Children's home run by White Lodge Centre in Runnymede

Inspection report for children's home: SC013828 1 SC013828 Registered provider: White Lodge Centre

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home provides short-break care for up to six children who primarily have physical and/or learning disabilities. The home is located on a multi-purpose site and is operated by a large charitable organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 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

Date of last inspection: 26 February 2024

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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: SC013828 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/02/2024 Full Good 24/01/2023 Full Good 08/03/2022 Full Good 19/06/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC013828 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who come to stay in the home benefit from care that is warm and affectionate. Children enjoy positive relationships with staff, who understand their individual needs and provide attentive support. Staff are adept at working closely with children, while giving them plenty of space to safely explore and be themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand and support children’s individual communication needs. Children who are non-verbal are actively supported to share their views. Staff are skilled at responding to signs that children are becoming upset and use a sensitive approach to help them calm. This means that children’s feelings are considered and respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a wide range of activities suited to their individual interests, both inside and outside the home. Children’s ideas and preferences are explored by supporting them to try new experiences and enabling them to communicate what they like and to what extent they want to participate.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers are focused on enabling children to progress and they aspire for children to have positive experiences. Children have a range of fun and practical development goals. Children’s identities are celebrated and they are helped to have a sense of belonging. One child has been helped to start spending time with other children and join in activities. Another child has been helped to overcome challenges and transition to secondary school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children come to stay in an emergency, they are greeted with warmth and helped to quickly settle. Managers work with families to make sure children have familiar items with them, to help them feel at home. This means children are helped to feel safe when unexpected changes happen, and to have positive experiences during their stay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The shared areas in the home are spacious, colourful and welcoming, with sensory equipment scattered around to engage and stimulate children’s interest. Children’s bedrooms are adapted to their needs, with thoughtful decoration and personal touches. Children and staff are continuously looking for ideas to make children’s rooms more homely when some are a little sparsely decorated.

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

Care plans are clear and child-centred. Information is easy to understand, so staff are aware of children’s preferences and how to work with them. Care planning is personalised and describes guidance from the child’s perspective. This helps staff to continuously involve children and encourage them to be as independent as possible.

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

Allegations made against staff are responded to, and immediate steps are taken to safeguard children. Managers report concerns to appropriate safeguarding professionals Inspection report for children's home: SC013828 4 and action is taken to prevent staff from working in the home. Managers work with partner agencies to ensure that issues are thoroughly investigated and outcomes are communicated.

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

Staff are knowledgeable about how to keep children safe and know what interventions to use to de-escalate behaviours that might lead to incidents. If children need to be encouraged away from an incident where they might be at risk, staff appropriately use de-escalation strategies or move children away. However, evaluations of the reasons for the incident and the details of how children have been guided are not always fully recorded. This means that the records do not show that staff and managers reflect and that they understand children, which is an ethos embedded in daily practice.

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

A positive safeguarding culture is instilled in the home. Staff identify concerns and take appropriate action to keep children safe and prevent further incidents. There has been a low number of incidents and no use of restraint since the last inspection. However, managers do not always inform relevant statutory agencies when a child has been injured. This means that the relevant professionals do not always have an overview of children’s individual experiences or safeguarding concerns in the home.

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

Some children who stay at the home have a wide range of complex health needs. Plans reflect children’s medical care requirements and include guidance for staff on how to deliver specialist care and health monitoring. However, one child had not had all their health needs fully explored, and equipment was not in place to treat them when they were unwell. Medical advice was not sought, and not all staff have been trained in how to meet this child’s specific health need. This meant that when the child was unwell, they did not have the appropriate medical treatment or follow-up monitoring.

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

Managers have worked hard to ensure that the environment is safe while also being homely for children. There are some areas where access is appropriately limited to safeguard children. However, these restrictions are not routinely assessed to outline why they are in place and are not regularly reviewed to explore if they are still required or could be reduced. As a result, some restrictions are not needed, and children’s access is unnecessarily limited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has worked tirelessly to create a home where children enjoy spending time and staff feel supported. The manager talks about the home with genuine enthusiasm and commitment to ensuring children receive high-quality individualised care. There is a sense of continuous drive and ambition to move things forward and make improvements to every area of the service. The manager continuously campaigns to secure resources to further develop the home, and this has created an environment where children can thrive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that the short-break services are flexible and adapted to give children the best possible chance to settle in and have a stable base from which to progress and develop. For example, the duration of one child’s tea visits was extended Inspection report for children's home: SC013828 5 so they could settle and enjoy their time in the home, and their parents benefit from a longer break. One child is having more stays due to family circumstances. This gives them time in an environment they are happy in and supports the family.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager highly values the staff and senior leaders and attributes the home’s successes to effective teamwork and stable support systems. Staff have regular supervisions and team meetings, which gives lots of opportunity for them to come together and discuss the needs of the children and their own support needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Parents and external professionals speak highly of the home and are impressed with the level of communication and support it provides. They appreciate the home’s flexibility in offering short breaks that are meaningful and beneficial for both parents and children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring systems provide an effective overview of the home, enabling the manager to look for themes and patterns and areas for development and take these back to the team for further discussion. Inspection report for children's home: SC013828 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded; 5 December 2024 Inspection report for children's home: SC013828 7 that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health; and

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(c)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that incidents resulting in physical or emotional harm to a child are reported to the appropriate professionals.

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Requirement Due date

Also, the registered person must ensure that information, equipment and training for staff are in place to meet and respond effectively to all children’s health needs.

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv)) 5 February 2025

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are recorded and subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure their use is fair and proportionate. This includes keeping clear records when staff have guided children during an incident. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36) Inspection report for children's home: SC013828 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: SC013828 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: White Lodge Centre, White Lodge, Holloway Hill, Lyne, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 0FA

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Inspector

Shirin White, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC013828 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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Inspector

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