Children's home run by New Haven (Waterlooville) Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 1 Registered provider: N ew Haven (Waterlooville) Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home that provides care for up to four children who have learning disabilities. There were four children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since November 2022.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 15 November 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/11/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/07/2023 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a spacious, clean and well-maintained home. Photos of children are on display, showing positive memories and experiences. Children’s bedrooms are personalised and children have access to en-suite bathrooms. This ensures their privacy while enabling independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Positive relationships have developed between children and staff at the home. Staff understand the children’s needs well and there is warmth and joy in their interactions with children. Children seek out staff to help them with tasks. Children say they are happy and like living at the home. One parent described staff as ‘fantastic’ and said they understood their child’s needs well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Regular house meetings provide children with opportunities to share their views, wishes and feelings. They discuss how their week has been and make choices around food and activities. Regular key-work sessions provide a safe space for children to discuss their concerns. They know how to make a complaint and contact external organisations to discuss their worries or ideas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children regularly attend school and are supported by staff who understand the importance of education. Staff ensure that barriers to accessing education are managed effectively and do not impact children’s progress. For example, staff are currently supporting one child to get to school following disruption to planned transport arrangements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

New children moving into the home benefit from effective planning and thoughtful consideration of their needs. Children are supported throughout the period of their move into the home with sensitively planned visits and early opportunities to meet staff and other children. This ensures that children have positive experiences when they arrive at the home and can continue to build on relationships with staff and other children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children moving on to independence and adulthood are supported by empathic, nurturing staff who understand and support their journey. Effective planning and good communication enable this experience to be positive and child led.

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improvement to be good

Children say they feel safe and well cared for in the home. Staff understand current risks for children and safety plans provide clear strategies to provide appropriate support. Staff demonstrate knowledge of safeguarding procedures to follow when there may be concerns for a child’s welfare. Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 4 However, agency staff do not always receive the necessary oversight and direction from managers. As a result, the leadership team was unaware that an agency member of staff was not familiar with the home’s child protection policy and what action to take if a child made a disclosure.

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improvement to be good

Physical intervention is used to support children when their behaviour may cause harm to themselves or others. For one child, incidents of physical intervention have significantly reduced because of the positive relationships with staff and staff’s use of de- escalation strategies. However, on one occasion, staff failed to follow the home’s policy and procedures to ensure a child received appropriate medical attention following an incident of restraint.

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improvement to be good

Overall, children’s medication is managed well. However, on one occasion, staff did not follow guidance when administering medication to a child. This resulted in a medication error that was not initially identified. The incident was investigated and shortfalls in practice were identified. However, the registered manager did not discuss the shortfalls with staff, to address the impact of their practice and to support further learning.

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improvement to be good

Language used in children’s records is not appropriate. Incident records include negative descriptions of children’s presenting behaviours and narratives suggest blame towards children. This is not in line with the home’s ethos as described in the statement of purpose, to ensure that each child is treated with respect.

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improvement to be good

Allegations of harm made by children are infrequent. Any allegation made is taken seriously and fully investigated by managers. Relevant authorities are notified in line with statutory guidance. Children are informed of the outcome of investigations and restorative work is planned. Learning outcomes are followed up and further training is completed by staff. As a result, children feel heard, and staff receive the necessary support to further develop their skills and practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home benefits from a qualified and compassionate registered manager. She understands the home’s strengths and areas for development. She is appropriately supported by an experienced and knowledgeable senior management team. Wider leadership team meetings enable opportunities for the review of practice, to identify improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring systems are in place and the home’s development plan is regularly reviewed. Managers have taken action to implement improvements since the last inspection. Incidents are reviewed in a timely manner, and appropriate actions are identified and followed up.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they feel supported in their roles and can address concerns with the registered manager. Staff are appropriately trained and have the knowledge and skills to provide good care for children. Team meetings are held regularly, enabling wider reflection and learning. However, not all staff have received regular practice-based supervision. Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 5 Therefore, they have not had the opportunity to discuss their individual development, practice or concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff maintain links with external professionals, and challenge appropriately to advocate for children. Managers and senior leaders have worked closely with relevant professionals to ensure that children experience well-planned and positive moves into the home. Professionals spoken to reported effective communication and information-sharing with the registered manager. Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 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

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

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect. (Regulation 6 (1)(a) (2)(b)(i)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the language used in children’s records. 2 August 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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vii)) 2 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 2 August 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 7

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff demonstrate that they fully understand the risks associated with any restraint technique used in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.56)

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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: 2686324 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Haven (Waterlooville) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 5 Deansway, Worcester WR1 2JG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jacqueline Smeeth

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Inspectors

Chris Warren, Social Care Inspector Jill Sephton-Wright, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 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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