Woodlyn Children's Home.

The house itself has two large lounges one of which serves as a TV lounge and the other as a relaxation room. There is a large well equipped kitchen and a separate dining room that overlooks the rear garden. The rear garden has a large purpose built play area.

Upstairs are five good sized bedrooms. Each young person has his / her own bedroom which they are encouraged to personalise to their own tastes. There are also good bathing and toileting facilities.

At Woodlyn we pride ourselves on our committed and dedicated staff team, we have an excellent staff retention record. We are committed to ongoing training and development of all our staff members. We are committed to ensuring that all staff undertake NVQ3 in caring for children and young people, 80% of our staff have completed this and the other 20% are currently enrolled to complete the course. All new staff receive a thorough induction training period, and complete all mandatory training courses, eg; Fire Health and Safety, Child Protection, Food Hygiene, First aid. Physical intervention training and de-escalation techniques. Due to some of our children experiencing difficulties in the area of communication we also provide training for staff in the use of Makaton sign and use of PECS. We pride ourselves on ensuring that all our staff receive regular supervisions and annual appraisals to enable them to identify further training and development beneficial to their role and responsibilities.

As our client group have moderate to severe learning disabilities or are Autistic, staff are also trained in the use of Makaton.

All our staff have experience of working with learning disabilities and we have a very high staff / young person ratio of one to one and two to one if required.

Each young person at Woodlyn has his / her own personal activity sheet mapping out each day in a clear and precise fashion. This gives them a clear indication of their routine starting from morning rise to bedtime. Activities include swimming, youth club, ten pin bowling, walks, library visits, cinema / theatre, music, art, gardening and football training.

In the daily routines are life skills activities such as shopping, preparing food, cleaning, health care and Active Learning Skills, as well as National Curriculum education.

Woodlyn like Linkway House is staffed twenty four hours, seven days a week with a waking watch staff on duty every night as well as a sleeping member of staff. The young people are supervised at all times and are not permitted to go out alone at any time.

A delegation system is used at Woodlyn to ensure that all the staff work with all the young people on an individual as well as on a group basis.

Each young person's individual health, cultural and dietary needs are catered for and each child is registered with a doctor, dentist and optician on admission. This is planned by the young person’s key worker or co-key worker who will liaise closely with the young persons family and professional agencies.

Both Linkway House and Woodlyn enjoy good links with many other agencies such as colleges, training bodies, work experience schemes, transition teams, autism societies and health agencies.

As the young person gets older he / she will take part in a work experience scheme which will reflect their personal abilities, and as they move towards adult care, Both Woodlyn and Linkway House gives support and guidance through working closely with relevant agencies to make the transition as smooth as possible.

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