Children's Home run by Witherslack Group Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report for children’s home: 1254258 1 Registered provider: Witherslack 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 home is operated by a private provider. It provides care for up to 4 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 4 children were living in the home. All children spoke with the inspector.

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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 outstanding

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: 1254258 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/08/2025 Full Good 20/06/2024 Full Outstanding 05/09/2023 Full Outstanding 28/02/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1254258 3

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Summary of findings

Staff build excellent relationships with children and have an in-depth understanding of their needs. These relationships allow staff to provide exceptional support to children when they are experiencing challenges. Children’s voices are central to their care, meaning they are able to influence decisions made about their futures and how they are cared for.

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Summary of findings

Children are making excellent progress with their education. Staff work creatively to ensure that any barriers to education are overcome. There are highly effective relationships between staff, external professionals and children’s families. This contributes to children receiving consistent and high-quality care from all who are involved in providing this.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers provide high levels of support to staff to help them understand the needs of the children. This gives staff confidence to carry out their roles and to support the children in a way that is best suited to their needs. The ethos of the home is underpinned by a therapeutic model, which staff have an in-depth understanding of. The home’s clinical psychologist is central to supporting both children and staff and contributes to children’s receiving highly individualised and therapeutic care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff build exceptionally nurturing and trusting relationships with the children. All of the children know who their trusted adults are, and they also say that they can approach any member of staff if they need to share their wishes and feelings. The quality of the relationships is a strength of the care provided and helps children to feel safe, secure and able to make excellent progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

When children experience challenges in their relationships, staff undertake high-quality direct work to help them overcome these. Staff follow an approach that helps them to analyse behaviours and ensure the voice of the child is central to decisions made about them. Staff support children to reflect on their behaviours when there have been difficulties and use restorative approaches to ensure relationships are maintained. This has contributed to high levels of stability for children, with all having lived in the home for a significant period. For some children who have previously had multiple moves, this stability has allowed them to make progress, which was not previously possible for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The education of the children is a priority for staff. All children are highly engaged with education and are making excellent progress. Professionals consistently report that there is excellent communication with staff, and that staff are always well prepared and informed. Education professionals describe demonstrable and ‘phenomenal’ progress for children. As a result, children feel confident to apply themselves in school and have Inspection report for children’s home: 1254258 4 aspirations for their futures. Furthermore, some children who have previously found education a challenge, now have the confidence to support other children in school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff support children to access a wide range of activities, sports and clubs outside of the home. This helps the children to foster new relationships, develop new skills and gives them confidence. All children speak positively about the activities they are engaged in and the opportunities these provide in their local communities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff go above and beyond to help children to remain connected to people who are important to them. Children are supported to have safe, meaningful and quality family time. Staff immerse themselves in family-based activities to ensure that this time is natural and of good quality. Staff helped one child to re-establish contact with their previous foster carer and to spend time with them. Family members recognise the ‘brilliant’ progress children are making and the role of staff in promoting positive outcomes and relationships. One family member said that staff are ‘not strangers’ to them. This focus on relationships helps children to feel safe and allows them to transfer trusting relationships between important adults.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff deliver a model of care that encourages children to engage with the therapeutic support they need. Children benefit from a clinical psychologist who works to support them in a way that is best suited to their needs. The psychologist is clearly visible to the children and builds strong, genuine relationships that help the children to engage. When there are barriers to engagement, or a reluctance from children, the therapist will explore alternative means to engage the children based on their needs. Children’s documentation is reflective of the model of care used and is underpinned by the psychologist’s advice. This ensures that the needs of the children are understood, their voices are heard and care is delivered in a highly consistent and therapeutic way that enables children to flourish.

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

Staff work effectively as part of a multi-agency team, to help children to remain safe. Children feel safe because of consistent approaches and nurturing relationships they have. As a result, behavioural incidents in the home and risks that children face are significantly reducing.

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

Staff and managers undertake significant amounts of direct work with children to help them understand their emotions, what causes them to be upset, and how they respond at times of challenge. This work is underpinned by theoretical models that the manager has researched and aids both children’s and staff’s understanding of how children respond at times of distress. This work has allowed children to contribute to the care they receive by identifying how staff can best support them. Social workers say that children show increasing insight into triggers and that they are developing their emotional intelligence. Inspection report for children’s home: 1254258 5 The support that staff provide children has led to incidents of physical intervention reducing for all children. This is because of staff supporting children in ways that they respond best to. When physical interventions do occur, staff seek to understand the

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

views of children through restorative and reflective conversations. Furthermore, managers have shared strategies to support children with children’s schools, and this has resulted in a reduction in incidents at school for children.

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

Allegations against staff are managed well, with managers undertaking thorough investigations. Following any allegations, staff undertake reflective conversations with children to ensure that positive relationships are preserved. This is important, as the relationships between staff and children are a clear strength and the basis for the progress that children are making.

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

There has been one incident of a child being missing from home since the last inspection. Staff responded appropriately to this to ensure that the child was located. There are clear procedures in place for staff in the event of children going missing, and they have a good understanding of how to respond to ensure that children are kept safe. Incidents of self-harm are also rare, but staff respond effectively when they do happen to ensure that children are kept safe and receive the support they need.

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

Children’s risk assessments are updated regularly and there is clear management oversight of children’s documentation. The involvement of children and the use of behavioural analysis help children to feel involved in decisions made about them and to have ownership of their plans. Staff recognise the importance of using the child’s own words, which are identified during direct-work sessions.

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

One child’s risk assessment is lacking some detail about how staff should respond in the event of a medical emergency, linked to an existing health condition. This has not had any impact on the child, but managers recognise the need for staff to have clearly defined actions, agreed with relevant health professionals, in the event of medical emergencies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has a clear vision for the ethos and direction of the home and is committed to providing high-quality care to children. He is clear about the qualities required of staff and the type of person needed to work in the home. There is a consistent and stable staff team, which allows the children to maintain positive and meaningful relationships with people they trust. The management team is visible to the children and supports work directly with children, including to cover any staff shortages. This ensures that the children are consistently supported by familiar staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager ensures there is a focus on continuous improvement and understanding the needs of the children. He leads on innovative and research-based interventions, which are supporting children to make progress in different areas of their lives. This work has children’s voices at its heart, and the manager ensures that the staff team is Inspection report for children’s home: 1254258 6 always aware of and responsive to these. By sharing work completed with professionals outside of the home, this is also helping others involved in children’s care to have a better understanding of their needs. This leads to children receiving more consistent and higher-quality care both in and out of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager promotes an open and transparent culture and is open to reflections from others. This creates an environment where staff are constantly seeking to improve their practice and the care they provide to children. Feedback from professionals and external agencies is consistently positive. Leaders, managers and staff are engaged with the wider care team, contribute to reviews and communicate regularly with external agencies and children’s families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager provides excellent levels of support to staff. Regular supervision sessions include detailed discussions with a clear focus on children. Managers and staff reflect on the work that takes place with children and explore what could have been done differently during times of emotional distress for children. The voice of the child is clearly evident in supervision sessions and staff use this when working with children. This helps children to feel heard and understood and helps them to regulate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The dining room has a table that can only sit four people. While there are plenty of other communal spaces where children and staff spend time together, this prevents the staff and children from all sitting down together and socialising at mealtimes. Inspection report for children’s home: 1254258 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, where appropriate, opportunities for children to sit together and eat should be promoted. In particular, the manager should ensure that children and staff are able to all sit together at mealtimes should they choose. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.8)  The registered person must ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to respond to the health needs of children. In particular, health plans should be updated following consultation with health professionals, with appropriate responses to chronic health conditions. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.12)

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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: 1254258 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lupton Tower, Lupton, Carnforth, Lancashire LA6 2PR

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Inspector

Shaun Martin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1254258 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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