Children's home run by Kent County Council

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2536967 1

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Kent County Council

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework.

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority-owned home was registered in December 2019. According to the home’s statement of purpose, it is a specialist service that delivers support for up to three young people, male or female, aged 13 to 18 years old, who demonstrate complex and challenging behaviour. The aim of the home as set out in the statement of purpose is to provide a period of intervention and support to young people for up to 10 weeks before they return to their families.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since 31 July 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

This was a virtual monitoring inspection due to COVID-19 (coronavirus) restrictions, and no site visit to the home took place.

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This monitoring visit

A virtual monitoring visit was conducted to review how the home has met the previous requirements and recommendations from the assurance visit in October 2020 and due to planned changes within the senior leadership team.

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This monitoring visit

Senior leaders have revised the home’s statement of purpose to reflect more accurately what the home sets out to achieve. The home has also implemented a pre-admission policy to ensure that the relevant documents such as children’s education, health and care plans are obtained prior to children moving into the home. As a result, professionals and parents are clear on the expectations and planned outcomes for the children staying there. Therefore, the previous requirements have been met.

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This monitoring visit

The children staying and leaving the home now have comprehensive transition planning. The level of detail and flexibility within these plans provides additional focus to what is most important for the children, allowing for successful and effective Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2536967 2 transitions. For example, for one child, extended introductory visits were arranged to allow for greater positive relationship building with the staff. As a result, the children transition at a comfortable pace suited to their individual needs.

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This monitoring visit

A senior team leader in the home is qualified to undertake ‘functional behaviour assessments’. These assessments are carried out prior to the children staying in the home and are used to inform all aspects of childcare planning. These assessments are comprehensive and insightful and provide the staff with a greater understanding of children’s behaviour. As a result, the manager can write an informed positive behaviour support plan, and staff are prepared in advanced with clear strategies prior to children’s arrival.

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This monitoring visit

The manager has reviewed the layout of the children’s positive behaviour support plans and has implemented a monitoring system for reviewing the staff’s effectiveness in implementing physical intervention strategies. The physical intervention records are of good quality, with clear managerial oversight. Therefore, the previous recommendation has been met.

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This monitoring visit

Risks to the children are identified and triangulated well from informed assessments. There are clear proactive and reactive strategies for the staff to follow, and these feed into wider support documents, such as the children’s positive handling plans.

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This monitoring visit

The manager can articulate well how she reduces the risks of children going missing from the home. However, one child’s risk assessment did not fully cover all aspects of this stated good practice. This omission has not had an impact on the quality or safety of the children staying in the home.

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This monitoring visit

The manager has implemented a research folder to identify the specific health needs of children. This allows for a greater understanding of health conditions and is a continued learning opportunity for the staff. The children’s support plans now include an in-depth health section that is written from a child’s perspective. This approach helps the staff to fully understand the direct impact of the child’s health needs. The previous requirement has been met.

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This monitoring visit

There are considerable senior leadership changes happening in the home. The interim manager is moving internally to a short-break provision, and a new manager for this home has been appointed. The new manager plans to apply to register with Ofsted after a 4̶–6-week handover period with the interim manager. There will also be a new responsible individual for the home from 19 February 2021. There is an appropriate action plan in place detailing the wider succession planning and senior leaders’ responsibilities.

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This monitoring visit

The manager has enrolled all staff who do not have the level 3 diploma onto a level 4 apprenticeship. Senior leaders have looked at the course content and are satisfied that this covers all aspects of children living in residential childcare. The staff are excited to start this course and have recently been in touch with or are expecting calls from their course tutors. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2536967 3

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 15/07/2020 20/10/2020 Monitoring visit Assurance visit No judgement given No judgement given

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, where there is a possibility that a child will run away or go missing from a children’s home placement, their placement plan should include a strategy to minimise this risk. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.24)

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kent County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kent County Council, Sessions House, County Road, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ

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Inspector

Kelly Monniot, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2536967 4 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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Inspector

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