Stay Safe
Where children live
The school has eight houses for our resident children, spread around our extensive leafy campus. These houses are placed into two groups and each group is registered as a Children’s Home. They are subject to the strict monitoring that is required of Children’s Homes. Each of the houses has a “Statement of Purpose and Function” which details the number and ages of children who may live there, and details of how the house is staffed and run. All the houses are mixed gender and the children have their own individual bedrooms. Although we set out to give all of our houses a homely feel, some children’s bedrooms and possibly other living areas may need to be modified to cope with the needs of individuals with autism. All the houses are staffed on a 24 hour basis and have a complement of waking night staff.
Behaviour management
The school operates a non-aversive discipline policy and promotes positive behaviour management. All behaviour is seen within a developmental bio-psycho-social matrix. This complex framework of understanding is provided by a Consultant Paediatric Neuropsychologist together with a team of specialist behaviour support practitioners and psychologists. All children are subject to a thoughtful and comprehensive individual assessment by this team in association with the education staff. Therefore, we can be sure of encouraging optimal social, emotional and skills development within an appropriately safe and nurturant environment. Because of the low developmental ages of most of our pupils it is not appropriate to manage their behaviour by sanctions, and we set out to manage the environment and schedules so as to minimise the incidents of inappropriate behaviour.
Almost all of our children will display challenging behaviour, of the sort associated with learning disabilities and/or autism. For many this can be occasional but for some is more frequent. For these children our Behaviour Support Team will write behaviour management plans to support the work of the education and care teams. They will advise and support the teams in the implementation of these and provide training. These plans are made available to and discussed with parents and professional colleagues.
There are occasions when staff find it necessary to intervene physically (or, more rarely, medically) to manage behaviour. We use a British Institute of Learning Disability (BILD) accredited model of physical intervention training known as “Timian Training”. All members of the care teams are required to be trained in the low-key techniques of this programme.
Multi-Disciplinary working
A key feature of the school is multi-disciplinary team working. The school regularly calls together a team of key education, care, medical, nursing and therapy colleagues to monitor the progress and needs of our pupils. Multiple professional perspectives are provided at all stages from initial referral, through to placement and management. This ensures that the school proactively manages individual needs and resources are in place to support the children from the outset. By this ‘up-front’ approach we can avoid many potential obstacles and difficulties. However, in those instances of emergent need or difficulties the MDT an in-house resource can be relied upon to provide rapid appropriate and sensitive support. This team can also be rapidly called together to address any urgent needs that arise.
Safeguarding children
The school follows best practice as defined by the DfES and by our home local authority, Cheshire County Council.
New members of staff are required to supply two written references and undergo an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check before they are allowed to have contact with our children. Existing members of staff also continue to have such checks carried out regularly. Where the school finds it necessary to employ “supply” staff from an employment agency, such members of staff are required to bring their enhanced CRB check with them for scrutiny before they are allowed to begin work.
The David Lewis Centre, of which the school is a part, has a Safeguarding Children Policy developed and implemented in consultation with Cheshire County Council Social Services Department and the Commission for Social Care Inspection. Under this, any suggestion of inappropriate practice or any other safeguarding issue is passed directly to the Centre’s Protection and Social Work Department who will refer to our home (ie Cheshire) social services department to discuss how to proceed. The vast majority of such issues have been referred back to the Centre or School for us to address through our own procedures.
Staff Training
All staff are required to undergo a training programme including the management of challenging behaviour at induction as well as Timian Training at a later stage followed by an annual refresher. In the same way staff are also required to complete and update annually training in safeguarding policy and procedures.
Risk management
The management of risks posed by contractors working on site is overseen by the Centre’s Health and Safety Manager. No work is allowed to proceed without the appropriate plans and safety equipment in place, and appropriate risk analysis carried out.
All children have risk assessment documents for moving and handling, swimming, management of epilepsy, management of behaviour and fire safety included within their Common Care File. They will also be screened for risks associated with their environment, night times, community access, day activities and education, vulnerability, physical health, and mental health. Where such a screening highlights areas of vulnerability appropriate risk analysis is carried out.
Residential trips
The school is proud of the fact that its pupils are able to take part in residential trips to such places as Center Parcs, outdoor centres, Euro Disney and our own specially adapted caravans in North Wales. Colleagues wishing to plan or lead such trips are required to follow the Centre’s policy and procedures, to gain initial approval from the school governors, to obtain the agreement of parents and other significant professional colleagues, to produce plans, documentation and risk analyses in line with Cheshire County Council’s own best practice prior to departure, and to obtain final signed approval from school governors and key school staff.
Transition
Transition post-19 is currently an area of difficulty nationally, and our Head of Post 16 Education, Mrs. Pauline Greenall (and her team); endeavour to support parents and professional colleagues through this difficult process.
Progress on Transition for such pupils is a standing item on the agenda of the Learning Committee of the School Governors.
We endeavour to enable young people to return to their home and to their local authority provision wherever that is appropriate, and work in partnership with local authorities to mange this process.
Exclusion
The school does not exclude pupils. Very occasionally we find that we become unable to meet the needs of certain pupils, most often because of changes in their neurological condition or their development. In these circumstances we work in partnership with the placing authorities to try to locate a more appropriate environment for them, a process that may take many months.
Advocacy
The school has a contract with the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS), for independent advocates to visit our residential houses on a regular basis. Such advocates usually have a background in senior management in social services. The advocacy service will also represent individual pupils on issues if requested.
Governors
The school has a governing body with parental representation. The governing body is supported by two committees, one focusing on Learning and the other on Care. Both committees currently meet at half-termly intervals. The Care Committee receives reports on the work of individual house teams, including nights, and members of the committee visit houses on an informal but unannounced basis.
