Inspectors give Borders children’s home top marks

The home was also named residential team of the year by the Scottish Institute of Residential Child Care at an award ceremony in Glasgow.

Inspectors visited the Scottish Borders Council (SBC) run home in Galashiels on April 23. The unannounced inspection took into account the views of young people living at Wheatlands and staff members as well as evidence from documents such as care plans, meeting minutes and incident records. Wheatlands was awarded the maximum grading of 6, or excellent, for all aspects of the service. This includes quality of care and support, environment, staffing and management and leadership.

The inspectors found the staff team to be highly motivated and committed to the young people in their care, with high expectations and doing their best to help them achieve their potential.

Councillor Frances Renton, SBC’s executive member for social work and housing, said: “This is an outstanding report which clearly recognises the excellent work carried out by the team at Wheatlands. The staff who place and support the young people and the young people themselves should be extremely proud of this achievement.”

Wheatlands provides accommodation for up to five young people assessed as requiring medium to long-term residential care for a variety of reasons.

It is the Council’s only residential care home for young people.