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0 | P a g e

2017

7/1/2017

3 Dimensions Residential care and education

for young people including specialised support

for SEBD, ADHD, Asperger’s and ASD

Woodview Young Persons Guide

1 | P a g e

A Warm Welcome to Woodview

We would like to welcome you to your new home at Woodview, part of

3 Dimensions.

This Handbook is designed to introduce you to your new home, the

staff, what you can expect and also what will be expected of you

during your stay at Woodview.

This will be

your home.

This guide should answer most of the usual questions, but we are certain that

there will be more that come to mind.

All the team are here to help and support you, so feel free to discuss any

questions or thoughts you might have with anyone.

We are all very happy to have you come and stay and look forward to

getting to know you better.

2 | P a g e

More about Woodview

There are only four places at

Woodview. You will be one of

the four young people aged

up to 18 years old sharing the

home.

This could be your bedroom.

You will have your own spacious room equipped with a bed, new bedding,

wardrobe and chest of drawers. We would like you to personalise your room

and make it your own. You can bring posters and belongings with you and

we can help you to choose soft furnishings so that you can enjoy your

personal space.

3 | P a g e

The house is split into two levels, which are like flats. Each flat can

accommodate two young people and you will share the kitchen,

bathroom and living room with them. There is also a garden at the back of

the house, where you can spend time outside.

Music systems are allowed in your bedroom at a reasonable volume and

level of use. There may be other items that you wish to earn through our

house reward scheme, which can be explained in more detail.

Woodview is based in a good position in the south west of England, in the

county of Devon. We are situated in a prime position to access local

facilities as we are only a 45 minutes’ drive from Exeter city, Taunton or 10

minutes from the beach.

4 | P a g e

The Registered Manager:

Emma English

Emma runs the house

It’s her job to make sure everything works

smoothly, from the daily plans to staff

rotas.

Emma is your main point of contact, she is

there for you.

Donna Callow

House Senior

Donna is the House Senior and

supports Emma with daily tasks. She

is there to talk to if Emma is not.

5 | P a g e

Our Commitments to You

We look after you and keep you safe

You can expect to have all your essential needs met, these include good

food, clothing, comfortable housing and an inspiring education.

Providing these will be our priority and carried out to the best of our

ability.

We are also committed to caring for your emotional needs. We aim to

help you find the things that make you special and support you to

achieve personal goals and targets. Everyone at Woodview will help

you, respect you, listen to you and will do our best to understand your

needs. We will take care of you and keep you safe.

We will help you find activities that you are interested in joining and will

help you make friends in the community. Our aim is to help you build a

bright future for yourself, together we can explore how to build on your

strengths, setting you up for the future.

6 | P a g e

Being happy and enjoying the food we eat is

all part of a healthy diet & lifestyle.

Health & Well-being

Although there will be some healthy restrictions on food types (i.e. limited

junk food), there will not be restrictions on healthy foods such as fruit and

veg.

Balanced weekly menu plans along with snack menus and treats will all be

planned in advance with you.

When we eat well – we feel well and are

capable of doing more.

7 | P a g e

We will register you with a local doctor, optician and dentist, soon after

you arrive and keep up with all the proper health checks.

While we are getting to know you, we will keep any medication you are

taking in a safe place and make sure you take the right dose at the right

time.

If you would like to manage your own medication and you have shown

yourself to be responsible, this can be arranged. This will need to be

discussed with other people who have responsibility for your health, this may

be your parents or your social worker.

We will be encouraging all young people to learn to cook the food they

eat. One day a week each young person will take a turn to cook a meal

for the others.

We also encourage exercise this may be in the form of joining a local group

or by getting out and about on local beaches, woods and parks. Exercise

helps to build your stamina and will increase your health too.

8 | P a g e

You will be encouraged to keep yourself clean and well groomed.

Personal hygiene is important, we will supply you with all the toiletries that

you need. As you become older you will be encouraged to manage your

own toiletry budget and to arrange your own appointments at the

hairdressers.

Clothing

Good clothes to wear are important and you will be receiving a monthly

allowance to shop for and choose clothes you like to wear.

Some of your clothing will need to be practical, as we will be spending a

proportion of our time doing activities. You will also be able to choose

appropriate fashionable clothing that you enjoy wearing.

Specialist activity wear (i.e. wetsuit, waterproofs, etc.) will be bought for

you by the house.

9 | P a g e

Emotional Needs.

We believe in keeping things steady.

We try not to change the staff around if it can be helped. We also like to

plan for new young people joining Woodview and meet them first. This is

so you can have the chance to have a look around, but we know that it’s

not always possible.

Either way, your transition will be made as comfortable as possible by the

house team and we are confident that you will settle into your new home

in no time.

We have routines in the house that run from getting up in the morning,

mealtimes, to night-time lights out.

We aim to create as much of a homely, healthy environment as possible.

If you have lived with us for some time and we feel you are responsible, you

may be allowed to have a small pet to take care of. We would expect that

you contribute towards the upkeep of the animal and help to take care of

it.

10 | P a g e

How we live in the

house.

It is important that we all live together

as happily as possible. We will help you

to do this. We may ask you to

contribute to the running of the house.

This could be by, keeping your room

tidy and joining in at meal times.

We will help you to develop a routine

so that you are able to make plans

and be on time.

We know that it is also important at

times to have your own space and

privacy is respected.

If you are having a problem or finding it difficult to cope, we hope you will

ask for help so that we can work through any problems together.

Contact with Family

We understand the importance of preserving family

ties and connections that are close to you.

With the agreement of your Social Worker, we would

make arrangements for your family to visit the home, always make

them welcome and would be happy to provide a private space

where you could have time together, or we will transport you to

arranged visits. We can also help you keep in contact by phone or

letters. To help you do this you can make an address book of those

people you would like to be in contact with:

After we have got to know you, with the agreement of your social worker,

you may be able to use a personal mobile. There would be rules around

this which would be discussed with you.

12 | P a g e

Keeping in touch

13 | P a g e

Communication and consultation

Communication is a key factor to all successful relationships.

Key worker

You will be encouraged to

choose your own key worker. Key

work sessions are an opportunity

for you to explore your choices,

express your feelings and discuss

any concerns or issues that you

may have.

Your key worker is there to

support you and you can of

course talk to them or another of

your carers at any time. This does

not have to be during a key work

session. You may also have

tutorials where your keyworker will

cover educational topics with

you.

If you have a difficulty discussing your fears or feelings we will help you try

and express these.

We may recommend a key worker that can help with any speech

difficulties you might have, for example, helping you to use signs or

symbols for communication.

In these sessions we would like to talk with you about your feelings around

how our home is run, how you feel about past or present events, fears

worries or problems.

14 | P a g e

This way, Emma will get to hear what everyone is feeling in the house and

can discuss strategies on how the points raised can be answered. All of

this will be fed back to the house team as necessary.

House Meetings

There are monthly house meetings in which time is put aside by the

House Manager, for you to discuss any aspect of life in the home

together.

It’s always a good idea to write down a list of the things you want to talk

about so you don't forget anything.

If you need help with this, your key worker will be able to help you put

your thoughts onto paper and support you in the meeting wherever

possible.

Safeguarding you and others

We want to help keep all the young people in our care safe, therefore we

will always treat you fairly.

This means that you will be respected and will be asked to respect others.

Feeling secure

We make sure that the staff we employ are safe to work with you so you

can feel comfortable and not worry.

If you are ever worried, talk to a staff member you trust, your key worker or

Emma.

Bullies

It is important to us that all young people in our care feel safe.

If you ever feel bullied you would need to tell a member of the staff or

management team and steps will be taken to ensure this does not

happen again.

If a young person is found to be bullying another, a meeting will be called.

During the meeting there will be a discussion around why the young person

is behaving in this way. The young person may be asked to explain how

we can help them try and prevent this happening again and show how

they will try to repair the hurt they have caused.

(I.e. a written or verbal apology)

16 | P a g e

When we share our feelings openly we can manage anger and form

relationships that work.

About Our De-escalation, Physical intervention.

The only time we physically intervene in managing young people’s

behaviour, is if we feel they are going to hurt themselves, somebody else

or cause a lot of damage to property.

We do hope that there will be no need to use this, it is a last resort as we

are interested in finding solutions to problems.

If you have troubles, our aim will be to sit down, highlight problem areas

and find practical ways of making things better.

It’s OK to be unhappy or fed-up with something that’s going on, let’s talk

about it and sort it out. We will try and help you learn how to do this so

that you can express your feelings. We will help you to create a behaviour

management plan, whereby you can let us know what helps you to feel

calmer and how carers can work with you to manage situations positively.

17 | P a g e

Protecting Young People from discrimination.

We believe that all people should be treated fairly regardless of race,

ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender. We will not allow young people to

be discriminated against at Woodview and will challenge any signs of

discrimination within the community.

Sometimes talking about these topics, helps young people understand

differences between themselves and others. We encourage all young

people to have an appreciation and acceptance of others who have

had very different life experiences and belief/ value systems to their own.

We want to keep all young people safe from harm. If you have been hurt

or somebody is hurting you, please talk to someone. All of the staff at

Woodview are good listeners and will not judge you.

Keeping secrets will not stop the hurt.

Staff will talk to the Manager – Emma, and she will speak to whoever she

needs to in order to stop what is happening.

Complaints

We hope that you will enjoy your time with us, but if there were any issues

or complaints, all the staff and management are easily accessible and are

committed to listening to you.

The whole team is there for you and will take real and practical measures

to help resolve any problems. We have a complaints procedure which is

set out below for you to follow:

Discuss any issues or any complaints with your key worker or any other

member of staff that you feel comfortable with. If it is a minor complaint,

the member of staff will try to resolve the difficulties you have on the spot.

You will be offered feedback in key worker Sessions without having to ask.

18 | P a g e

If you are still unhappy

If you are still unhappy, and feel that the matter is not resolved or the

complaint is of a serious nature, ask a member of staff or your key worker

and they will help you fill in a form to write down your complaint.

The Registered Manager – Emma English, would then discuss the matter

with you and try to resolve the complaint.

Emma will take all the necessary action to resolve your issues.

At this point Emma, the Registered House Manager will inform the care

director, your social worker, parent or responsible adult and OFSTED of

any serious complaint.

Should you be unhappy with any outcome, you may always speak with

your Social Worker or The OFSTED Inspector.

You will find useful phone numbers at the end of this booklet, you can

use if you are still unhappy.

If you are unhappy with your placing authority, or social worker we can

also help you follow their complaints procedure to resolve the issues.

If you feel that you would like to speak to somebody outside of

Woodview who is not your social worker, you can contact an advocate.

An advocate is completely independent and will listen to your views.

They can also support you with making a complaint, or so you feel more

comfortable to express your feelings during meetings or at reviews.

You can contact the National youth advocacy service on; 0808 808 1001

or [email protected]

19 | P a g e

Pocket money, school bonus and treats

Pocket Money

You will be given a certain amount of

Pocket money every week, in relation to

your age.

This will be set by Emma when you arrive and is earned through

cooperation and being respectful.

You will be able to earn extra money each week at home and at

school.

Extra treats are there for those who earn them, Cinema trips, staying up

later at weekends and during

holidays, having friends over,

special treats for tea, weekend

activities such as horse-riding

and ten pin bowling.

These are a small example of the

rewards. We encourage you to

tell us what you would like to see

happen when things are going

well.

20 | P a g e

Adults will always recognise, praise, encourage and reward good

behaviour or special efforts on your part.

When things go well at school, there is a school bonus.

It will be explained clearly to you, how you can earn the most amounts.

- The rest is up to you.

We like you to save some of your pocket money for things like the

summer holidays and special events.

We will help you to open a bank or post office savings account where

you can put the money you save. We will encourage you to put a

regular amount away each week and you will be surprised at how

quickly it grows.

Absent/ Missing

We will always endeavour to encourage discussion about worries or

problems and discourage any missing periods.

Should a young person become absent or missing we would have to

inform the police, your Social Worker and your parent/guardian if

appropriate.

We would then take measures to follow or search for you and return you

safely. We will always try and find out what is troubling young people who

go missing and will work with your social worker to attempt to resolve any

problems.

21 | P a g e

Safety Aspects

The aim is to protect all of the young people, the staff and

to meet Health and Safety regulations.

Woodview has all the necessary equipment for fire precautions, fire

doors smoke detectors, extinguishers, fire blankets etc., regular checks

are taken to make sure the equipment does its job keeping us all safe.

We also have an emergency routine that we would practice every 3

months, so that if there ever was to be a fire everyone could get out

quickly and safely. We call it the fire drill and what you have to do will be

explained by the staff.

Daily Routines

These depend greatly on the type of education or activity we are

involved in on that day.

You will be expected to complete some routines such as having some

breakfast, washing, brushing your teeth and making sure your room is

looking reasonable before you can move on to an activity outside of

education.

22 | P a g e

Lights out times are set by the House Manager.

The time you go to bed will depend on your age and

whether you handle later nights.

A rough guide to bedtime is:

9 Years old 8.00 pm 8.30 pm Lights out

10/11 years old 8.30 pm 9.00 pm Lights out

12/13 years old 9.00 pm 9.30 pm Lights out

14/15 years old 9.30 pm 10.00 pm. Lights out

16 and over 10.00 pm 10.30 pm. Lights out

At the weekends and during holidays, there may be times when you are

doing special activities or allowed to watch television until later. These

special occasions depend very much on your cooperation and

behaviour during the day.

Everyone will have their responsibilities in caring for the home.

These responsibilities will be talked through with you during your first week

at Woodview.

Mealtime routine

This varies in line with the activity, but we like to eat all meals together

and will encourage each other to eat with good manners.

We always help each other clear the table and wash up.

23 | P a g e

Education.

We believe that engaging in education, empowers and enables you to

make positive choices about the way you want to live.

Whether you attend our school or another provision outside our

organisation we will support you to attend and contribute, within your

education.

24 | P a g e

Personal Growth Programme

Each young person will have time put aside in which we will highlight

areas of personal interest, talent and identify some personal goals for you

to reach during your stay.

This can be anything from learning to swim to playing an instrument. It

could be something you have always wanted to be able to do but

thought that you couldn’t.

Together we will help develop these interests into skills by creating access

to clubs, tuition and groups, perhaps vocational experiences for older

students!

Education gives you power

Power gives you choices

The freedom to choose for yourself, the way

you want to live.

25 | P a g e

Activities for Woodview

We do have various activities that will be available for you and were

always open to new ideas.

Activities – may be part of your activities in school time or they may be

offered outside school time, some may be a special request as you’ve

earned a chosen activity through good work.

Forest School Orienteering Go-Karting Squash

Beach Craft Tennis Youth Projects Dancing

Swimming Crazy Golf Team Building Meal Out

Youth Projects Dancing Cooking Trampolining

Environmental

studies trip

Cycling

Water Park

Tennis

Theatre

26 | P a g e

Identity

If you are practising in any form of religion, we will facilitate your visits to a

relevant place of worship in the area.

If you have not made a choice in this area and wish to investigate

different religions and cultures we will help you do this.

It is important to find out about your heritage, where you are from, and to

maintain links, you may also discover new information. We would help you

do this.

27 | P a g e

Respect

We encourage young people to respect each other’s differences and

each other’s rights. These will be explained to you, so that we can help

you understand what this means.

Pets

Pets can be a wonderful addition to our lives. Animals need to be able to

rely on the person that looks after them to be responsible. This means that

we need to know that the young people will feed and give their pet water

and will clean out where it lives very regularly. We need to ensure that we

think this before they are able to have a pet.

Children and young people do have pets at Woodview and have shown

that they are able to care very well for their pet.

28 | P a g e

Our aim

Our Aim is to empower young people. To enable them to go

out into the world with their heads held high, because they

feel good about what they have achieved. We aim for young

people to respect themselves, others and to have the ability

to live safe and fulfilling lives.

29 | P a g e

Come and Visit

We hope you can visit us before your placement begins.

When you arrive, once settled we would have a placement meeting with

you and your Social Worker to agree your placement plan and set goals

to achieve.

After one month with us, we would hold a four week review with both

you, your Social Worker and our Education Manager present, to look at

how you have been doing.

We would discuss with you how you feel your achievements have gone

and make any further plans.

A further review would take place after three months with us. We would

encourage you to take part in these reviews as they are a chance for

you to share your views and ask any questions that you have. It will also

be a chance to discuss any future plans.

After this the reviews will be held every five months, but you can always

talk about any concerns that you have at any time.

30 | P a g e

Thank you for reading this handbook, we look forward to meeting you.

31 | P a g e

Feedback from Young People

Woodview is probably the best care home in Devon.

There might be more, but to me this is the best one

yet. This is only my opinion and it doesn’t matter if

you disagree with me.

There are some lovely carers here who do their best

to support you and they make sure that you receive

all of the things that you need.

If you feel that you need to see your family, inform

staff when it is a good time and they can try and

arrange with your social worker. Believe me, I have

asked Emma, the manager of Woodview about

“home visits” and she had kindly helped me arrange

for me to see my mum once a week during school

time and then in the holiday it will be different. My mum and I are happy together and that is always

a good thing. Woodview makes sure that “home visits” are safe and happy for the young person to be

sure that they feel secure.

If you would like to get to know you’re housemate who may be new to either Woodview or to yourself,

you may need to wait for them to settle in and then once she feels comfortable with the place as well

as the staff, you may introduce yourself and get to know each other. You also need to check if it is the

right time.

Woodview helps you with your hobbies and helps to keep you entertained. Like me, I attended

CLOKS, a local drama club in Chard and that has helped me gain my confidence on stage and I have

performed many plays that my housemates as well as staff come and watch. I might even be lucky to

see my mum and stepdad in the audience. Now after that, Woodview can see how a fantastic actress I

really am! I like to write my own novels and I have done loads lately. Woodview allows me to go on

my computer to type them up and there is a rule for laptop timing. During the school holidays as well

as weekends, you get the opportunity to have the maximum of four hours on your computer. But you

are not supposed to have all the four hours altogether. You can have two hours in the morning or one

in the morning and one in the afternoon and then two in the evening. But in between the two hours

they always make sure that you have a half an hour break. Yet again, Woodview is just keeping an

eye on your eyes!!

There will be times where you might feel cross with the carers and you might storm off to your rooms.

Believe me, my housemate and I have been through that a lot of times. Carers wait until you have

calmed down to talk to you about it and try and sort it all out.

From time to time, Emma will come down to have house meetings with you and your housemates

about Woodview and about several issues that you had. All of these issues and subjects were talked

about in staff meetings. As you are in care, you will have PEP meetings, personal educational plan, to

do with your school. This is to help you with your learning and Woodview is trying to make education

best for you.

They will make sure that you will receive exercise to keep you fit and healthy. Like they might decide

that you can go swimming, scootering, a walk out, badminton or unfortunately the gym bike they have

here!!

Woodview will also try and help you develop your independence for you to understand and handle

the big adult world. Believe me, you will need all the advice you can get, for when you leave care or

leave Woodview yourself.

32 | P a g e

Woodview is a lovely care home and they make sure that you feel secure here. They make sure that

you are entertained and well looked after. You will like it here, I promise.

My Feedback on living at woodview When I first came to woodview I felt excited because I was going to get a new room.

But I was a little nervous because I didn't know what the people here were going to be like but they

turned out to be really nice people.

They help you in lots of different ways like help you with your anger issues,

and problems with your family.

they can help you with your confidence, to build it up ,so you can be more independent.

Woodview is a caring and friendly home and they will look after you and make sure you are treated

fairly.

I like woodview because it is very homely and it has pictures around the house of things that you do,

like activities and parties and special occasions.

You get nice bedrooms where you can choose what colour you want for your walls

and decorate it with the things you like.

There are other children living here and they are nice and welcoming

The carers don't let you get bullied. The school is nice and the teachers are nice to you they help you

with lots of different things, like maths or anything you need help with.

When I came to Woodview I felt fine and relieved to be somewhere safe and looked

after properly.

I have built relationships easily with carers it helped me to understand what good

relationships are and how to keep them, this has helped me for the rest of my life. If I

have a problem I will talk to people here and my keyworker.

My relationships with my family have improved massively because Woodview have

supported me with this and also my family which is good, they have done a very good

job, well done to them.

Woodview have helped me with independence by preparing me for the future by letting

me go out when I was ready.

I have learnt budgeting and now like saving money for things that I want, I was

surprised when I came here and thought I had loads of money!!

I have made friends here and at my activities, I have had lots of times out with them, if

things have not gone well I have learnt from these times and had help, some of the best

in my life.

School has been good, for the first time I learnt stuff and am now going to go to college

and learn more.

I have had alot of activities on my own and with my friends and these have been very

good.

You are allowed to keep in touch with people when you leave and Woodview will never

reject you which is really good too.

Just be grateful to come to this place, there are a lot more worse places out there you

know.

33 | P a g e

Useful Telephone Numbers:

Ofsted: 03001231231

Child Line 08001111

NSPCC Child 08088005000

Protection

Child Legal Centre 01206 873820

Kidscape 08451205204

The Children’s 08005280731

Commissioner

NYAS Advocacy 0808 808 1001