Children's Home run by Five Rivers Child Care Limited in Wiltshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC059717 1 SC059717 Registered provider: Five Rivers Child Care Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care in two houses for up to six children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. The home is operated by a national private organisation. At the time of this inspection, four children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2022. Since the inspection, the registered manager has sadly passed away.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 28 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: SC059717 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/09/2023 Full Good 17/08/2022 Full Good 09/12/2021 Full Good 16/10/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC059717 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in this home and have positive experiences. Children’s self- confidence and self-esteem have increased, and they are developing their independence skills. Incidents of self-harm have continued to reduce. This progress is leading some children to look at the next stage of their lives, which includes moving to semi- independent living. Parents and social workers are pleased with the progress children are making.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have lived here for several years, and they very much see this as their home; they like living here. Staff have built very strong and effective relationships with the children, providing them with stability, love and care. The team’s commitment to the children is clear, talking about them with emotion and pride. The staff are effective advocates for the children, which includes supporting them when they voice their wish to move on to the next stage of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children said that they like and care about the staff. However, they also said that there have been a lot of changes in the staff team, and they are not always told when new staff are starting work at the home. They want to know this important information. Overall, children are confident that their views are sought, listened to and acted on by staff. However, staff do not provide effective evidence of the actions they take because of consultation with children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take part in lots of different activities. They are valued members of local clubs and join in with events in the community. Children said they had a lovely summer holiday, having just returned from a week at a holiday camp. They also spoke excitedly about an upcoming trip to a theme park and an audition for a TV talent show.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with a comfortable family-style home that children have been involved in creating. Each child’s bedroom is spacious and personalised. There are lots of photos around the home, showing children and staff having fun and taking part in celebrations, activities and holidays.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s attendance at school is varied. Staff are working well with education providers and clinical professionals to help children attend and make progress at school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the start of this year, leaders and managers identified that the staff were unable to keep one child safe and meet their needs. They helped this child to move on to another home. Leaders and managers carried out a comprehensive review of what happened for this child and what they could do to make things better moving forward. Inspection report for children’s home: SC059717 4

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

Children feel safe and are helped to stay safe. The main basis for them feeling safe is the strength of the relationships they have with the staff who care for them. This is supported by the staff’s good understanding of how to protect children and the work they are doing to help children develop their understanding of keeping themselves safe. An example of this is children coming to talk to staff when they feel they may have been in an unsafe situation. When needed, children have clear safety plans in place that provide comprehensive guidance for staff.

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

Behaviour is managed well. At times, there have been some behavioural challenges, which staff have managed well but did lead to an increase in the use of restraint. This was appropriate and proportionate to keep children safe.

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

Risk is well managed, and staff are not risk averse. Staff support children effectively to understand and identify risk. As a result, children are able to make safer choices, and when they are not able to do this, they will speak to staff. Risk assessments are current and provide staff with clear guidance and strategies to mitigate risk.

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

Staff recruitment follows safer recruitment practices, which helps to protect children. When staff leave, exit interviews take place, and information from these is used to further develop the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager is suitably qualified and experienced for the role. They have a clear and detailed understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement in the home. The manager is highly professional, very child focused and clearly wants the best outcome for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Since the previous inspection, there has been a significant turnover in staff, which has had an impact on the team. This has led to leaders, managers and staff doing additional work to cover the gaps in the rotas. This was also the case at the previous inspection and had led to fewer opportunities for managers and staff to focus on developmental work. This has been a frustration for the manager, but caring for the children has taken priority. A core group of staff have remained consistent, which has provided children with stability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff morale is mixed. Some staff are very positive about the home, the support they receive and the approachability of leaders and managers, while others are not. Leaders and managers are aware of this and are working hard to rebuild a cohesive team. Staff acknowledge this work and say things are improving.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff receive regular supervision and have regular team meetings. They use these opportunities to talk about the children and reflect on their own practice. Records of these meetings do not consistently evidence the discussions held or the support provided Inspection report for children’s home: SC059717 5 to staff. However, when issues of staff practice have been raised or identified, leaders and managers take appropriate action to address them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Children’s plans are current and provide clear guidance for staff on how to meet the children’s needs. However, the quality of incident and restraint records requires improvement as they do not consistently provide a clear record of events due to the use of jargon and vague and emotive language. In addition, this reduces the records’ contribution to the child’s life story. Inspection report for children’s home: SC059717 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure the consultation staff carry out with children is clearly recorded. This should include any actions taken as a result of the consultation and children views on this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  The registered person should ensure that when children are not participating in fulltime education, the registered person and staff continue to work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person should ensure the records of staff supervision sessions are of a good quality and reflect the discussions held. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all information in children records is recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. These records should be free from jargon and vague and emotive language. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC059717 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Five Rivers Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 47 Bedwin Street, Salisbury SP1 3UT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Timothy-John Matthews

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Inspector

Wendy Anderson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC059717 8 regulates and inspects to 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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