Children's home run by Westmorland and Furness Council

Inspection report for children’s home: 2731337 1 Registered provider: Westmorland and Furness Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home registered with Ofsted on 1 April 2023 and is owned and operated by a local authority. It provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is experienced and registered with Ofsted at the same time as the home.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, one child was living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 10 October 2023

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2731337 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/10/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2731337 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The child is making exceptional progress in all areas. The child has developed trusting relationships with staff, which helps the child to consider their own behaviours and to share their wishes and feelings. This has helped the child to engage with staff in the home when they were initially isolating themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

After moving into the home, the child became subject to a deprivation of liberty order (DLO). Intensive supervision of the child was initially required but significant progress has been made to reduce this high level of supervision. The child is now supported by staff on a one-to-one basis and has progressed to spending increased time in the community. The child has been consulted about the reduction in the restrictions of the DLO to ensure that they understand the rationale and have their say.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The child is significantly involved in their care planning with the support of staff. This includes producing feedback for care reviews, working with an advocate, making a complaint to the National Youth Advocacy Service about a social worker, and contributing to staff supervision sessions and recruitment. As a result, the child feels empowered, valued and listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The child is now engaging in education after being out of education for three years. The staff team has worked closely with the child and their tutor to help them to develop a positive relationship. The child has exceeded expectations and has achieved a qualification in mathematics and is working towards achieving an English qualification. An education room has been created in the home in consultation with the child to ensure that they have a separate space to learn away from the rest of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The child’s involvement in meeting their own health needs has increased significantly. The child would not engage with health professionals in the past. However, with the support of staff, the child has now received significant dental treatment. The dental issues were having a detrimental impact on the child’s daily life. Therefore, there are considerable benefits to this work being carried out. Staff have considered how the child’s difficulties with sleep impact on their behaviour and education. However, there is no formal monitoring of the child’s sleep hygiene to consider patterns and themes to identify if further support is required from health services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The child has recently begun sessions with a family member and the emotional health and well-being practitioner in relation to the child’s life story. These sessions explore how people who are important to the child consider and manage the risks to the child. The staff team works closely with the practitioner to reduce any factors which may impact on the child’s engagement and progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The amount of time the child spends with the people who are important to them has increased significantly. This has included the child’s grandparent staying at the home Inspection report for children’s home: 2731337 4 overnight to enable them to spend extended quality time together. Staff recognise that the amount of time the child spends with family has not increased at the pace the child would like.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The child is encouraged and supported to explore different interests and activities. The staff team recognises the importance of the child also having quiet time to process their emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The staff team provides the child with consistent positive praise and reassurance. This includes marking their achievements in education and not going missing from home. The child’s birthday was also recently celebrated. This has helped to increase the child’s confidence and self-esteem.

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

Staff know and understand the risks to the child. There are up-to-date dynamic risk assessments in place, which are supported by weekly meetings with professionals to consider the child’s progress and next steps. The manager and staff understand the impact the DLO has on the child and the expectations of them as carers. There is regular communication about the changes made by the court to support consistency for the child.

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

The risks to the child have reduced considerably since they moved into the home. This has resulted in improved outcomes for the child. The staff team consistently supports the child to understand the risks and how to keep themselves safe. Consequently, despite the restrictions in the DLO reducing, the risks to the child have not increased.

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

Before the child moved into the home, they were reported to have the highest number of missing-from-home incidents in the area. However, at the time of this inspection, the child had not been missing from the home for around 150 days, which is remarkable given the child’s history. The child and staff team are proud of this achievement and continue to mark this as a milestone. The strength of relationships between the child and staff has contributed to this achievement.

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

The staff team is mindful of potential risks which could re-emerge as the child’s DLO restrictions are lifted. They are supporting the child to consider risks around smoking and vaping. However, although some staff members understand what they would do to address children smoking and vaping, the child has been given contradictory information about this by staff as the policy is not clear. However, the manager took action to address this during the inspection by ensuring that the expectations are clear to staff and the child and produced a draft agreement for this.

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

The number of incidents at the home has significantly reduced. Incidents are less frequent and less serious than they were previously. Staff support the child’s behaviours well and do not need to use physical intervention or police support to manage behaviour. This reflects the quality of the relationships staff have with the child. Due to the high-quality care and support from staff, there has been no need for the use Inspection report for children’s home: 2731337 5 consequences in response to the child’s behaviour. This has helped the child to identify and implement their own reparative actions. The child can reflect on their behaviours with the support of staff and shows great empathy and insight, writing cards and letters to staff to express their regret for any negative behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is a strong leader. She is passionate about her role and has worked proactively to address the concerns raised at the last inspection. The manager has high standards and is ambitious for what staff and children can achieve. This is evident in how she models positive behaviours and supports staff to develop their skills and knowledge.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff feel that there is a positive team spirit and say that they are supported in their roles by the manager and their colleagues. Consequently, the team of staff are dedicated and committed and feel that their views and work are valued. The home is a positive environment to spend time in, which is a considerable benefit to the child and enhances their experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager works effectively alongside other professionals, who speak highly about the impact that she and her team have had on the progress the child has made. One social worker explained that the staff are very mindful. She feels that the good relationships staff have with the child and the consistent care they provide are due to the positive personalities and resilience of the staff team. The social worker stated that the manager proactively challenges the plans for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Research is utilised in regular supervision sessions and team meetings to support staff to consider and reflect on their practice. Group supervision takes place in team meetings to help staff to reflect together. The manager works with the emotional health and well- being practitioner to consider ways to support staff to apply research to their practice. This involves healthy discussions in team meetings where staff reflect and share their experiences. One member of staff said, ‘We are actively encouraged to share ideas and give our views, always seeking ways to improve our practice or extend our learning.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff have received relevant training, including training to help them to meet the specific needs of the child in their care. The manager and deputy manager have completed training on DLOs and shared their learning with staff at a team meeting. There is further training scheduled to provide staff with a more detailed understanding of DLOs. The manager recognises that there is gap in staff’s knowledge of smoking and vaping that needs to be addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager uses positive modelling of behaviours to support staff to develop their skills. For one staff member, who struggled to have difficult discussions with the child, the manager used debriefs, observations and resources to help to improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There is a thorough induction and probation programme for new staff. Children are asked to provide feedback for staff to help them to consider their practice. This has Inspection report for children’s home: 2731337 6 helped one member of staff to consider how their own behaviour can impact on the child. The child is also involved in setting and marking questions for the recruitment of new staff and providing feedback to the manager for staff supervision and appraisals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has effective oversight of the home and understands the strengths and areas for development, which enables her to forward plan. Inspection report for children’s home: 2731337 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should encourage children to take a proactive role in looking after their day-to-day health and well-being. This is specifically in relation to having a clear and consistent approach to addressing issues of children smoking or vaping, which both staff and children understand. This should include training for staff and working with other professionals and parents to provide support for children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.10)  The registered person should ensure that staff work with the child to monitor the child’s sleep routine with a view to improving their sleep hygiene, taking into consideration the different factors which may affect their routine and the impact of patterns and trends on the child’s behaviours, relationships, health and education. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54,

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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: 2731337 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Westmorland and Furness Council, Town Hall, Duke Street, Barrow in Furness, Cumbria LA14 2LD

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Elizabeth Curtis

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Inspectors

Andrea Foreman, Social Care Inspector Debbie Dawson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2731337 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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