Children's home run by Willow Care Group Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2678404 1 Registered provider: Willow Care 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 home is privately registered and provides care for up to three children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is registered with Ofsted and is suitably experienced.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home.

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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: 13 November 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: 2678404 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/11/2023 Full Good 11/10/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2678404 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in this home have positive experiences. A parent said that their child feels safe and said that ‘they have come on in leaps and bounds’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager carefully considered the compatibility of two new children who recently moved into the home with the child who was already living there and the skills of the staff team. Staff managed the planned transitions into the home well and children felt welcomed. The manager and staff fully involved children in the preparation of their care and behaviour support plans. As a result, the children knew what to expect in terms of their care and they were motivated to work towards goals that they had been involved in setting.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The members of the kind, caring and consistent staff team are skilled at building positive relationships with children. One child said: ‘The staff really care, and they are inclusive. They spend time with me and do lots of things with me.’ Consequently, children form trusting and positive relationships with the staff. This is providing them with a secure base from where they can develop.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote and support children to engage with and achieve educationally. The two children who recently moved into the home are due to start at new schools at the beginning of the new academic year. Staff are preparing the children well for their transitions into their new schools.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, staff meet the health needs of children well. Staff have supported one child particularly effectively to manage a physical health condition, resulting in significantly improved health. Children enjoy a healthy diet and staff encourage them to try new foods. Children are physically active. All children regularly access universal health services. For one child though, a lack of educational work undertaken by staff in respect of using a vape means that they may not fully understand the potential harm this could cause to their health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff activity promote and support children to have family time. Distance from the home is no barrier to ensuring that children get to spend time safely with those who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move on from the home, even at short notice, staff celebrate their endings with them by doing an activity and having a meal of children’s choice. Memory books and praise books presented to children when they leave serve as a reminder of their achievements, positive experiences, and the relationships they have made while living in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2678404 4

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

Children feel safe living in this home because of the positive and trusting relationships they have with staff. One child said: ‘I am safe. Staff love and care for me. They are always there for me whenever I need them.’

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

Risk assessments and behaviour support plans, which are regularly updated, understood and consistently implemented by staff, help to ensure children’s safety.

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

Incidents of going missing for most children significantly reduce as they settle into the home and start to feel safe. For one child who has recently left the home, while incidents did not reduce, when they did go missing, there was always a coordinated multi-agency response that ensured that they were located and welcomed back into the home at the earliest opportunity. The manager always requests that an independent return home interview be organised by the child’s local authority. However, these do not always occur. This is a missed opportunity for staff to learn from incidents, understand the reasons for children going missing, and plan to reduce such incidents.

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

Proactive behaviour support systems in the home are highly effective. Relationship-based practice and a nurturing approach help children to manage their emotions. One child shared how staff had taught them breathing techniques that had helped them to feel calmer, and less angry. As a result of the staff team’s skills in de-escalating challenging situations, there has been no recourse to physical interventions since before the previous inspection.

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

Staff occasionally use consequences as a means of helping children to learn that certain behaviours are either unacceptable or could place them at risk. While consequences used have been appropriate, a lack of consistent management oversight of them limits the manager’s understanding of their effectiveness, and whether there is further learning for the staff team.

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

The manager and staff have a good understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities. When children made allegations or raised concerns about staff conduct on two occasions, responses were prompt. Investigations were thorough, and appropriate outcomes ensured children’s welfare and safety.

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

Thorough checks and scrutiny of any new prospective employee in the home helps to ensure that only those adults that are assessed as being safe and suitable to work with children are employed in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff hold the manager and responsible individual in high regard. Both are extremely child-focused and ambitious for children. They lead by example and the staff share their drive to continually improve the lives of the children they care for. Inspection report for children’s home: 2678404 5 Staff morale in the home is high. Staff turnover is low. The manager has carefully organised shifts so that on each day there is a diverse range of staff on shift, with various levels of experience, skills and interests. Because of this, and high staffing levels, children can experience a range of new experiences and activities as a group and individually with staff, which enhances their confidence and self-esteem.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The members of the committed staff team work well together and provide children with consistency of care. Because of the stability of the permanent staff team, the manager rarely needs to use agency staff in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular one-to-one supervision and attend regular team meetings. Staff also undertake a range of mandatory and bespoke training. This is helping to continually develop their understanding of children’s needs and their skills to continue to meet children’s needs to a good standard.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working is a strength. Feedback from parents and professionals has been positive about the levels of communication and multi-agency working taking place. As a result, children have effective teams around them who are working together to improve their experiences, safety and outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring systems, both internal and external, provide the manager and responsible individual with an effective line of sight of the quality of practice in the home and the impact of this on children’s experiences. The manager knows the home’s strengths and areas for development. For example, she knows that there remains work to do to strengthen systems for seeking and recording feedback from children, parents, professionals and staff to inform service development, and work to do to in respect of key-work planning, to make key work more meaningful and impactful for children. Plans are under way to address these areas for development. Inspection report for children’s home: 2678404 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s home’s staff encourage children to take a proactive role in looking after their day-to-day health and well- being. This specifically relates to staff educating children about the dangers of using vapes. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.10)  The registered person should ensure that that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of the information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and

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Recommendations

restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure their use is fair. This specifically relates to the need for there to be management oversight of all consequences set by staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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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: 2678404 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Willow Care Group Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Staniforth Partnership, 219 Burton Road, Derby DE23 6AE

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Inspector

Rachel Griffiths, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2678404 8 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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