Children's Home run by Witherslack Group Limited in Durham

Inspection report for children's home: 2615005 1 Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited 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 7 children who may experience emotional and social difficulties. At the time of the inspection, 7 children lived in the home and all were spoken with during the inspection.

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Information about this children's home

The home was registered with Ofsted in December 2020. The manager registered in October 2022.

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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

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2615005 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/07/2025 Full Good 10/06/2024 Full Good 10/07/2023 Full Good 21/11/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2615005 3

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Summary of findings

Children make excellent progress in different areas of their lives and are supported by a consistent staff team that is skilled at building strong relationships with them. Children's progress in education is a particular strength, and children's achievements are celebrated. Staff are proud of children and help them to build their confidence to engage in a wide range of activities outside the home and to help in the local community.

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Summary of findings

Children benefit from clear routines and age-appropriate boundaries. Staff support children to explore risk, which enables them to develop their understanding of this while promoting independence.

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Summary of findings

Managers provide highly effective leadership. Strong relationships are built with children's families, external professionals and the local community. Children feel valued and have a sense of belonging. Staff advocate strongly for children, and children stay living in the home until they are fully ready for independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make exceptional progress from their starting points. Staff spend time building strong and trusting relationships with children. They have a thorough understanding of individual children's needs and go above and beyond to support them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

There is a strong emphasis on supporting children when they are struggling emotionally. Staff access support from the home's therapist and undertake research to enhance their professional development and understanding of how best to support children through challenging times. This encourages staff to look at strategies to build meaningful relationships with children and to complete regular reviews of the children's needs and risks. This contributes to staff being able to provide children with highly individualised care that is attuned to their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children make excellent progress in education. Alternative provisions are sourced when this best meets the needs of children. Some children who were previously not attending education have now achieved GCSE qualifications and are accessing further education. Staff actively encourage and support children with their education journey and adapt their support to ensure that each of the children's education needs are met. This helps children to achieve their educational potential and improves their future opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children are provided with high levels of support to ensure that their health needs are met. Staff work with children to help them understand the importance of healthy eating and remaining active. This has helped children to become significantly healthier over time and to understand how to remain healthy in the future. Furthermore, children have Inspection report for children's home: 2615005 4 regularly engaged with the home's therapist. This helps to ensure that their emotional wellbeing needs are also being met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Managers and staff work tirelessly to ensure that children are accepted into the local community. Children's engagement with the local community and charities is inspirational. Children take part in charity events and have raised significant amounts of money through hosting these. Children have also been involved in supporting local and international good causes. Over time, this has helped children and staff build up strong relationships with the local community and neighbours. These efforts provide children with a sense of belonging and acceptance. In addition, it helps them to understand the value of helping other people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Children who move out of the home experience planned moves, and decisions are only made when they are ready and prepared to move on or it is no longer possible to keep them safe. One child who moved out of the home wrote a detailed letter to the manager to thank them for the support and care they received, which included reflection on the many positive experiences they had with staff. Children who move out of the home continue to maintain positive relationships with staff and other children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is decorated to a high standard and has a warm, homely feeling throughout. Children are encouraged to decorate their bedrooms to their own personal taste. This promotes a sense of belonging and helps children to feel valued.

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

Children have trusting relationships with staff, which has resulted in children feeling safe to disclose past traumas and harm. The manager responds effectively to these concerns and shares information with wider professionals as necessary. This ensures that children receive the support they need. When children have disclosed concerns about staff, the manager has completed a full investigation to understand the concerns and taken appropriate actions. After the investigation is complete and any learning identified, the manager supports the child and staff in rebuilding their relationship.

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

Staff promote positive behaviour through the use of rewards and incentives. Children's successes and achievements are celebrated, and this motivates children to do well. The use of consequences is restorative, proportionate and balanced. Children are supported to develop a good understanding of rules and boundaries, and this leads to them communicating well with staff when spending time outside of the home. This helps staff ensure that children are safe when spending time in the community.

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

When children go missing from home, staff are confident in their responses. Staff actively try to locate children and work closely with relevant agencies to bring them home safely. Staff speak to children when they return home to gather information and to understand the push-and-pull factors that lead to children going missing. They also support children to develop their understanding of risk and learn how they can keep themselves safe. Inspection report for children's home: 2615005 5 Staff are proactive in responding to any incidents of self-harm or substance misuse. Children benefit from a high level of support and reassurance. Staff quickly complete room searches, removing unsafe items, and seek support from emergency services as needed to keep children safe. The manager provides clear oversight of incidents and ensures that children's risk assessments are updated regularly and that they contain clear guidance for staff, which staff implement consistently. Staff talk to children about

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

risks in supportive and age-appropriate ways. This helps children understand their emotions and learn strategies to manage these safely.

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

Physical interventions are only completed as a last resort to keep children or others safe. Staff are skilled at de-escalating situations when they occur due to their clear understanding of children's needs and past experiences. Children are spoken to after any incidents of restraint to assist with their understanding of what has happened and to seek their views.

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

Children are supported with help around individual needs, such as substance misuse and healthy relationships. Direct work helps develop children's understanding of risks in these areas. This helps children to learn how to keep themselves safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is managed by a strong and committed leadership team. The manager and deputy manager are a highly visible and positive presence in the home and lead by example. The manager has high aspirations for the care provided to children. This creates a child-focused and nurturing culture that positively contributes to the overall experiences of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

A well-established and dedicated team of staff is in place. This provides consistency and stability for children, assisting them to build strong, trusting and enduring relationships. Staff say they are happy in their roles and feel supported both personally and professionally. There is a strong management focus on the wellbeing of staff. This motivates staff, making them feel appreciated and valued. As such, staff are confident in their roles, which has a positive impact on their overall ability to care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager promotes continuous improvement and has high expectations for staff practice. Staff undertake a wide range of training that is relevant to their role. The manager actively seeks out research to inform practice. This has included learning around the importance of using nurturing language for children, and the manager also encourages staff to undertake self-directed research, which is then shared with the wider team. Extensive work was undertaken with staff alongside the in-house clinician around the particular needs relating to neurodiversity of one child. This ensures that practice remains child focused, and staff's increased knowledge positively impacts on the outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager passionately advocates for children and is proactive in seeking support from external agencies. She takes decisive action and escalates concerns through a Inspection report for children's home: 2615005 6 multi-agency approach where there is an increase in risk to children. When professionals and placing authorities are not working in line with the manager's high expectations for the children, this is challenged appropriately and tenaciously.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Strong and effective management oversight of care planning provides staff with opportunities to reflect on alternative strategies in how best to support children. Learning from reviews of practice and incidents is shared with the team in high-quality supervision sessions and team meetings. Relevant research is used as a tool to focus discussion on children's individual needs and how these are being met. This helps staff understand how to respond consistently to children's needs and to remain child focused while building trusting relationships with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers are skilled communicators and build effective working relationships with a wide range of multi-agency professionals. Children, their family members and external professionals say that they have excellent relationships with the manager and staff. The manager works closely with a wide range of professionals to ensure that children receive a high level of support that meets their needs. This leads to children receiving care that is highly attuned to their needs and enables them to make strong and sustained progress over time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

No requirements or recommendations were raised at this inspection. Inspection report for children's home: 2615005 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: 2615005 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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Inspectors

Sarah Adotey, Social Care Inspector Amey Henry, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2615005 9 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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Inspectors

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