Children's home run by Sandcastle Care Limited in Wyre

Inspection report for children’s home: SC061803 1 SC061803 Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is one of a number operated by a large private organisation. This privately owned home provides care for up to four children who may have social and emotional, difficulties and learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager obtained dual registration for this home and another home in December 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: SC061803 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/06/2022 Full Good 17/08/2021 Full Good 03/12/2019 Full Good 17/12/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC061803 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with the manager and staff team, who know them well. Children benefit from mutually respectful relationships with the staff based on praise and humour. They say that they trust staff and enjoy spending time with them. There are caricature photos of the children and the team representing everyone’s personalities. This creates a warm and relaxed atmosphere and helps children develop trusted and secure relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The atmosphere in the home is warm and welcoming. Children are encouraged to personalise their own bedrooms. Communal areas are nice spaces, where children can relax and play games, such as chess. However, there was some damaged furniture around the home and damaged blinds in a child’s bedroom. The manager has taken action to address this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are not consistently accessing their individual education placements. Managers and staff continue to work with virtual school heads to address this. In addition, children are not supported to take part in educational activities throughout the day. This means that opportunities to improve the children’s access to education are missed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities, such as bowling, swimming, going to the gym and games nights. Staff ensure that memories are captured and recorded. This is important for the children and will allow them to understand their time living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Prior to a child moving into the home, the manager uses a decision-making tool to consider the child’s needs alongside the needs of the existing children living at the home and the staff skills. The children already living at the home are consulted with so that they are prepared for new children moving in. Children are welcomed sensitively and encouraged to personalise their own bedrooms, which offers a sense of permanence and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children moving from the home into independence have been provided with excellent support. When initial plans have not been in the best interests of these children, managers and staff have challenged the placing authority and supported the children so that the right provision has been found specific to their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to manage their feelings safely. An in-house therapist visits the home each week. Although children at this time do not want to access this service, it is an opportunity for staff to receive advice and support so they can understand better and develop their skills to support children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061803 4 The children are supported to spend time with their family and others who are important to them. Children’s families are welcomed into the home, or staff take the children to see the people who are important to them.

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

Clear plans in place identify the risks for the individual children. Plans are completed with children, parents and professionals. The plans set out clear guidance and ways of working with children for staff to follow.

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

Staff support the children to understand risks and how to keep themselves safe. As a result, there have been no incidents of cannabis use because of the alternative approaches staff have used with the children, such as introducing attendance at local gyms and helping children to understand the risk associated with the use of cannabis.

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

Since the last inspection, there had been a high level of missing-from-home incidents. When children have gone missing from home, on occasions staff have not routinely followed the process outlined in the children’s individual plans, for example completing local area searches. However, since starting in post, the manager has put in place clear processes, so staff understand their responsibilities in relation to keeping children safe. This has resulted in the number of missing-from-home episodes significantly reducing.

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

A child new to the home brought an e-cigarette and video games unsuitable for their age into the home. Staff did not follow the organisation’s own policies and procedures to address this.

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

Managers and staff use positive rewards and praise to manage the children’s behaviour. When consequences have been used, they have been proportionate and effective. Staff use their knowledge, understanding and positive relationships with the children to manage behaviour. This has resulted in an overall reduction in the number of safeguarding incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, there has been a change to the management of the home. The current manager is dual registered for two homes. The manager is suitably qualified and experienced. He is committed to supporting children to reach their full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is supported by a suitably qualified deputy manager. They complement each other and have created an environment that is child focused and a learning environment for staff. Managers support staff to reflect on their skills and improve practices. Staff morale is high and the home has a stable staff team in place. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061803 5 Team meetings take place regularly and are practice-related, evaluative and used as an opportunity to consider training and development so that practice is improved. The team meeting agenda is varied but always includes discussions about the children and supports staff reflection. The in-house therapist attends the monthly team meetings to provide therapeutic input. This supports staff’s learning and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular supervision sessions. Records of supervision are of good quality. The manager has clear oversight so that he can ensure that staff are provided with the opportunity to discuss their well-being, professional development and the outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective relationships with professionals. An independent reviewing officer said, ‘This is the longest home that [name of child] has ever lived having experienced multiple moves and disruption of emergency placements. This has allowed him to build trusting relationships with staff.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have taken effective action to challenge placing authorities’ plans for children when these are not in their best interest. One child has been supported to challenge decisions made about their plan for the future, which has resulted in a clear plan to support their return home to family.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good oversight of the home and, through monitoring, has an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The requirements and recommendations made at the last inspection have been met. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061803 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 protection of children standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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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)(a)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to ensuring that staff support children to understand the impact of using e-cigarettes on their health and remove and dispose of e-cigarettes from the environment. In addition, ensure that any video games that children access are appropriate to their age. 5 March 2024

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Requirement Due date

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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans; 5 March 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC061803 7 promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(viii)(x))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that children are supported to maintain healthy routines.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming, supportive and meets children’s basic day-to-day needs. In particular, damage to the property should be repaired in a timely manner. ('Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)

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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: SC061803 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspectors

Nicola Forrester, Social Care Inspector Nicola Clements, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC061803 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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