Children's Home, Residential special school run by Rowden House School Limited in Herefordshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC035625 1 SC035625 Registered provider: Rowden House School Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is part of a residential special school and offers care for up to 30 children with learning disabilities. Care is provided across eight houses in the grounds of the school. At the time of this inspection, 18 children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has a school on the same site. This is open to children living at the home and day students. The inspectors only inspected the social care provision on this site.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2020 and holds the appropriate qualifications.

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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: 11 September 2023

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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: SC035625 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/09/2023 Full Good 28/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 29/06/2021 Full Good 01/10/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC035625 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress. There is good partnership working between the on-site school, parents, staff and children. Children’s targets are shared, agreed and monitored. Progress has included improvements in school attendance, health and independence as well as a reduction in incidents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s progress is recorded and captured in written and photographic form, which provides memories for children and their families. Children enjoy various experiences, such as taking part in music sessions, cooking and Ramadan.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make sure that children’s achievements, no matter how small, are celebrated. Each child has a praise book which staff use with children to record and show how well they are doing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children find it difficult to attend education, care and teaching staff are creative in helping them, devising bespoke learning packages. As a result, one child is now more accepting of learning opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Advocacy is a positive feature of the home. Once a month, the advocate visits the children and reflects with staff on the progress children are making. The advocate also attends meetings and will support children with any worries they may have. The manager sees this as an important part of their oversight, which enhances monitoring of children’s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Many children struggle to access health services, such as dental appointments, vaccinations and blood tests. As a result, the home has created a desensitisation room. This room replicates visiting the dentist or doctor and is a great help for children in increasing their familiarity and reducing anxieties. It also plays an important role for staff in helping them to prepare and plan for how to support children during medical appointments. As a result, children are attending appointments and receiving treatment where previously they would have refused.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take part in a good range of activities on and off site. These include attending the local scarecrow festival, going on holiday, and attending fun days taking place at the school, where children, staff and their families all come together to enjoy games, ice cream and a bouncy castle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to stay in touch with those who are important to them. They help children with telephone and video calls and support visits from families and to family homes. In addition, staff have supported children to go on holiday with their families. This level of commitment by staff means that children feel part of their families despite living away from home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035625 4 Overall, the home provides a welcoming environment for children. Bedrooms are personalised and reflect who the child is and their interests. However, there are boxes labelled ‘ligature’ and bins labelled ‘clinical’ outside children’s bedrooms. This detracts from the homeliness of the environment.

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

There are mutually strong relationships between staff and children. Staff have an excellent understanding of children, their needs and behaviours. In one example, staff were able to demonstrate this knowledge by pre-empting a child’s behaviour and sensitively supporting them, which eliminated the child’s distress and upset.

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

Complaints are responded to promptly. There is good multi-agency working and learning outcomes are identified for staff and managers.

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

Allegations are responded to effectively. There is clear evidence of multi-agency working with the local authority designated officer (LADO), social workers and advocates. When staff are subject to allegations, measures are put in place to respond and to safeguard children and staff. When learning has been identified, this has been shared with the whole team.

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

There are systems in place for managers to monitor children’s medication, which allows for swift identification of errors. When errors occur, the staff are reflective in discussions, and managers seek to understand the reason for the error and if any changes are required. When needed, additional professional support is sought. Errors are not frequent, and managers and staff aim to learn from these to prevent further occurrences.

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

Children use technology such as mobile phones and tablet computers. Online safety systems are in place and the Wi-Fi is monitored. The manager receives alerts if anyone in the home is trying to access sites they should not. In addition, staff supervise, check children’s devices and work with children to help them understand online risks.

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

Children have not gone missing from this home. Children’s plans outline what action staff should take if this was to happen. However, they do not provide sufficient information for staff to understand how to respond if a child was to go missing when out in the community or when to contact the police. This could result in a delay in getting help in finding the child promptly.

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

On occasions, staff need to use physical intervention techniques to keep children safe. Staff complete the necessary records, and there is management oversight of these incidents. However, some records do not clearly show all the details needed. This limits the opportunity to fully evaluate the need for the intervention or consider learning from it. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035625 5 New children moving to the home are assessed for suitability for the school and the residential provision. However, records do not show how matching and suitability have been assessed for an individual house.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is reflective about the journey of the service. She speaks fondly about the children and is knowledgeable about them. The manager talks with ease about the progress of children and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has developed monitoring systems which have improved the quality of care. She is fully aware of what is happening in the home and is visible and accessible to children and staff. She has a good understanding of children’s progress along with areas of development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A strength of the home is that it has a stable and consistent staff team. The team of staff are diverse in terms of their age, experience, gender and culture. This diversity brings many opportunities to the home, such as knowledge of children’s cultures and how to meet their individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When children become increasingly unsettled, managers work with multi-agency staff to try and resolve this. The manager has only served notice to a placing authority after all else has failed. Despite one child’s placing authority having notice served, staff ensured that the child moved on in a positive manner. The child was engaged in the move and happy with the plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are positive about the management of the home. They speak of a positive culture of support and learning and of feeling inspired by working at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive an excellent variety of training. This is clearly monitored and tracked by the manager. Training is delivered online, face to face and through practical learning. Face- to-face training is delivered by a range of professionals, including education staff, the LADO and social workers. There is reflection after training takes place. Where needed, the manager will review the home’s policies. Staff are qualified or working within timescales to attain the relevant childcare qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive supervision from managers. However, not all sessions are carried out in line with the home’s workforce development plan. For some staff, quizzes are used instead of reflective discussions. This can limit understanding of staff’s learning, development and skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff complete an induction and probation period to assess their suitability for the role. Occasionally, staff are put on performance plans to improve their practice. However, induction and performance plan records are brief. They do not clearly show action taken, learning or review. This could mean that staff are not clear about expectations. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035625 6 Since the last inspection, the home’s workforce development plan has been updated. However, it does not provide all information as per the guidance. For example, it does not include details of who is providing the health and education services in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Parents and professionals are very complimentary about the home. They talk about the good communication and how well the home and school staff work together. One parent described staff as ‘golden’ and said that she appreciates her daily photos and the support staff give her and her child. Professionals said that they wish more services were like this and commented on how staff and managers know the children well. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035625 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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that missing-from-care plans for children contain all the necessary information, such as the action staff should take if children go missing in the community and when to call the police. 26 July 2024

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (1)(a) (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

staff receive supervision in line with the organisation’s policy and that records are comprehensive;

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Requirement Due date

induction plans are fully completed; 26 July 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC035625 8 any performance plans for staff detail the concerns and actions to be taken and are reviewed.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. Specifically, assessments should include details of how the registered person has assessed the suitability of placing a child in a specific house. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce- related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). Specifically, the plan should include information about persons providing the health and education services in the home and detail the experience of the team and training required. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53,

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Recommendations

paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets children’s needs. In most cases, children’s homes should be homely, domestic environments. The home must comply with relevant health and safety legislations, such as alarms and food hygiene. However, in doing so, the home should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are kept and contain all the information needed to enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. Specifically, ensure that the time is recorded for each use of physical intervention and greater detail on de-escalation

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Recommendations

methods used by staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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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: SC035625 9

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Rowden House School Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 St George’s, Vernon Gate, Derby, Derbyshire DE1 1UQ

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Inspectors

Debbie Bond, Social Care Inspector Louise Battersby, Social Care Inspector Sophie Hills, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC035625 10 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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