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

Inspection report for children's home: SC034241 1 SC034241 Registered provider: Kisimul Group Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This residential special school is registered as a children’s home because children stay overnight for more than 295 days per year.

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to 37 children and young people with severe learning difficulties. At the time of this inspection, there were 19 children living at the home. Care is provided to children across four houses on the school and children’s home site. The inspectors only inspected the social care provision at this school.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a manager who is registered with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC034241 2

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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: SC034241 3

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved out of the home and two children have moved in. One of the children who moved to the home has highly complex needs and requires a high level of care and support.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to do well in education. The children enjoy school, and their attendance is good. Staff understand the barriers to education for children and provide them with the support they need to attend and do well at school. If children have been unable to attend school, tutors and the staff have supported children to engage in education in the home. For example, one child is now engaging with education and attending school after a significant period out of education.

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improvement to be good

Children have improved health outcomes because of the support they receive from staff. Some children have been helped to overcome their anxieties over attending health appointments. This has enabled them to access the right support and treatment.

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improvement to be good

Staff are committed to helping children to improve their emotional and mental health. Staff talk to children about feelings and emotions to help the children express how they are feeling. This helps children to understand their emotions, feelings and experiences. This positive approach helps children to find better coping strategies and for some children has reduced the frequency of behavioural incidents of concern.

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improvement to be good

Staff work hard to ensure the environment is homely and individualised for children. This is a significant improvement since the last inspection. Staff have personalised children’s bedrooms to reflect the children’s individual tastes and interests. The communal indoor and outdoor areas are colourful spaces that children can enjoy.

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improvement to be good

In three of the homes, staff use a variety of communication methods with children to enable them to share their views. Staff work creatively to ensure that there are regular opportunities for children to have their say. However, in one of the houses, not all staff use children’s communication tools with them. This prevents the voices of children who are non-verbal from being heard. Inspection report for children's home: SC034241 4

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improvement to be good

Managers do not ensure there is regular and adequate oversight of incidents. This means that a prompt review of care practice has not always taken place and ineffective strategies in care practices have not been challenged. As a result, there are limited opportunities to evaluate and learn from incidents. This hinders learning that could prevent children coming to harm in the future.

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improvement to be good

The children’s individual risk assessments are well written and provide clarity on how children should be cared for. However, on several occasions, staff have not supported children in line with their individual risk assessments. For example, when a child displayed behaviours that challenged, staff observed the child from outside the home, looking through the window. This is not in line with the child’s risk assessment and placed the child at increased risk. Another child had a scratch on their face following an incident when they were being supported to get ready on their first day back at school by a temporary member of staff. This is despite the risk assessment stating the child should be supported by staff who are familiar to them, to provide reassurance and reduce the child’s anxieties.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always have the necessary skills and knowledge to manage and de-escalate incidents. On one occasion, when a child had left the grounds of the home, they were returned to the home by staff using a hold that was not in line with the prescribed methods of physical intervention. This is not part of the approved strategies when supporting the child. This placed the child and staff at increased risk.

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improvement to be good

An incident was recorded in a child’s risk assessment of them swallowing a hair bobble. However, an incident report was not completed. Additionally, the child’s daily record for the same day was missing. During a further incident, a child had banged their head against a door and a call was made to medical services for advice. The incident report and daily journal for this incident could not be found. Poor management oversight meant that managers had not identified these issues.

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improvement to be good

When children are involved in incidents, this is not always shared with the responsible social workers. This prevents external oversight of the management of incidents. On one occasion, a social worker was made aware during a visit that the child she was visiting had been involved in an incident and had a scratch on their face. The social worker requested the report and was informed this had not been completed. They then requested the report again two days later when they had still not received this information. This level of poor record-keeping places children at increased risk of harm and prevents external professionals from having oversight of the care children receive.

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improvement to be good

When children’s peer relationships have been challenging, staff have provided individualised activities and supervision to allow the conflict to settle. This is followed up with key work to help children understand the perspective and feelings of other children. Inspection report for children's home: SC034241 5 There has been a complaint from one child’s placing authority in relation to the care of the child. This complaint has been investigated and some aspects have been upheld. Senior leaders have carried out a review and identified learning from this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A new registered manager leads the home. He is supported by the responsible individual and senior leadership team. However, there has been a deterioration in the quality of management oversight and leaders and managers have not been successful in bringing about or sustaining improvement in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Monitoring and review systems are ineffective. Leaders and managers have not addressed several shortfalls in care practice. For example, there have been delays in some incident reports being completed. Other incidents were identified where reports and associated documents had not been completed, and daily journals were missing and did not evidence management oversight. These shortfalls have the capacity to negatively impact on children’s experiences. This also hampers external safeguarding agencies in having good oversight of incidents involving children, to ensure they are safeguarded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not have good oversight of the home and does not have robust quality assurance systems to support this oversight. This means the management of incidents and some aspects of children’s care are weak. Not all factors or the potential impact on children’s lives are considered, which means not all relevant action is taken in response.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The management team and staff do not always work well together. Staff are not working in line with the manager’s expectations, for example, not all are following children’s plans and assessments.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

All staff have completed mandatory training in key areas such as safeguarding and learning disabilities. However, insufficient training has been completed in relation to one child who has increased risk of ingesting inedible objects. Despite this being a high risk for the child, the team has not completed the required training identified in the child’s risk assessment. This fails to provide staff with the required training to meet the child’s specific needs and to reduce risk to the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

One child’s move from the home was not managed well. The child left the home with their clothing in bin bags. Much of the clothing was damaged or in a poor state of repair. The child’s views and wishes had not routinely been sought and considered. As a result, the manager cannot be assured that staff have properly advocated on behalf of the child and supported a good move from the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Feedback from parents and external professionals is variable. Some spoke positively about the care their child receives, while others have raised concerns. One professional said they felt bullied by senior leaders into changing the language in records. A parent said, ‘Communication is questionable recently.’ The parent raised concerns following their Inspection report for children's home: SC034241 6 child having self-inflicted marks to their body which they were not informed about by managers and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has delayed reporting a serious safeguarding incident to Ofsted. The notification received by Ofsted did not reflect same information contained in the incident report shared with the local authority. Additionally, the incident report and restraint record were completed by a staff member who was not present at the time of the incident and the report contained factual inaccuracies. This is poor practice and hinders the ability of Ofsted to monitor the quality of care being provided and the safety of children. Inspection report for children's home: SC034241 7

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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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager sharing information appropriately with children’s parents and external professionals in relation to incidents and injuries. 20 May 2024

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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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 express views, wishes and feelings. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(a)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers ensuring children have access to their communication systems and are supported to use them. This relates specifically to one house. 20 May 2024

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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 staff— 20 May 2024 Inspection report for children's home: SC034241 8 have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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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)(iii)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to staff following children’s risk assessments and plans. It also relates to completing incident reports and associated documents in a timely manner.

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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

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

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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’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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) (2)(c)(e)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Elements of regulation 13 have been repeated.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager ensuring staff have the required training to meet children’s individual needs. It also relates to monitoring systems being implemented and embedded to ensure the manager has improved oversight of the home. 20 May 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any [other] incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 20 May 2024 Inspection report for children's home: SC034241 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: SC034241 10

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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

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Thirza Smith, Social Care Inspector Linda Mason, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC034241 11 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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