Children's home run by New Forest Care Limited in Southampton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC402135 1 SC402135 Registered provider: New Forest Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to four children The organisation has its own separately registered schools and its own therapy team.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been on maternity leave. During this inspection year, a new registered manager has been in post and was registered in June 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC402135 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/03/2023 Full Good 22/02/2022 Full Good 26/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/06/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC402135 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are provided with good-quality care and support that is individual to the child’s needs. This enables them to build strong and trusting relationships with staff, and this is evidenced in their positive and tangible progress from each of their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is warm and welcoming and gives each child adequate space to spend time with other children or apart, as they wish. There are a number of communal areas, including a cinema room, which the children requested and enjoy spending time in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are offered a wide range of activities that support their talents and interests, including cinema, horse-riding, playing electric guitar and skateboarding. When they are at home, children are generally encouraged to do as much as they can for themselves, although there are no clear plans in place to ensure that there is a consistent approach from adults. Subsequently, there are some missed opportunities to ensure that t children are learning important independent life skills that will help them now and in the future, for example learning to use public transport.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health and well-being are promoted, and staff are proactive in ensuring the children’s health needs are met and that they live healthy lifestyles. This gives the children a sense of worth and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children benefit from engaging in education. Organised and dedicated staff promote school attendance. For some children, this is an exciting opportunity, having not attended school before living in this home. As a result, children have gained new friendships, grown in confidence and increased their communication skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Family time is prioritised, with open access provided to families at the home. This provides a feeling of togetherness and inclusivity within the home. One parent commented, ‘Both homes are home, and staff are part of our family.’

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

Safer recruitment for new staff is robust and ensures the safeguarding of the children and the home. New staff are closely monitored and supervised by managers frequently. This ensures the children and staff feel safe and supported. This also promotes the feeling that staff are valued and supported by the management team. Inspection report for children’s home: SC402135 4 Children are able to identify a trusted adult that they can talk to about any concerns. They report that adults listen to them, take their concerns seriously and respond appropriately.

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

Children receive help and support to manage their behaviour and feelings safely. Staff understand children’s past experiences and respond in a child-friendly way. This ensures the children are given the opportunity to learn about what is safe and acceptable and learn coping skills to manage their emotions.

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

Staff manage conflict effectively, and their approach includes the appropriate use of restorative practices that improve relationships. This increases children’s sense of personal responsibility and has enabled a very successful and planned move of a new child into the home, in collaboration with the children already living there.

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

While children are supported extremely well within the home environment and encouraged to learn from any incidents, they are not encouraged to take risks appropriate to their age or level of understanding as part of their development of independent living skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Registered managers role model an open, transparent and learning culture within the home and across services. This results in staff feeling able to challenge each other and report any practice concerns openly and professionally. This helps the staff to keep children safe, and actions and learning are identified and acted on when needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home has effective links with local authorities, designated officers and other important safeguarding agencies. Any issues or potential concerns are promptly shared with the relevant professionals and parents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff benefit from regular supervision, which provides opportunities for managers to ensure that staff know how to care for children in line with their plans. The supervision sessions also provide an opportunity for staff to reflect on their practice and discuss their own development. A recent company-wide review of supervision has resulted in supervision processes being more formalised. As a result, the quality of supervision records has improved. The staff induction and probation processes are thorough and thoughtful. Consequently, staff are not expected to complete any tasks until they are fully competent and confident.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Care planning is well informed through multi-agency decision-making, including clinical oversight. This ensures the children’s needs are met through collaboration with families and external agencies within the child’s network.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Registered managers ensure that children are held in mind when staff are completing records; documents are child-friendly and aimed at the children’s level of Inspection report for children’s home: SC402135 5 understanding. These will prove invaluable should the children wish to look back on their records later in life. This is a real strength of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers strongly advocate for children and are inspirational, confident, ambitious for children and influential in changing the lives of those in their care. They have high expectations of their staff to change and improve the lives of children and talk proudly of the achievements of each child; they clearly care very much about them. Inspection report for children’s home: SC402135 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

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

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. (Regulation 6 (1)(b) (2)(b)(vi)) 30 April 2024

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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: SC402135 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Forest Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Shore House, West Street, Hythe, Southampton, Hampshire SO45 6AA

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Children’s home details

Registered managers: Francesca Clayton, Romy Mellish

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Inspector

Emma Haskell, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC402135 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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