Children's Home, Residential special school run by Cotswold Chine School in Gloucestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC030367 1 SC030367 Registered provider: Cotswold Chine School Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This independent charitable school is also registered as a children’s home. It is registered to provide care for up to 42 children. The accommodation for children is provided across seven houses located at or near to the school. At the time of the inspection, 32 children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 15 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 outstanding

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 29 November 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC030367 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/11/2021 Full Good 21/01/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/02/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC030367 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy and feel safe living at this home. They feel the staff really care about them and want the best for them. One child in particular spoke passionately about the care and opportunities they have had. They said that being at the home was the ‘best decision, as my outcomes are so much better than they would have been had I not lived here and only gone to the school’. Children feel their views are valued and listened to. Effective consultation with children is a strength of the provision.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have built strong, effective and nurturing relationships with children. Staff know the children well and work holistically with other departments across the school to help children achieve their goals. The care and education teams work cohesively, which provides consistency for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s day-to-day experiences are positive. They have fun and get on with the children they live with most of the time. Staff skilfully support children to develop and maintain positive relationships with each other.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good-quality care guided by clear care planning that includes therapeutic input. While there is a range of plans in place to support children to mature and develop, more balance is needed to enable children to become more independent and take reasonable risks. Currently, children do not have enough opportunities to develop their independence and prepare for the next stage of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress from when they arrived at the home. Children, families and professionals recognise this progress and celebrate children’s achievements. Some parents said that their child’s progress has also had a positive impact on the family as well as securing the future for their child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The therapy provision is an excellent resource and a strength of the provision. A therapeutic curriculum is woven throughout the care that children receive. This provision is overseen by qualified therapists who guide clinical therapy assistants that are based in each house. This approach ensures that children receive the support they need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Families speak highly of the family support provision available to them. This team supports families to rebuild and develop positive relationships with each other and their children and provides a space to discuss and resolve conflict. For some, this has led to reunification with families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s moves into the home are carefully planned and managed well to ensure that children’s individual needs are met. The effectiveness of this approach is Inspection report for children’s home: SC030367 4 reflected by a low disruption rate. The same diligence is shown by leaders and managers when deciding which house children should live in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with warm, welcoming homes, which reflect the children who live there. Children contribute ideas to decorating and furnishing communal areas as well as their bedrooms. However, the bathroom in one house requires refurbishment, and in another house several fire doors were wedged open. Action was taken during the inspection to resolve the fire door issue.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children can take part in a wide range of activities, both on and off site. These activities include the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and youth clubs. Staff support children to pursue their own interests as well as trying new things. Staff encourage children to suggest ideas for activities. The youth worker tries hard to provide all of these activities and explores local resources, which enhances the activities on offer.

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

Safeguarding practices are implemented effectively and ensure that a strong safeguarding culture is embedded throughout the home. Child protection concerns are well managed, and leaders work well with external safeguarding partners. Detailed safeguarding records are maintained and confirm the actions taken by staff to keep children safe. Staff work with family members to share care and safety plans to help extend children’s safety beyond schooltime and into their own communities.

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

Positive behaviour management is well rooted in everyday practice. Staff understand potential triggers for children and know how each child presents when they are becoming anxious, angry, worried or upset. Good relationships coupled with caring early responses and the effective use of social stories help to reduce children’s anxieties.

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

Leaders carefully monitor the use of restraint. Staff work effectively to avoid using restraint when possible and find ways to reduce its use when it is needed. Comprehensive incident records are maintained. Leaders and managers review incidents effectively to identify any patterns and trends. They learn lessons from this information and take action to further develop practice.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. When they do, staff respond appropriately to ensure children’s swift, safe return. Leaders and managers ensure that return home interviews take place with the children involved. Information from these interviews is used to prevent reoccurrence and improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

This home benefits from a strong and effective leadership team. Leaders and managers are ambitious for the children in their care. They continually monitor the home to understand children’s lived experiences, and they take effective action to develop the provision to benefit children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC030367 5 A strong learning culture is embedded throughout the provision. Leaders and managers find creative ways to improve the quality of care. Increased keep in touch meetings with new staff and an additional focus on staff well-being have increased stability in the staff team. Leaders and managers have implemented an ‘A and B home’ system. This means that each member of staff has an ‘A home’ that is their primary place of work and a ‘B home’ where they will cover if needed. All these initiatives are ensuring greater consistency of care for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children find leaders and managers approachable and will choose these people to spend time with, sharing their news and information that is important to them. Children confidently share their ideas for improving the provision, knowing that leaders and managers will listen and, where possible, implement the ideas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff receive good-quality support. Supervision is reflective, developmental and effective. Information gathered from supervision sessions helps to direct and develop the staff training programme. Consequently, training is meaningful and supports staff to meet the children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff like how accessible and supportive the management team is. Leaders and managers share their knowledge and model good practice across the houses. In addition, they share their expertise in the wider community through their involvement with further education providers. This engagement benefits children as they move on to adulthood.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Each house is well staffed to ensure that children receive the support they require. Care teams also include clinical therapy assistants. This new role is a good addition to the team and supports therapeutic practices being embedded throughout the houses and in the care that children receive. Inspection report for children’s home: SC030367 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.

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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) (2)(b)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that children are supported to develop an understanding of risk and take reasonable risks as well as developing practical independence skills. 31 March 2024

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all bathrooms are appropriately maintained. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.6)

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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: SC030367 7

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cotswold Chine School

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Valerie Gisselle Gomez Iraheta

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Inspectors

Wendy Anderson, Social Care Inspector Martin Davis, Social Care Inspector Martin Brown, Social Care Inspector Janet Jauregui, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC030367 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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