Children's home run by Jamores Limited in Bexley

Inspection report children’s home: SC459354 1 SC459354 Registered provider: Jamores Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned home for three children who have emotional and/or behavioural needs and/or a learning disability.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 19 February 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC459354 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 30/08/2017 Full Good 21/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/07/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC459354 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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

(a) ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction. (Regulation 33(1)(a)) 01/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

(b) ensure that each permanent appointment of an employee is subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of probation. (Regulation 33(1)(b)) 01/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

(4) The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

(a) undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33(4)(a)) 01/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

(4) The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

(b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(b)) 01/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

(4) The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

(c) have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(1)(c)) 01/12/2018

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children generally make progress from their starting points and their experiences are positive. The staff team provides care that makes a difference to the lives of children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s education outcomes are improving. Children are engaged in educational activities that meet their learning needs. These include attending school and completing home tuition sessions. Children’s healthcare outcomes are also generally good. Staff register children with primary care services and other more specialist services. These Inspection report children’s home: SC459354 4 include sexual health services and the child and adolescent mental health services [CAMHS]. Staff help young people to eat healthily and refrain from smoking cigarettes and misusing illegal substances.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two therapists offer regular 1:1 sessions with children, which address key issues. Most recently, these have included self-harm, healthy relationships and anger management. Children benefit from the work they complete with the therapists. As a result, they feel free to discuss past experiences and work towards improving their self-esteem and feelings of self-worth.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children participate in leisure activities that they enjoy. These routinely include trips to the cinema, accessing community parks for walks and going swimming. The week before the inspection, children enjoyed a week’s holiday in Blackpool.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Referrals to the home from local authorities contain good background information and outline placement objectives. The home’s matching process ensures that the home is able to meet children’s needs. Managers ensure that consideration is given to the impact of any new referral on children already living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children generally share a positive relationship with the staff team, and staff enjoy working with them. A child said, ‘The staff here are good people. They’re fine. They listen to me.’ A child’s keyworker commented on file, ‘S [child] is a lovely young girl. With encouragement and assistance, she will get to where she needs to be.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to make a complaint if they are unhappy and have made several since the last inspection. Staff manage these promptly and sensitively. Children have the opportunity to share their views and opinions about the service, in residents’ meetings, individual key work sessions and through the home’s consultation exercises. Some children have independent advocates working with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s identity needs are met by the service. For example, Muslim children are offered Halal food. Children are able to attend their chosen place of worship, and key- work sessions sometimes focus on gender issues. Staff are mindful to communicate effectively with children who have learning difficulties. Children are challenged if they use inappropriate language that is, for example, racist or homophobic in nature.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to keep in touch with their families and friends as outlined in their care plans. Children are welcome to have visitors at the home. On the day of the inspection, a mother was celebrating Eid with her child and the home. The mother said, ‘I come here often, every Saturday. The staff are always welcoming. I can call directly, and staff will text me if my child is ill, or just for an update. Staff are friendly. I cooked an entire Eid meal for everyone the last time we celebrated it.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop practical living skills with the support and supervision of staff. This includes money management, food shopping and preparation and attending to personal care tasks. This helps prepare them for adulthood. Inspection report children’s home: SC459354 5

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

Staff protect children from harm and abuse. Children benefit from staff’s knowledge and training in safeguarding and the home’s child protection procedures. These feature in the induction process of new staff, while long-serving staff receive ‘refresher’ child protection training. A child’s mother said, ‘I know she [child] feels safe here, because the staff care and they are watching.’ The child herself said, ‘I do feel safe here. Why? Because staff are always around.’

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

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of action to take in the event of a child making an allegation against another staff member. Since the last inspection, children have made a number of allegations against staff. Managers deal with these disclosures appropriately and with sensitivity. Staff manage complaints and allegations in accordance with the home’s child protection procedures. Staff’s communication with the designated officer is consistent and appropriate.

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

Staff have good awareness of policies and procedures that relate to children who are missing from the home. The frequency of such incidents is high, but staff take effective action to ensure the safe return of children. Records of missing episodes show improvement, and staff’s communication with local police teams is good.

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

Children’s risk assessments identify known and anticipated risks. Staff keep these documents up to date. Risk assessments include strategies that help reduce risks. For example, staff are working with children to help them take greater responsibility for keeping themselves safe.

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

Staff manage well risks posed to children involved with child sexual exploitation. Staff vigilance is consistent and there are good strategies in place to curb risk-taking behaviour. In discussing staff vigilance and 1:1 supervision, a child said, ‘I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. It gets on my nerves. But I understand why staff have to do it. It’s to keep me safe, right?’

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

Staff make appropriate use of incentives and sanctions to discourage poor behaviour. Staff now make better use of restorative justice as an approach. For example, children are required to pay for any damage to property that they deliberately cause. They complete written apologies to staff and neighbours they agree they have offended. Key- work sessions focus on encouraging children to reflect on their behaviour and to take responsibility for their actions.

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

Staff encourage children to adhere to house rules and boundaries that help keep them safe. All staff receive training in de-escalation techniques, and the staff team generally manages children’s challenging behaviour well. Since the last inspection, there have been a number of critical incidents. These include staff’s use of restraint. In these instances, staff’s intervention was appropriate in protecting children and others from harm. Records of staff’s use of restraint are detailed and clear and include de-briefing discussions with all those involved. Inspection report children’s home: SC459354 6 The home’s staff vetting practices are thorough and are in line with safe staff recruitment procedures. These confirm that staff are suitable to work with vulnerable children.

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

Staff maintain good communication with other professionals in order to keep children safe. This is particularly the case for children’s social workers, youth offending service workers and designated officers. A local authority social worker commented in written feedback, ‘Keep up the good work, maintaining the standard of care, ensuring safety and the best outcomes for children.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There are shortfalls in the leadership and management of the home. These primarily relate to weaknesses in the supervision, training and development of staff. It is important to ensure that the staff team is appropriately supported and has up-to-date practice guidance and training that equip them to work effectively with vulnerable children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The induction and supervision of staff require improvement. Not all staff receive thorough inductions, and there are significant gaps in the frequency of staff’s supervision sessions. There is no formal system in place for the supervision of the registered manager. This is contrary to the home’s supervision policies and does not support the registered manager’s learning and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers do not comply with the home’s policies relating to staff probationary periods. New staff do not consistently have their work reviewed after six months of their starting to work at the home. This is to ensure that staff’s work performance is of a high standard and that staff’s learning needs are formally reviewed at the earliest opportunity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff training requires review. There is a comprehensive staff training programme to assist their professional development. However, some staff members do not complete key training events. Staff files do not consistently evidence professional development plans. These are important to ensure that staff are equipped to provide children with high-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The staff team is led by a suitably qualified registered manager who has recently completed the required management qualification. The home’s staffing levels are appropriate to meet the needs of children. The home has two deputy managers to assist the registered manager complete key management tasks. These include supervision of care staff and completing internal monitoring tasks. Both deputies are enrolled on level 5 management courses. This is to enhance their managerial skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home’s monitoring systems are adequate and help to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the service. There is a clear development plan in place to help improve Inspection report children’s home: SC459354 7 the quality of the service provided to children. The registered manager and the deputies are assigned specific areas of the home’s functioning to oversee and report on. These quality assurance systems are largely effective, for example, in improving staff’s management of medication and the recording of children’s information. Children’s case files reflect well the work being undertaken with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The provider ensures that independent monthly monitoring visits take place and that subsequent reports are forwarded to Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff feel well supported by the organisation. A staff member said, ‘I have learned so much, so much about myself. All staff are very supportive.’ Another team member said, ‘I love the team I work with at this home. They’re an amazing team. I love working with the children as well!’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home’s statement of purpose is a detailed document that outlines the aims and objectives of the service. The children’s guide is an easy-read summary of services the home provides.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff’s partnership working with external partners is good. Staff liaise with local authority social workers, the police, health and educational professionals as required. This supports the effective coordination of children’s care.

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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 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: SC459354 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Thames Innovation Centre, Studio 52, Veridion Way, Erith DA18 4AL

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC459354 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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