Children's Home run by Stonelake London Limited in Brent

Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to four children. The provider states that it cares for children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The manager was registered with Ofsted in August 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection date: 19 December 2019

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection judgement: Sustained effectiveness

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Information about this visit

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), Ofsted suspended all routine inspections in March 2020. As part of a phased return to routine inspection, we are undertaking assurance visits to children’s social care services that are inspected under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF).

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Information about this visit

At these visits, inspectors evaluate the extent to which:

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Information about this visit

 children are well cared for  children are safe  leaders and managers are exercising strong leadership.

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Information about this visit

This visit was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000, following the published guidance for assurance visits.

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Information about this visit

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills is leading Ofsted’s work into how England’s social care system has delivered child-centred practice and care within the context of the restrictions placed on society during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Findings from the visit

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance visit. Assurance visit report: 1264048 2

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The care of children

Children said that they are happy at their home. They like the staff and feel listened to. They have developed a sense of belonging. It is their wish to stay at this home until they are ready to live independently.

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The care of children

However, the home does not always promote stability in children’s lives. Two children who recently left the home did so because staff could not meet their needs. The home’s admission procedure is not robust, and the matching decisions are not always sound. The risk assessments of the impact of children on one another are not always completed.

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The care of children

The home’s statement of purpose highlights that the home provides therapeutic placements. Staff do not demonstrate this in practice.

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The care of children

Communication between the home and professionals is good. Professionals said that they do not have any concerns about the home. They said that staff have positive relationships with children and do their best to look after children well.

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The care of children

Staff help children to value creativity and learning. However, one child continues to receive online tuition despite his strong motivation to attend mainstream education and prepare for his GCSE exams. Staff reported that, due to the pandemic, it has been impossible to find a place at any of the local schools for a child who is new to the area.

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The care of children

The physical environment is maintained at an adequate standard. The shower room has been refurbished recently. Some areas such as door-frames and the carpet on the stairway need attention. The registered manager reported that the work to address these issues has already been scheduled.

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The safety of children

Children said that they feel safe in the home and in the local community. If they had concerns about anything, they would speak to staff about it. Children trust that staff would help them to be safe.

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The safety of children

However, staff are not always able to provide a safe and supportive environment to all children. There have been some incidents of bullying, intimidation and racist abuse between children in the home. The inability of staff to help children to stop those behaviours has contributed to two children moving out. Another child has run away and remains missing from care, after an incident which made him feel threatened in the home.

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The safety of children

Staff follow an appropriate reporting procedure when a child goes missing. Staff communicated with other agencies to secure the child’s safe return to the home. However, on one occasion when the child was found by the police, staff failed to help the child to return home safely. Assurance visit report: 1264048 3 Staff complete risk assessments and management plans for each child. However, when a more specific risk assessment was required due to the risk of child sexual exploitation for a particular child, they did not complete this.

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The safety of children

The effectiveness of the staff’s behaviour management practices is varied. Some children learn to deal more constructively with their emotions. One child said that they have stopped feeling angry. Another child’s behaviours escalated during the lockdown. Staff attributed the deterioration in behaviours to the COVID-19-related restrictions that were in place at the time.

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Leaders and managers

A change of management at the time of the pandemic has had a negative impact on the home. The limited availability of the previous registered manager during the lockdown meant that there was a leadership gap. This occurred at the time of increased pressures on the staff team and the children. The changes introduced by the new registered manager have not been embedded enough to have the intended effect, which is to improve the service.

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Leaders and managers

Record-keeping in the home is inefficient. Records are not always completed to demonstrate good practices that staff and children reported to have happened. An example is that there is no record of a discussion about respecting others’ privacy. This was after an incident in which a child gained unauthorised access to another child’s personal records and threatened to post details online.

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Leaders and managers

The home’s record-keeping does not support effective monitoring. During this visit, staff were not always able to find the requested information. For example, there was no record of a particular missing episode known to Ofsted from the independent visitor’s report.

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Leaders and managers

The home’s internal quality assurance is weak. The home’s register is not completed with the required detail. The leaders and managers do not pay enough attention to improving records in line with the independent visitor’s recommendations. Some of the examples include incorrect information in children’s care planning and a child’s impact risk assessment regarding their medical condition.

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Leaders and managers

Sending notifications of significant events to Ofsted remains an issue, despite the requirement raised at the last inspection. This shortfall has an impact on Ofsted’s ability to monitor the home and evaluate the actions that the leaders and managers take in response to significant events.

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Leaders and managers

The home’s consultant provides comprehensive support to the registered manager. However, not all staff received regular supervision and review of their professional practices and performance. The registered manager has introduced a new staff structure recently to bring about more efficient line-management arrangements. Assurance visit report: 1264048 4

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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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that they demonstrate how the home provides therapeutic care, as stated in the home’s statement of purpose. 01/03/2021

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— mutual respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(b)) 01/03/2021

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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. 01/03/2021 Assurance visit report: 1264048 5 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that if it is identified that a specific risk assessment of the risks of child sexual and/or criminal exploitation is required, this is completed in a timely manner. 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 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; 01/03/2021 Assurance visit report: 1264048 6 understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(e)(f)(h)) The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)) 01/03/2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the missing child policy”) setting out—

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Requirement Due date

the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission; and

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Requirement Due date

the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent. (Regulation 34 (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff ensure a safe return of the child to care, after the missing child has been found. 01/03/2021

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and 01/03/2021 Assurance visit report: 1264048 7 retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that a record in the form of a register showing in respect of each child is kept—  the date of the child’s admission to the children’s home;  the date on which the child ceased to be accommodated in the home;  the child’s address immediately before being accommodated in the home;  the child’s address on leaving the home;  the child’s placing authority; and  the statutory provision (if any) under which the child is accommodated. (Schedule 4.1) The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(c)(e)) 01/03/2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all areas of the home are maintained to a satisfactory standard. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, paragraph 3.9, page 15)  The registered person should ensure that staff should have an understanding of how schools function, including the processes for admission to schools, the role of designated teachers for looked-after children and the role of the Virtual School Head. If a looked-after child from a different local authority area is placed in the home, the Virtual School Head of that local authority remains responsible for promoting the child’s educational achievement. Specifically, staff should use this knowledge to advocate better for children to receive education that meet their needs. ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, paragraph 5.10, page 27)  The registered person should ensure that all staff receive regular supervision

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Recommendations

and have their performance reviewed on at least an annual basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, paragraph 13.1, page 61) Assurance visit report: 1264048 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Stonelake London Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sinckot House, 211b Station Road, Harrow HA1 2TP

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Inspector

Seka Graovac, Social Care Inspector Assurance visit report: 1264048 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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