Children's Home run by Bay Tree House (Gravesend) Limited in Kent

Inspection report children’s home: 1244108 1 Registered provider: Bay Tree House (Gravesend) 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 privately owned home provides care for up to three children. The home’s statement of purpose states that it provides holistic and therapeutic care for children who have learning needs, language and communication difficulties and/or autism spectrum disorders. The manager was registered with Ofsted in June 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: 15 November 2018

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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: 1244108 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/11/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1244108 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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Recommendations

 Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day to day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) In particular, ensure that any identified risks have the appropriate control measures recorded in the risk assessment.  Where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. If no

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Recommendations

education place is identified by the placing authority, the registered person must challenge them to meet the child’s needs under regulation 5 (engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15) In particular, keep the plan for one child’s re-introduction to education under regular review and update.  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) In particular, ensure that all staff attend behaviour management and restraint training and that staff access the training resources that are available to them.

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: 1244108 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between children and staff are excellent. Children were observed to be happy, relaxed and genuinely enjoying being in the home. They are encouraged to settle, and their friends are warmly welcomed into the home, too. Children know how to complain and feel confident that their complaints would be acted on and taken seriously. Staff provide a warm, welcoming and pleasant home environment. A social worker commented that the environment is one of the best they have been to. Children personalise their bedrooms and this is actively supported by staff. This gives children an area that is their own to relax in and enjoy. The children feel at home and take pride in their surroundings. Children benefit from a nurturing staff team that provides consistent care. The well- being of the children is at the heart of staff practice. Children’s behaviour has improved over time because staff give clear and consistent boundaries.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met, and all health appointments are attended. Children are supported with their sometimes complex health needs and the manager is passionate about ensuring that children lead healthy, safe and happy lifestyles. This has included engagement with other agencies and key-work sessions with a focus on the dangers of cannabis use. There is a real sense of stability for the children currently placed at the home and all children made good progress in managing their own emotions. Children’s individuality is encouraged and supported. Children enjoy a wide range of opportunities including attending a local car boot sale to search for gadgets to fix and work on. For one child, this placement came after the breakdown of many placements. A social worker commented on the very high quality of the work that the staff do in making this placement work. Children, when they attend school regularly, make good progress. In some cases, this

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

represents significant progress as some children did not attend school prior to coming to the home. When children are resistant to re-engage with learning, staff work closely with external agencies to explore a wide range of alternative and suitable provisions. This has included the staff’s relentless pursuit of mainstream school, college courses, tutor arrangements and work experience. For one child, their resistance is strong. It is recommended that the education plan is revisited again to ensure that all possible methods are being explored to re-ignite this child’s interest.

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

Safeguarding systems and practice are robust. Staff understand their roles and responsibilities and how to escalate any concerns. Staff promote children’s welfare. Children spoken to during the inspection support this by saying that staff listen to them and take their concerns seriously. One of the children spoken to said that they would Inspection report children’s home: 1244108 5 give the home ‘ten out of ten’ and said, ‘You can’t get better than this.’ Staff have clear and consistent boundaries and children have become increasingly safe. Staff promote and praise positive behaviour. Children are able to reflect on their behaviour during protected one-to-one sessions with staff. The physical environment is well maintained and protects children from harm. The staff complete regular health and safety checks and act appropriately to address shortfalls. There is a homely feel to the environment. The majority of risk assessments are detailed and contain information that helps keep

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

children safe. However, some risk assessments do not contain the appropriate controls. In one example, a specific risk was identified but the appropriate controls were not in place. Managers took immediate action when this was highlighted during the inspection. Missing from home episodes have decreased over time and the staff team’s responses to incidents are effective. Safer recruitment procedures are effective and ensure that only the appropriately vetted adults can start work in the home. Inspection report children’s home: 1244108 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has many years of experience in working with children. She has a commitment to supporting positive outcomes for the children placed at the home. The staff team is small but meets the needs of the children in placement. The team operates like a family unit and delivers consistent and nurturing care. The staff are highly experienced individuals with shared goals and ethos. The service is highly valued by professionals who consistently praise the standard of care and quality of the home’s management. External monitoring systems identify areas for improvement. The inspectors noted that, during this inspection period, the children’s views had not been sufficiently sought, following the use of sanctions. However, this was also identified more recently by the independent visitor, resulting in a review of this practice. Leaders and staff work proactively with the local community. An example of this is where

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

one of the children works voluntarily at a local charity shop. This increases the child’s independence and self-esteem. The registered manager has challenged the local authority when appropriate and has been successful in doing so. In one example, a child remains disappointed with the support provided by the local authority, despite this being raised by the registered manager. Staff have access to a wide range of relevant training and have the right training to meet the needs of the children. Staff report feeling well supported and supervisions are regular. However, staff have not completed additional training that would improve their knowledge. Supervisions have missed the opportunity to be more specific about training expectations.

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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: 1244108 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bay Tree House (Gravesend) Limited

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Inspector

Daniel Healy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1244108 8 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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