promptly, preventing them from escalating into more significant practice issues that could harm children.

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

Investigations into allegations or suspicion of harm are handled fairly and quickly by the managers. Leaders use the harm test to support their decisions as to whether or not to report allegations to external safeguarding professionals, although there is some inconsistency as to what meets the threshold for referral. Allegations which have not met the harm test threshold for external reporting are investigated internally by appropriate leaders and managers. When allegations are Inspection report for children’s home: SC012021 5 reported to external safeguarding professionals, there is a good level of partnership working. Consistency in reporting allegations to relevant safeguarding professionals was a requirement at the previous inspection. Therefore, this requirement is repeated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is managed effectively by an experienced and qualified registered manager. The manager is supported by a strong leadership team whose members are ambitious and influential in developing practices to sustain the highest quality of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers place a high priority on staff retention and staff welfare. There are regular staff trips and activities that help build staff morale and cohesion. Leaders recognise that high staff morale has a direct impact on the quality of care and fosters open communication. This, in turn, reduces staff stress levels and improves the well-being of both staff and children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The school has benefited from some creative recruitment strategies that have seen its vacancy rate halved. Temporary staff are recruited using appropriate levels of scrutiny, with leaders ensuring that staff have suitable skills and experience before joining the team. All temporary staff have a suitable induction and are well supported in their roles. Longer-standing temporary staff receive support via regular supervision, appraisal and further training. The long-standing core staff team, supported by suitably vetted temporary staff, enables children to receive consistent care from staff that they know.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children from other local mainstream and special schools also use the outside grounds and forest school facilities. This promotes inclusivity by allowing the children to interact with their peers. This open approach helps to reduce stigmatisation, promoting a more accepting and inclusive community.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff make effective efforts to provide children with a homely environment. Children’s bedrooms are well furnished and reflect their tastes and preferences. There is closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitoring in the communal areas of the home, but this is non-intrusive and CCTV is not used in the children’s bedrooms or bathrooms. CCTV is not routinely monitored and is used for safeguarding purposes only. A small group of leaders have access to CCTV recordings and there is a clear record of when leaders have had to access it.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The maintenance team prioritises health and safety issues as they arise. Inconsistency in the standard of accommodation, particularly in the older houses on the site, has been identified. Currently, there is an ongoing building development project to improve the environment so that all the children receive a consistently high standard of accommodation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff say that they feel well supported and receive regular formal and informal supervision from their managers. However, some supervision records are not of a Inspection report for children’s home: SC012021 6 consistent standard, and a small number of supervision meetings take place outside of the organisation’s own time frames.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers know their strengths and weaknesses well. The majority of requirements made at the last inspection have been met. The home’s improvement plan sets out clear outcomes for sustained improvement by all departments and trustees. This reflects ongoing innovation and creative ideas to provide the children with the highest quality of care. Inspection report for children’s home: SC012021 7

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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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to ensuring that staff report safeguarding concerns in a timely way and that the local authority designated officer is consulted prior to investigating allegations made against members of staff.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is repeated. 30 November 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff in a restraint situation use their professional judgement, supported by their knowledge of each child’s risk assessment, an understanding of the needs of the child (as set out in their relevant plans) and an understanding of the risks the child faces. Professional judgements may need to be taken quickly, and staff training and supervision of practice should support this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 48, paragraph 9.53)  The registered person should ensure that systems are in place so that all staff receive regular supervision of their practice, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61,

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Recommendations

paragraph 13.2) Inspection report for children’s home: SC012021 8

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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: SC012021 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: The Loddon Foundation Ltd

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Inspectors

Anne-Marie Davies, Social Care Inspector Jane Balfe, Social Care Inspector Mark Newington, Social Care Inspector Jennie Christopher, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC012021 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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