Children's home run by South West Childcare Services

Inspection report for children’s home: 1268518 1 Registered provider: South West Childcare Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It provides care for up to two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Since the previous inspection, four children have moved out of the home. At the time of this inspection, no children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

This home has two registered managers. One manager registered with Ofsted in December 2023 and is temporarily absent from the home. The other manager registered in January 2025.

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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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1268518 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/02/2024 Full Outstanding 15/03/2023 Full Outstanding 07/07/2021 Full Good 31/10/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1268518 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

No children were living in the home at the time of the inspection; therefore, observations of practice could not take place and no children were spoken with.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff talk with pride and positivity about the children they have cared for. They get to know children well and support them to make progress, even if they only live in the home for a short period. Staff understand the importance of family, school and identity to children. Staff create a sense of excitement around education and support children to improve their attendance through setting routines and communicating with school staff to identify barriers to the children wanting to attend and finding ways to support them to overcome these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have been able to help another child improve their well-being through a bedtime routine. Staff sought expert advice to explore solutions to poor sleep. They created a bedtime box filled with relaxing activities and items such as lavender spray and colouring books. Staff then supported the child through gradual steps to learn to unwind and settle in the evening, leading to improved sleep patterns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote positive experiences for children by inviting their family to the home for Sunday lunch. Children enjoy a range of activities, which they choose. They particularly like swimming but have also enjoyed activities such as baking, arts and crafts and a holiday to a caravan park. When children move out of the home this is carefully planned to ensure a positive experience. Children receive colourful memory books to remind them of their time at the home. Staff stay in touch with children after they have left to support their well-being.

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

The manager works well with partner agencies and the wider community. The manager communicates with external agencies to mitigate identified risks well. However, while staff discuss these risks, their knowledge is not always reflected in the planning. Risk assessments fail to consider all factors or robustly assess their impact on planning. Patterns and themes of behaviour are not tracked effectively, which makes it difficult to monitor progress and adapt the support being provided accordingly.

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

Behaviors are well managed, and children are supported to understand their emotions through conversations, play, and games with the staff. The children have helped design some of these games, including ‘Emotional Jenga’. Children enjoy playing this game with the staff and have asked to do so.

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

Consequences have been used in the home to promote children’s positive behavior. While the reasons for consequences are clear, the duration and effectiveness of the consequences are not. Inspection report for children’s home: 1268518 4 Risks are generally understood, and care plans reflect these. Staff are aware of how to support children, and they are proactive at carrying out research or sourcing training when necessary, particularly when they feel they need a deeper understanding of a particular subject. This has recently included training to upskill the team’s knowledge of how to support children who may be at risk of criminal exploitation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has developed a stable and dedicated team. Staff say they enjoy working at the home. They have a strong sense of pride for the children and their colleagues. Over the past year, the home has experienced changes in leadership that were well managed so that children and staff were not affected. Staff say that they feel supported by leaders and managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Recent recruitment has focused on sourcing team members who the children can relate to. Processes to recruit staff are in line with safer recruitment practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager proactively sources training to meet children’s needs and develop staff’s understanding of specific topics, such as foetal alcohol syndrome. The team undertakes training at a high level. Supervision of staff takes place on a regular basis as do team meetings. Records of discussions at these meetings lack detail. This does not demonstrate that purposeful reflection on practice has taken place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A particular strength of the home is its communication with the wider professional and community network, as can be seen in the response to children who go missing. This has involved a high level of multi-agency collaboration with the police, school, social care and family. When this has been unsuccessful, concerns have been escalated appropriately. Inspection report for children’s home: 1268518 5

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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 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; manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(i)(iv)) 16 May 2025

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information about individual children in a non- stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘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: 1268518 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: South West Childcare Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Third Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 4AH

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Children’s home details

Registered managers: Stephanie Evans and Kelly Marsh

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Inspectors

Sally Shakespeare, Social Care Inspector Polly Soper, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1268518 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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