Children's Home run by Lakeside @ Our Place Limited in Worcestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2553111 1 Registered provider: Our Place Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to 10 children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The provider also operates a registered school in a separate building in the grounds. This was not inspected during this visit.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2023. He holds a level 5 diploma in leadership and management.

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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: 2553111 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/04/2023 Full Good 23/05/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 27/05/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2553111 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for by a consistent team of staff who know them well. Therefore, children make progress and have improved their independence, social and communication skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager has made sure that the home is continually improving with a programme of ongoing developments. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to a high standard, with staff painting murals and helping children to choose furniture. This gives children a great sense of pride and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s religious and cultural preferences. They ensure that specific foods are available and help one child to have regular visits to the local mosque.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have developed internal care plans. However, not all plans include all the necessary information to ensure that staff help children to progress as well as they could.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend education either at the on-site school or at a local specialist school. Children continue to make progress in education. However, staff have not included in children’s internal plans how they will support them to meet their educational learning targets.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proactive in using a variety of communication strategies and tools which help children to communicate their views. Children can express their views in many areas, such as how they would like their bedrooms, what clubs they wish to attend, feelings about attending religious settings and holiday preferences. However, staff do not always seek views from children following incidents or seek their views on their care plans or for meetings such as looked after reviews.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have lots of fun. Staff are creative and have developed ‘window to our world days’, where photos are displayed of things children have enjoyed, such as dressing up as pharmacists, meeting Santa and cooking around Burns Night.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a wide range of activities away from the home, including soft play, shopping, outdoor adventure experiences, visiting museums, theme parks, going out for meals and having regular guitar lessons. Children have also had the opportunity to go on holiday.

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

Children are kept safe. Staff have developed child-focused behaviour management plans. Children are rewarded and praised for following routines. However, risk assessments lack child-focused strategies and post-incident guidance. As a result, children may not have Inspection report for children’s home: 2553111 4 the support needed to learn from incidents or to discuss their worries following an incident.

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

As part of behaviour management, staff have used consequences. However, these have not been recorded appropriately or recognised by the manager as consequences, which affects their ability to have effective oversight of these.

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

On occasions, staff use physical intervention techniques to keep children safe. The use is overseen by the manager to make sure that it is necessary and proportionate. However, records do not always detail the time of the intervention, and children and staff do not always receive a debrief.

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

Medication systems have improved. Systems have been reviewed in line with new national guidance. Some records do not include information which tells staff about children’s presentation when ill due to medical conditions or seizures.

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

Medication errors are infrequent. When they happen, they are responded to appropriately. The manager makes sure that staff learn from errors to prevent further occurrences.

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

When there are concerns about staff practice, managers respond appropriately in reporting and investigating. Where needed, the manager has taken further action in retraining staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is passionate about the journey of the home and the care provided. He knows the children well and has developed an open and child-focused culture at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are complimentary about the support and training provided by managers. Staff receive regular supervision. In addition, staff receive a variety of learning opportunities online and face to face. This is complemented by workshops organised by the manager and through access to an online resource library.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is developing his monitoring systems. These are used to look at patterns and trends and identify shortfalls. As a result of the manager’s oversight and monitoring, the quality of care is improving.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Parents and professionals are extremely positive about the home and the changes the manager has made. They said that communication has improved and that children are more settled, appear happy and are making progress. They also complimented the manager on staff’s flexibility and the support they give to families. Parents spoke of the trust they now have with the care provided at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2553111 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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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

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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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)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that children’s plans include sufficient information to provide consistency of care. They should include targets set by occupational health and speech and language therapists, as well as children’s views. 28 June 2024

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; 28 June 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2553111 6 the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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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)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that any use of consequences is recorded and has the manager’s oversight. Following any incidents of physical intervention, all staff and children must receive a debrief by someone not involved in the intervention. The time of the intervention must be recorded and evaluations must take place.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. Inspection report for children’s home: 2553111 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff support children in strategies to manage and reduce any risks. Staff should encourage children to express their views following an incident and support children to understand how to ask for help to stay safe. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.10)  The registered person should ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to: respond to the health needs of children; administer basic first aid and minor illness treatment; help children to manage long-term conditions, and, where necessary, meet specific individual health needs arising from a disability, chronic condition or other complex needs. Specifically, ensure that records clearly detail how children may present when unwell due to seizures or health conditions. In addition, ensure that those records include what foods a child should not have and that

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Recommendations

epilepsy plans have evidence of oversight by the epilepsy nurse. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.12)

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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: 2553111 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Our Place, Bransford, Worcester, Worcestershire WR6 5JE

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Inspectors

Debbie Bond, Social Care Inspector Sophie Hills, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2553111 9 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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