Annex A. Request for information at a full inspection of a children’s home

Inspection report children’s home: SC477205 1 SC477205 Registered provider: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The local authority owns and runs this home. It provides accommodation for up to seven young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager was registered with Ofsted in November 2017.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 18 September 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC477205 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/09/2017 Full Good 26/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/09/2016 Full Good 01/02/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC477205 3

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Recommendations

 Ensure the children’s guide contains the contact details for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 23, paragraph 4.23).  Ensure the registered person oversees the welfare of the children in their care through observation and engagement with: each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23).  Ensure children have access to appropriate advocacy support, and where possible this should be provided by a person that the child chooses. Children looked after are entitled to an independent advocate to advise them and ensure they have the support needed to express their views, wishes and feelings about their care and lives. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.16).  Ensure sanctions used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature, to

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Recommendations

help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, pages 45 and 46, paragraph 9.38).  When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30).  Records must be kept detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home (regulation 36 (schedule 3 (14)). This information should be shared with the placing authority and, where appropriate, with the child’s

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Recommendations

parents. Evaluation of missing incidents should be undertaken to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. This evaluation should inform the review of the quality of care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, pages 45 and 46, paragraph 9.31).  Children should be encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19). Inspection report children’s home: SC477205 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people form good relationships with staff and develop trust. One young person informed the inspector that, ‘I feel loved here. The staff do everything they can for me.’ Young people have good outcomes and benefit from placement stability. Two young people have successfully moved on from the home since the last inspection. Positive feedback from a placing social worker further echoes this. One commented, ‘The staff team really know[s] how to motivate him and fight his corner.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy a purpose-built, well-maintained environment. The home provides them with a small gymnasium, pool table and a number of large living areas. Young people are proud of their home, and there is strong evidence that this supports good behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people recently experienced a holiday together. For one young person, this was a first experience of travelling on an aeroplane. He referred to this as ‘going on a bus with wings on it’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All young people attend some form of education. Staff work with placing authorities to offer bespoke programmes which engage young people. Recently, this involved incorporating boxing, life skills and one-to-one tuition to engage one young person. Another young person attended a ‘teens to work scheme’ over the summer holidays that offered paid introductions to work such as hair and beauty.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy good levels of agreed contact with friends and relatives. This includes overnight stays. One young person commented, ‘This makes me feel normal and like everyone else.’ Such positive contact supports placement stability and reduces the risk of missing behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Behavioural management is effective and there is no use of restraint. When young people display poor behaviour, staff challenge them consistently. Appropriate staff act as mediators between young people to allow them to settle their differences among themselves in a suitable way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At present, the use of sanctioning is not restorative. The approach is too focused on the use of financial penalties, denying young people the opportunity to fully consider the impact of their negative behaviours.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from specialist support such as child and adolescent mental health services, and for some this is the first time they have had such support. Recently, this supported one young person to become free of mood-stabilising medication and another to address issues relating to sleep loss. Inspection report children’s home: SC477205 5

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

A full-time specialist social worker supports the home. She conducts a comprehensive ten-week assessment on each young person arriving in the home. These assessments evaluate important areas of risk such as drug misuse and inform the care planning process. Staff reported that the social worker supports them with paperwork that allows them to focus their attentions on working directly with young people.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The home has adopted a ‘systemic’ means of working. This results in staff focusing on working with parents and reflecting on the causes of young people’s behaviour. Staff understand the ‘systemic’ approach and remain motivated by the benefits for young people.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff advocate for young people and creatively seek extra resources. For example, a key worker recently worked with a placing authority to seek additional funding for gym membership and a bicycle to support one young person’s keep fit drive.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Multi-agency work is strong. The home benefits from good levels of information sharing with important agencies such as the local police. This provides a constant supply of important information on issues such as local gang activity.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Effective key work supports the safety of young people. Staff address issues such as the risk of young people being present when criminal activity occurs in the local community. During the inspection, staff were planning for a forthcoming local carnival that included reminding young people of the potential dangers.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Young people reported feeling listened to. One young person recently sat on an interview panel as part of the home’s recruitment process for new staff, an experience she found ‘valuable and really interesting’.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

When young people complain, they receive a formal written response from managers, and they stated that they feel confident that their concerns are valued.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Independent advocacy is lacking for one young person. This has limited her understanding of the care planning process and her access to specialist advice and guidance. Furthermore, the children’s guide is lacking the contact details of the children’s commissioner, limiting an important source of potential support for young people.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff follow an established missing procedure and attempt to trace the whereabouts of young people via close liaison with their family and friends. Despite this, the home does not monitor the provision of independent return to care interviews or evaluate the level of missing behaviour effectively. This is a missed opportunity to evaluate an important area of risk.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is currently completing the required management qualification. Inspection report children’s home: SC477205 6 The former registered manager, who has the required management qualification and over 20 years of working in residential services, provides additional support to the registered manager. The deputy manager facilitated the inspection as the registered manager was away on annual leave.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers understand the strengths and weaknesses of the home. They have addressed the requirements and recommendations of the last inspection. However, the most recent management monitoring report does not fully represent the feedback of young people, therefore limiting its effectiveness.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have successfully integrated a large number of new staff and effectively forged a new team. Staff reported that the team is beginning to grow and develop and that they ‘communicate well amongst each other to support young people’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff said that they receive good levels of management support and supervision. They stated that training is effective and linked to the needs of young people. Managers provided training on self-harm, following a recent increase in these behaviours. This helped staff feel confident and better equipped to manage the behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers control admissions well. The admission of young people in an emergency is limited to office hours only. This ensures that managers have direct oversight, which protects the stability of the home. Where difficulties are anticipated on admission, managers offer extended induction programmes to allow young people to settle in their own time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Case files show good levels of management oversight. Managers review care plans and risk assessments regularly and effectively. They challenge delays in care planning and ensure that young people receive the services that they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Care plans and risk assessments are of a good quality. However, risk assessments do not fully evidence the views from young people on areas such as behaviour management. This limits the effectiveness of risk assessments and staff’s understanding of young people.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out Inspection report children’s home: SC477205 7 under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC477205 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX

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Inspector

Barnaby Dowell, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC477205 9 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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