Children's home run by Jamores Limited in Bexley

Inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

 No young people in placement are attending school or college; all are receiving education in the home. Young people are not engaging fully with their education plans. Staff fail to uphold expectations and boundaries in respect of young people’s education.  All young people in the home smoke. Staff have a permissive attitude towards smoking, including to cases where this is illegal due to young people being under age.  No young people in placement engage in clubs and activities. Young people are disengaged. Staff fail to demonstrate commitment and perseverance in exploring young people’s interests and engaging them in activities.  There is a high use of agency staff in the home; young people report that they are unhappy being cared for by staff whom they do not know well and who do not know them.  Not all staff training meets young people’s needs; some staff lack key training, particularly in respect of the physical intervention techniques

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

permitted in the home. This restricts their ability to care for young people safely, in accordance with the young people’s behaviour management plans.  There is no clear system to ensure that agency staff have training in the home’s fire procedures. Identified fire training for young people has not been completed. This presents a serious risk to everyone in the home.  The registered manager lacks suitable safeguarding training. In addition, the home’s safeguarding policy is inaccurate and does not provide accurate reporting details for safeguarding concerns. Safeguarding reporting practice is weak; some safeguarding reporting is incomplete.  There are no effective monitoring systems in place. This shortfall means that managers in the home were unaware of some of the significant concerns identified at inspection.

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The children’s home strengths

 Young people said that they feel settled in the home; their behaviour, compared to when they were in previous placements, is more stable.  Young people can all identify members of staff with whom they have developed trusting relationships; this is especially so of key worker relationships. Young people are able to share their concerns with identified staff members.  Recent staff recruitment means that the availability of permanent staff has increased. Inspectors found these staff to be committed to, and trying their best for, young people.  The introduction of new resources for young people has brought recent improvement. Weekly art therapy provision is enabling some young people to explore their feelings and emotions creatively. In addition, a new child sexual exploitation training programme offers safeguarding training to young people.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meet(s) the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

*6: The quality and purpose of care standard In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must: 6(2)(b)(iv) provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking into account the child’s background. 26/04/2017

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Requirement Due date

8: The education standard In order to meet the education standard, the registered person must: 8(2)(viii) help a child who is excluded from school, or is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. 26/04/2017

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Requirement Due date

9: The enjoyment and achievement standard In order to meet the enjoy and achievement standard, the registered person must: 9(2)(a)(i and ii) ensure that staff help each child to develop the child’s interests and hobbies, and to participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child’s interests and preferences. 26/04/2017

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Requirement Due date

10: The health and well-being standard In order to meet the health and well-being standard, the registered person must: 10(1)(b and c) ensure that children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being and that children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. 26/04/2017 12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must: 12(2)(e) ensure that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. 26/04/2017

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Requirement Due date

*13: The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must: 13(2)(c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. 26/04/2017

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Requirement Due date

*13: The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must: 13(2)(e) ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. 26/04/2017

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must: 13(2)(h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 26/04/2017

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the registered manager keeps the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revises it and notifies HMCI of any revisions and sends HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of revision. (Regulation 16(3)(a and b))

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Requirement Due date

*Make arrangements for persons working at the home to receive suitable training in fire prevention and ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working in the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25(1)(c and d)) 26/04/2017

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Requirement Due date

*Ensure that the registered manager has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively 26/04/2017 and lead the care of children. (Regulation 28(1)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that staff recruitment uses procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety, and that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in schedule 2. (Regulation 32(3)(d)) 26/04/2017

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to statutory requirement notice.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff encourage children to share any concerns about their care or other matters as soon as they arise. In particular, ensure that children’s concerns and complaints are logged and that they receive a clear, timely response. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ page 23, paragraph 4.13)  Ensure that the registered person supports staff to be ambitious for every child in the home and to gain skills and experience that enable them to actively support each child to achieve their potential. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ page 52, paragraph 10.5)  Ensure that systems are in place so that all staff, including the registered manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes

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Recommendations

regulations including the quality standards’ page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

This is the first inspection of this recently registered home.

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Inadequate

The registered manager and staff lack drive and ambition on behalf of young people; this diminishes the young people’s experiences and progress. Young people placed in the home are disengaged, but care provision does not lead to an improvement in their engagement. No young people in placement attend formal education settings; all receive education in the home. Staff have supported one young person to apply for a college placement and have challenged a local authority to provide an education placement for another young person. However, the home’s own education provision is lacking. On both days of inspection, inspectors observed staff allowing young people to opt out of their education timetable. A local authority manager said of one young person, ‘There seems to be a lack of educational work completed; if she does not wish to study, staff are relaxed and do not challenge this.’ Records of young people’s education are muddled and work planning is

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Inadequate

incoherent. For example, on one day, staff completed reception and secondary level mathematics work with the same young person. Staff were unaware of young people’s level of academic ability and lack training in the education of young people looked after. The registered manager reported that staff select work for young people by asking them if the assigned work is too hard of too easy. The designated education room is not set up; the computer for young people’s education is yet to be un-boxed and installed. This catalogue of educational failure means that young people in the home do not sufficiently improve their educational engagement or make academic progress. The approach to education typifies the culture of disengagement and apathy in the home. All young people in the home smoke; one young person started smoking two weeks after being placed here. Staff efforts to help young people to stop smoking

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Inadequate

are minimal. Young people are offered smoking cessation sessions, but if they do not attend, staff do not pursue this in a timely manner. One placing authority is in the process of making a complaint due to staff at the home giving cigarettes to a young person whose placement plan prohibits her from smoking. Staff allow under- age young people, who are under constant staff supervision due to child sexual exploitation risk, to purchase cigarettes or to approach adults in the street to ask for cigarettes. Young people’s care plans do not provide staff with clear guidance to manage this issue. In this way, staff practice is poor and does not consistently promote young people’s safety or provide clear boundaries to support young people to make positive behaviour change. No young people in placement engage with clubs and activities outside of the home. Staff offer young people some opportunities, but when they decline staff fail

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Inadequate

to pursue this. Even when activities are included in young people’s placement plans, there is a lack of staff effort or creativity to support young people to pursue identified activities. One young person said, ‘I think the home needs more activities. All we do is listen to music or watch Netflix, or go bowling or to the cinema.’ The lack of commitment that staff demonstrate in engaging young people in activities contributes to young people’s continued disengagement. Young people express their views, requests and concerns to staff. There is evidence of young people making complaints and staff responding to these appropriately. However, some concerns are not included in complaint records; in such cases, there are no records to indicate that young people receive a timely or satisfactory response to their views, opinions and concerns. All young people said that they dislike the high level of agency staffing in the

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Inadequate

home. One young person said, ‘Some staff don’t know us and how we feel. They don’t know how we think.’ However, they value their key worker relationships and, despite shortfalls, generally express content with the home. One young person said, ‘The place is homely. It feels comfortable. I’m becoming a more responsible person here.’ The introduction of an art therapist offers additional support and resources to young people, providing the opportunity for young people to explore their feelings and emotions individually and as a group.

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Inadequate

There are safeguarding failings in the home, which present an ongoing risk to young people and staff. The registered manager and senior managers have failed to identify and address these issues. There are unclear systems to ensure that agency staff are aware of fire procedures in the home. In addition, staff have failed to complete identified fire safety work with young people. The home does not allow young people to smoke in their bedrooms. However, smoking in bedrooms is a known behaviour; this is not included in fire risk assessments. Fire safety procedures and recording are not sufficiently rigorous; this results in a serious ongoing risk for everyone in the home. The home’s safeguarding policy is inaccurate and provides incorrect reporting information for staff to follow in the event of a safeguarding incident. The registered manager’s safeguarding training is out of date and not at a sufficiently

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Inadequate

detailed level; this fails to equip her as safeguarding lead. She does not yet have the confidence and understanding to manage safeguarding issues and oversee staff practice. Safeguarding practice and recording in the home are ineffective; there are delays and gaps in the reporting of safeguarding concerns. Records of young people missing indicate that one young person, with a high child sexual exploitation risk, was out of sight of staff for over 30 minutes prior to the submission of a missing report. Staff reported another child sexual exploitation disclosure to the police, but not to the placing authority. The reporting of safeguarding concerns is not consistently in line with young people’s care plans or the home’s safeguarding policy. This fails to maximise the safety and welfare of young people. Not all staff have training in the home’s permitted physical intervention technique. The home does not permit untrained staff to undertake physical intervention. On

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Inadequate

some shifts, all staff lack physical intervention training; they may, therefore, be unable to provide care in line with young people’s behaviour plans. In one case, this led to police intervention being required, resulting in the detention of a young person overnight. With better equipped staff, this would have been avoided. Staffing for young people is not in accordance with their assessed needs. For example, the placement plan for one young person specifies two-to-one staffing. However, inspectors observed that this did not occur in practice. The registered manager informed inspectors that she made a decision, without assessment or discussion with the local authority, to remove two-to-one staffing some months ago. Discussion with staff indicates that they lack awareness of young people’s written care plans. One member of staff said that she makes her own assessment of the level of staff support that young people need. The home has breached the

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Inadequate

requirements of this young person’s placement plan and has failed to provide supervision and protection in line with her assessed needs. Unclear and unmonitored staff practice results in inconsistent care. Staff report that some workers lack confidence to challenge young people and to uphold their care plans and implement clear boundaries. For example, due to poor staff supervision, one young person was able to have phone contact with a non-permitted individual. A young person told inspectors that he was concerned about the care provided by particular members of staff. The lack of a coherent staff approach to care results in confusion for young people and an environment of inconsistency that does not support young people’s safety, stability and progress. Staff recruitment is generally in line with regulation. However, there are gaps identified. The home has not thoroughly explored the reasoning for the ending of

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Inadequate

all past employment with children and vulnerable adults. Employment history records also fail to explore employment gaps fully. This does not fully protect young people. A child sexual exploitation prevention programme is in the process of being introduced for young people. Inspectors were unable to assess the impact of this newly launched programme. However, managers of the home hope that this will prove to be a valuable safeguarding initiative.

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Inadequate

The manager of this newly registered service is in her first position as registered manager. There is currently no deputy manager. Most of the new staff team members are in their probationary periods and still completing their induction training. While recruitment of permanent staff is under way, the home has relied on high levels of agency staffing; the staffing of some shifts is entirely by agency staff. Agency staff do not access training from the home. The registered manager had no oversight of the qualifications of agency staff and could not evidence that their skills and experience met the needs of young people in the home. The registered manager has failed to monitor training completed by permanent staff. One member of staff had been in post for over three months, but was awaiting access to online induction training. The majority of staff training is online; there is no oversight of whether staff have understood the training that they have

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Inadequate

completed. Inspectors observed gaps in the knowledge, understanding and practice of some staff, resulting in deficient care provision for young people. Staff said that they feel supported by the registered manager. The registered manager supervises all staff. However, the quality of supervision and its recording are variable and do not consistently demonstrate that staff have sufficient opportunity to reflect on their practice and the young people in their care. The registered manager fails to make the most of opportunities to develop the thinking and practice of the new and inexperienced staff. The registered manager has insufficient monitoring and oversight of the home and the impact of care on young people. She has failed to implement effective monitoring systems. For example, there are ineffective systems to record young people’s participation with home tuition and to record the work that they complete.

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Inadequate

The registered manager was not able to demonstrate effective oversight of young people’s educational position. Senior managers in the organisation have failed to satisfactorily oversee and support the newly registered manager. They moderated their oversight when informed by the registered manager that she wished to ‘work alone to develop her own style’. Senior managers had a ‘hands off’ approach, relying on the registered manager to flag up the areas in which she required support. Senior managers were unaware of many of the shortfalls highlighted by inspection. The home’s statement of purpose is incomplete; the registered manager has failed to update the statement of purpose and to submit this to HMCI. There is no complete document laying out the provision of the home and services available to young people.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against ‘Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection’.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children’s home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children’s home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children’s home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of children looked after is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place. However, the children’s home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children’s home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children’s home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference that adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. the guidance, ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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