Children's Home run by SWAAY Child & Adolescent Services Ltd in Bracknell Forest

Inspection report for children’s home: SC481040 1 SC481040 Registered provider: SWAAY Child & Adolescent Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to four children who require specialist support and therapeutic intervention. This home does not accept emergency placements. At the time of this inspection, four children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since April 2023.

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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

Date of last inspection: 15 October 2024

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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: SC481040 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/10/2024 Full Good 17/08/2023 Full Outstanding 29/11/2022 Full Outstanding 10/08/2021 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC481040 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making continuous progress in their development because the committed and engaging staff team has high aspirations for them to succeed. Relationships are built on fun and an acceptance of one another. Laughter and humorous discussions were heard during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

However, some staff are not familiar with the importance and ethos of the home’s statement of purpose. At times, staff respond to children in a negative tone. Positively, children challenge this because of the trusting relationships that they have built with staff. Children say that they like living in the home and that staff are generally kind and supportive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are receiving education. Effective and regular communication with education colleagues ensures that the expectations for children are consistently met. Older children have been successful in securing their chosen courses at college. Similarly, others have gained additional skills outside of education, such as in equine care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children are moving towards independence, they are helped to learn practical skills such as cooking, housework, budgeting and personal self-care. When children move into or out of the home, this is well planned and child led. This has contributed to children moving on to independence successfully.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff proactively help children to understand the importance of being healthy and to develop emotional and mental resilience. Collaborative working alongside the established therapy team enables children to cope with the demands of daily life and to understand the importance of positive relationships. Similarly, staff work in tandem with external professionals, which facilitates change and improves outcomes for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend a range of clubs and hobbies. They spoke proudly of their achievements and how they have been supported. For example, staff take them weekly to cadets, climbing club and other activities. As a result, the children have built friendships outside of the home and increased their self-confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s care plans and written records have much improved since the last inspection. Information is up to date and, where possible, written in a way that is accessible to children. Newer staff are well informed regarding the children’s lived experiences and current needs. As a result, one of the requirements set at the last inspection has been met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Communication with family members is effective and overall is positive. Staff ensure that children spend time with their families and those people who are important to them. Parents speak confidently about the care that their children receive. For example, Inspection report for children’s home: SC481040 4 one parent stated that they are ‘really happy with the way they (the staff) support my child’. Another gave overwhelmingly positive feedback via the independent person.

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

Overall, staff work effectively to keep children safe and to promote their well-being. Children feel safe living in the home. Children readily approach staff if they are worried or have concerns. The mental health of children is important to staff and managers, who make a conscious effort to engage with the children to explore and support their emotional well-being.

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

Dynamic risk assessments are concise, up to date and understood by staff and children. If staff do not perform their safeguarding duties with due diligence, for example, if there are medication errors, managers and leaders act swiftly to address the concerns.

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

Internal investigations are timely, detailed and child focused. However, on one occasion, acting managers failed to identify when staff had not fulfilled their roles and responsibilities, and opportunities for learning were missed. This was specifically following one serious allegation of peer abuse. This meant that the senior leaders did not have effective and timely oversight of ongoing safeguarding matters.

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

Staff make positive attempts to dissuade children from going missing from the home. When this is not successful, staff actively follow the child’s missing-from-care plan. Effective working relationships with the police ensure children return at the earliest opportunity.

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

Staff manage negative behaviour in line with children’s detailed support plans. Staff use effective de-escalation techniques, which means that physical intervention is rare. Reparation between staff and children is prioritised. This helps to restore trust and maintains a positive environment where children feel safe and supported.

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

Leaders and managers carefully consider the matching of children coming to live at the home. These decisions also consider the views of the children already living there. As a result, the quality of the relationships is good and creates a positive environment where children feel valued.

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

All staff have completed mandatory training, including safeguarding. When identified, staff undertake additional training. This enables all staff to be informed and consistent in their approach. However, not all staff are trained in the therapeutic model of care as stated in the home’s statement of purpose. Nonetheless, regular engagement with the established therapy team provides knowledge and support to staff.

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

Health and safety are of a good standard. Regular fire drills ensure that all children know what to do in the case of an emergency. Inspection report for children’s home: SC481040 5

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good

The home has been without a registered manager for some considerable time. This has created an uncertain and unsettling period for staff and children. Nonetheless, the highly committed and skilled deputy manager has provided well-received stability and consistency. Senior leaders and the deputy manager share a vision for the development of the service. As a result, there is some positive progress being made.

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good

The monitoring systems and quality assurance of the home are not fully effective and failed to identify the shortfalls found during the inspection. The lack of consistent oversight has created drift in completing identified actions and tasks. Consequently, the related requirement set at the last inspection is repeated. The creation of the head of residential care role indicates the improvements that are being made to the monitoring arrangements and to ensuring that the outcomes for children continue to improve.

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good

Advocacy is a strength of the service. Staff and managers ensure that the voice of the child is present throughout the care planning process.

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good

Leaders, including the deputy manager, know the children extremely well. Effective working relationships with external agencies enable a shared overview of children’s progress and promote positive outcomes.

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good

Staff say that they are well supported and receive appropriate and informative training opportunities. All staff are in the process of their annual appraisal to support their ongoing development. However, not all staff receive regular practice-related supervision. In addition, the quality of these meetings varies. For example, staff subject to allegations are not afforded the opportunity to reflect on learning. Therefore, this requirement is also repeated.

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good

Regular team meetings support staff to share concerns, updates and ideas. Meeting minutes are shared with the whole staff team to ensure that staff remain up to date with children’s care planning and the service development.

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good

The independent person offers an additional layer of scrutiny. The quality of reports has improved and provides the regulator with an informed and appropriate insight into the progress made by children.

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good

Leaders and managers have completed their own quality of care review. This identified some areas for improvement, indicating progress and actions to develop and strengthen the service. Inspection report for children’s home: SC481040 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 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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iv)(v)) 28 February 2026

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(h)) 28 February 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC481040 7 Particularly, that all staff understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose. In addition, that systems are effective in monitoring the outcomes of investigations and learning.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 31 January 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff relationships with children are characterised by consistency and 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. Positive, stable relationships help the child to feel secure and cared about and for. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 21, paragraph 4.3)  The registered person should ensure that they make suitable arrangements for the safe handling and administration of medication to children. They are to ensure that staff take better care of medication processes. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)

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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: SC481040 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: SWAAY Child & Adolescent Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 591 London Road, Cheam, Sutton, Surrey SM3 9AG

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Inspector

Jill Sephton-Wright, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC481040 9 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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