Children's Home, Residential special school run by Kisimul Group Limited in Lincolnshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC044562 1 SC044562 Registered provider: Kisimul Group 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 service is privately owned and is registered as a children’s home and a residential special school. The inspectors only inspected the social care provision. At the time of this inspection, the home was providing care for 28 disabled children and young people.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is registered with Ofsted and is suitably experienced and qualified.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC044562 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/08/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/06/2023 Full Good 23/11/2022 Full Good 09/06/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC044562 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff provide children with a good standard of care. Staff work hard to form relationships with children, who value that support and care. Children can approach staff and seek their help and support, and staff are nurturing and patient in their approach. The staff help children to understand what is being asked of them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are attentive and responsive to children, and they easily understand their needs and requests. This thorough understanding of each child means that staff act quickly when they recognise new behaviours or changes in how children present. The staff and managers are patient with children and try to explore different approaches until the child’s needs become clear.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the children are healthy. A significant number of external health professionals are involved with the children. Staff are confident to raise any specific health issues and work alongside parents to ensure that everything is seen through to conclusion, and this ensures children remain healthy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are offered a wide range of varied, healthy, home-cooked meals. Children who have more restrictive diets are encouraged and supported to try new foods. With children making good progress in this area.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are attentive to the unique needs of each child and adapt their care practice accordingly. By providing tailored support, the staff help children to develop their skills in a way that suits their personal growth. Over time, this approach has resulted in noticeable progress for the children across various areas of their lives. A social worker said, `[Name of the child] has flourished, making progress against all of his targets, because of the bespoke care and support he receives.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made significant progress in education. Staff set out their expectations for each child’s education from the outset of the placement. This means that any barriers that children face to educational attainment can be overcome. For some children, this has resulted in a significant improvement in their educational attainment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children participate in a range of on-site activities. However, off-site activities have been infrequent. The remote location of the home, together with the low numbers of staff who can drive. Leaders and managers have recently appointed drivers for the homes to increase the resource and consequently the opportunities for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for by staff who understand their needs. This supports children to be able to build trusting relationships. Staff speak about children with enthusiasm and compassion. However, on one occasion, it is reported that a member of staff used unfavourable words when describing a child’s behaviour. Inspection report for children’s home: SC044562 4

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

Staff prioritise the safety of the children and have a good understanding of individual needs and vulnerabilities. Clear and detailed plans are in place, with strategies to minimise potential risk to children. Staff are vigilant and professionally curious to explore the feelings of the children and, where possible, de-escalate situations before they evolve into incidents.

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

Collaboration between therapists working in the home and carers promotes a holistic and consistent approach to addressing children’s needs. Following incidents, the team around the child participate in incident reviews to examine the causes of the behaviour, and this contributes to a deeper insight into the children’s behaviour. This comprehensive strategy has impacted on children positively, leading to a noticeable decrease in incidents.

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

When staff hold children, this is well managed. On these occasions, the staff are quick to respond, and any intervention is for the shortest length of time. Debriefs are carried out with children, making sure their feelings are acknowledged. All incidents have the manager’s oversight. Any lessons learned are shared with the team and, if necessary, practice is adapted to ensure that children remain safe.

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

Medication administration processes are safe. When discrepancies are identified, these are thoroughly investigated, and appropriate action taken. For example, following struggles to obtain certain medications, managers have worked with the GP practice to change the prescription cycle.

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

Knowledge and understanding of safeguarding procedures are sound. Leaders and managers ensure that in the event of an allegation or complaint being made, they refer it to the appropriate safeguarding professionals, it is fully investigated, and it is dealt with in a timely way. Outcomes are recorded, and actions are taken to ensure that children and staff are supported throughout these processes. This means that concerns are taken seriously, and steps are taken to help prevent them from harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Management monitoring systems are not thoroughly rooted into day-to-day management. This has led to shortfalls in management oversight. The current systems do not bring information together in a coherent manner, for example the quality and frequency of key working completed with each child, how often children are participating in activities away from the home, the content within risk assessments and staff supervision records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The management team conducts regular audits of the work undertaken in the home. This process alone does not assure the manager that work is being undertaken to the required standard and that all necessary tasks are completed. To support the manager in their role, it would be advantageous to develop a system that provides her with greater oversight. Inspection report for children’s home: SC044562 5 A child freedom has been restricted. This was documented in the child’s assessment, although the manager and social worker were not aware of this restriction being implemented. This practice has been able to occur because of the managers lack oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff receive regular, individual supervision. However, when one staff member shared worries and concerns about supporting a particular child, this information was not acted on. This was a missed opportunity to ensure staff feel confident in supporting each child in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Team meetings take place with regularity. However, staff attendance is varied, and agenda items do not reflect children being discussed. There is also a lack of actions outcomes from the meetings. These would be enhanced by having meetings tailored to each house group individually providing the opportunity to discuss issues relevant to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager works hard to develop and maintain positive relationships with external agencies. She recognises that partnership working is key to effective care planning. Professional feedback shows that the children are progressing. This is attributed to the good care and support provided by staff. Inspection report for children’s home: SC044562 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experience of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to managers having thorough oversight of all areas of care and understanding of practices in each of the homes. 14 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

The enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 14 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC044562 7 that staff help each child to—

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Requirement Due date

develop the child’s interests and hobbies;

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Requirement Due date

participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child’s interests and preferences; and

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Requirement Due date

make a positive contribution to the home and the wider community; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to a range of activities that enable the child to pursue the child’s interests and hobbies.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 9 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

This is specially in relation to staff having regular meaningful discussions with children to educate and seek their views and wishes. 14 July 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure staff establish relationships with children which are characterised by unconditional positive regard for the child on the part of the carer; and where the carer acknowledges the importance of understanding and responding to the child’s lived experience of care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 21, paragraph 4.3) Inspection report for children’s home: SC044562 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: SC044562 9

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kisimul Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Old Vicarage, High Street, Swinderby, Lincoln LN6 9LU

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Inspectors

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Thirza Smith, Social Care Inspector Linda Mason, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC044562 10 regulates and inspects to 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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