Children's Home run by Woodside House Care Ltd in Blackburn with Darwen

Inspection report for children’s home: SC357455 1 SC357455 Registered provider: Woodside House 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 privately operated by a family partnership. The home provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager registered with Ofsted in February 2008.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, three children were living in the home. No children have moved into or out of the home since the last inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has the relevant experience and qualifications for the post.

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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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC357455 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/06/2022 Full Outstanding 21/09/2021 Full Outstanding 11/09/2019 Full Outstanding 30/01/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC357455 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they feel safe and can identify trusted adults they can talk to. They talk positively about the home and the staff who work with them. They describe the staff as ‘amazing’, ‘lovely’, ‘incredible’ and ‘funny’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good attendance at school and college. They are making progress and have aspirations for their future careers. The registered manager and responsible individual attend all education meetings and advocate for additional support if this is needed. Children’s learning in the home is supported by staff. Staff took one child to visit theatre productions in line with the curriculum for their GCSE.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff make sure that children’s health and well-being needs are met. Children attend routine health appointments when they need them. When it has been necessary, the responsible individual makes sure that referrals are made to specialist health professionals to ensure that children have access to appropriate external services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with their families. The manager and responsible individual work with parents to deliver consistent expectations of children. This means that the children are able to maintain positive relationships with the people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children take part in a wide range of activities to meet their social, educational and recreational needs. Activities include going to the cinema and theatre, going on holidays, ice skating and attending sports clubs and the gym. Consequently, children have age-appropriate social interactions, which helps them to build the skills and strategies to form and maintain relationships and gain a sense of their own identity.

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

Children have individualised risk assessments which provide staff with clear strategies to support risk reduction. These are updated to reflect any new or emerging risks. Children receive help and support to manage their behaviour. However, some behaviours and experiences of children are not fully understood by staff. This means that children are subject of unrealistic behaviours and their case records contain language that is stigmatising.

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

Staff give children verbal praise and rewards for positive behaviours and celebrate their achievements. Consequences are rarely used but, when necessary, they are recorded and include management oversight.

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

Staff carry out regular key-work sessions and direct work sessions with the children. They cover relevant topics and are age appropriate. These sessions are proactive but also delivered in response to new situations that arise. They are also used to Inspection report for children’s home: SC357455 4 give children the chance to explore their feelings and emotions and to understand risks. However, there are missed opportunities to follow up on work carried out to make sure that known risks are continuously addressed.

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

When there are concerns about child exploitation, the manager and responsible individual respond promptly. They work with other agencies to ensure that children are supported by professionals who specialise in exploitation. Children also receive direct work sessions focused on child exploitation and risk assessments are updated.

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

The registered manager and responsible individual work collaboratively with local authorities and other safeguarding agencies. They share updates on a regular basis and ensure that social workers are aware of any significant incidents or behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has an experienced registered manager and responsible individual. The staff are skilled and knowledgeable and are able to meet children needs. Some staff have not completed required training in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The absence of this training has not reduced the effectiveness of staff in helping those children with ADHD.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home environment is welcoming, well maintained and it meets the needs of the children. Children’s bedrooms are personalised and display their interests and achievements, including awards. The use of locks on downstairs internal doors at night restricts children’s access to certain areas of the home. Children are accustomed to this practice. However, the use of these locks is not required to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive supervision aligned to the statement of purpose, but few supervision sessions take place on a one-to-one basis. When one-to-one supervision does take place, the minutes do not consistently demonstrate or capture that discussions are reflective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place alongside weekly handovers. They are effective in sharing links to staff training and updates about the children and outstanding tasks. However, they are a missed opportunity to deliver structured training and development opportunities to staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and responsible individual challenge placing authorities and education providers when they feel that provision or decisions are not in the children’s best interests. They act as advocates for the children to ensure that outcomes for them are positive. Inspection report for children’s home: SC357455 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 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

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. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that information recorded about children is done so in a non- stigmatising way. 30 November

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and 31 October 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC357455 6 allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that there are no locks on internal doors to prevent children from accessing communal areas.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same. 31 October 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s views are clear in their support plans. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access all required training to meet the needs of children. This includes the completion of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder training which is required for the children currently living in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that children are aware of and manager their own safety both inside and outside the home. Staff should help children to understand how to protect themselves and review this understanding as required. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.9)

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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: SC357455 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Woodside House Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Alison Hayton-Gregg

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Inspectors

Sarah Jackson, Social Care Inspector Katie Tomlinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC357455 8 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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