Children's home run by New Haven (Waterlooville) Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 1 Registered provider: New Haven (Waterlooville) Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home that provides care for up to 4 children who have learning disabilities. There were 4 children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 2025.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/06/2024 Full Good 15/11/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/07/2023 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff value and celebrate the uniqueness of every child in the home. Their understanding of the children’s individual needs enables them to support the children to navigate their feelings and challenges. As a result, children are making progress. One child’s social worker said, ‘It’s clear that other people are now seeing the amazing girl she is, so I am thrilled with how well she is doing.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The children’s presence is evident in the nurturing and homely environment, and items around the home such as roller boots, train tracks, dolls houses and bikes are reflective of activities that the children enjoy. Children also enjoy working with staff to personalise their bedrooms. They are invested in their environment and also enjoy spending time in their own safe space.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children benefit from stable and nurturing care. Most of the children have experienced multiple moves before living at the home. The sensitive approach of staff has helped the children to regain and maintain their sense of identity and self-worth. One family member said, ‘I’ve noticed that she is happy, healthy and her eyes are shining again.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All staff understand the home’s statement of purpose. Time has been invested in ensuring that staff have a sound understanding of the therapeutic model of care. Discussions with staff highlighted their increased knowledge, learning and commitment to their practice, and staff were warm, calm and patient in their interactions with children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are dedicated in promoting positive experiences for children. Children access a range of activities and holidays. Thoughtful and considerate plans are made when celebrating occasions such as Christmas. Children enjoyed decorating the home in readiness for the upcoming festivities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff are proactive in ensuring that children maintain relationships with their families. Challenging and complex circumstances are managed compassionately. Support from staff, alongside therapeutic input, helps the children to understand their feelings and equips them with healthier and safer coping strategies. Staff value children’s cultural needs and promote respectful relationships between children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

When children move on from the home, staff and managers actively advocate for them to ensure positive outcomes. Children’s wishes and views are documented, listened to and shared, to ensure that their voice is heard. One external professional stated that staff were exceptionally knowledgeable about a child’s care because of the ‘fantastic relationship’. Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 4 Cohesive and effective communication between agencies and the staff promotes a positive start for children coming to live in the home. The needs of children already living in the home are fully considered, to minimise disruption and negative relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All children are attending education. Staff support children to engage in additional curricular activities, such as reading and fun quizzes, to further enrich children’s learning. This means that some children are making progress in attainment from their starting points, and have 100% attendance.

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

There has been significant progress in the response, oversight and upskilling of staff regarding safeguarding. Staff speak confidently about their safeguarding practice and understand their roles and responsibilities to keep children safe.

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

Staff have completed appropriate and necessary training to support them in providing informed care to meet the needs of the children. However, one member of staff has not completed a necessary qualification within the relevant timescale.

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

Leaders and managers have supported staff to complete physical intervention training using a different approach. This enables staff to manage children’s behaviour consistently, using trauma-informed practice. This has led to a recent reduction in physical interventions.

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

Complaints made by children or others are managed swiftly and proactively by the registered manager. Significant improvements have been made to recording and to listening to children’s voices.

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

Allegations have been sensitively managed. Collaboration with the appropriate agencies has provided comprehensive oversight. Learning from rigorous internal investigations is shared through reflective discussions and team debriefings.

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

Newly appointed staff receive a thorough induction, including shadowing shifts with experienced staff and having time to read important information. This ensures that staff are confident in their roles and understand their responsibilities when they begin to care for the children.

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

Safer recruitment practices are in place to ensure that those working at the home are suitable. These practices are also applied to staff who have left and subsequently rejoined the organisation, and these staff undertake the full induction.

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

Medication is managed effectively and errors are rare. Annual staff competency checks help to ensure safe and informed administration of medication.

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

The children living in the home are relatively young, which lessens the risk of them going missing; however, age-related risk is considered. Previous missing episodes have been managed effectively, in line with a child’s care plan. Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 5 The physical environment is well maintained. Health and safety arrangements in the home are of a high standard. Recording and monitoring are effective; any concerns are identified at the earliest opportunity and remedied immediately.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The strong and effective leadership of the home promotes a sense of stability, progress and structure. The registered manager is driven and focused, with an agenda to effect the changes needed, and she has successfully achieved this. She is assisted by a dedicated deputy who has supported the successful implementation of the positive changes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The shared vision of the leadership team is forward thinking and clear. Leaders and managers lead by example and have high aspirations for children to achieve beyond expectations. The investment in staff development and learning is commendable.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Roles and responsibilities are well defined. All staff have embraced the changes; this has helped to pave the way for better-informed practice and increased learning opportunities. The improvements to practice are evident, impacting positively on the quality of care provided to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Monitoring is excellent and highly effective. Efficient quality assurance processes assist the leadership team in identifying strengths and areas for improvement. The responsible individual is proactive in her approach and knows the staff team extremely well. Support and guidance to the new registered manager have been appreciated and impactful.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

All staff receive regular, reflective and purposeful supervision and an annual review of their practice to inform their development needs. Structured and meaningful team meetings provide a platform for staff to share ideas, discuss practice and review observations of children’s progress. These are well attended and welcomed by staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff receive a wealth of information to help them to maintain good physical and emotional health. As a result, staff describe working in a happy environment. Staff are motivated to provide high-quality care for children because they themselves feel valued and respected.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The independent person provides a rigorous level of scrutiny. All recommendations made are swiftly addressed, demonstrating the management team’s willingness to reflect and learn.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager’s own quality of care review provides insight and focus on the areas of ongoing development. She has a solid understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses and celebrates the successes that they have achieved. She constantly strives to improve and is instrumental in driving positive change for the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The requirements made at the last inspection have been met. Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all staff in a care role, including external agency or bank staff, have the qualification in regulation 32(4) within the relevant timescale listed in regulation 32(5). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.12)

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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: 2686324 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Haven (Waterlooville) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 105 High Street, Worcester WR1 2HW

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jacqueline Smeeth

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Inspectors

Jill Sephton-Wright, Social Care Inspector Karen Flanagan de Martinez, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2686324 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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