Children's Home run by Witherslack Group Limited in Sefton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC475689 1 SC475689 Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private provider and is registered to provide care for up to six children with learning disabilities. The home can provide ongoing care for children when they reach 18 years of age, to allow them to complete their education. However, it must then reduce the number of children accordingly.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in 2020 and is suitably qualified and experienced.

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Information about this children’s home

There were six children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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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: 1 February 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC475689 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/02/2023 Full Outstanding 14/03/2022 Full Outstanding 10/07/2019 Full Outstanding 23/10/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC475689 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has a warm and welcoming feel. Children’s bedrooms are unique to them and decorated with their favourite things. In some bedrooms, electric wires were a potential hazard. The provider addressed this at the time of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with family members, which strengthens their sense of identity. Staff have formed relationships with children’s family members. One family member said, ‘We have a fantastic working relationship with staff.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend school every day and are making good progress. Children are supported by staff to complete homework, which enhances their learning and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain good health, which includes eating a healthy and varied diet. Exercise is encouraged and promoted, using the children’s interests. One child is motivated to go for a walk as the route includes viewing points for trains, which are one of their favourite things.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take part in activities ranging from chess club to swimming. A social worker said, ‘[Name of child] is doing things he has not had the opportunity to do previously. He has even been able to go on a holiday.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are consulted about their home and their care. They take part in meetings and they have the opportunity to read their records. One child does so on a regular basis. Children’s daily logs and care plans are individual to them, referring to their favourite things.

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

Children have trusting relationships with staff, who respond to any concerns they raise.

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

Children are helped to develop their understanding about discriminatory behaviours. Direct work has been carried out to increase awareness and empathy around racism and sexism.

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

Children receive support to safely manage their behaviours. Their individual behaviour management plans are understood by staff and clearly detail strategies to support them to self-regulate. The effectiveness of strategies is reviewed with children when incidents occur.

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

Staff understand children’s individual risks. Risk management plans focus on helping children to understand their own risks, which supports a reduction in risk. However, plans do not always consider changes to the risks children may pose to each other. Inspection report for children’s home: SC475689 4 Holding children is a last resort when incidents take place. they are managed in line with the home’s policies and procedures. Some dates are missing on debriefs with children, but action was taken during the inspection to address this, to prevent this happening in the future. The manager reviews incidents and seeks to identify ways of changing practice, which has led to a reduction in children being held.

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

The manager has introduced restorative work with children which gives them the skills and understanding to reflect on their behaviours and the impact they have on others. Children are now receiving fewer consequences for their behaviours.

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

Allegations by children are responded to promptly and management oversight identifies any learning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the children and staff well. She is respected by staff and is much loved by the children. The home is sufficiently staffed, with a stable and experienced team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from one-to-one and group supervisions, which are reflective and provide space to review their practice and identify training needs. Appraisals take place and any goals set for staff development are reviewed quarterly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has systems in place to monitor and review the home and the care of children. She uses these to identify patterns and trends, which then enables her to change practice. However, the systems have not identified shortfalls in some of the children’s risk assessments.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands her role and responsibilities in keeping children safe. However, there has been a failure in her absence to notify Ofsted of a safeguarding concern. On identifying this, she took action to ensure that lessons are learned and additional safeguarding training is delivered to staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have completed all mandatory training. The manager ensures that training specific to the children’s needs is delivered, including on autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager leads the home with a focus on children reaching their potential. This inspires staff to have high aspirations for children and work collectively to give children a range of opportunities to make good progress. Inspection report for children’s home: SC475689 5

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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 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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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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)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that risk assessments consider the risks children may pose to each other.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that notifications for all significant events, including any allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there, are submitted to HMCI. 31 March 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC475689 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children have a safe environment to live in. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 33, paragraph 7.3)

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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: SC475689 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lupton Tower, Lupton, Carnforth, Lancashire LA6 2PR

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Inspector

Sarah Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC475689 8 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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