Children's home run by James Kids Home Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 2547637 1 Registered provider: James Kids Home Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home. The home provides medium- to long-term care and accommodation for children with autism and learning disabilities, aged eight to 17 years old.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home was registered with Ofsted in November 2019. This is the home’s first inspection.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2547637 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in the home make good progress in all aspects of their lives. The dedicated staff team work hard to support and encourage children to achieve their personal targets. Children improve their personal care, listening skills and bedtime routines. For one child, their success means a reduction in supervision levels required in the community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff celebrate the children’s achievements. Children receive certificates for their progress and gain additional rewards, such as a favourite community trip or a restaurant meal. Children eat a healthy diet; takeaway food is appropriately limited and, where applicable, healthy weight loss is recorded.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children build positive and trusting relationships with the staff. As a result, children gain the confidence to express their feelings, which helps them to improve their socialisation skills. Children learn age-appropriate independence skills, including cooking, washing up and changing their bedsheets. Some children go shopping in the community for the first time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend their chosen schools. School attendance is good. Children achieve success in their exams and receive qualifications in skills such as maths, English and information technology.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy their chosen activities such as bike riding, gardening, and visits to the park. Staff plan a monthly event’s calendar. Children and staff take part in events such as ‘laughter day’ and ‘anti bullying day’ in the home. Staff co-ordinate with children’s schools to ensure that children have access to their favourite extra- curricular activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A professional said when speaking of a child’s progress, ‘[Child’s name] has learned from the staff and in return [name]’s behaviour has improved. [Name] has built positive relationships with staff and [name] is continuing to make progress.’

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

Children respond well to staff’s behaviour support strategies. Children read and sign their individual ‘behaviour contracts’. Children understand the rules, boundaries and expectations in the home. Staff help the children to manage any difficult emotions and they successfully de-escalate any unwanted behaviours. As a result, these behaviours reduce.

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

Children are supported to manage any disagreements between themselves. Staff mediate sensitively with the children and support them to apologise to each other. Inspection report children’s home: 2547637 3 Staff rarely use physical restraint to manage unwanted behaviour. However, the inspector found that two records of physical intervention did not meet regulatory recording requirements. This shortfall may limit the provider’s overview of physical intervention use in the home.

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

Staff complete clear and detailed risk assessments for children. These are kept up to date. These alert staff to children’s known risks and help staff to keep children safe inside and outside of the home. Children spoken with said that they feel safe living in the home.

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

Children and staff experienced an outbreak of COVID-19 in the home at the beginning of 2021. The provider ensured that the children’s care needs were prioritised during this time. During the children’s period of self-isolation, one member of staff remained in the home day and night to provide consistency and reassurance for the children. Everyone has now fully recovered.

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

Staff provide effective support to enable children to enjoy positive time with their families. Children re-establish visits to their families. For some children, this is the first time since leaving their homes. These successes help with children’s planned transitions back to the care of their families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is run by an experienced registered manager. She conducts regular auditing of the home’s records, which helps to ensure that children’s records are accurate and up to date.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff said that they enjoy working in the home. A member of staff said that the registered manager ‘has high expectations for the children and the staff, it is an honour to work here’. Another member of staff said, ‘The work environment continues to inspire me.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is regular and clear communication between staff, parents and professionals. This helps to ensure that everyone is kept up to date regarding the children’s care, welfare and any other developing needs. A professional said, ‘Staff are supportive, helpful and professional.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The fully staffed team benefit from regular team meetings, which include peer-group support. Peer-group support encourages best practice discussion and learning opportunities. This helps to develop staff knowledge.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All the staff have a suitable residential children’s home qualification or are currently undertaking it. Staff training has continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as a result of the pandemic, some key face-to-face training has been Inspection report children’s home: 2547637 4 delayed. The registered manager said that she is actively sourcing these training needs. Inspection report children’s home: 2547637 5

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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

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and 31 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2547637 6 within five days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(iv))

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Recommendations

The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16. The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff. In particular, the registered person should address the face-to- face training needs of staff working in the home and training to meet all of the particular needs of children, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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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: 2547637 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: James Kids Home Ltd

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Inspector

Victoria Jones, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2547637 8 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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