Children's Home run by Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities in Kent

Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 1 SC425786 Registered provider: Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to seven children, and for a further three children who can stay under short-break arrangements. Facilities are in place to meet the needs of children and young people who have learning and/or physical disabilities. The children’s home is operated by a local charitable foundation. The children’s home is also registered with the Care Quality Commission.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2011.

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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: 17 September 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: The requirements of four compliance notices issued in September 2019 have been met. Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/09/2019 Full Inadequate 18/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/01/2018 Full Good 09/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children at the home have complex care and support needs. Staff recognise the importance of creating clear and comprehensive plans to ensure that the needs of children are met. Permanent residents benefit from care plans that are individualised and clearly capture goals for personal growth and development. The registered manager recognises that children who use the service for short breaks would benefit from more detailed and well-developed plans. Staff are in the process of reviewing short-break care plans to ensure that they have the depth and quality that permanent residents benefit from.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have dedicated key workers. Staff produce some excellent records of this work. They demonstrate a child-focused approach and cover areas including the child’s emotional life, personal development and achievements. The home has focused on producing actions from each key-work session which can be monitored to evidence progress for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One parent said, ‘Staff have never let me down.’ She praised the open communication and inclusive practice of staff. Staff ensure that parents feel heard and included in day-to-day decisions about their children’s care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Professionals are extremely positive about the progress of children at the home. They said they are impressed with the professionalism and commitment of staff. They praised the open and honest communication with the staff team. They also said that staff always make excellent contributions to meetings and professional discussions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are able to identify key areas of progress for children. Staff have improved the systems used for capturing the achievements of children. As a result, they are able to more readily identify the impact of the home on children’s lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children all attend specialist education provision. Staff maintain close relationships with school staff and share regular updates. Education staff said the home staff help and support them to develop a better understanding of the children. This, in turn, improves their practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff face a significant challenge as children bring such a wide variation of communication styles. Senior staff recognise the importance of effective communication with children who are often non-verbal. Plans are in place to develop team skills in this area. Professionals and parents compliment the home’s efforts to enhance children’s communication skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are in the process of looking outside their own organisation to find examples of innovative practice in the sector, including looking into specialist advocacy for disabled children. Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 4 Children at the home benefit from a spacious environment. Staff and parents have put much effort into personalising bedrooms. This gives each room a child-friendly and welcoming feel. Children are also able to access a new sensory room which forms part of a well-designed extension to the premises.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One social worker gave positive feedback about the transition for a child into the home. She said this was very well managed and the child had been supported to make the change with as little emotional stress as possible.

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

Children are safe living in the home. Children’s behaviour support plans identify their needs, with clear strategies for staff to follow. Senior managers have created a transition behaviour plan for one child to achieve continence. As a result, the child is making significant progress in this area.

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

The staff team sensitively manages children’s emotions through observations and positive relationships. Staff use these interactions to directly inform children’s care plans. For example, a staff member holistically documented internal triggers for a child while the child watched video clips. The staff member analysed the behaviour and provided strategies for staff in helping the child to self-regulate her emotions.

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

The staff team dynamically risk assesses to promote the children’s independence. Risk assessments are carefully considered, with additional risk reduction plans in place for some individuals. Every child has a ‘reduction in restrictive practice’ assessment. The staff aim to provide children with the maximum amount of freedom possible to move around the home without unnecessary restrictive measures in place. An example of this was a child transitioning out of a restrictive bed into a single bed. The child’s social worker said, ‘The home has been proactive in risk assessing the restrictive measures to promote the child’s safety and independence.’ The child’s parent said the home had supported her to manage her own anxieties about the change in sleeping arrangements and was very pleased with the outcome.

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

The deputy manager has created robust systems for the monitoring and oversight of medication procedures. When shortfalls arise, a reflective account form is used. This allows the deputy manager to review and identify any necessary preventable measures.

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

The staff team is good at identifying procedures in the event of a safeguarding incident. The staff team’s knowledge of external safeguarding services is comprehensive, promoting a clear culture of good safeguarding practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Senior staff are open and reflective about areas of practice that have required urgent attention following the previous Ofsted inspection at the home. They are able to demonstrate progress in all areas of concern. Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 5 The registered manager talks passionately about the children in her care. She has a deep understanding of their needs. She is able to identify areas of personal growth and progress for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported by all the senior team members at the home. They said they benefit from good induction, training and supervision. Following a recent serious incident at the home, staff described excellent support mechanisms which included access to external counselling provision, time off where needed and a strong and supportive team dynamic. The registered manager has made progress with supervision practice. However, supervision records and appraisals lack clear goals for staff to ensure their continuous professional development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff said that some of the generic training provided by the organisation can lack focus on the work they do supporting children with complex needs. The manager agreed with this view and has set in motion a process of reflection to ensure that training meets the needs of her staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been significant improvement in the internal and external monitoring of the home. The manager is now completing regular quality of care reviews. However, reviews lack a developmental focus and could be enhanced to support continuous improvement at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and her deputy have recognised the importance of looking outside of the home for examples of best practice in the sector. They are now attending forums for other providers, attending leadership development training and arranging visits to other services to seek out innovative practice and bring it back into the home. The registered manager also brings in external professionals to the home to ensure that staff and children benefit from their expertise. Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 6

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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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. In particular, the standard requires the registered person to ensure that staff— ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare; help each child to express views, wishes and feelings; help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child; regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care; help each child to prepare for any review of the child’s relevant plans and to make the child’s views, wishes and

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Requirement Due date

feelings known for the purposes of that review. (Regulation 7 (1)(c)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff continue to develop their skills in communication with non-verbal children. In doing so, this will enable children to fully participate in the decisions and choices that affect their daily lives. 30/06/2020

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the 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 the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) In particular, ensure that supervision and appraisal meetings result in actions and goals that ensure the continuous professional development of staff. Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 7  The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph

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Recommendations

10.24) In particular, utilise the quality of care review as a developmental tool for the home.  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, review the generic training provided by the organisation to ensure that it meets the needs of staff who work with children with complex needs.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC425786 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Strode Park Foundation, Strode Park House, Lower Herne Road, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 7NE

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Inspectors

Peter Jackson, Social Care Inspector Kelly Monniot, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 9 to 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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