Windsor House
- Registered: 2001
- Registered Places: 3
- DfE Education: Yes
- Assessment/Therapy: Yes
- Step Down Placements: Yes
- Staff Ratio: 2:3
Windsor House - A 'Good' Children's Home with 'Outstanding ' Leadership and Management
"Children enjoy living at the home. They make strong progress because of the positive relationships they have with staff. Children say that they always get the support they need and can talk to staff when they experience challenges in their lives. This means that children feel safe and secure in the home.
Difference is celebrated. Children are cared for by a diverse team of staff, who are skilful in helping children to understand their own heritage through everyday activities, such as reading, cooking and music. Children feel able to discuss their feelings with staff openly. This helps children to experience new cultures while they build confidence and explore their own identities.
Staff promote the children’s education. All the children are attending local colleges and working towards attaining qualifications. When children have experienced challenges, staff have advocated strongly for them. They have worked with educators to provide support to help them understand the children’s needs. This has meant that one child has been able to continue to attend college.
Staff prepare children to be independent by helping them to learn new skills. Children use public transport independently, shop and cook for themselves. They have personal responsibilities in the home, such as doing their laundry and keeping their own spaces clean and tidy. Children are involved in their local community, and one child volunteers at a local charity shop.
Children are involved in the day-to-day decisions in the home. Staff routinely listen to children and consider their views. Children have had input in the furnishing of the home and their bedrooms are personalised. Their achievements are celebrated and on display throughout the home. This helps children to feel a sense of belonging.
Staff promote children’s relationships with those who are important to them. Families and friends visit the home, and children are helped to see friends in the community independently. When children experience difficulties in their relationships, staff give children advice and support to allow children to reflect on their interactions. As a result, children are learning to manage relationships independently."
Ofsted Inspection - December 2024 - Full report available by request
Residential Care
At Windsor House we provide children and young people with warmth and nurture, within an environment where we observe children to grow and develop as they begin to respond positively to the homes environment and the homes adults.
The children placed within Windsor House have all experienced some form of loss, neglect, trauma and rejection. This has had a profound effect on the children, whom are encouraged and nurtured to once again begin to trust for them to feel safe and secure within their placement. With the support of the adult team and the professionals involved in each child’s care, it is our intention that we will be able to successfully support the children in coming to terms with the underlying reasons for coming into care and to feel safe, secure, happy and healthy during their time with us.
The home aims to build positive relationships with all children whom come to reside at Windsor House in order to at first establish the ways in which we can support them to develop their self-esteem. A focus on building positive relationships begins from their arrival to the home and continues to grow throughout their placement.
Once these relationships are established, the children’s views, wishes, and feelings in regards to their care are incorporated into the way in which we provide care for them. All adults aim to support the children with their individual needs which are determined early on into placement. This is the foundation for ensuring that the children within Windsor House feel healthy, safe and secure and this builds the platform for which they are able to grow, develop and achieve.
The homes adults have the understanding and skills to support all children with their behaviours and recognise that at time the presented behaviours are a form of communication and reflects the thoughts, feelings and needs of our children at that time.
Through the development of positive relationships, the children are supported to recognise their emotions, and to understand how to communicate and express themselves in a constructive and appropriate manner. Positive encouragement and praise is regularly used within the home to recognise the children’s achievements and support is provided to assist them in developing further and understand socially acceptable behaviours. It is our aim that by supporting the children in this way, we are maximising the potential for them to achieve both their own self set goals and make improvements highlighted by the adults involved in their care.
For some of our children the long-term plan may be that a suitable fostering placement is identified and for others, there may be an aim for them to return to their family home. Whichever option is being considered for our children, we aim to ensure that they can manage that transition at a time that is right for them.
Education
The home is directly affiliated to both our DfE registered, specialist SEMH schools: The Davenport Primary School and The Old Priory Secondary School.
The respective school and the home work in close partnership to ensure continuity in respect of learning support, achieving developmental goals and behaviour management.
The Davenport School (Key Stage 2: 7-11yrs) offers a differentiated curriculum in order to meet the individual learning needs of each young person. The school operates with small group settings where children are closely supported and supervised by a qualified teacher and learning support assistants.
The Old Priory School (Key Stages 3 & 4: 11 – 16yrs) offers the national curriculum allowing for GCSE study in essential subject areas, alongside alternative, differentiated curriculums, including ASDAN and City & Guilds NPTC vocational awards, both of which lead to nationally recognised qualifications.
Assessment & Therapy
Children and young people residing in our care have access to a range of assessment and therapy services including:
- Psychological Assessment
- Psychotherapy
- Systemic Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Speech & Language Therapy
- Equine Therapy
- Music Therapy
- Drama Therapy
- Art Therapy
- Play Therapy
All therapy referrals are overseen by the organisation’s dedicated Therapy Services Manager in consultation with the allocated social worker and other key stakeholders as appropriate.
Our assessment and therapy services are an inclusive element of our residential care provision and attract no additional funding requirement.
Health Support
In addition to our therapy services and panel of consultants, each of our homes have direct access to a health promotions worker and, in the event of any significant health concerns arising, oversight from a registered, dual diagnosis nurse. This ensures effective, professional guidance in respect of health profiling, together with the immediate and ongoing health needs of each individual child and young person placed in our care.
Statement of Purpose
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