Children's home run by Fair Ways in Southampton

Inspection report for children's home: SC385809 1 SC385809 Registered provider: Fairways Care (UK) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and is registered to provide care for up to five children who experience social and emotional difficulties. Children can access education at one of the provider’s two schools, and they can access therapy through the provider’s ‘hub’. At the time of this inspection, four children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since May 2023.

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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: SC385809 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/03/2023 Full Good 15/09/2021 Full Good 28/08/2019 Full Good 26/09/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children's home: SC385809 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive, trusting relationships with staff. They seek staff out to talk about their wishes and feelings. Children know that their views are important and that their voices are being heard.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to maintaining effective communication with the people who are important to children, particularly education professionals. A positive working relationship and collaborative approach has been particularly beneficial for one child. They are being offered an individualised plan to meet their education needs. Other children are attending school and have made good progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are nurturing and actively promote children’s health and well-being. They ensure that children have access to health professionals when this is needed. Children are included in developing their care and support plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have access to a wide range of activities both inside the home and in the wider community, including pottery, sports and gaming. This provides children with opportunities to expand their talents and interests and promotes positive relationships between children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Careful planning takes place when children move into the home. Often, children move into this home from one of the organisation’s other homes. Effective information-sharing ensures that children are given the support that they need. This approach creates the best opportunity for moves to go smoothly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Not all children are given sufficient support to learn important life skills. For example, teaching practical skills to children is not embedded in practice. This has the potential to have a negative impact on children’s confidence to live more independently in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The environment is welcoming, homely and personalised with photos and pictures. Processes in the home for managing health and safety matters and maintenance tasks are good. As a result, repairs are completed in a timely manner and the physical environment is safe and secure.

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

Staff promote a culture of openness which encourages children to talk about any concerns they have about their safety and well-being. Children know how to make a complaint if they are worried about any aspect of their care. Their views are taken seriously and acted on. Children receive feedback on any action taken in response to complaints. Inspection report for children's home: SC385809 4 Staff speak knowledgably about the processes they follow when they have safeguarding concerns about a child, including when children make allegations about staff. Appropriate steps are taken quickly to ensure children’s safety.

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

Managers recognise the importance of learning from safeguarding incidents. They carry out thorough investigations, involving external safeguarding agencies when necessary. They ensure that any learning from incidents is shared with the staff team in team meetings. This responsive approach reduces the risk that potentially harmful situations will reoccur.

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

Staff respond promptly when children are absent without permission. They make every effort to maintain communication with the child and seek support from external agencies as necessary. This ensures that children return home safely as soon as possible.

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

All staff have completed safeguarding training and they incorporate their knowledge into daily practice. For example, they understand how to sensitively support children who have had traumatic early life experiences. Staff receive support from the organisation’s therapist to help them to work therapeutically with children.

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

Staff enjoy spending time with children and offer key-work sessions which address children’s known risks and vulnerabilities. However, the quality of records of key- work sessions is inconsistent and there are missed opportunities to demonstrate how children have been supported. This has the potential to be unhelpful for children who choose to access their records after they have left the home.

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

Following reports of bullying behaviour by children, managers have taken proactive steps to make sure that children understand that bullying behaviour is not acceptable. As a result, incidents of bullying have reduced significantly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has high expectations of staff and positive aspirations for what children can achieve. He is supported by the responsible individual, who has a sound understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. Both have a clear vision about developments which can further improve the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager makes good use of a range of monitoring systems to understand the impact the quality of care is having on children. He completes a monthly review of the service and shares this with senior leaders, which enables them to have effective oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager usually notifies Ofsted about serious events but there has been one occasion since the last inspection when this was not the case. As a result, the regulator was unable to monitor the management’s response to the incident. Nonetheless, the response was appropriate to ensure children’s safety. Inspection report for children's home: SC385809 5 Recent recruitment has been successful, which means children are being looked after by a stable staff team. New staff say that they are well supported by the leadership team and that they have many opportunities to work with more experienced staff to learn how best to support children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff usually receive regular reflective supervision but there have been a small number of occasions when supervision has not taken place at agreed intervals. Additionally, the quality of recording of supervision is variable. Not all records demonstrate how the registered manager is making sure that all staff know how to safely meet children’s needs, in line with their care plans and risk assessments. All staff receive annual appraisals, which provide opportunities to discuss feedback on performance and plans for staff development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager makes good use of his own quality of care reviews and the independent person’s reports to inform service developments. Recommendations are acted on in a timely manner. Inspection report for children's home: SC385809 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iii)) 31 March 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4)(a)-(d) occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child Inspection report for children's home: SC385809 7 living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious (40(4)(e)). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)

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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: SC385809 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Fairways Care (UK) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Ground Floor, Building 1000, Western Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3EN

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Inspector

Jill Sephton-Wright, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC385809 9 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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