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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC059755 1 SC059755 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 is operated by a national private organisation. The home may provide care for up to four children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home. One child moved to the home in August 2022. One child moved into the home in March 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 15 August 2023.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC059755 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/08/2023 Full Good 10/08/2022 Full Good 23/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 06/05/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC059755 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, there have been no moves in or out of the home. The two children were seen, heard and spoken to by the inspector. The children have had some notable, positive experiences. They individually attend clubs and activities and are supported on day trips and on holidays. Both children are making progress overall.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff support the children to develop positive relationships with each other. The children were observed playing, laughing, and chatting with each other. One child was aware their peer had been to the dentist, while they were at school. When they got home, the child immediately asked their peer about the dentist trip and gave their peer praise. The children laughed together excitedly as they looked at the removed tooth with interest. The children are developing positive relationships and emotional attunement. The children also need time apart and staff recognise this and provide opportunities for isolated play and engagement with adults. The children are accepting of the nurturing care provided to them from staff who know them well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have a well-balanced and healthy diet. Mealtimes are a positive experience, with improved peer relationships. The food is prepared and cooked with pride by staff. The children and staff eat meals together around the large dining table. Food is not plated for the children to encourage them to make choices from a wide variety of food. Staff engage the children in conversation about food and model good choices. One child can now sense when they are feeling full, and they stop eating. They feel secure that if they become hungry, they can have a healthy snack. The negative emotional connection and fear around the availability of food are reducing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have memory books that capture the fun activities they take part in, holidays and family time. The books do not consistently record the date, location of the activity or those involved. There are few photos of the children on display. The manager stated that displaying photos or pictures can be difficult for the children and they remove and destroy them. Strategies to support the children and alter this behaviour are not in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children attend an independent special school that is run by the same provider. One child has recently moved to the school’s alternative provision and has a reduced timetable. There is no reintegration plan. This reduces the opportunity for the child to return to full-time schooling and limits their social and academic potential. The weekly multi-agency meetings, which are attended by all relevant professionals with the education head and staff, are not ensuring effective outcomes and planning. The manager is not proactively challenging this as an advocate for the child.

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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC059755 4 The manager and staff ensure that children are kept safe. They have a good understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities. Concerns are responded to quickly, with the appropriate involvement of professionals to keep the children safe.

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

The manager and staff ensure that children can make complaints if they wish. There have been few complaints, but when they are made, they are fully investigated. There is a written record, and the children are spoken to and receive a child centred response. The children engage in the outcome and know what action to take if they feel unsafe.

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

The use of physical restraint by staff has reduced overall since the last inspection. The consistency of reduction is evident in the last four-month period. When tricky moments happen between the children, the staff use supportive strategies and positive distraction. When physical restraint is used, this is to ensure the child’s safety. Actions are recorded appropriately. The children and staff are spoken to afterwards to capture their feelings and any learning. The manager provides effective oversight; however, the timeliness of the recording is not consistent.

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

The manager and staff support the children with their cultural identity. The children receive care and positive role modelling from adults of the same and differing cultures. The staff also support the children to understand culture and ethnicity through access to books, where characters are representative of difference. The home supports Black history and celebrates important festivals. The actions of the manager and staff to support the children’s understanding of ethnicity and culture are not tokenistic. One child has begun to speak with their key worker about their Black Caribbean identity. This is a significant step in achieving positive self-identity.

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

The staff support the children to engage in activities. One child attends weekly swimming club. One child attends scouts and engages their passion and skills at the skate parks, both locally and in neighbouring boroughs. The achievements and skills of the children are spoken about by the staff with pride, including to the children. The children are developing positive, safe relationships with peers and adults inside and outside of the home.

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

The children are both supported to have time with their family. For one child, the manager advocated for the child’s time with their parent and sibling to be community based. The social worker noted the positivity of this change. The child’s parent expressed to the inspector their appreciation of the manager’s actions. They spoke of the positive impact of this change on the whole family. They had no concerns about the care provided to their child, reporting that there is effective communication from the manager. They feel that their child is well cared for and said, ‘I can sleep at night and know they are safe.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and responsible individual have created a supportive environment for staff. They ensure the delivery of regular and reflective supervision. Records are created and shared with staff. The manager and leaders deliver weekly team meetings. This is Inspection report for children’s home: SC059755 5 regarded as a safe space and provides opportunity to reflect and learn. The involvement and contribution of the clinical psychologist in the weekly team meetings provides additional expertise and validity to discussions. They provided examples of the progress that staff have made in understanding the children They noted that staff are more consistent in their response to the children, thereby meeting their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a positive and reflective culture in the home. The manager has had a critical role in this success. They demonstrate restorative leadership, with support and challenge to deliver reflective learning. The staff overwhelmingly reported to the inspector that they feel supported by the manager and feel that they have the skills to do the role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and home clinician effectively used research to develop a ‘responsive feeding plan’. This followed the identification by staff and the managers that mealtimes were tricky for the children. The strategy was informative, and recorded the overall objective and individual goals for the children. Planned reviews were held and led to effective change. This strategy and the successful planning and engagement by all managers and staff have effectively supported the children to progress in multiple ways.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

At the last inspection, the manager reported plans for the further development of the home and the spacious garden. The home has undergone some improvements, with new windows and front doors, leaving some unfinished decorative repair requirements. There has been no progress to the plans for the garden.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leaders and managers are not addressing issues of maintenance in the home within a reasonable time. Consequently, some areas feel less homely. One child’s bedroom requires redecoration. The manager has requested to purchase a projector for the home. Indecision about funding is causing a delay. There are no curtains in some lounge windows. The manager says that these cannot be rehung by them or staff as they are not allowed to use ladders. The negative impact on the children from all these issues has not been fully considered by the manager and leaders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leaders have supported the manager and responsible individual in the decision not to move an additional child into the home. The funding by one local authority covers one vacancy, but the conditions of the home would allow for an additional child to move in. The manager and responsible individual reported the support of senior leaders on this matter. Inspection report for children’s home: SC059755 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of 12 January 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC059755 7 exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child who is above compulsory school age to participate in further education, training or employment and to prepare for future care, education or employment;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)(x)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that there is a suitable plan that covers the decision to move any child to an alternative education provision. The objectives, actions and responsibilities of professionals should be set out with realistic and measurable timescales. The opportunity for the child to return to formal education should be challenged under the complaints procedure if there is concern of drift.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the language used in all documents and in discussions is child-friendly and reflects the language used in a home environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff keep appropriate memorabilia of children’s time living in the home. In particular, staff should provide context to the photos that are included in memory books so that children are helped to remember where they were, what they were doing and who they were with when they look back at the photos in later life. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)  The registered person should ensure that children are in full-time education while they are of compulsory school age, unless their personal education plan contained within the care plan or other relevant plan states otherwise. The home must aim to support

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Recommendations

full-time attendance at school, unless the child’s relevant plan indicates this is not in their best interests. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.14) Inspection report for children’s home: SC059755 8

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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: SC059755 9

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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: Five Rivers Childcare, 47 Bedwin Street, Salisbury SP1 3UT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Timothy-John Matthews

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Inspector

Ashley Arkless, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC059755 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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