Children's Home run by Dorset Council in Dorset

Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 1 SC032163 Registered provider: Dorset Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a local authority. It provides care for one child with physical disabilities or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, one child was living at the home. One child has moved out of the home since the last inspection.

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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: 29 January 2025

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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: SC032163 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/01/2025 Full Good 09/10/2023 Full Good 26/04/2022 Full Good 27/04/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a consistent staff team. This provides them with stability, boundaries and routine and allows them to build positive and trusting relationships. Staff know what is important to the child. They provide sensitive, attuned and individualised care. The child receives high levels of stimulation in line with their needs. This has led to a decrease in incidents and behaviours of concern.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children meet appropriate and achievable targets. This has resulted in the child who lives in the home making progress. The child’s abilities to recognise and express emotions, communicate, and develop fine motor skills have all improved. Through spending more time participating in activities outside of the home, the child’s confidence has grown, and their world has expanded.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff actively seek children’s views about day-to-day decisions. They are curious about children’s emotions and what may affect them. Staff use children’s preferred methods of communication to enable them to express themselves. They prepare and use a range of personalised social stories to support children’s understanding and learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build positive relationships with children’s families. They welcome children’s family members into the home and make their time together a positive experience. Plans to support one child’s request to go on holiday with their family have been finalised. Parents are involved in decision-making about children’s lives. This provides a joined-up approach to meeting children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are aware of children’s medical needs, and they take account of how they may affect the child. They help children understand the purpose of medical appointments. This eases children’s anxiety and ensures that they receive the care they require. On one occasion, a child was given the incorrect dose of medicine. Staff acted quickly and appropriately to seek medical advice and ensure the child’s wellbeing. Actions to prevent future incidents have been implemented.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive support to engage with education. Staff work closely with tutors and education providers to promote their learning opportunities. When children are unable to attend an education setting, staff provide a positive learning environment in the home. Staff continue to provide children with learning experiences outside of formal sessions. They also focus on helping children develop essential independence skills. This includes cooking, cleaning and shopping.

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

Staff understand children’s risks and vulnerabilities. They communicate with children to gain insight into the cause of their behaviours. They successfully implement informative and thorough safety planning and behaviour support to reduce risks and keep children Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 4 safe. Staff build and maintain positive relationships with external professionals. This enables them to have a well-rounded view of risks and how to manage them.

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

Restrictions that are in place are necessary to keep children safe. Regular monitoring ensures that the restrictions are proportionate and are eased when deemed to be in the child’s best interests. This has led to children receiving more opportunities and less supervision. Preparations for one child to move to their new home have thoroughly considered their safety and what restrictions are needed.

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

Concerns relating to staff practice are addressed promptly. When necessary, children are consulted, and feedback is provided to them. Investigations consider the impact on the child and determine the actions needed to keep them safe and to improve staff practice. This ensures that children receive safe and good-quality care.

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

Incidents of concern are rare at the home. Records of incidents lack essential details of how staff support children. Managers frequently record information relating to incidents following conversations, or the information is recorded by staff who were present for a period during the incident rather than the staff who supported the child throughout. This provides limited reassurance about the accuracy of the details recorded. Management oversight of incidents can lack critical reflection and action planning. This may mean that information about children’s experiences and staff practice is not documented and acted on.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children and staff benefit from a dedicated and reflective management team. The manager and the deputy manager work to their individual strengths. External professionals speak positively about managers’ communication and ability to work as a team for the benefit of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers carry out thorough reviews of children’s outcomes. Documents about children contain useful chronologies. These usually help managers consider children’s progress and areas where they need more guidance and support. However, the methods staff use to help children make progress and meet their individual targets are not evaluated. Managers have devised a new document that will document their oversight and inform ongoing care planning to ensure that children receive the care they require.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers provide staff with regular and reflective team meetings. Staff are involved in discussions about children and the running of the home, and managers consult staff on care planning for children. Discussions about safeguarding place an emphasis on keeping children’s welfare at the forefront of practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff value the support they receive from managers. They report that the children are always the managers’ priority. The quality of staff supervision is mixed. At times, staff are not supported in reflecting on their practice with children and considering their own Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 5 development. Managers have recognised the need for improvements. However, work to address the issues is very recent, and therefore the impact is currently unknown.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Planning for a child to move to their new home was comprehensive. Managers advocated for what was in the child’s best interests. When managers identified concerns about the process, they raised them in a timely manner to ensure minimal disruption and effect on the child. This led to the child and their family being fully prepared for the changes that took place. Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 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 experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that incidents are documented with sufficient detail and accuracy to allow for understanding of the child’s actions and experiences and the support they receive from staff. 13 May 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff receive support during supervision sessions to reflect on safeguarding practices and how they may affect children’s welfare. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)  The registered person should ensure that there is effective oversight and evaluation of the support provided to children so they meet their individual targets. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.5) Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 7

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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: SC032163 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester DT1 1XJ

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Inspector

Carla Simkiss, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC032163 9 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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