Children's home run by St Joseph’s Specialist Trust

Inspection report children‟s home: 2502382 1 Registered provider: St Joseph’s Specialist Trust Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is in its first year of registration. It is owned by a charity which also owns other services, including the school that is located on the same site. The home is registered to care for up to 40 children. The home’s statement of purpose states that it aims to provide a total learning environment where every aspect of the children and young people’s experience helps them in the development of new skills and understanding which they can use now and will continue to be of value in the future.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted on 30 October 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 10 to 11 September 2019

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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: this is the home’s first inspection

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: 2502382 2

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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

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12(1), (2)(d)) 01/12/2019

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that–

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b), (2)(h)) 01/12/2019

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home, the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25(2)(b)) 01/12/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained–

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or 01/12/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: 2502382 3 a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32(1), (4)(a)(b), (5)(a)(b)) Case records must be kept in cases not falling within sub- paragraph (a), for 75 years from the child’s date of birth; and

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Requirement Due date

in a secure place after the child has ceased to be accommodated in the home. (Regulation 36(2)(b)(d)) 01/02/2020

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, in line with their individual health plans and the ethos of the home, children are offered advice, support and guidance on health and well-being to enhance, and supplement that provided by their school through Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-being such as, but not limited to, nutrition and healthy diet, exercise, mental health, sexual relationships, sexual health, contraception and use of legal highs, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns

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Recommendations

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)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. The Statement of Purpose is an important document in the process of care planning as it sets out the needs of children the home is set up and equipped to care for. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page Inspection report children‟s home: 2502382 4 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress within their individual capabilities while living at the home. Child-focused staff provide good-quality care and treat children with dignity and respect. Staff use a wide variety of communication systems to engage with children and support them to communicate their needs and wants. Staff are well informed and guided about how best to support individual children through detailed plans and training. However, some records do not contain all the required documents, including some children’s most up-to-date reviews of their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to transition smoothly and seamlessly between the home and school, with good information-sharing between carers and education staff. Children access specialist support from therapists that complements and supports staff to meet their holistic needs. The whole team works collectively to support children so that children develop their abilities and skills that enable and prepare them, and promote their future opportunities, to live as independently as possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are offered a wide choice of activities to take part in. Staff support and encourage children to access the community and take part in activities of their choosing. Children develop essential skills, such as swimming, accessing public transport, shopping and meal planning and preparation. Staff have regular conversations with children that provide important messages about how to keep safe in and out of the home, though the evidence to support this is lacking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to address and meet all their physical and emotional health needs. Staff support children to prepare and attend all routine medical appointments. Staff work closely with others to prepare and share social stories with children to support them in understanding what may happen, to attend healthcare appointments or to have medical procedures. Staff support children to manage long-term health conditions. Staff safely support children to learn how to independently manage their conditions. Some children have medication to support them when in crisis. Staff follow detailed plans and protocols in these situations, although one plan viewed did not contain all the required information.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are well supported to move into and on from the home. Staff are child-focused and formulate meaningful individual plans that support children. Staff share good-quality information and advice to children’s next placements. This has assisted staff to prepare the environment for the children, which enables them to adjust and settle safely and calmly into their new home.

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

Staff have good knowledge, understanding and insight about a wide variety of safeguarding topics, risks and concerns, and all know what is required to keep children Inspection report children‟s home: 2502382 5 safe. There is a healthy safeguarding culture in the home, with all staff taking it seriously and having responsibility for concerns. Staff swiftly identify issues or concerns and report concerns to others. The home records clearly the details of the actions required and the outcomes of concerns. Internal investigations that are carried out are explorative, inquisitive and thorough, with evidence of good working with others. However, managers have not ensured that they retain the safeguarding records when children leave the home. They forward the records with the child to their next home.

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

Staff draw up and follow detailed risk assessments and behaviour support plans. The plans provide advice and guidance to staff about strategies to enable them to support children in many different settings and situations. Children are encouraged to take age- appropriate risks, and this enables and encourages them to develop life skills and independence within a well-managed, safe environment. One child’s personal evacuation plan had not been updated to reflect a change in the child’s presenting needs. Staff complete many additional risk assessments and plans to explore the risk factors that children are likely to be subject to. Staff carry out assessments prior to a child arriving at the home, but these do not sufficiently explore the impact on those already living there that a child may present by coming to the home.

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

The measures in place to keep children safe when using the internet have recently been reviewed and improved. The new system provides additional layers of scrutiny and security, which helps to keep children safe online. This, together with the conversations that staff have with children, helps to educate and inform them, as well as to keep them safe.

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

The home has good safer recruitment policies and practices in place.

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

The home is in its first year of operation since registration. The leaders, managers and staff at the home have not changed since the previous registered provider. However, leaders and managers do not have good enough systems in place to ensure that they monitor and review the quality of care in all areas of the home.

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

Leaders and managers have failed to identify weaknesses in the home’s fire safety and health and safety management. Leaders have not ensured that enough contingency plans are in place to maintain the quality of care provided. Managers have not always ensured that the environment is well managed to make sure that it complies with health and safety legislation or fire-risk management. A fire-risk assessment was undertaken in June 2019, yet this was not shared with leaders and managers. Once managers were made aware, they acted swiftly to address the concerns. Moreover, they have not ensured that they completed some of the required monitoring tasks to manage and minimise the risk associated with legionella. Leaders instigated actions to address these issues as soon as they became aware of them.

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

Leaders and managers aspire for children to achieve their full potential, and they advocate on children’s behalf to challenge others when they feel that a decision is not in Inspection report children‟s home: 2502382 6 a child’s best interest. Leaders and managers form and maintain good relationships with others outside of the home, which has a positive impact on children’s plans. When situations have been challenging, leaders and managers review their practice and lessons are learned.

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

Staff access regular, effective supervision, and their practice is appraised at least annually. New staff are well inducted into the home through a thorough induction process that includes a wide variety of training to equip staff for their roles. All staff access a wide variety of good-quality training, although not all staff have completed the required qualification in the expected timeframe. Action plans are reviewed and updated, but some do not detail all the reasons for any delay. This does not provide leaders and managers with the opportunity to fully explore any problems or tackle under-performance.

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

Children are regularly asked for their views through questionnaires, ‘talk sessions’ and the regular conversations that occur between staff and children.

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

The additional scrutiny applied to the home through the independent visits and other reviews of the home have identified areas to develop and improve it, and these are reflected in the home’s development plan, with clear deadlines to achieve and improve the areas of weakness identified. Inspection report children‟s home: 2502382 7

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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 difference 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: 2502382 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: St Joseph’s Specialist Trust

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Amlets Lane, Cranleigh, Surrey GU6 7DH

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Inspectors

Amanda Maxwell, social care inspector Daniel Healy, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 2502382 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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