Children's home run by Sandcastle Care Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2534580 1 Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is operated by a large private company and provides care for up to two children who experience social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has had no registered manager since August 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 21 February 2023

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2534580 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/02/2023 Full Good 02/11/2021 Full Outstanding 25/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2534580 3

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, two children have moved out of the home. For one of these children, this was in line with their individual care plan. A second child moved out of the home following an increase in safeguarding incidents. Before moving out, the children visited their new homes. This supported them to experience positive endings.

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improvement to be good

The one child currently living in the home said that staff are all ‘ok’. The child is happy in the home but would prefer to move to a larger home with more children. While this has been acknowledged by the manager and staff team, there are no current plans for the child to move.

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improvement to be good

The child is not in full-time education and has a home tutor. Currently, the child’s engagement with their tutor is limited and strategies used by staff to encourage the child to attend are ineffective. There is no formal monitoring in place for the child’s attendance, which means there is no way to evaluate their progress effectively. The manager is working with relevant partner agencies to identify more suitable education for the child.

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improvement to be good

The child is registered with local health services and attends routine appointments. Staff use incentives to encourage the child to have a healthy lifestyle and they actively promote personal hygiene.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the child to spend time with their friends and family, including having weekend stays. This enables children to maintain important relationships. When the child is with their family there are arrangements in place for staff to carry out checks on the child’s welfare, by making phone calls to the child or their family. However, the manager has not fully considered whether the arrangements in place to safeguard the child when they are away from the home are sufficient.

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improvement to be good

The home environment is generally well maintained and homely. However, a mattress on a child’s bed was stained and in need of replacement. Staff had been aware of this but had not reported it to the manager. A replacement mattress was ordered during the inspection.

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improvement to be good

The manager works with specialist external agencies to consider and manage the child’s known risks. This includes seeking advice when new concerns arise. Despite this, the manager has identified that some plans, including those linked to free time, are not appropriate and may be exposing the child to greater risk. Currently, the Inspection report for children's home: 2534580 4 child is allowed to have significant periods of free time, and it is not always clear where they are or who they are with when away from the home.

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improvement to be good

The manager has not taken timely action to review the arrangement for the child to have free time. However, a multi-agency meeting is planned and will be used to consider how to safely allow the child to have free time.

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improvement to be good

The child has been missing from the home on a small number of occasions. Staff have not always followed agreed plans in response to such incidents. This is because they do not have a consistent understanding of the agreed missing-from-home protocol. The manager has identified this as a learning need and has started to take steps to address this.

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improvement to be good

Staff have completed direct work with the child to help them understand how to stay safe. The quality of this work is variable and is usually reactive in nature. In some instances, the sessions are not linked to the child’s current risks. This means there has been limited progress in reducing these risks for the child.

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improvement to be good

The child spends a lot of time away from the home due to the amount of free time and family time that they have. When the child is in the home, their behaviour is generally settled, although staff do struggle to get them to adhere to the home’s routines. For example, the child frequently refuses to wake up on time to engage with his education tutor. Staff’s use of rewards and consequences is not effective and there has been a delay in trying alternative approaches.

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good

The registered manager left the home in August 2023. All the employed staff left at the same time. The loss of the manager and staff was very disruptive. A new manager and staff team are in place but they lack experience and the home has not yet stabilised following the recent changes.

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good

The manager has applied to Ofsted to be registered. This is her first time as a manager and she is still learning the role. She is being supported by the responsible individual to oversee the home. However, this support has mostly been provided remotely. The responsible individual has not ensured that the manager has consistently taken timely action to meet the child’s needs.

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good

The home does not currently have enough staff. Recruitment is ongoing. The manager and staff have covered the gaps in staffing. The manager has ensured that there are always sufficient staff in the home.

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good

The registered provider has made the decision not to move any new children into the home for the foreseeable future. In addition, in response to the inspection, a decision has been made to move more experienced staff from the provider’s other homes, to assist the existing staff team. Opportunities for the manager to be supported by experienced managers are being explored. Inspection report for children's home: 2534580 5 Staff receive a range of mandatory training. However, their lack of experience means that they are still developing the skills needed to meet the child’s needs. Staff receive regular supervision from the manager, which is supportive and reflective and focuses on their development and practice.

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good

The manager has a realistic understanding of the home’s areas for development and has taken action to make some improvements. However, in some areas she has been slow to make the necessary changes, as she has lacked the confidence and knowledge to do so.

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good

The manager has recently introduced a measuring outcomes tool to assist staff to critically reflect and develop good practice. In one example, a member of staff was able to identify that the missing-from-home procedure was not followed due to not having direct access to contact numbers and addresses. As a result, the staff plan to put in place a ‘grab bag’ for staff with easily accessible details on the information required when children go missing Inspection report for children's home: 2534580 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 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 boundaries 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 children living in the home with the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider should ensure that they children have clean and appropriate bedding. 14 January 2024

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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

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers; 14 January 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2534580 7 promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help each child who is above compulsory school age to participate in further education, training or employment and to prepare for future care, education or employment. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(v)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that when children are not in education, there is clear structure and routine in place at the home to support independent study.

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered provider ensuring that staff can identify when children are at risk of harm and take action to keep children safe in accordance with their individual plans, in particular missing-from-home and CCE risks. 14 January 2024

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

promotes their welfare. 14 January 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2534580 8 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)©€(f))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered provider ensuring that staff have the knowledge to meet the needs of the children and that the staff team provides consistent care to the children.

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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

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered provider ensuring that fire drills take place regularly and particularly when new staff are inducted into the home. 14 January 2024

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38) Inspection report for children's home: 2534580 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: 2534580 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Carrie Mayes, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2534580 11 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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