Children's Home run by Willows21 Limited in Devon

Inspection report for children’s home: 2599388 1 Registered provider: Willows21 Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to three girls who may experience emotional and social difficulties. At the time of inspection, three girls were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 17 November 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

Date of last inspection: 6 December 2022

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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: 2599388 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/12/2022 Full Good 23/11/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2599388 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This house feels warm and homely. Personal possessions such as the bass guitar and karaoke machine show that these children live here. Photos of the children are also on display. Children are supported to keep their bedrooms tidy, and the addition of the pet cat and rabbit increases the family feel. The only detraction from this is the obvious fire extinguishers on display.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress here. All the girls attend school regularly and have improved rates of attendance. Carers are ambitious for children and work closely with their schools. When one child was struggling with school, the manager effectively challenged other professionals to ensure that the child’s wish to change school was heard. This led to a change of school, which the child is happy about.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have trusting relationships with carers. One social worker reported that she ‘always hears laughing’ when she visits. Carers support children to be healthy and make good choices, for example about food. Children are encouraged to cook meals once a week and are involved in the day-to-day planning of the home and the activities they want to do.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Careful consideration is given to children moving into the home. Since the last inspection, improvements have been made to this process with thought being given to the child that is moving in and the current children. Similar consideration is given to children moving on from the home, with the home having a planned way to keep in touch with those children and gradually reducing their involvement with them sensitively.

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

Children say they feel safe here. All of the girls were able to identify a trusted carer that they could speak to if they are worried. Since the last inspection, there have not been any incidents of children missing from care, self-harm or allegations raised.

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

Carers were quick to report concerns to the police for one child and took advice from them on how to manage this incident. The learning that was identified was shared with the other children (who were not directly involved) and conversations took place with all of the children about how to manage this in the future and how to keep safe online.

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

Physical interventions have been used and records relating to these are generally well detailed. The techniques used are low-level guides and are for minimal periods of time. They are only used to keep children or carers safe and conversations with the children take place afterwards so that they understand what has happened. Inspection report for children’s home: 2599388 4 Carers are aware of the risks to the children using their phones or internet and the children understand the rules that are in place. Carers know the processes to follow when there are concerns or incidents.

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

The home has good working relationships with social workers and parents. Two social workers explained that the manager gets back to them quickly and provides them with regular updates.

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

The provider has robust systems in place to ensure safe recruitment of staff and has an ‘in-house’ support system, which avoids the need for agency staff. This provides consistency of care for the girls.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed well, with effective monitoring systems in place. The manager knows these children well and has good oversight of their care. She can critically reflect with others about what could be done differently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are ambitious for children. When children have ideas, carers create realistic steps as to how these could be achieved. The manager is proactive in challenging other professionals when this is needed. This was evident for one child who wanted to change school and the manager showed tenacity in achieving this for them despite opposing views from other professionals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Carers feel supported and speak very highly of a manager who puts the girls at the ‘heart of everything she does.’ They say that managers are always available when needed and regularly check in with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is maintained to a high standard and improvements have been made since the last inspection, particularly to the carers’ bedrooms.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Records are detailed and clear. However, the main points are sometimes lost in the detail. For example, care plans contain sections which are not relevant to the particular child and should be taken out. Language in some recordings is not child focused, words like ‘dysregulated’ and ‘heightened’ are not meaningful to children. All workers should write in a way that is helpful to the child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2599388 5

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Recommendations

 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. In particular, consideration should be given to words such as ‘dysregulated’ and removing sections from children’s plans which do not relate to that particular child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62 , paragraph 14.4).  The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children, which, in most cases, will be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply

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Recommendations

with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. In particular, this means moving the fire extinguishers so that they are less obvious. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9).

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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: 2599388 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Old Farmhouse, Gussage St Michael, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 5JE

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Inspector

Nickie Doney, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2599388 7 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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