Children's Home run by Watermead Care Ltd in Leicestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2583468 1 Registered provider: Watermead 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

This home is owned and operated by a private company. The home provides care for up to four children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a registered manager in post, who is suitably qualified and experienced.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home. The child was present and spoke with the inspector.

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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: 19 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: 2583468 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2024 Full Outstanding 07/03/2023 Full Outstanding 25/01/2022 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: 2583468 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the previous inspection, five children have been welcomed into the home and six children have left. Two children moved out of the home in a planned way in accordance with their individual care plans. Two children experienced significant changes to their care plans after moving into the home. This was identified by the home as triggering changes to the children’s presenting care needs. The staff were unable to maintain the safety needs of all the children at this time and escalated this, without delay, to the children’s placing authorities. Children experienced disruption as the competing needs of all children who had been placed together at this time could not be consistently maintained by the staffing team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children’s needs change, staff regularly seek to gain specialist support to ensure that children’s needs are met. For example, when risks were identified between two children in the home, they successfully sourced a local care provision for one child to temporarily reside in. This disrupted the immediate risk between the two children and ensured that the child could continue to access their on-site education provision. The child successfully completed their school exams during this time and moved into accommodation with their parent. During this time, the child had support from familiar staff, which prevented a further move for this child while the local authority sourced housing for them and their parent. This evidences an ability to respond effectively when children’s needs evolve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported and encouraged to participate in their hobbies and experience new activities. Staff regularly celebrate children’s achievements and encourage them to join new groups and develop their social circle. Many children who have left the home have maintained contact with staff, sharing their achievements and life updates. This indicates the quality of relationships that are built between children and staff and the careful consideration to support children when they leave. Care packages have been sent out to children who have moved on from the home. Children also leave with memory books that capture special events during their time here.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with their families and friends where it is safe to do so. This helps the children to have a sense of belonging and enables them to have positive experiences and maintain links to significant people in their lives. Children have successfully been reunified with family during this inspection period. Family members have commented on the quality of support from staff to nurture and maintain these relationships.

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

Staff support children to understand and identify risk. Staff have regular discussions with children about their experiences of risk and discuss strategies to build their resilience. Inspection report for children’s home: 2583468 4 Children’s risk assessments are regularly reviewed following any incident, to provide staff with clear guidance on the necessary steps they need to take to reduce risk. However, the location risk assessment has not been regularly reviewed to reflect the emerging levels of risk to children when they are missing from home. The location risk assessment has not been updated specifically to reflect the contextual risks to children who have been assessed as vulnerable to experiencing child exploitation.

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

Staff have effectively managed missing-from-home incidents. They provide appropriate reassurance and welfare checks for children during and following these missing-from- home periods. Information is appropriately shared with external agencies. While staff maintain a handwritten running log of the actions completed when a child is missing, the electronic records are not consistently accurate to evidence the care provided to children.

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

Physical intervention is used as a last resort to keep children safe from harm. There is not always consistent management oversight of the use of this type of intervention. There are gaps in the recordings of debrief discussions completed with staff following these incidents. This impacts the manager’s capacity to identify any inconsistencies in the records completed by staff members and to ensure that any agreed actions are completed.

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

Staff support children to manage their emotions and feelings. Staff take the time to get to know children to help them understand what works best for each child. This creates an environment where children feel safe to share their worries and feelings. One child who has a long-standing history of self-harm now regularly initiates contact with staff to alert them when they have self-harmed. This allows staff to quickly provide the necessary support and care to the child without delay. This indicates the strength of relationships that have been built between the child and staff members to enable this communication to be maintained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is child focused. They are supported by a leadership team that shares an ambitious vision to provide the best possible care for children. The staff have high expectations for children and are passionate about supporting them to achieve their full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have completed focused reflection discussions with the staff team to review learning when notice has been served on children’s placements. Staff have been encouraged to share their views on how practice can be developed. During periods of instability, the manager sourced additional waking night staff to support their staff team. Clinical supervision has also been provided to all staff every month, alongside their monthly supervision, to provide additional support and reflective time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff develop and maintain good relationships with professionals to get the best possible care for children from all services. The manager has appropriately challenged other professionals to make sure that children get the care and support they Inspection report for children’s home: 2583468 5 need. However, when one child was placed into police custody without the knowledge of the manager for several hours, there is no evidence to reflect the challenge and escalation by the manager to ensure that the child’s needs were met during this time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders have a clear understanding of children’s progress and oversight of the service. They know the strengths and weaknesses of the workforce and are continually striving for improvement. Leaders have started to develop systems to effectively monitor and review staff practice. There are clear plans of how these systems will be used to identify and make improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a highly supportive environment for staff to learn. Training is arranged so that it is tailored to the specific needs of children. The manager is creative in how she reviews practice and the progress of children through mind mapping and focused team meetings to unpick what learning can be identified. As a result, staff have accessed training that is specific to the children’s presenting needs, developing professional curiosity. Inspection report for children’s home: 2583468 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should evidence what they have done to achieve engagement with the wider system, including any actions taken to escalate concerns. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 11, paragraph 2.4)

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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: 2583468 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Watermead Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 135, 1 Hanley Street, Nottingham NG1 5BL

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Anne-Marie O’Reilly

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Inspector

Charlotte Tippett, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2583468 8 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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