Children's Home run by A Wilderness Way Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report for children’s home: 2690527 1 Registered provider: A Wilderness Way 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

This children’s home provides care for up to six children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties in up to four buildings under a single registration.

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Information about this children’s home

The home offers short-term intensive stays, typically lasting 17 weeks.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted in October 2022. The manager registered in November 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, there were four children living across four settings.

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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: 12 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: 2690527 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/09/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2690527 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home mostly provides short-term placements. The manager has advocated for one child to remain in their care in the longer term due to the significant progress that has been made. As a result, the child’s needs continue to be met by trusted carers. The child has a strong sense of belonging and acceptance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children build positive relationships with staff. Staff provide a high level of nurturing care for children which helps them to share their wishes and feelings with staff. Staff are attuned to children’s emotional health needs and pick up on changes in children’s behaviours and actions which indicate the need for additional support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are engaging in education. Most children have tailored education plans to meet their needs and help them to socialise with their peers. One child receives tutoring at the home, with staff also supporting opportunities for informal learning. Staff work hard to support children to travel long distances to college and in identifying additional opportunities to support children’s interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Health needs are met for most children. It is unclear if one child’s health needs are currently being met. A mandatory assessment is significantly overdue, which means that the child’s health needs have not been reviewed for some time. A referral for an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessment was made some time ago which the manager has not followed up. The child refuses to attend routine check-ups. Staff have responded to the child’s refusal with encouraging conversations but there has been no planned approach to help the child to engage.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are engaged in various activities to develop their interests, support their physical and emotional well-being and to help build their independence. Children take part in outdoor activities, clubs, playing instruments, keeping pets and household tasks such as building furniture. There are lovely photos in the home of the memories children have made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff work hard to support children’s relationships with people who are important to them. Staff build relationships with families and friends to help build children’s networks. The links made by staff help them to understand how to support children’s cultural needs. Staff are sensitive in how they help children to explore their identity.

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

Risk assessments consider all known risks to children. Staff understand the risks and use strategies and discussions with children to try to minimise these. As a result, risks are reducing for children and children are actively engaged in their plans and objectives. One social worker commended the team on how the work they had completed with a child had changed the child’s understanding of risk. Inspection report for children’s home: 2690527 4 Some risks to children have also reduced due to the isolated location of the home. Two children who had a history of going missing prior to living in the home have not gone missing since moving in. This has had a positive impact on other associated risks around substance misuse and criminal exploitation. When children do go missing from the home, staff follow the protocols in place to support children to return to the home safely and discussions take place with children to understand the reasons why they

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

Physical intervention is used appropriately and only as a last resort to keep children and others safe. Incidents are recorded in detail and there are debriefs with staff and children. The manager uses a tracker system to ensure that records are completed. However, for one incident the manager’s oversight did not take place in a timely way due to a delay in completing the staff debrief.

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

Staff work well as a team to ensure that boundaries are consistent for children. The manager is aware of the negative impact that social media and gaming can have on children’s well-being and has expectations in place about how this is managed. The routines and boundaries in place support children to have better sleep routines and to engage positively in their own care.

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

The policy for staff use of their personal mobile phones while caring for children is not clear and is not carefully managed. This resulted in one child being able to access a mobile phone which a member of staff had on their person during a physical intervention. The child does not have access to a mobile phone of their own as they are at high risk of going missing from the home and of exploitation.

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

The review of premises for the home considers the suitability and appropriateness of the location. However, it does not evidence that there has been consultation with local safeguarding partners to inform the review of premises.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has high expectations for herself and the staff team. This is shown in the high aspirations she has for what children can achieve while living in the home. The manager and the deputy manager advocate well for children, which promotes positive outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a high turnover of staff recently, with staff leaving for a variety of reasons. This has been well managed to limit the impact on children and the staff team. Staff feel supported in their roles and there is a strong focus on ensuring that new staff are supported by more experienced staff. One member of staff said: ‘I feel valued, supported and included in decisions.’ Staff are friendly and engaging, which creates a warm, welcoming environment for children and visitors.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are several opportunities in full service meetings and house meetings for staff to consider children’s progress and any key areas to work on. They include feedback for Inspection report for children’s home: 2690527 5 staff on expectations, the outcomes of external monitoring and input from other teams, such as the education team. Meetings also provide tailored briefings for staff to supplement the training package. This means that staff are well trained to meet the needs of the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision of staff is used to address practice concerns and to support staff well-being. However, staff are not consistently supported to reflect on their practice or prepared to discuss their experiences at each meeting. This varies depending on who carried out the supervision. Some supervision sessions were missed in one month which the manager addressed. This meant that there was a bigger gap for some staff between sessions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Appraisals take place annually for all staff. They do not include feedback from professionals working with staff or from the children being cared for. This compromises the manager’s understanding of staff practice and areas for development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are delays with some records, such as incident records, and notifications to Ofsted being evaluated and completed by managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager completes detailed monthly reports on the service. This includes an evaluation of the month, including what has gone well and what has not, along with actions to address this. The recruitment practices used are robust to ensure that staff working with children are safe to do so. Inspection report for children’s home: 2690527 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 health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs; and

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that children are supported to engage in health appointments and assessments in a timely manner and in line with their plans. 30 January 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2690527 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the policy on mobile phones is clear and understood by staff. This refers to how the policy is implemented in terms of staff use and storage of personal mobile phones and how this protects children from the risks associated with e-safety and in preventing children from going missing. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.19)  The registered person should ensure that supervision of staff takes place consistently and allows staff to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that annual appraisals of staff take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to

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Recommendations

Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)  The registered person should have a system in place so that all serious events are recorded in a timely manner, including manager’s oversight, and notified, within 24 hours, to the appropriate people. The system should cover the action that should be followed if the event arises at the weekend or on a public holiday. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.13)  The registered person should ensure that the annual review of premises demonstrates consultation with local safeguarding partners to include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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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: 2690527 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: A Wilderness Way Limited

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Inspectors

Andrea Foreman, Social Care Inspector Julie Elder, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2690527 9 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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Inspectors

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