Children's Home, Residential special school run by Kisimul Group Limited in Lincolnshire

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC034241 1 SC034241

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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 43 children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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This monitoring visit

This home was last inspected in August 2023. This visit was undertaken in response to concerns raised following a safeguarding incident within the home. The visit focused on the way that incidents are managed and the sufficiency and experience of staff to meet the needs of the child living at the home.

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This monitoring visit

Senior leaders have recognised the importance of providing a supportive environment for staff, equipping them with the skills to meet the needs of the child is fundamental. A detailed action plan has been implemented by leaders and managers, and several steps have been taken to improve safeguarding practices and reinforce staff support.

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This monitoring visit

The home has not always been appropriately staffed to meet the needs of the child. There is a lack of experienced staff that know the child, so they are unable to manage some incidents safely. This has led to one serious incident that staff were not equipped to deal with. It was identified that two of the staff members on duty supporting this child, who has complex needs, were in their probationary period and had only worked at the home for a very short time. As a direct result of staff failings, the child was placed at risk. Staff were not able to manage the child’s behaviour, resulting in the risks to the child and others significantly escalating.

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This monitoring visit

There are still occasions when staff feel unsafe and anxious. Currently, staffing levels remain fragile, and not all staff have received regular supervision. This is a missed opportunity for the development of staff and reflective practice.

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This monitoring visit

Senior managers have begun to implement and strengthen support networks for Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC034241 2 staff. This includes coaching and modelling advice, reflective practice sessions and more regular supervision. One staff member said, ‘Managers are nice, but it would be nice to see them more.’

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This monitoring visit

The use of restraint within the home has decreased. However, the effectiveness of restraint practice has not been carefully evaluated. Following incidents, there has been no debrief with the child to gain their views. This makes it difficult for managers to properly scrutinise and evaluate restraint practice effectively. This poor oversight leaves children vulnerable.

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This monitoring visit

Requirements from the last inspection were not reviewed during this visit, so they will remain. A further requirement has been made, and these will be reviewed at the next inspection. No further recommendations have been made. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC034241 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/08/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/05/2023 Full Inadequate 17/11/2022 Full Good 24/08/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC034241 4

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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 with the given timescales.

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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

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to staff following children’s risk assessments and plans in relation to levels of care and supervision. 6 October 2023

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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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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 has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; 18 March 2024 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC034241 5 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;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Elements of regulation 13 have been repeated, and other points have been added.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the home is sufficiently staffed and that staff have the experience and skills to meet the needs of each child. This also relates to staff receiving regular reflective supervision and ensuring that staff work consistently as a team.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to fully implementing and embedding improvements in recording, monitoring and review systems.

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to staff and children being debriefed after measures of control have been used. 18 March 2024 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC034241 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when the placing authority or other relevant person does not provide the input and services needed to meet a child’s needs during their time in the home or in preparation for leaving the home, that they challenge them to meet the children’s needs. Staff should act as champions for the children, expecting nothing less than a good parent should. This specifically relates to staff escalating beyond the child’s social worker when important key documents that have been requested and are needed have not been provided in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 12, paragraph 2.8)  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

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Recommendations

needs of the children assigned to their care. This specifically relates to all staff having individualised supervision in line with the home’s bi-monthly policy. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that any child who has been restrained is given the opportunity to express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident, taking the age of the child and the circumstances of the restraint into account. In some cases, children may need longer to work through their feelings, so a record that the child has talked about their feelings should be made no longer than five days after the incident. This specifically relates to the debriefs with children being completed by a responsible person who was not directly involved in the restraint.

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Recommendations

(‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.60)  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 is helpful to the child. This specifically relates to staff using more sensitive and caring language in their records and ensuring that all records clearly evidence the monitoring they undertake following incidents, or when children have marks or injuries. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC034241 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 address: Kisimul School, The Old Vicarage High Street, Swinderby, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN6 9LU

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Inspectors

Linda Mason, Social Care Inspector Caroline Brailsford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC034241 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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