Children's Home run by Libre Living Limited in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Inspection report for children’s home: 2676499 1 Registered provider: Libre Living Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private provider. It provides care for up to two children. Two siblings currently live in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2024.

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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: 17 October 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: 2676499 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/10/2023 Full Good 07/03/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2676499 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The inspector spoke with both children during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are well settled and continue to make excellent progress. Staff work with the children to understand how they view themselves and their future. They use this information to create meaningful and focused plans that help children to develop. Both children have clear aspirations and goals for the future and are well on the way to achieving these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance children place on their family, as a source of their values and identity. They support children to have meaningful but safe time with family. The children’s family members visit weekly for a Sunday roast, allowing them all to enjoy quality time together. Staff support children to have reflective conversations to help challenge some of their thinking around family culture and traditions. In this way, staff support what is important to the children, but also help them to think about developing their own individuality and the confidence to do things differently if they want to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with their education. One child is in year 11, and with staff support, has significantly increased their attendance and most notably their attitude to learning, leading to good mock exam results. The child undertakes voluntary work weekly at a local café, which they say is to help them with future job applications. The other child finished school last year gaining valuable qualifications. Staff worked closely with the school and local authority to ensure the right support was in place. The child struggled with their college course and has worked with staff and other professionals to secure a new opportunity. The child has had a part time job since the summer and has enjoyed working and earning alongside learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to attend appointments for their health. Both children are currently having ongoing orthodontic work. Staff support and encourage children to lead healthy lifestyles. However, the children’s diet is not always well-balanced and healthy, and they struggle to plan their meals around activities. Recently, staff have encouraged children to return to the gym and boxing club and to start to think about eating more healthily.

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

Children feel safe in the home and form trusting relationships with staff. If they are in a difficult situation they will ask for help. Because of the good relationships, staff and children will talk through things that have happened, reflecting on actions and decisions and thinking about how to resolve matters differently in the future. Incidents rarely occur and are mostly resolved through conversation. Staff have imposed some consequences because of children returning late at night. However, through reflection and discussion as a group they have decided to move away from this approach. The manager identified Inspection report for children’s home: 2676499 4 there was little impact, and that it was more important to understand and support the reasons behind the lateness.

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

Staff spend time talking with children about aspects of their life, both past and future. The conversations help to develop children’s emotional health and to begin to address past trauma. These conversations are professionally curious, supportive and really help children to process the past in a meaningful way. They also allow staff to ensure children understand information about being safe. They can consider how well children know the risks around exploitation or drinking alcohol.

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

Staff recognise and report safeguarding concerns. They understand family dynamics well and identify and share risks relating to other members of the family. Staff ensure they share information with other professionals as required.

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

Managers regularly review the risks in the local area. This includes gathering information from other agencies, such as the youth justice team, schools and police.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A new manager and deputy manager have joined the home. Both are experienced and well qualified for the role. Due to these changes, there has been a necessary focus on building relationships and providing stability for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have considered staff strengths and areas for development. It is identified that some staff require more support to develop their confidence in delivering therapeutic care. The manager and deputy role model and coach staff to help develop this and have identified the need for further training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers foster an open and supportive culture for staff and children. Staff say they enjoy working in the home. Managers hold regular team meetings and reflective discussions, that helps staff to explore care in the home from a different perspective. Because staff mostly work alone, these meetings are vital to ensure a consistent approach is used. Staff receive regular supervision meetings. These offer the opportunity to talk about the children, working relationships and staff practice. Because incidents and safeguarding concerns occur infrequently, there is very little for staff to reflect on. While managers use safeguarding scenarios in team meetings, there is little exploration of staff confidence and understanding of safeguarding on an individual basis.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff maintain clear records which help them to understand the care provided. They contribute to plans which outline how to support and care for children. Staff review children’s progress regularly to capture what they have achieved to identify ways to support them to meet their goals for the future. Inspection report for children’s home: 2676499 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure consideration is given to individual staff development and understanding of safeguarding or incident scenarios. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.14)  The registered person should ensure that children receive support to develop their understanding of healthy eating. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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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: 2676499 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Libre Living Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Advoco, 14a Albany Road, Granby Industrial Estate, Weymouth DT4 9TH

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michelle Brennan

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Inspector

Clare Nixson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2676499 7 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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