Children's home run by Fonjock's Social Work Practice Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2608645 1 Registered provider: Fonjock’s Social Work Practice Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home provides care for up to three children who have experienced trauma which has left them vulnerable and who have difficulty managing their emotions and behaviour.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2020 when the home was opened.

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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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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: not applicable Inspection report children's home: 2608645 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This is the first full inspection since the home registered with Ofsted in December 2020. There is one child living at the home. The child is making good progress from her starting point and has established positive relationships with the committed staff team. Staff provide individualised support to the child which enhances her overall experiences and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support a range of activities that reflect the child’s interests and hobbies. These have included an outing to a theme park, shopping trips and visits to the zoo. The child has accessed local dancing, gymnastics and knitting clubs. These opportunities have enabled her to expand her social network and enhance the breadth of her experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of education. The child previously experienced gaps in her education. She has made good progress with a home tutor to the extent that a move to a local school is now being planned. A dedicated education lead puts together a weekly timetable of activities for the child to promote positive routines and further opportunities for learning. From the child’s starting point, this is significant progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to make good progress with her life skills. She benefits from a bespoke independent living programme. The programme includes practical targets that enable staff to track and evaluate her progress. Staff have supported the child to write a CV and seek voluntary employment opportunities. Consequently, she has improved her confidence and self-determination and is more prepared for adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff focus on meeting the child’s primary health needs and work effectively with specialist mental health teams when necessary to meet the child’s additional needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is welcoming and spacious and appointed to a very high standard. Memorabilia and achievements are creatively displayed. The child benefits from a personalised bedroom that is decorated in line with her preferences, creating a space that she is proud of. She provided good feedback about her experiences and said that she enjoys spending time with the staff.

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

Risks of exploitation and going missing have reduced for the child and she is now safer. Staff actively follow the clear and responsive risk assessments and protocols.

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

Staff help the child to enhance her understanding of her personal safety. Well- planned and effective one-to-one sessions cover important and emerging topics, including community risks, managing healthy relationships and understanding the impact of substance misuse. Inspection report children's home: 2608645 3 Staff help the child to use the internet safely. The child worked alongside staff to write a technology safety agreement. This helps the child to understand what safe online behaviour is and supports safe use of the internet and her mobile phone.

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

Staff use good relationships as a basis for managing behaviours and reducing risk. They rarely use sanctions and when they do these are proportionate and link well to the incident. The child has contributed to informing behaviour management strategies so that staff fully understand the triggers to her anxiety.

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

Safe recruitment processes are not consistently followed. The checks for two permanent staff members have not fully explored the reasons for leaving previous employment where the role involved working with children or vulnerable adults. The use of agency staff has been minimal; however, managers have not ensured that recruitment records for agency staff always contain all the required information. As a result, this does not sufficiently reduce the potential for unsuitable people to gain employment at the home.

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

The home is set in large countryside grounds. The main garden leads to an overgrown field with a barbed wire fence on the perimeter. This poses increased risk to the child. A risk assessment is in place and work has been planned to section off this area; however, this has been delayed beyond a reasonable time frame.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably experienced and working towards a relevant level 5 qualification. The managers and the staff team are child focused and demonstrate commitment to providing good-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managerial monitoring of records is good. The management team undertakes suitable internal quality of care reviews that identify sufficiently the strengths and areas for development. External monitoring visits by an independent person are of high quality and provide a strong level of scrutiny to drive improvements in care effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular and well-attended staff meetings ensure that effective communication and good support are embedded. The staff benefit from detailed, child-focused and constructive supervisions. However, some staff have not had supervisions during their induction period at the frequency outlined in the home’s policy. This means that they have not had the support that they should have at an important time in their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A training programme with a range of courses to enhance staff skills is in place. However, training deficits have been identified in responding to suicide ideation and safe ligature removal. Some staff are inexperienced in residential childcare. Outside the management team, no staff member holds a relevant level 3 qualification. Combined with training gaps, this does not ensure that all staff have the necessary skills to understand and respond to children’s individual vulnerabilities. Inspection report children's home: 2608645 4 Since the home opened, three children have moved in and two children have moved on. The management team gives careful thought to the group of children who stay at the home together. Detailed matching assessments are written and staff spend time with children prior to their admission. The managers consider ongoing compatibility and, when risks have emerged, make decisions that are informed

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

through established processes. However, some improvements could be made to ensure that all information is gathered to inform matching decisions prior to children moving in and when providing effective support for children to move on in a person- centred way. The manager has reviewed placement endings and has identified lessons learned for the future. Inspection report children's home: 2608645 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

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—

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Requirement Due date

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)) 15 October 2021

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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—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(f))

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Requirement Due date

ensure that specialised suicide ideation and safe ligature removal training is sourced and attended;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that care planning processes are developed in line with lessons learned, obtaining full chronologies from the 29 October 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2608645 6 placing authorities, and that moving on plans for children are person-centred.

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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

employ an individual to work at the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

verify as far as possible the reason why employment ended when staff have worked in positions with children or vulnerable adults;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that agency staff have had the required checks prior to their deployment. 30 September

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all staff receive supervision of their practice in line with the home’s policy. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children's home: 2608645 7 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: 2608645 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Fonjock’s Social Work Practice

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Orchard House, 1 Old Convent Orchard, Bury St Edmunds IP33 3PQ

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Inspector

Mark Anderton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2608645 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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Inspector

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